Piece of April 1914 legislation in New York State regarding narcotics and addiction
The Boylan Act (or the Boylan Bill or the Towns-Boylan Act) was a piece of April 1914 legislation in New York State, dealing with narcotics and addiction. The Act predated the federal 1915
Harrison Act, and in some ways anticipated it.[1]Charles B. Towns, one of the sponsors of the Act, stated "it takes only five or six days to cure a drug fiend in hospital."[2]
Provisions
That opium and morphine be dispensed only by pharmacists, with a written prescription from a physician
Any prescription for opiates required a physical examination by a doctor to establish necessity
Prescriptions exceeding four grains of morphine, 30 grains of opium, two grains of heroin, or six grains of heroin must be verified by the dispensing pharmacist with a phone call to the prescribing physician
Only physicians and pharmacists may dispense syringes or
hypodermic needles
Per Section 249a, addicts who break the law may be institutionalized for addiction treatment, and addicts resisting treatment could be forced to enter an institution for
vagrants[1][3][4]
Overturning
In 1917, the
Whitney Act weakened the Boylan Act by allowing physicians to prescribe narcotics to addicts in the course of treating their addiction.[5]
The Act was later[when?] overturned, as it had the
unintended consequence of stimulating the black market for narcotics.[1]