Legal history of cannabis in the United States

The legal history of marijuana in the United States mainly involves the 20th and 21st centuries. In the 1800s, marijuana (also referred to as cannabis) was legal in most states, as it was used to make items such as rope, sails, and clothes, and was used for medicinal purposes; however, after the Mexican Revolution of 1910, a flood of Mexicans immigrated to the United States and introduced recreational marijuana use. A public misconception that Mexicans and other minorities committed violent crimes while under the influence of marijuana, which caused many states to criminalize marijuana, was promoted by Harry J. Anslinger's media interviews, faulty studies, and propaganda films that claimed marijuana caused violent, erratic, and overly sexual behavior.

In the 1930s, marijuana was targeted on a federal level with the passage of the Uniform State Narcotic Act, the Marijuana Tax Act, and the creation of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. DuPont and William Randolph Hearst played a role in the criminalization of marijuana, as hemp was threatening their company's respective products. In the 1950s, strict mandatory sentencing laws substantially increased federal penalties for marijuana possession, but were removed in the 1970s; however, in the 1980s, mandatory sentencing laws where reinstated for large-scale marijuana distribution, three strikes laws were enacted and applied to marijuana possession, and the death sentence was enabled for marijuana drug kingpins.

In the 1970s, many places started to decriminalize marijuana. Most places that have decriminalized marijuana have civil fines, drug education, or drug treatment in place of incarceration and/or criminal charges for possession of small amounts of marijuana, or have made various marijuana offenses the lowest priority for law enforcement. In the 1990s many places began to legalize medical marijuana, which conflicts with federal laws, as marijuana is a Schedule I drug according to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which classified marijuana as having high potential for abuse, no medial use, and not safe to use under medical supervision. Multiple efforts to reschedule marijuana have failed and the United States Supreme Court has ruled in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Coop and Gonzales v. Raich the federal government has a right to regulate and criminalize marijuana, even for medical purposes.

Pre-criminalization (1700s—1800s)

In the 17th century hemp was encouraged by the government in thee production of rope, sails, and clothing; however, hemp use declined in the late eighteenth century. In the late nineteenth century, marijuana became a common ingredient in medicine and was openly sold at pharmacies.

In 1916, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) chief scientists Jason L. Merrill, Lyster H. Dewe, and Jason L. Merrill created paper made from hemp pulp, which they concluded was "favorable in comparison with those used with pulp wood in USDA Bulletin No. 404." Jack Herer, in the book "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" summarized the findings of Bulletin No. 404:

USDA Bulletin No. 404, reported that one acre of hemp, in annual rotation over a 20-year period, would produce as much pulp for paper as 4.1 acres of trees being cut down over the same 20-year period. This process would use only 1/4 to 1/7 as much polluting sulfur-based acid chemicals to break down the glue-like lignin that binds the fibers of the pulp, or even none at all using soda ash. The problem of dioxin contamination of rivers is avoided in the hemp paper making process, which does not need to use chlorine bleach (as the wood pulp paper making process requires) but instead safely substitutes hydrogen peroxide in the bleaching process. ... If the new (1916) hemp pulp paper process were legal today, it would soon replace about 70% of all wood pulp paper, including computer printout paper, corrugated boxes and paper bags.

These findings by the USDA triggered opposition from William Randolph Hearst and DuPont, as hemp was a direct competitor with products they produced. (See the DuPont and William Randolph Hearst section for further information)

Criminalization (1900s)

Racial underpinnings

In 1910, recreational marijuana use was introduced to American culture when large amounts of Mexicans immigrated to the United States due to the Mexican Revolution. Anti-drug campaigners claimed that terrible crimes were a result of Mexicans who used marijuana. In the 1930, during the Great Depression, research linked the use of marijuana with violence and crime primarily committed by minorities; growing unemployment increased resentment and fear of Mexicans and 29 states had outlawed marijuana by 1931.

Harry J. Anslinger, the nation's first drug czar, publicly spoke about marijuana's effects; for example, Anslinger claimed, "[African American]'s satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others"

Federal Bureau of Narcotics (1930)

FBN public service announcement used in the late 1930s and 1940s

The use of cannabis and other drugs came under increasing scrutiny after the formation of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) in 1930, headed by Harry J. Anslinger. As part of the government's broader push to outlaw all drugs, Anslinger claimed marijuana caused people to commit violent crime, act irrational, and act overly sexual. The FBN produced propaganda films promoting Anslinger's views and Anslinger often commented to the press regarding his views on marijuana. 1944, the LaGuardia Commission conducted the first in-depth study of marijuana, which contradicted the earlier findings of addiction, madness, and overt sexuality.

Uniform State Narcotic Act (1932)

As a result of the Uniform State Narcotic Act, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics encouraged state governments to adopt the Narcotic Drug Import and Export Act of 1922, which banned use of narcotics except for approved medicinal use.

Marihuana Tax Act (1937)

The 1937 Marihuana Tax Act made possession or transfer of marijuana illegal throughout the United States under federal law, excluding medical and industrial uses, in which an expensive excise tax was required. The American Medical Association (AMA) opposed the act because the tax was imposed on physicians prescribing marijuana, retail pharmacists selling marijuana, and medical marijuana cultivation/manufacturing; instead of enacting the Marihuana Tax Act, the AMA proposed marijuana be added to the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act.

DuPont and William Randolph Hearst

The decision of the United States Congress to pass the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act 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.

Marijuana activtist Jack Herer has researched DuPont and has concluded Dupont played a large role in the criminalization of cannabis. In 1938, DuPont patented the processes for creating plastics from coal and oil and a new process for creating paper from wood pulp. If hemp would have been largely exploited, it would have likely been used to make paper and plastic, and would have hurt DuPont’s profits. Andrew Mellon of the Mellon FinancialMellon Bank was DuPont's chief financial backer and was also the Secretary of Treasury under the Hoover administration. Mellon appointed Harry J. Anslinger, who later became his nephew-in-law, as the head of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (FBNDD) and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), where Mellon stayed until 1962.

