The U.S. Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) as Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, signed into law on October 27. The CSA consolidated previous drug laws, establishing five schedules for classifying substances based on their medical use and abuse potential. It remains the cornerstone of U.S. federal drug policy, regulating the manufacture and distribution of narcotics, stimulants, and hallucinogens.

The CSA has had a profound impact on American culture, shaping the narrative around drugs in literature from the 1970s onward. The act's scheduling system and the 'war on drugs' it empowered have been critiqued in the works of poets and novelists who explore themes of addiction, incarceration, and social justice, including writers like Etheridge Knight, whose prison poetry reflects the human cost of drug laws.