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Should States Be Allowed to Construct Their Own Marijuana Laws?
America's first marijuana law was enacted at Jamestown Colony, Virginia in 1619. It was a law "ordering" all farmers to grow Indian hempseed. However, after many years and exceeding public scrutiny, marijuana first became illegal due to the Marijuana Stamp Tax Act passed in 1937. This act prohibited the use, sale, and growing of marijuana. It was made illegal because, at the time, no-one understood why smoking marijuana made people feel the way they did, and because it was associated with having “evil” properties and linked to so-called "immoral people." Today marijuana remains illegal due to an unwavering drug policy and because, according to our government and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), research has shown some intoxicating effects, such as hallucinations, anxiety, depression, and extreme variability of mood, and paranoia lasting up to six hours.
In the days before there were public health inspectors directed by a Food and Drug Administration, there was a high degree of uncertainty as to the safety, purity and effectiveness of medicine. Since the turn of the twentieth century, however, the federal government has strengthened not only its oversight role for the benefit of consumers, but restricted what drugs may be considered medicine and sold or prescribed by doctors. Cannabis, or marijuana, is one such drug that the government has classified as a narcotic that has no medicinal value. Yet, many individuals and medical experts have countered the government’s position on cannabis with claims that marijuana is a legitimate medicine that is being denied to seriously ill people. Whether individuals are deprived of liberty when the government interferes in their ability to use (or choose) marijuana is hotly contested between advocates for the drug and those who oppose legal access. Advocates argue that unrestricted access to marijuana reflects their belief that...