Marijuana’s controversial history of Legality

Marijuana wasn’t always such a controversial topic; the recreational and medical usage of the plant has been used for thousands of years, with evidence of its use being recorded from as early as twelve-thousand years ago( psychedelics encyclopedia). Its early usage in Asia and the Indian subcontinent was primarily for rituals and to experience religious trances (cannabis and culture). Furthermore, cannabis was used for medical and therapeutic assistance, primarily to relieve patients of their pain.

By the early 1800s, there had been no legislation that prohibited, criminalized, or even outlawed marijuana in the United States. Instead, marijuana, primarily in the form of  “hemp fiber from the plant was used to make clothes, paper, and rope. Sometimes it was used medicinally, but as a recreational drug, it wasn’t that widespread” (Pagano 1 Washington Post).In the United States, the origins of sentiment surrounding marijuana were somewhat positive, as an article from a New York Times newspaper, dated from 1876, “even cites the positive use of cannabis to cure a patient’s dropsy. Basically swelling from an accumulation of fluid” (Pagano 1 Washington post).

It wasn’t until the early 1900s when a massive influx of Mexican immigrants had arrived in the United States that recreational marijuana smoking becomes popular and prevalent in the United States. However, it is critical to note that cannabis had become illegal in Mexico by 1920, and a very slight population of Mexican immigrants regularly smoked marijuana. Additionally, prior to the criminalization of the drug, Mexican immigrants were able to cultivate, distribute, and sell marijuana, in order to make needed profits – especially as newcomers to a nation where racial prejudice was on the rise. A prime example is Moses Baca. However, once the criminalization of marijuana occurred he became one of the first individuals in the United States to be convicted of marijuana possession.

The Nativist movement had a revival subsequent to the emigration of Mexican immigrants, in high numbers; the movement of Nativism is characterized by prejudice of immigrants but also, during this time period, by protecting the sanctity of America by anything “impure” which included alcohol, and essentially anything outside of the values reflected by their Old Money, Old immigrant background. This prejudice of the WASPY nativists rejected anything that caused a threat to this image was decidedly foreign. This included marijuana; thus, came the push to criminalize the substance.

If Yellow Journalism was a scare tactic of decades bygone, the film “Reefer Madness” was certainly the 1930s equivalent. The film characterized teenagers who had first smoked marijuana as experiencing hallucinations, murder, and even rape. The film portrayed cannabis as a fatalistic drug with devastating effects. This film came out one year prior to the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937.  However, the act was strongly opposed by medical professionals, who recognized the benefits of the drug.

Several decades later, under President Nixon, the infamous initiative to promote the War on Drugs began, following the memorable rebellion of the once-young Baby Boomers’ hippie movement which appropriated the consumption of marijuana.

The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 deemed marijuana a schedule I class drug – alongside heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. This essentially made no sense, as marijuana has proved medical properties, yet was classified as an illicit substance in the same domain as potentially fatal, highly addictive substances. Anti-drug programs even targetted and emphasized the fact that marijuana is an always harmful gateway drug.

Currently, in the United States, there is a growing of acceptance of smoking cannabis. As of early 2018, approximately sixty-two percent of Americans approve of marijuana being legalized, throughout the nation. Furthermore, marijuana has been becoming more and more popular and the trend is likely to continue to grow.