Before 1937

Until 1937, consumption and sale of cannabis was legal in most U.S. states. In some areas it could be openly purchased in bulk from grocers or in cigarette form at newsstands, though an increasing number of states had begun to outlaw it. In that year, federal law made possession or transfer of cannabis without the purchase of a by-then-incriminating tax stamp illegal throughout the United States. This was contrary to the advice of the American Medical Association at the time.^[1] Legal opinions of the time held that the federal government could not outlaw it entirely. The tax was $100 per pound of hemp, even for clothes or rope. The expense, extremely high for the time, was such that people stopped openly buying and making it. The decision of the United States Congress was based in part on testimony derived from articles in newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst, who had significant financial interests in the timber industry, which manufactured his newsprint.^[2] A state of the United States (a U.S. state) is any one of the fifty states (four of which officially favor the term commonwealth) which, along with the District of Columbia, form the United States of America. ... The American Medical Association (AMA) is the largest association of medical doctors in the United States. ... Congress in Joint Session. ... William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper magnate, born in San Francisco, California. ...

DuPont

Some analysts theorize DuPont played a role in the criminalization of the cannabis. The company, suffering from declining post-war textile sales, wished to eliminate hemp fiber as competition. Many argue that this seems unlikely given DuPont's lack of concern with the legal status of cotton, wool, and linen; although it should be noted that hemp's textile potential had not yet been largely exploited, while textile factories already had made large investments in equipment to handle cotton, wool, and linen. Others argue that DuPont wanted to eliminate cannabis because its high natural cellulose content made it a viable alternative to the company's developing innovation: modern plastic. Still others could argue that hemp could never truly compete with the high strength and elasticity of synthetics, such as nylon. Furthermore, hemp would have been an easy target due to its intoxicating effect, while no rational justification could have been made for outlawing cotton, wool, or linen. U.S. Marihuana production permit, from the film Hemp for Victory. ... Cellulose (C6H10O5)n is a long-chain polymeric polysaccharide carbohydrate, of beta-glucose. ... Plastic covers a range of synthetic or semisynthetic polymerization products. ... Nylon represents a family of synthetic polymers, a thermoplastic material, invented in 1935 by Wallace Carothers at DuPont. ...

U.S. Federal Bureau of Narcotics poster used in the late 1930s and 1940s.

Image File history File links The text of the poster: Beware! Young and Old - People in All Walks of Life! This {joint} may be handed you by the friendly stranger. ... Image File history File links The text of the poster: Beware! Young and Old - People in All Walks of Life! This {joint} may be handed you by the friendly stranger. ...

Federal Bureau of Narcotics

During this period, Henry (Harry) Anslinger, then-Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, alleged that the drug could provoke criminal behavior in previously solid citizens. Anslinger, originally against a federal law, switched his position in response to pressure from Southern and Western states seeking to outlaw the substance in connection with immigrant populations. With the aid of Hearst and other media, the Bureau of Narcotics demonized the herb in pop culture. Anslinger was a prohibitionist and believed anti-marijuana laws would help encourage a revival of alcohol's prohibition. Anslinger also popularized the word marihuana for the plant, using a Mexican derived word (believed to be derived from an archaic Brazilian Portuguese term for inebriation, "Maria Joana") in order to associate the plant with increasing numbers of Mexican immigrants, creating a negative stereotype which persists to this day. Harry J. Anslinger is commonly known for his extreme campaign against Cannabis. ... Brazilian Portuguese is a collective name for the varieties of Portuguese written and spoken by virtually all the 180 million inhabitants of Brazil and by a couple million Brazilian immigrants and temporary workers in other countries, mainly in Canada, United States, Portugal, Paraguay and Japan. ...

Anslinger was successful in outlawing machine-gun sales by making it illegal to complete a transaction without a stamp issued by the government. Even though the government had no intentions of issuing said stamps, the United States Supreme Court upheld the restriction on machine gun sales. Today these stamps are routinely issued however to qualified buyers under the rules set forth in the National Firearms Act. Congress then applied the same method to cannabis. Following passage of the federal 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, the mayor of New York City, Fiorello LaGuardia, created the LaGuardia Commission. In 1944, this commission released its report that determined Anslinger's claims to be false.^[3] Despite the testimony of the American Medical Associations director, Congress passed the bill to curb the perceived violent spread of the drug.^[1] The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... The National Firearms Act is a United States federal law passed in 1934 that mandates the registration of all Title II weapons - that is, all sound suppressors or silencers, all fully-automatic and burst-fire firearms, all rifles with a barrel length less than 16 inches (406 mm) (SBR) and... Fiorello Henry LaGuardia Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia (December 11, 1882–September 20, 1947) was the Mayor of New York from 1934 to 1945. ... The Laguardia Commission was the first in depth study into the effects of smoking marijuana. ...

Anslinger's law was struck down by the United States Supreme Court in 1969. In a case brought by Timothy Leary, the Court held that the law's requirement that a would-be possessor of cannabis register with the local bureau of the Internal Revenue Service, thereby placing his name and address on a file available to local law enforcment, violated the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, given the fact that at the time all 50 states had state laws on the books outlawing cannabis outright. ^[4] In 1970, the Controlled Substances Act made possession of cannabis (classified as Schedule I) illegal again on a federal level, without the Fifth Amendment issues that scuttled the 1937 act, and without apparent concern for the issues which required the Eighteenth Amendment to effect the prohibition of alcohol.^[5] Several petitions to reschedule cannabis under the CSA have been filed, since the Act permits the executive branch to do so, which would effectively legalize it at the federal level. ^[6][7] Timothy Francis Leary, Ph. ... The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the United States government agency that collects taxes and enforces the tax laws. ... The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ... The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) was enacted into law by the Congress of the United States as Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 (21 U.S.C. Chapter 13). ... Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol. ... Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol. ... Schedules of Controlled Substances Schedule I The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse. ...

See also

• Cannabis (drug)
• Legal issues of cannabis

A Cannabis sativa plant The drug cannabis, commonly known as marijuana, is produced from parts of the cannabis plant primarily the cured flowers and gathered trichomes of the female plant. ... A demonstation by Promena in Sofia, Bulgaria in June 2003. ...

References

1. ^ ^a b Statement of Dr. William C. Woodward, Legislative Counsel, American Medical Association. URL accessed on 2006-03-25.
2. ^ Additional Statement of H.J. Anslinger, Commissioner of Narcotics. URL accessed on 2006-03-25.
3. ^ LaGuardia Committee Report. URL accessed on 2006-03-25.
4. ^ FindLaw. Leary v. United States. URL accessed on 2006-03-25.
5. ^ Controlled Substances Act. URL accessed on 2006-03-25.
6. ^ DEA Accepts Rescheduling Petition. URL accessed on 2006-03-25.
7. ^ Petitioner's Brief - Part 1 - 8/4/93. URL accessed on 2006-03-25.