The first anti-drug law in the United States was not passed by the federal government, or by a state. It was an ordinance in San Francisco passed by the city’s Board of Supervisors, and it went into effect in November 1875. It declared that operating or frequenting an opium den was a misdemeanor. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the law was not aimed at medicinal opium consumed by whites; rather, it was prompted by anti-Chinese sentiment which swept California in the 1870’s.