Why did Marijuana Become Illegal? 

      See our companion page:   Marijuana Trivia - Facts You Probably Didn't Know (and more cool photos)

So many battles have been fought over marijuana, so many billions of government dollars expended, so many millions of people incarcerated and lives ruined. How many ask: where did marijuana come from? How and when did marijuana become illegal? Why did the United States Federal Government criminalize it in 1937?

A Brief History of Marijuana.

Marijuana is without question whatsoever, the world’s most popular drug. Only in the last 100 years did it plummet from grace. Until the United States Government effectively banned its possession and use in 1937, marijuana was legal, at least for medicinal uses, in every state of the union. Since then, over 20 million Americans have been arrested, convicted, and incarcerated for marijuana crimes.

Marijuana has been around since the dawn of recorded history; the first known use of marijuana dates to 7,000 B.C. Marijuana was used as a medicinal herb by the ancient Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans for stomach ailments, cramps, and pain. Marijuana, like opium and heroin, has its roots in Asia. How it found its way to the Americas is somewhat of a mystery. Historians speculate that Napoleon brought marijuana to Europe in 1804 following his military exploits, and then European immigrants brought it with them to the U.S. Marijuana was probably first brought to Latin America by Spanish conquistadors in the 1500 -1600's. Hispanic migrant laborers are thought to have brought it across the U.S. border in the early 1900's.

Marijuana was first used in the U.S. for medicinal purposes in the 1800's, however, the cannabis (hemp) plant fiber had been used for thousands of years. Hemp fiber was the main ingredient of the first woven fabric. Hemp was used to make rope, twine, cloth, and paper among other things. The word 'canvas' originated from the Latin term cannapaceus or “made of hemp.”  The 'sheets' that powered the ships of old were made of hemp canvas because the sun and salt water rapidly deteriorated cotton fabrics. Canvas sails were extremely durable and could withstand the elements. Canvas was used for the covered wagons of pioneers on their westward journey, and the original Levi's Jeans were made of old canvas sails.

Although marijuana had been around for a long time, widespread use of marijuana as a recreational drug did not become widespread until alcohol was banned during Prohibition (1920 - 1933). Prior to that, marijuana had been used in the Americas for hundreds of years for its medicinal qualities. As soon as the government banned alcohol, marijuana took its place and consumption soared. Once alcohol was legal again, use of marijuana steeply declined.

Farmers harvesting hemp in 1940's for WWII	An old hemp thresher

Although the spelling ‘marijuana’ is the most common, almost all federal and state laws, including Michigan, use the alternate ‘marihuana’ spelling. Prior to the passage of The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, American's referred to it as: hemp, ganja, cannabis, or hashish. The term marihuana was a slang term used by Spanish speaking migrant laborers (i.e. in the drinking song: "La Cucaracha").

There is evidence that the drafters of The Marihuana Tax Stamp Act of 1937 intentionally used the slang spelling 'marihuana' to avoid an outcry and heated opposition from both the medical community and the booming hemp industry. When the Marihuana Stamp Act was called for a vote on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, one Representative asked what the Bill was about. The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (Sam Rayburn) replied, "I don't know. It has something to do with something called marihuana. I think it's a narcotic of some kind."

Hemp oil was used as a lubricant, water repellant, and in the manufacture of paint. Tincture of cannabis was used in a majority of tonics and patent medicines to relieve headaches, muscle aches, and pain. In the year 1935, over 116 million pounds of hemp seed were used for paint or varnish, and hemp production was poised to become a billion dollar renewable energy crop in 1938.

It is a little known fact that Henry Ford spent considerable time and money to design a car with an engine that would run on hemp gasoline and created a prototype car constructed from plastic panels made of hemp, wheat, and sisal fibers. The panels had an impact strength 10 times that of steel, did not dent, and the car weighed 1000 lbs less than its steel counterpart. After marijuana and hemp were outlawed, gasoline and plastics were made instead from crude oil.

The States Outlaw Marijuana.

