Controversies Of Marijuana Legalization

Tristan Galindo

Professor Schander

POLISC01

The controversies of the legalization of marijuana have long existed and dynamically changed in perception and law interpretation over the years in the United States. It’s important to understand the source of the opinion of marijuana and it’s origins. The use of marijuana for domestic production in the United States dates back as early as the 1600’s to the late 1800’s. The fibrous content found in the hemp plant was commonly used for manufacturing ropes, clothes, and sails until it was replaced by the production of cotton (Narconon, 2015). Although marijuana has been used for centuries for medical purposes in a wide range of cultures, it’s recreational use in the U.S. dates back to the escaping

California, Utah, Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana were just the first states that outlawed the drug. According to author Larry Sloman, “states usually banned [it’s use] when faced with significant numbers of Mexicans or Negros utilizing the drug.” Early laws commonly treated its use as more of an annoyance from its users (8-10 Times). The era of prohibition in the 1920s brought up new differing opinions on marijuana usage. Recreational use was found in jazz clubs later influencing other genres and social groups. The passing of the Harrison Act of 1914 gave federal control of the regulation of narcotics, and in response to uncontainable crime in New Orleans, District Attorney Eugene Stanley and head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics; Harry Anslinger placed blame on the strong influence of marijuana in correlation to crime. The formation of the Harrison Act was masked as a tax act from which arose the passing the Marihuana Act of 1937. The act attempted to isolate production and pinched registered and unregistered handlers. The act was later discredited in a 1966 Supreme Court case, Leary v. United States on the grounds of the Fifth Amendment that

The act separated drugs in five levels according to their abuse potential, harmfulness, known abuse, and medical abuse. At the time medical authorities and the presidential commission of marijuana viewed it as a mild hallucinogen that should be rescheduled and decriminalized. Yet despite efforts, marijuana remained a Schedule I drug and Nixon opened his second term with the establishment of the DEA, a federal death penalty, and life sentences for drug dealers. Following the Reagan administration, the federal government expensed up to $196 million in a shifted emphasis on punishment and surveillance over actual drug treatment, and continued even after in George HW Bush’s came into office in a just say no campaign. (13-17 Times). Fast forward to 1990s, the CompStat system rewarded cops for low-level pot busts and as a result, arrests for marijuana increased by 113% (18 Times). Previous allegations of marijuana altered from a public nuisance, to idea of being just as dangerous as heroin and cocaine when in fact many of these claims were not scientifically supported and opposition was quickly silenced