nongreenthumb
Well-Known Member
Marijuana has been propagated, for food, fibres, and medicine, for at least five thousand years. Neolithic archaeological sites in China include marijuana seeds and plants. The first known mention of marijuana is in a Chinese medical text of 2737 BC. It was used as medicine throughout Asia and the Middle East to treat a variety of conditions. In India particularly, marijuana was associated with Shiva.
Marijuana was used medicinally in the western world (usually as a tincture) around the middle of the 19th century. It was famously used to treat Queen Victoria's menstrual pains, and was available from shops in the US. By the end of the 19th century its medicinal use began to fall as other drugs such as aspirin took over.
Until 1937, consumption and sale of marijuana was legal in most American states. In some areas it could be openly purchased in bulk from grocers or in cigarette form at newstands, though an increasing number of them had begun to outlaw it. In that year, federal law made possession or transfer of marijuana illegal without the purchase of a by-then incriminating tax stamp throughout the United States (contrary to the advice of the American Medical Association at the time); legal opinions of time held that the federal government could not outlaw it entirely For most of human history, marijuana has been completely legal. It's not a recently discovered plant, nor is it a long-standing law. Marijuana has been illegal for less than 1% of the time that it's been in use. Its known uses go back further than 7,000 B.C. and it was legal as recently as when Ronald Reagan was a boy.
The marijuana (hemp) plant, of course, has an incredible number of uses. The earliest known woven fabric was apparently of hemp, and over the centuries the plant was used for food, incense, cloth, rope, and much more. This adds to some of the confusion over its introduction in the United States, as the plant was well known from the early 1600's, but did not reach public awareness as a recreational drug until the early 1900's.
America's first marijuana law was enacted at Jamestown Colony, Virginia in 1619. It was a law "ordering" all farmers to grow Indian hempseed. There were several other "must grow" laws over the next 200 years (you could be jailed for not growing hemp during times of shortage in Virginia between 1763 and 1767), and during most of that time, hemp was legal tender (you could even pay your taxes with hemp -- try that today!) Hemp was such a critical crop for a number of purposes (including essential war requirements - rope, etc.) that the government went out of its way to encourage growth.
The United States Census of 1850 counted 8,327 hemp "plantations" (minimum 2,000-acre farm) growing marijuana hemp for cloth, canvas and even the cordage used for baling cotton.
A brief history of the criminalization of marijuana
7000-8000 B.C. First woven fabric believed to be from hemp.
1619 Jamestown Colony, Virginia passes law requiring farmers to grow hemp.
1700s Hemp was the primary crop grown by George Washington at Mount Vernon, and a secondary
crop grown by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello.
1884 Maine is the first state to outlaw alcohol.
1906 Pure Food and Drug Act is passed, forming the Food and Drug Administration. First time that
drugs have any government oversight.
1914 Harrison Act passed, outlawing opiates and cocaine (taxing scheme)
1915 Utah passes first state anti-marijuana law.
1919 18th Amendment to the Constitution (alcohol prohibition) is ratified.
1930 Harry J. Anslinger given control of the new Federal Bureau of Narcotics (he remains in the
position until 1967)
1933 21st Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, repealing alcohol prohibition.
1937 Marijuana Tax Act
1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act
1951 Boggs Amendment to the Harrison Narcotic Act (mandatory sentences)
1956 Narcotics Control Act adds more severe penalties
1970 Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act. Replaces and updates all previous
laws concerning narcotics and other dangerous drugs. Empasis on law enforcement. Includes
the Controlled Substances Act, where marijuana is classified a Schedule 1 drug (reserved for
the most dangerous drugs that have no recognized.