A Brief Legal History of Cannabis in the U.S.
In 1996, California became the first state to legalize medical cannabis. Since then, cannabis has been legalized for either medicinal or recreational use in a majority of the states. Subsequently, there has been a growing movement to legalize, if not decriminalize, cannabis nationwide. In order for this to happen though, it is important to understand the history of cannabis regulation in the U.S. and how we got to where we are today.
Early History
The regulation of cannabis can be traced as far back as 1906 with passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act. This law required certain drugs be properly labeled with all their ingredients including cannabis. Prior to this, these drugs were sold as “patented medicine” that contained unlisted “secret” ingredients and misleading labels. Later in 1934, the Uniform State Narcotic Act attempted to make more uniform the various state drug laws and gave the states police power over the seizure of illicit drugs. Initially, only nine states adopted the act, but Harry J. Anslinger, head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics at the time, launched a nationwide media campaign claiming the use of cannabis caused temporary insanity. As a result, the law was adopted in all 50 states.
Marihuana Tax Act
The Marihuana Tax Act (drafted by Harry J. Anslinger previously mentioned) was enacted into law by Congress in 1937. While the act did not technically make cannabis illegal, the excessive tax and regulation imposed on the sale of it essentially did. However, the act was eventually overturned in 1969 by the Supreme Court in Leary v. United States and repealed by Congress the following year.
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Interesting to note, the Marihuana Tax Act legitimized usage of the term “marijuana” to describe any form of cannabis. Prior to this, the term “marijuana,” which is of Mexican decent, was considered slang and why the term is considered racist in origin. The act is currently referred using the its modern spelling, “The Marijuana Tax Act.”
Controlled Substances Act
In 1970, the Controlled Substances Act was passed into law by Congress under the Nixon administration. The law divided controlled substances (such as cannabis) into five different classifications (or schedules) based on a number of different factors, including its potential for abuse or addiction and its medicinal value.
Schedule 1 drugs (such as heroin, LSD, cannabis, and psilocybin mushrooms) are considered to have the most significant potential for abuse and the least medicinal value. By contrast, Schedule V drugs (such as cough suppressants and cold medicine) have the least potential for abuse and most acceptable medical usage. Schedule II drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, oxycodone, and opium, are all arguably much more addictive and unhealthier than cannabis or psilocybin. Because of this, there has been a strong push by advocates to reschedule cannabis as a Schedule III drug, but so far, the DEA has refused to do so. Ironically, it is because of its Schedule 1 designation that doctors and scientist are unable to study the benefits of cannabis more thoroughly.
State Medical and Recreational Cannabis Legalization
In 1996, California became the first state to legalize medical cannabis via a proposition approved by a majority of voters. Several states followed suit the following years, passing their own voter-approved propositions and in the year 2000, Hawaii became the first state to legalize medicinal cannabis by a state legislature. To date, cannabis has been legalized medicinally in 36 states and recreationally in 18.
Although still technically illegal on the federal level, state-run cannabis programs were allowed to operate under a series of memoranda (the Cole and Ogden memos) issued by the U.S. Justice Department under the Obama administration. Unfortunately, these policies were later revoked in 2018 by U.S. Attorney Jeff Sessions under the Trump administration, so the possession and use of cannabis is still considered illegal under federal law.
Utah
In November 2018, Utah voters approved Proposition 2, which legalized medical cannabis for patients with qualifying medical conditions. Unfortunately, this proposition was later struck down and replaced by a program with much stricter requirements and more government oversight. Consequently, the program has been criticized on several levels, including accessibility, limited number of qualifying conditions, excessive costs associated with the state’s QMP program and quality control.
The regulation of cannabis and other drugs in this country dates back several decades and over this time, these regulations tended to be increasingly stricter, notwithstanding the state medical and recreational programs. However, these state-run programs (such as Utah’s) are far from perfect and need to be modified, but until the federal government reschedules or legalizes cannabis and recognizes its medicinal benefits, this may never be fully realized.
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