And on what basis did people ban the drug for? How effective was the ban? What was the public's attitude towards the policy and how did it change their opinion on the drug?
If you're talking about recent history, it would probably have to be the 1875 Anti-Opium Den Ordinance in San Francisco. This was not a direct ban on opium, it was more of a piece of discriminatory legislation against the influx of Chinese immigrant workers.
As far as direct ban on drugs, the first (at least in the US) was the [Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Food_and_Drug_Act) and the Harrison Act of 1914. This required producers of opium and cocaine to label their products accordingly. However, it quickly became an effective ban on opiates and cocaine.
For clarity: Would you consider alcohol a mind-altering drug?
It may not have been strictly outlawed, but in Odyssey the "lotus eaters" are talked about. They were a tribe of people who ate a plant which caused them to be blissful but also very forgetful. Odysseus ends up chaining and dragging of his crew members who partake in the lotus plant. There are several theories as to which plant exactly was being referred to, but the passage is to vague for it to be nailed down.
What is clear, though, is that Homer is displaying extreme disapproval towards people who indulge in such things, so I would say the the Ancient Greeks were among the first to run anti-drug campaigns.
It wasn't outlawed, but probably still relevant to what you're looking for: The Gin Craze in Great Britain oversaw a rapid increase in the consumption of gin by the working class in the first half of the 18th century, owing to rising incomes, cheap grain, and government subsidies aimed at discouraging the consumption of French brandy. While alcohol consumption as a whole was rising in England at the time (the upper class preferred whiskey), the perceived epidemic of drunkenness among laborers caused by gin provoked moral outrage in Parliament, eventually leading to legislation restricting its sale in the 1740s and 50s.
edit: sp
Many societies have imposed bans on alcohol for a long time. Many Islamic societies/empires banned the production and use of alcohol, sometimes this was just on paper but sometimes it was taken very seriously.
I have seen sources (I will try to find) that greek(?) historians mentioned that Arab/Bedouin tribes had strict cultural taboos against alcohol long before Mohammad