A brief history of Cannabis Sativa in the United States
Excuse the personal reference but my introduction to Cannabis came in 1963 when I moved to California. In those days a friend would remove the top of a Mason jar and fill it with hard pressed Mexican weed and ask for a $10 bill, hence came the term "A Lid ". Now that I have divulged my age let me continue with this chronology.
The history of marijuana
in the United States is as old as the country itself. American production of hemp was encouraged
by the government in the 17th century for the production of rope, sails and
clothing. In 1619 the Virginia Assembly passed legislation requiring every farmer
to grow hemp. Hemp was allowed to be exchanged as legal tender in Pennsylvania,
Virginia and Maryland. Domestic production flourished until after the Civil War when imports and other domestic materials replaced hemp for many purposes.
In the late nineteenth century marijuana became a popular ingredient in many
medicinal products and was sold openly in public pharmacies. In 1906 the Pure
Food and Drug Act required labeling of any cannabis contained in
over-the-counter remedies.
1914 Federal Reserve Note showing a farmer harvesting hemp
It
was at about this time politics became a factor in the attitudes about cannabis
in this country. After the Mexican Revolution of 1910 Mexican immigrants flooded
into the U.S. introducing to American culture the recreational use of marijuana.
The drug became associated with the immigrants and the fear and prejudice about
the Spanish speaking newcomers became associated with marijuana. Anti-drug
campaigners warned against the encroaching "Marijuana Menace" and terrible crimes
were attributed to marijuana and the Mexicans who used it. During the Great
Depression massive unemployment increased public resentment and fear of Mexican
immigrants escalating public and governmental concern about the problem of
marijuana. This instigated a flurry of research which linked the use of
marijuana with violence, crime and other socially deviant behaviors primarily
committed by racially inferior or underclass communities. By 1931 twenty
nine states had outlawed marijuana.
In 1932 concern about the rising use of marijuana and research
linking its use with crime and other social problems created pressure on the
federal government to take action. Rather than promoting federal legislation the
Federal Bureau of Narcotics strongly encouraged state governments to accept
responsibility for control of the problem by adopting the Uniform State Narcotic
Act. After a lurid national propaganda campaign against the evil weed Congress
passed the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937. The statute effectively criminalized
marijuana restricting possession of the drug to individuals who paid an excise
tax for certain authorized medical and industrial uses.
During
World War II, imports of hemp and other materials crucial for producing marine
cordage, parachutes and other military necessities became scarce. In response
the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched its Hemp for Victory program
encouraging farmers to plant hemp by giving out seeds and granting draft
deferments to those who would stay home and grow hemp. By 1943 American farmers
registered in the program harvested 375,000 acres of hemp. In 1944 the New York
Academy of Medicine issued an extensively researched report declaring that
contrary to earlier research and popular belief use of marijuana did not induce
violence, insanity or sex crimes, or lead to addiction or other drug use. Even
so politics once more entered the picture and enactment of federal laws (Boggs
Act, 1952; Narcotics Control Act, 1956) set mandatory sentences for drug-related
offenses including marijuana. A first-offense marijuana possession carried a
minimum sentence of 2-10 years with a fine of up to $20,000.
In the 60’s a changing political and cultural climate was reflected in more lenient attitudes towards marijuana. Use of the drug became widespread in the white upper middle class and on college campuses. Reports commissioned by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson found that marijuana use did not induce violence nor lead to use of heavier drugs. Policy towards marijuana began to involve considerations of treatment as well as criminal penalties. In 1968 there was a merger of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and the Bureau of Dangerous Drugs of the Food and Drug Administration. Congress repealed most of the mandatory penalties for drug-related offenses. It was widely acknowledged that the mandatory minimum sentences of the 1950s had done nothing to eliminate the drug culture that embraced marijuana use throughout the 60's and that the minimum sentences imposed were often unduly harsh. The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act categorized marijuana separately from other narcotics and eliminated mandatory federal sentences for possession of small amounts. It was then that the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) was founded.
Once again politics became a factor when dissention amongst college students and the counter culture against the war in Vietnam prompted Nixon to take action. Even though the bipartisan Shafer Commission, appointed by President Nixon at the direction of Congress considered laws regarding the personal use of marijuana be decriminalized Nixon rejected the recommendation. As state statutes superceded those by the federal government over the course of the 1970's eleven states decriminalized marijuana and most others reduced their penalties. Nixon's response to this was to create the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), a merger of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNND) and the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement (ODALE). A nationwide movement emerged of conservative parents' groups lobbying for stricter regulation of marijuana and the prevention of drug use by teenagers. Some of these groups became quite powerful and, with the support of the DEA and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) were instrumental in affecting public attitudes which led to the 1980s War on drugs.
Enter the
politics of Ronald Reagan and later those of George Bush. President Reagan
signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act instituting mandatory sentences for drug-related
crimes. In conjunction with the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 the new
law raised federal penalties for marijuana possession and dealing, basing the
penalties on the amount of the drug involved. Possession of 100 marijuana plants
received the same penalty as possession of 100 grams of heroin. A later
amendment to the Anti-Drug Abuse Act established a three strikes and you're out
policy requiring life sentences for repeat drug offenders and providing for the
death penalty for drug kingpins.
In 1989 President George Bush declares a new
War on Drugs in a nationally televised speech. I have addressed my thoughts on
this “War on Drugs”
previously on this site, a view
shared by many Americans.
In addition to its' medicinal value marijuana is one of the most likely candidates for the production of methanol. An acre of marijuana will produce a thousand gallons of methanol or 500 gallons of gasoline. Hemp stems are 80% hurds (pulp byproduct after the hemp fiber is removed from the plant). Hemp hurds are 77% cellulose–a primary chemical feed stock (industrial raw material) used in the production of chemicals, plastics and fibers. Depending on which U.S. agricultural report is correct, an acre of full grown hemp plants can sustainably provide from four to 50 or even 100 times the cellulose found in cornstalks, kenaf, or sugar cane–the planet’s next highest annual cellulose plants. Research by various hemp business associations indicate there are around 50,000 non-smoking commercial uses for hemp that are economically viable and market competitive. Last year, Canadian farmers planted 48,060 acres of hemp. Even so, the United States government (having an oil friendly attitude) requires would be hemp farmers to pay a non-refundable $2293 registration fee to the DEA in order to determine if they are permitted to grow hemp commercially. Eighty-two percent of all your money or roughly 33 of every 40 hours you work goes to pay for the ultimate energy cost in the goods and services you purchase, including transportation, heating, cooking, and lighting. Americans – 5% of world population – in our insatiable drive for greater “net worth” and “productivity,” use 25-40% of the world’s energy. The hidden cost to the environment cannot be measured. And even though the California Industrial Hemp Farming Act passed its final vote in the Senate on August 16, 2006 by a vote of 26-13 and passed in the Assembly on August 21st by a vote of 44-29 it was vetoed (a second time in two consecutive years) by Governor Schwarzenegger. Will this madness ever end?