In 1909, the U.S. Congress passed the first federal drug prohibition law, outlawing the importation of opium. This act, driven by growing concerns over addiction and the social impact of the drug, particularly in Chinese immigrant communities, marked the beginning of federal involvement in drug control in the United States, setting the stage for more comprehensive legislation.

The 1909 Opium Importation Ban is a precursor to the federal drug war, and its impact on immigrant communities has been explored in Asian American literature. Poets and writers have used the ban to examine themes of xenophobia and social control, with the opium den becoming a potent symbol of cultural otherness and state surveillance in works like those of Maxine Hong Kingston and others.