The marijuana legalization movement has blazed a forward path by slowly\nopening minds and challenging archaic laws and regulations. Much work is\nstill needed to redeem this useful plant from the toxic mythology that\ngrew up around it, however. A little bit of history can illuminate just\nhow that mythology took root.
\nJack Herer, an iconic figure in the marijuana legalization movement,\nwrote a fascinating history of the marijuana plant and its political and\nsocial history. It's an interesting story and, like many American\nstories, we find it tracking along the lines of corporate conspiracy,\npolitical corruption, social propaganda and a legacy of racism and\ncriminalization. We've summarized some of the key plot points below. Be\nsure to check out the whole story on his\nwebsite.
\nFarming and Industry
\nIn 1938, two innovations stood poised to shake up markets, transform\nindustry and bring a new economy to the fore. Industrial hemp\ndecorticating devices designed by scientists at the US Department of\nAgriculture in 1916 were both fully operational and economically\nfeasible. It seemed the plant was poised to revitalize the American farm\nand transform both agriculture and industry. The plan involved not just\nthe green buds, but utilized the pulpy stalks to make paper, an\nexploding market back at the beginning of the mid-20th century. The\neconomic and ecological benefits resulting from the cultivation and\nproduction of pulp paper might have saved countless forests from\ndecimation, preserved ground water from contamination, and softened the\nimpact of the great depression. What happened?
\nBarriers to Market
\nAt the same moment, the Dupont family had patented an industrial process\nfor making plastics from coal and paper from wood pulp. Eager to corner\nthe paper market and to fend off competition for a whole host of\nsynthetic products made of nylon, the company realized that hemp, once\nit was converted into an industry of scale, would be one of its largest\ncompetitors. One of Dupont's largest investors, Andrew Mellon, was\nserving in the Hoover administration as the Secretary of Treasury.\nMellon tapped Harry J. Anslinger, his soon-to-be nephew, to run the\nFederal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Interestingly,\nAnslinger had already served as prohibition commissioner in the era of\nalcohol prohibition.
\nEnter sensational newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, who had\ninvested heavily in timber and had a vested interest in keeping hemp off\nthe market. A propaganda\ncampaign\nensued, and the toxic misrepresentations still haunt us today. Anslinger\nand Hearst begin to produce\nfilms, stories and other\nsensational\nreports\nthat maligned marijuana users as deranged and violent. It targeted\nMexicans, Chinese and black Americans as the bad guys. They tied\nmarijuana use to everything the public\nfeared\nmost and branded its users as rapists and beasts out to destroy white\nculture. Sound familiar?
\nIt didn't take long, between regressive taxes and vicious propaganda,\nfor marijuana to become associated in the public mind with every kind of\ndeviance and violence. Anslinger testified before Congress that\nmarijuana was \"the most violence-causing drug in the history of the\nworld.\" The marijuana tax of 1937 regulated the plant and made its trade\nand possession illegal. The economic and ecological benefits that hemp\nhad promised vanished almost overnight.
\nSince that time, marijuana has continued to be a potent weapon in the\nhands of policy makers and politicians who need a scapegoat. The\noriginal campaign against marijuana provided a template for forwarding\nsocial and economic agendas.
\nThe 60's and the Rise of Stigma
\nIn the 60s, marijuana use was associated with the rising anti-war\nmovement. Although marijuana became more openly acceptable in some\ncircles, publicly it was demonized, often in association with other\ndangerous compounds and synthetic drugs. As the streets became saturated\nwith heavier drugs such as heroin and cocaine, marijuana was considered\nguilty by association and framed as a gateway drug. In the meantime, the\nwar against drugs was often posited in nationalistic and geopolitical\nterms.
\nToday, these associations linger. People still believe that marijuana\nuse is responsible for empowering Mexican drug cartels, instead of\nunderstanding how legalization and thoughtful regulation policies would\nmake the import of marijuana from Mexico completely irrelevant. In fact,\nthe growth of powerful cartels was a result of the criminalization of\nmarijuana, and their decline can be linked to our changing\npolicies.
\nAn autopsy of our history of marijuana policies reveals a tortured logic\nthat tries very much to shape itself as a moral authority but fails at\nevery turn. Even a surface glance reveals some painful contradictions.\nAs marijuana entrepreneurs experiment with marijuana extracts in\nhigh-tech labs, many others, often individuals of color, have forfeited\ntheir futures to the American justice system and are living out life\nsentences in prison. Opportunities to correct these injustices are\nmanifest, but the federal government has declined again and again to\npass comprehensive laws that would limit selective punishment and make\nmarijuana an opportunity for all. Whether pursuing the plant from the\nbusiness side or as a medicine that has been shown to mitigate\nsuffering\nwithout the harsh side effects of synthetic drugs.
\nConclusion
\nIn a nutshell, the criminalization of marijuana came about because the\nfinancial potential of hemp was too threatening to captains of industry\nthreatened by competition. In the 1930s, Harry J. Anslinger, who had\njust lost his position running the defunct alcohol prohibition agency,\nwas appointed to oversee the enforcement of drug laws. He was appointed\nby a powerful relative a huge position in Dupont, which saw hemp as a\ndanger to its profits. Meanwhile, William Randolph Hearst, the\ninspiration for Citizen Kane, had investments in timber to keep the\npresses rolling at his sensationalist newspaper. Despite the lack of\nscientific studies, the public perception of marijuana as a gateway drug\nremained in the public eye. This year, the Supreme Court upheld\nColorado's thriving cannabis ecosystem against its punitive-minded\nneighbors, but the official federal policy hasn't changed. What the\nnation needs is for marijuana to be regulated sensibly and fairly, as a\nnational resource, and not demonized or used as a tool for moral panics.
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