Why is cannabis illegal in the United States?
It seems strange to me, there is not one recorded death from cannabis anywhere on earth, the first cannabis related law in the United States was in Jamestown in 1619 ordering farmers to grow it, you could even pay your taxes with it! George Washington grew the plant, and the declaration of independence was written on hemp paper. So after all that, there must be a logical reason why it was made illegal.
Big C is actually the closest to the real answer.
Marijuana was made illegal due to a single man, Harry J. Anslinger, who became director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1930. Remember that 1930 was in the middle of Prohibition, meaning that alcohol was illegal at the time and the puritanicals in power were against all mind altering substances. Also, the Bureau of Narcotics was part of the Treasury Department, which was also in charge of enforcing Prohibition (see Elliot Ness, for example).
Anslinger was quite power hungry (also common in in the BOI and BOP during the 1930’s — see J. Edgar Hoover). Anslinger quickly latched onto marijuana as his way to obtain more power through outright lies and misrepresentations, playing on the racism and fear of immigrants of the time. Here’s a few quotes:
“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.”
“…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”
“Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.”
“Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”
“Marihuana [sic] leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing”
“You smoke a joint and you’re likely to kill your brother.”
“Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”
Of course, today, we all know this is all hogwash, but Anslinger and his good friend and yellow journalist William Randolph Hearst (who never let facts get in the way of a good headline) managed to convince the public of the dangers of marijuana.
By 1937, his campaign worked well enough that marijuana was made illegal.
Because you open up to the REAL universe, and they don’t want that. They want you to be a miserable tart your whole life and stay in the dark.
Learn about dymethyltriptamine.
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It’s part of that "government knows best" policy we got going on here.
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because it is a mind-expanding drug. can’t have citizens using their brains or they’d spot the crooks, hence alcohol is fine.
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It is illegal because migrant workers used it instead of alcohol.
Making it illegal made mexicans "illegal" instead of citizens.
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Because hemp posed a threat to the lumber barons early last century. They used their newspapers to associate the plant with minorities and the need to save our children from their pernicious influence.
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Brain damage. I have a friend that used to be a total stoner, and he can hardly finish a single sentence without pausing for two minutes to remember what he was gonna say.
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It is illegal because the govt can’t control it. By that I mean they cannot adequately profit off of it. The only way it is legal, which is by prescription, is controlled by the gov’t and they feel comfortable in the financial aspect of it, otherwise it would have never happened. Trust me, they can give two shi!ts about anyone’s safety or welfare… it’s all money…
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Direct deaths from cannibis may not be recorded but it is the indirect deaths of this mind alerting drug that are of concern to those of us that still care. Most Americans have become obese, alcoholic, drug users. It’s time they were offered hope for a change.
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Your comment makes a case for outlawing it. Not only do people die from its use, but stoned driving takes a lot of lives too. If people like you smoke the stuff, you come up with remarks like that which only proves the damage it does to your brain and ability to reason. The truth moves from what is reality to what we want to believe if we are using drugs.
I would support legalizing it if I could avoid paying social costs. Asking stoners to tell me the social costs is ridiculous. Even Obama care will make me have to pay some of the cost of drugs. Get rid of socialized medicine and be willing to die without costing me anything and we will talk about legalizing it. And yes, people who get stoned get dumb over time too. I should not have to pay for that either.
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Big C is actually the closest to the real answer.
Marijuana was made illegal due to a single man, Harry J. Anslinger, who became director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1930. Remember that 1930 was in the middle of Prohibition, meaning that alcohol was illegal at the time and the puritanicals in power were against all mind altering substances. Also, the Bureau of Narcotics was part of the Treasury Department, which was also in charge of enforcing Prohibition (see Elliot Ness, for example).
Anslinger was quite power hungry (also common in in the BOI and BOP during the 1930’s — see J. Edgar Hoover). Anslinger quickly latched onto marijuana as his way to obtain more power through outright lies and misrepresentations, playing on the racism and fear of immigrants of the time. Here’s a few quotes:
“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.”
“…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”
“Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.”
“Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”
“Marihuana [sic] leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing”
“You smoke a joint and you’re likely to kill your brother.”
“Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”
Of course, today, we all know this is all hogwash, but Anslinger and his good friend and yellow journalist William Randolph Hearst (who never let facts get in the way of a good headline) managed to convince the public of the dangers of marijuana.
By 1937, his campaign worked well enough that marijuana was made illegal.
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Your question is wrong, or misleading. When you say Cannabis has 1 recorded death, are you just talking about smoking it, and then dying, and that is all. Then that Possible be true. But death from car accidents alone from drivers who were stoned, or high on cannabis/weed are in the hundreds of thousands. But because it is illegal, alcohol is 5x worse. That might be one reason. By keeping it illegal unless you have some kind of cancer, it makes the everyday people think twice using the drug. I am sure, a lot more people would try Weed/Cannabis at east on the weekends like most do with alcohol for leisure. And of course like alcohol people will have a little one, maybe two hits, or think waiting an hour is ok, and they can drive. Now someone else will have to explain the medical difference maybe Weed is medically worse or not then alcohol. I am not sure. So If Weed was legal, I am sure 30%-50% maybe even more people will at least try it. And like alcohol will abuse it.
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Just an opinion.