State governments were the first to attack marijuana usage. The first significant cannabis regulation appeared in 1906 in Washington, D.C. The state of California was the first to outlaw “preparations of hemp or loco weed” in (1913). Other states soon followed: Wyoming (1915); Texas (1919), Iowa (1923), Nevada (1923), Oregon (1923), Washington (1923), Arkansas (1923), and Nebraska (1927). 

By 1930, sixteen states had banned the use of marijuana except for medicinal purposes. Elsewhere, marijuana recreational usage was legal in every state of the union. 

The states which banned marijuana were primarily in the south and southwest, where economics and prejudice played a role. During The Great Depression (1929 - 1941), migrant workers from Mexico were no longer needed nor welcome. Since many of the migrant laborers smoked marihuana, it was thought that banning marihuana would encourage the migrant laborers to return home, thus freeing up jobs for unemployed Americans. Other states such as New Orleans, which banned marijuana usage in 1924, blamed cannabis for its high crime rate.

The Federal Government Criminalizes Marihuana.

The push to ban cocaine and opium (and later marihuana) at the federal level ran into a serious obstacle: the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." In short, there was simply no authority which would allow the federal government to override the laws of the states and prohibit Americans from ingesting whatever substances they chose.

The push to ban cocaine and opium (and later marihuana) at the federal level ran into a serious obstacle: the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." In short, there was simply no authority which would allow the federal government to override the laws of the states and prohibit Americans from ingesting whatever substances they chose.

A clever idea emerged which would circumvent the United States Constitutional limitations; instead of an (unconstitutional) outright ban on narcotic drugs, the federal government could instead use its taxing powers to tax -- and thus regulate -- its importation and usage.

The Harrison Act of 1914, which 'taxed' cocaine and opiates, was the federal governments first attempt to criminalize and outlaw narcotic drugs such as opium, heroin, morphine, and cocaine. The proponents of the Harrison Act played on populace fears of “drug-crazed, sex-mad negroes” and made references to negroes under the influence of drugs murdering whites, degenerate Mexicans smoking marijuana, and Chinamen seducing white women with drugs. Medical doctors testified that drugs made blacks uncontrollable, gave them superhuman powers and caused them to rebel against white authority; one doctor brazenly testified at a congressional hearing:  "most of the attacks upon the white women of the South are the direct result of a cocaine-crazed Negro brain." -- Dr. Christopher Koch, State Pharmacy Board of Pennsylvania.

The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) was established in 1930, and the naming of Harry J. Anslinger as its director has been called the beginning of the war against marijuana. With the help of the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, Anslinger began the campaign to make marijuana illegal at the federal level.

Just as the government had used fear, prejudice, racism, and false stories of violence to 'tax' cocaine and opium products such as heroin and morphine in 1914, the newly formed Bureau of Narcotics used similar themes of uncontrollable violence and falsities to demonize marijuana. Movies and advertisements ran in theaters and in newspapers around the country warning of the evils and dangers of its use: “Beware! Young and Old – People in All Walks of Life! It contains the Killer Drug “Marihuana” – a powerful narcotic in which lurks Murder! Insanity! Death!”  Stories were told of people who became insane and uncontrollable criminals as a result of smoking marijuana. Marihuana was referred to as the Devil’s Harvest.

A movie called 'Reefer Madness' was released in 1936, which showed how the lives of high school students, lured to try marijuana by a drug pusher, spiraled out of control.  The movie depicted a hit and run accident, suicide, homicide, rape, and a rapid descent into madness. The so called ‘evidence’ was later proven to be utterly false.

After a two-hour committee hearing and a 92 second debate on the floor, marijuana was de facto criminalized by Congress with the passage of The Marihuana Tax Stamp Act of 1937 which was signed into law by President Roosevelt. A violation of the Act was a felony with a maximum fine of $2,000 and/or 5 years in prison.

