David Franklin

January 8, 1936 (age 74)

Tacoma, Pierce County, United States of America

He wrote extensively on the history of licit and illicit drugs and the process by which many of them were placed under governmental control. Musto first developed a focus on drug policy when he became special assistant to the director of the National Institute of Mental Health through the United States Public Health Service. He taught briefly at Johns Hopkins University and became a professor of child psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center beginning in 1969, in addition to being a professor of the history of medicine at Yale School of Medicine. He was selected in 1973 as a presidential adviser on drug policy, and was named by Jimmy Carter in 1978 to serve on the White House Strategy Council on Drug Abuse. Musto was a supporter of methadone maintenance as a way of weaning heroin addicts from their addiction. He questioned the efficacy of employee drug testing and needle exchange programs. Musto was wary of government efforts to curb drug use, noting that efforts to control drugs arise "from repeated observation of the damage to acquaintances and society" but that a prevention effort "usually comes just after the popularity of drugs has peaked". By 1992 Musto believed that the cocaine epidemic in the United States. had already hit its peak, but challenged the notion that legalization of cocaine and other drugs would curb their effects on society. A resident of New Haven, Connecticut, Musto was visiting Shanghai, China, in conjunction with the donation of his writings to Shanghai University and to mark the establishment of the Center for International Drug Control Policy Studies. He died there of a heart attack at age 74 on October 8, 2010.

David Franklin

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psychiatrist

Background

Musto was born January 8, 1936, in Tacoma, Washington and earned his undergraduate degree in classics from the University of Washington in 1956.

Education

Musto was born January 8, 1936, in Tacoma, Washington and earned his undergraduate degree in classics from the University of Washington in 1956. He attended Yale University on a fellowship, earning a master"s degree in the history of science and medicine in 1961. Musto earned his medical degree from the University of Washington School of Medicine, which was followed by an internship at Pennsylvania Hospital and a residency in psychiatry at Yale.

Career

He wrote extensively on the history of licit and illicit drugs and the process by which many of them were placed under governmental control. Musto first developed a focus on drug policy when he became special assistant to the director of the National Institute of Mental Health through the United States Public Health Service. He taught briefly at Johns Hopkins University and became a professor of child psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center beginning in 1969, in addition to being a professor of the history of medicine at Yale School of Medicine.

He was selected in 1973 as a presidential adviser on drug policy, and was named by Jimmy Carter in 1978 to serve on the White House Strategy Council on Drug Abuse.

Musto was a supporter of methadone maintenance as a way of weaning heroin addicts from their addiction. He questioned the efficacy of employee drug testing and needle exchange programs.

Musto was wary of government efforts to curb drug use, noting that efforts to control drugs arise "from repeated observation of the damage to acquaintances and society" but that a prevention effort "usually comes just after the popularity of drugs has peaked". By 1992 Musto believed that the cocaine epidemic in the United States. had already hit its peak, but challenged the notion that legalization of cocaine and other drugs would curb their effects on society.

A resident of New Haven, Connecticut, Musto was visiting Shanghai, China, in conjunction with the donation of his writings to Shanghai University and to mark the establishment of the Center for International Drug Control Policy Studies.

He died there of a heart attack at age 74 on October 8, 2010.

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David Franklin

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