Aphrodisiac

What does Aphrodisiac mean in American Law?

The definition of Aphrodisiac in the law of the United States, as defined by the lexicographer Arthur Leff in his legal dictionary is:

Something that stimulates sexual desire. It could refer to any such stimulant, e.g., an attractive member of the opposite sex, but is usually used to mean a substance which, when ingested, vastly increases desire. Many cultures entertain belief in many substances, e.g., oysters, ground rhinoceros horn, ginseng root, “spanish fly,” etc. as aphrodisiacs, but there is little evidence that any of them work. Nonetheless, “love potions” are still widely sold today, and occasionally an intended beloved will be fed some noxious substance with disasterous (and legally cognizable) effect. Alcohol is thought by some to have aphrodisiac qualities, but Shakespeare has no less experienced a participant observer than the porter in Macbeth state that it “provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance.” Various street drugs, e.g., marijuana, are also said to have aphrodisiac qualities.

An “anaphradisiac” is a substance with a power to depress sexual desire; generations of schoolboys and soldiers believe saltpeter (potassium nitrate) is an anaphrodisiac, and that they have been fed it secretly by their headmasters and commanding officers; but there is no evidence that saltpeter has such effect, or that either school boys or soldiers have ever been so affected.