The plant Cannabis sativa was first used for medicinal purposes more than 5,000 years ago, when the Chinese emperor Shen-Nung developed a list of more than one hundred ailments alleviated by the plant. British doctors discovered the benefits of this Asian plant in 1842. By 1860 the Ohio medical society held the first American conference on the medicinal uses of cannabis (soon called marihuana or marijuana, words derived from the Spanish name Mary Jane). Marijuana was most often prescribed for pains, including tooth ache, menstrual cramps, and rheumatism.
By 1900, however, British and American doctors were becoming less impressed with the medicinal qualities of marijuana. The biggest problem was that the herb varied in strength from plant to plant, and patients' responses varied widely from individual to individual. Perhaps more seriously, in the early 1900s marijuana was associated with two ethnic groups frowned upon by the elites. One was the African American jazz musicians of New Orleans, Memphis, and other cities. The other group was migrant farm workers from Mexico.
The political movement called Progressivism was led by elites, and often included laws that seemed aimed at lower class ethnic groups. Progressivism also had an infatuation with science, and the movement's crusade against certain patent medicines is well-known. Cannabis extract was found in many patent medicines, and was one of the ingredients that came under the watchful eye of Progressives. By 1914 the United States government was concerned about what later generations would call "recreational" use of drugs, as well as medically dangerous drug addictions. New laws aimed to limit the availability of opiates, cocaine, and marijuana.
The anti-drug crusade did not die with Progressivism, and during the Great Depression federal law enforcement agents launched a new campaign against marijuana as well as other drugs. They were willing to use patently false information to get their point across. The head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Harry Anslinger, warned that "Marihuana is a killer drug, in which lurks murder, insanity, and death." The movie Reefer Madness warned teenagers of the depths to which they would soon fall (including patricide) if they even once tried smoking marijuana.
Members of Congress professed a willingness to move against pot, but what provision of the Constitution would justify their action? The federal legislators soon latched upon Congress's power to tax. The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 did not outlaw pot, but it placed a prohibitive tax of $100 per ounce on sales (about $1000 in 1999 dollars). Even still, Congress made an exception for medicinal marijuana, for which the tax was only $1 per ounce.
During his first term, President Richard Nixon became concerned about marijuana use among the young, particularly since it seemed to be linked to social rebellion, political rebellion, and more specifically to opposition to the war in Vietnam. At Nixon's urging, Congress in 1970 established the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse. Although Nixon hand-picked nine of the thirteen commissioners, he was deeply disappointed by the group's 1972 report, "Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding." The commission reported that most pot smokers in the U.S. used the drug only occasionally. While the heavy pot smokers did run health risks, there were few heavy pot smokers. In short, the commission concluded that marijuana "does not constitute a major threat to public health."
The National Commission on Marijuana recommended "decriminalization" of marijuana possession. The state of Oregon led the way in 1973. The several states that did decriminalize possession substituted a moderate fine for jail time. By 1977 President Jimmy Carter threw his weight behind the decriminalization drive.
As in so many other areas, the Reagan-Bush years saw a backlash against pot law liberalism. The Reagan administration's War on Drugs included major battles against marijuana, since (the president's team explained) most hard drug users started as pot smokers. In the 1980s and 1990s arrests for possession and for sale of marijuana skyrocketed. Prison sentences could be extremely long (including some life sentences for first offenders who sold pot). Today the nation's pot laws have put more people in jail than the laws on rape and murder combined. The families of offenders often suffer, as the law allows seizure of houses, cars, and other property used in marijuana sales. Many a police department, strapped for cash, has discovered that making marijuana arrests can led to profits realized from seized property.
Despite the presence of a president who admitted smoking pot ("but I didn't inhale"), the Clinton years have seen no real effort to scale back the federal marijuana laws. Instead, the hot new issue in pot legislation has been raised by state ballot initiatives to allow possession of pot to patients for whom pot would provide medical benefit. The beneficiaries most commonly would be cancer patients and AIDS patients. Both groups suffer from weight loss or wasting. Marijuana's qualities as an appetite stimulant can counteract this wasting.
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In 1996 both California and Arizona had medical marijuana initiatives on the ballot. (The drug-crusading Progressives might be horrified at the use to which the Progressive institution of the ballot initiative was being put!) California's Proposition 215 provided an exemption from the state's marijuana laws for patients who were smoking marijuana on the recommendation of their doctor. 1998 saw more ballot initiatives, supporting medical marijuana in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Oregon, and Washington. The measures passed by wide margins in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington. There is little doubt the measures would have passed in Colorado and the District of Columbia, but proponents were stymied in those two jurisdictions by technicalities raised by opponents.
Opponents of medical marijuana warn that this is just the opening wedge in a drive to legalize all drugs. A similar alleged wedge is provided by the drive to legalize hemp growing in the United States. Hemp, like pot, is derived from the Cannabis sativa plant. In the case of hemp, however, the psychoactive properties have been virtually bred out of the plant, in favor of fiber strength. Hemp was once a major crop in Kentucky and other states, but it became an illegal crop after the feds began their efforts to eradicate Cannabis.
Hemp crops are providing large profits to Canadian farmers, who grew legal hemp crops in 1998 after changes in the nation's laws. American farmers are beginning to want to emulate the Canadians' success. Virginia's legislature has endorsed experimental growing of hemp, and eleven other states are considering similar measures. Here again, though, some politicians worry that if growing one kind of Cannabis is made legal it will be difficult to prevent the growing of the other kind. Meanwhile on campuses across the United States, pot supporters are buying jewelry, purses, and plant hangers made of hemp, to show their solidarity with Cannabis.
State laws allowing medical marijuana (or potentially state laws legalizing cannabis growing for hemp) may lead to the biggest state-federal showdown since Little Rock Central High School. California law has declared protection for patients using marijuana for medical reasons, but federal law still makes their pot possession a crime. While it is unlikely federal agents will arrest many chemotherapy patients, they have indeed arrested others who are less obviously frail. Some California law enforcement officials have declared they will enforce the state's drug laws strictly. San Francisco, on the other hand, has become something of a refuge. Local law enforcement officers there have promised not to disturb those who are selling pot to medical patients.
What will the state and national pot laws be like in 2009? Stay tuned. This story is very much a work in progress.
| © 1999 by Stephen Cresswell |