Higher than a kite

Origin of "higher than a kite"? It is used to signify feeling great and sometimes as a drug reference to being really "high"?

I don't know the origin, but if someone said they were "high as a kite" I would usually take it to mean drugged, not elated, unless they were talking about some sort of manic state. ("Without my meds for bipolar I get high as a kite"). These days, the assocation of "high" with drugs is so common that I can't see anyone saying "What I nice day - I'm higher than a kite" to mean "I am feeling great". Pamela