A Few Simple Facts About Marijuana Prohibition

The history of cannabis/marijuana in the Americas is a strange and twisted tale. When we were but a fledgling country in the early 1800s, marijuana’s cannabinoids and their medicinal extracts were considered a socially acceptable pharmaceutical.

Unfortunately for all, that didn’t last long. By the early 1920s, bigotry, greed, and the occasional religious zealot chose to single out this plant out for a special kind of hate – demonization.

Overwhelmed with fear of the unknown and smelling an opportunity in the political winds, the federal government’s propaganda campaign began. By the late 1920s, immigrants and the economically oppressed felt the first Trump-esque slander, as politicians associated Mexicans and Blacks with the recreational consumption of marijuana. Helping to spark a grim uptick in bigotry and the ugly anti-immigrant sentiments that then fueled the beginning of our country’s marijuana prohibition.

The Marihuana Tax Act Stamp

Hitting an early stride, by the late 1930s, marijuana prohibition was in full swing in the U.S.; 24 states banned the peaceful plant and the newly cultivated Federal Bureau of Narcotics fired up its notorious campaign against marijuana and anyone who might use it. In 1933, newspapers around the country pumped out hysteria laced headlines like, “Murder Weed Found Up and Down the Coast — Deadly Marihuana Dope Plant Ready for Harvest, That Means Enslavement of California Children.“ By 1937, Congress was ready to seize their opportunity and passed the Marihuana Tax Act – effectively prohibiting marijuana.

By the mid-1950s, the Narcotics Control Act and the Boggs Act increased penalties, fines, and sentences for the simple possession of marijuana for personal consumption. First-time offenders were commonly sentenced to anywhere from 2 to …read more

Source:: Weed Feed