There are many resources on line, and with the expansion of digitization, more historical resources are being made available all the time.
I may upload some to this blog, but more likely I will link to the sites. This will preserve the integrity of the system and allow you to dig further into digital resources if you wish.
Many of the primary sources are public domain. Every country has different copyright laws, and believe me they can get pretty confusing at times, since copyright has changed over time and depending on when a document is published, it may be governed by different rules.
However, generally you can assume that if something is over 100 years old, it is in the public domain.
There are exceptions. It is possible for a content creator (aka author) or his or her estate to renew copyright on things before they go out of copyright. So if someone was really diligent, something very old could remain in copyright, and therefore it would be illegal to reproduce it without permission.
So before you go downloading stuff and uploading it to your own website, be aware that just because it is available on line does not mean it is in the public domain. Still, if it is available freely on archive.org or if Google has made it free via Google Play books, then you’ll likely be ok. (This may not be the case with newspapers available on sites like newspapers.com, since some big publishing companies retain copyright.)
Drug History Resources:
Drug History Canada 