Marijuana is not just used for smoking, it is used as hemp and in the past they used it to make paper, rope and canvas. Hemp could produce four times more paper than any regular tree and the harvesting would take 3-4 months, rather than 40-50 years that a tree took. It became a problem to the paper making companies because hemp would take them out of business. These paper companies had connections in the U.S. congress, so that is what began the Marihuana Tax Act in 1937. After the Tax Act in 1937 marijuana ended up becoming illegal due to conspiracies from paper companies and racism against the black.
Test for California’s pot economy (Article 08827729). Retrieved from KU library: http://web.ebscohost.com.kaplan.uah.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=119&sid=71012fd6-b5db-4aa5-ac1f-844652e8df3d%40sessionmgr111&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=43433489#db=aph&AN=43433489 Wood, D. B. (2009, November 22). Medical marijuana gains momentum -- 13 states and counting. (web site 45635198).
Harry J. Anslinger, a prohibitionist, became the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1930. He held the position until 1962. In the 1930s, bales of marijuana (called muggles), tea and reefer were arriving in southern port cities such as New Orleans via West Indian sailors. Jazz musicians travelled north and took marijuana with them, making reefer parties popular in many major cities along the way. In 1936, the propaganda film "Reefer Madness" was made n an attempt to scare young Americans away from using marijuana.
The topic of legalizing marijuana is a very controversial issue in American politics today. Marijuana has been vilified in America for over 70 years. Despite it’s many practical uses, medicinal and industrial, our Federal government insists on maintaining the status quo that the growth, possession and use of marijuana is criminal despite the evidence that the legalization of marijuana would have a positive influence on America. The illegality of marijuana has hurt society more than it has helped, legalization would benefit America both economically and medically. Twenty years ago, only 16% of the public said the use of marijuana should be legal and 81% said it should not be legal.
However, the illegal cultivation of marijuana cost taxpayer money and puts citizens’ and law informant’s lives in danger. Publication highlight the risk citizens and law informants take when entering many part of California’s public lands. Mexican drug gangs cultivate illegal marijuana farms on public land across California and kill to protect their marijuana
Greenhaven Press, 2011. Legal Community Against Violence (LCAV),"America Caught in the Crossfire: How Concealed Carry Laws Threaten Public Safety," December 11, 2009. www.lcav.org/concealedcarry/. Copyright © 2009 by Legal Community Against Violence (LCAV). Reproduced by permission. Ted Lewis "The United States Should End the War on Drugs and Strictly Control Gun Sales “Mexico.
Web. 17 Jul. 2013 Block, R.I. et al., “Acute Effects of Marijuana on Cognition: Relationships to Chronic Effects and Smoking Techniques.” Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 43 (1992): 907-917. Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. “Legalization: Panacea or Pandora’s Box”.
J. (2010). Medical Marijuana 2010: It's Time to Fix the Regulatory Vacuum. Journal Of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 38(3), 654-666. doi:10.1111/j.1748-720X.2010.00519.x Dresser, R. (2009). Irrational basis: the legal status of medical marijuana.
This is the idea that a person who uses Marijuana will become addicted to harsher drugs such as Heroin, Cocaine, Angel Dust, and other potentially deadly drugs. The reasoning behind this is that a person who usually buys Marijuana, buys it from a dealer who also sells other drugs as well. The dealer after a while will offer the buyer a newer drug, and supposedly the buyer would accept, thus the gateway theory. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. In 1944 “The LaGuardia Report” was released, this was a report that studied the gateway effects and other associated Marijuana myths.
According to The World Health Organization, even though the United States has more stringent marijuana laws than the United Kingdom, the United States’ use rates among teenagers are significantly higher (Backett). Recall that when alcohol was prohibited, not only did the demand go up but so did the supply— exactly what can be seen with marijuana in today’s underground economy. This insatiable demand creates a vacuum between the United States and Mexico, where foreign marijuana is smuggled into the country, thus causing the drug czars to become rich off of American money which they may use, in part, to supplement their weaponry needs. So, through a chain of processes, Prohibition is actually fueling the very thing it is made to prevent. Marijuana’s Underground With the black-market marijuana industry becoming increasingly wealthy, the drug czars, are finding themselves dealing with several competitors.