Hemp was a relatively easy target because factories already had made large investments in equipment to handle cotton, wool, and linen, but there were relatively small investments in hemp production and there was a misconception hemp had an intoxicating effect because it has the same active substance, THC, which is in potent marijuana strains; however, hemp only has minimal amount of THC when compared to recreational marijuana strains.

Mandatory sentencing (1952, 1956)

Mandatory sentencing and increased punishment were enacted when the United States Congress passed the Boggs Act of 1952 and the Narcotics Control Act of 1956. The acts made a first time marijuana possession offense a minimum of two to ten years with a fine up to $20,000; however, in 1970, the United States Congress repelled mandatory penalties for marijuana offenses.

Reorganization (1968, 1973)

In 1968, the United States Department of the Treasury subsidiary Bureau of Narcotics and the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare subsidiary Bureau of Drug Abuse Control merged to create the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs as a United States Department of Justice subsidiary.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon's Reorganization Plan Number Two proposed the creation of a single federal agency to enforce federal drug laws and Congress accepted the proposal, as there was concern regarding the growing availability of drugs. As a result, on July 1, 1973, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) and the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement (ODALE) merged together to create the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Mandatory sentencing and three-strikes (1984, 1986)

During the Reagan Administration the Sentencing Reform Act provisions of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 created the Sentencing Commission, witch established mandatory sentencing guidelines. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 reinstated mandatory prison sentences, including large scale marijuana distribution. Later an amendment created a three-strikes law, which created mandatory life sentences for repeat drug offenders and allowed the death penalty to be used against "drug kingpins."

United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative (2001)

On May 142001, the United States Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Coop that federal anti-drug laws do not permit an exception for medical marijuana and rejected the common-law medical necessity defense to crimes enacted under the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970, regardless of state law.

Gonzales v. Riach (2005)

Gonzales v. Raich ruled in a 6-3 decision that the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution allowed the federal government to ban the use of marijuana, including medical use.

Decriminalization (1970s—2000s)

Medical use

United States marijuana laws. Blue represents states with medical cannabis laws; Orange represents vstates with decriminalized laws; purple represents states with both.

In 1978, Robert Randall sued the federal government for arresting him for using marijuana to treat his glaucoma. The judge ruled Randall needed marijuana for medical purposes and required the Food and Drug Administration set up a program to grow marijuana on a farm at the University of Mississippi and to distribute 300 marijuana cigarettes a month to Randall. In 1992, George H. W. Bush discontinued the program after Randall tried to make AIDS patients eligible for the program. At the time, thirteen people were already enrolled and were allowed to continue receiving marijuana cigarettes; however, since 1992, six of the patients have died and currently the government only ships marijuana cigarettes to seven persons. Irvin Rosenfeld, who became eligible to receive marijuana from the program in 1982 to treat rare bone tumors, has urged the George W. Bush administration to reopen the program; however, he has been unsuccessful.

In 1996, California passed the Compassionate Use Act, which decriminalized medical marijuana by enacting laws that allow regulated marijuana consumption, possession, cultivation, and distribution for medicinal use; since then eleven states have enacted similar laws. As a result of the court rulings of United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative and Gonzales v. Raich, and the classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug, the Federal government does not permit marijuana to be used medically; the DEA taken an active stance against medical marijuana and often raids marijuana dispensories.

In 1972, 1995, and 2002, petitions for marijuana rescheduling in the United States were filed to remove marijuana from the "Schedule I" category of tightly-restricted drugs that have no medical use, as the Controlled Substance Act allows the executive branch to decriminalize medical and recreational use of marijuana without any action by Congress depending on the findings of the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services on certain scientific and medical issues specified by the Act.

Non-medical use

Places that have decriminalized marijuana in the United States After the 1960s, a time characterized by widespread use of marijuana as a recreational drug, a wave of legislation in America sought to reduce the penalties for the simple possession of marijuana, making it punishable by confiscation and/or a fine rather than imprisonment. Some of the first examples of decriminalization in drug policy were found in Alabama, when state judges decided to no longer impose five year mandatory minimum sentences for small possession (one marijuana cigarette); Missouri, when their legislature reformed statutes that made second possession offences no longer punishable by life in prison; and in Georgia, when that state revised second sale offences to minors no longer punishable by death.

In 1970, the United States Congress repelled mandatory penalties for marijuana offenses and The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act separated marijuana from other illicit narcotics and removed mandatory sentences for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

In 1972 President Richard Nixon commissioned a comprehensive study from the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse. The Commission found that the constitutionality of marijuana prohibition was suspect, and that the executive and legislative branches had a responsibility to obey the Constitution, even in the absence of a court ruling to do so. The Richard Nixon administration did not implement the study's recommendations. However, the report has frequently been cited by individuals supporting cannabis rescheduling in the United States. (View Report)

In 1973 Oregon decriminalized marijuana and Colorado, Alaska, Ohio, and California followed suit in 1975. By 1978, Mississippi, North Carolina, New York, and Nebraska had some form of marijuana decriminalization. In 2001, Nevada reduced marijuana possession from a felony offence to a misdemeanor.

Starting the 1970s, multiple states, counties, and cities decriminalized marijuana for non-medical purposes. While many states, counties, and cities have partially decriminalized marijuana, on November 3, 2004, Oakland passed Proposition Z, and became the first place to fully decriminalize marijuana to allow the licensing, taxing, and regulation of marijuana sales if California law is amended to allow so. (see Places that have decriminalized marijuana in the United States for further information).