Like the Harrison Act passed twenty-three years earlier, the 1937 Act did not make possession or use of marihuana illegal (as this would run afoul of the Constitution), but instead required that the person possessing it have a tax stamp. In a classic Catch-22 situation, it was a legal impossibility to obtain a marijuana stamp (unless you were a doctor or dentist). For the recreational user, in order to obtain the tax stamp you had to have the marijuana in your hand – which was in itself a five year felony (this same tactic was used during Prohibition in the 1920's to ban machine guns). Not surprisingly, there was not a single recreational marihuana stamp tax ever issued.

The First Casualties & the Aftermath.  

On October 2, 1937, exactly one day after the Marihuana Tax Stamp Act became law, the FBI and Denver police arrested a laborer named Samuel R. Caldwell, age 57, for selling three marijuana cigarettes to a Mexican worker named Moses Baca. FBN Director Harry Anslinger arrived in town for this historic event. Three days later, Baca and Caldwell were indicted and both pled guilty to violating the Marihuana Tax Stamp Act (probably without legal advice). Baca received an 18 month prison sentence in Leavenworth for possessing a quarter ounce. The sentencing judge's statements are indicative of the swill that the propaganda machines had been churning out: "I consider marijuana the worst of all narcotics, far worse than the use of morphine or cocaine. Under its influence men become beasts. Marijuana destroys life itself. I have no sympathy with those who sell this weed. The government is going to enforce this new law to the letter." Samuel Caldwell was given four years hard labor in Leavenworth and fined $1,000.

Marijuana Tax Stamp held Unconstitutional.

In 1969, the United States Supreme Court declared that the Marihuana Tax Stamp Act of 1937 was unconstitutional, because it required that the person seeking a tax stamp incriminate himself, in direct violation of the Fifth Amendment.

The U.S. Congress responded by passing The Controlled Substances Act in 1970, citing 'interstate commerce' as the basis for its authority. The U.S. Supreme Court recognized the so called 'commerce clause' to uphold a series of laws that effectively gutted the Tenth Amendment's reservation of rights to the states and to the people. Congress has since used the 'commerce clause' to justify just about any law it wants.

Marijuana has been illegal under federal law ever since 1937, and the federal government continues to spell it "marihuana" and classify it as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, right alongside heroin, opium, morphine, LSD, and ecstasy. See our Marihuana Crimes and Offenses page for additional information on marijuana crimes and penalties.

Marijuana Today.

Although in 1937 the federal government by fiat determined that marijuana had no medicinal use, numerous subsequent studies have since proven this and every other assertion dead wrong. Scientific study and research of marijuana began in the 1950's and each study has concluded that marijuana has medicinal qualities and surprisingly, that marijuana, unlike narcotics, is not addictive.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that state laws that allow medical marijuana cannot overrule federal laws that prohibit it. Inotherwords, Congress can ban its possession or use even where state law allows it. This court decision did nothing to resolve the conflict between state and federal laws. Recently, the Obama Administration's Department of Justice issued a letter indicating that it would not actively prosecute those who are authorized to grow, possess, and use marijuana under state medicinal laws. See our Medical Marijuana Page for more information.

In 1972 the City of Ann Arbor, Michigan (home of The University of Michigan) made possession of pot within the city limits a civil infraction with a token $5 fine. In 1996 the State of California passed the first medical marijuana law; twelve states subsequently followed its lead. California was rather bold by passing a law allowing for medical marijuana, but then again, California has the eighth largest economy in the world and thus has tremendous financial clout.

Below is a propaganda ad and a movie billboard from the 1930's, which would be amusing, were it not for the fact that many Americans apparently believed it. . .perhaps many still do?

Criminal Defense Attorney Bruce Alan Block is a Grand Rapids, Michigan defense lawyer who represents those accused of crimes. Over the last 18+ years he has successfully handled cases of possession of marijuana, manufacture, delivery, possession with intent to deliver, use of marijuana, and maintaining a drug house. If you could have qualified as a medical marijuana patient or caregiver when arrested, put his experience to work for you.

NOTE: The illustrations on this page are provided as a courtesy. No claim of copyright is made as to any original works. They are provided to assist the reader understand the historical context of the information on this page.

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