The United States is witnessing a shift in its approach to marijuana. With more states legalizing the drug and the federal government considering reform, the question arises: why was marijuana banned in the first place?
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00:00The United States is witnessing a shift in its approach to marijuana.
00:03With more states legalizing the drug and the federal government considering reform,
00:07the question arises, why was marijuana banned in the first place?
00:11In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana,
00:16sparking a nationwide trend.
00:18As of February 2022, 18 states, Washington D.C. and Guam have followed suit.
00:24The U.S. Senate is also discussing the potential end of federal marijuana prohibition.
00:28Despite marijuana's growing acceptance, up until the late 19th century,
00:33Americans were actually encouraged to grow cannabis, specifically hemp.
00:36Hemp, though related to marijuana, contains very low levels of THC,
00:40the psychoactive compound in marijuana.
00:43It was widely used for making clothing, rope, and other goods.
00:46In fact, during the 17th century, Virginia farmers were required to grow hemp,
00:50and several colonies even accepted it as a form of currency.
00:53Hemp farms flourished across states like Mississippi, Georgia, California,
00:58South Carolina, Nebraska, New York, and Kentucky.
01:01By the late 19th century, cotton overtook hemp as the preferred material for clothing.
01:05However, hemp found new life in medicine,
01:08and it became a common ingredient in remedies available in pharmacies nationwide.
01:11Simultaneously, the recreational use of hashish spread from France to parts of the United States.
01:16Marijuana was not a major concern for Americans until Mexican migrant workers
01:21began arriving in states like Louisiana and Texas in the early 20th century.
01:25While their labor was essential, these immigrants faced growing hostility.
01:29They introduced the term marijuana, which made the plant seem foreign,
01:33despite many Americans already using it as cannabis in medicines.
01:37This growing fear led to 29 states banning marijuana by 1931,
01:42and the formation of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, the precursor to the DEA.
01:46Around the same time, black jazz musicians embraced marijuana as part of the hep cat
01:51lifestyle, and the drug was even celebrated in music, such as Cab Calloway's Reefer Man.
01:56Although alcohol prohibition ended, cannabis, popular among people of color,
02:00became a new target.
02:01Racist claims that marijuana made black and Mexican men violent and sexually
02:05aggressive toward white women fueled the push for its criminalization.
02:09Despite its criminalization, marijuana's cultural presence grew,
02:13especially during the 1960s counterculture movement.
02:16By the 1970s, 11 states had decriminalized the drug,
02:19and even the Nixon-appointed Schaeffer Commission recommended federal decriminalization.
02:24However, President Nixon ignored this, though President Carter later supported the idea.
02:28Still, mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses were relaxed.
02:31In 1986, President Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act,
02:35reinstating harsh minimum sentences for drug offenses.
02:38Marijuana penalties remained severe, with possession of 100 marijuana plants
02:43carrying the same sentence as possessing 100 grams of heroin.
02:46President Clinton's 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act further
02:51increased penalties with a three-strikes rule, leading to skyrocketing drug arrests.
02:55While some reforms have been made since, many of these harsh policies,
02:58including mandatory minimum sentences, remain in effect.
03:02He won't get out until he's 79 for selling something that's currently
03:05legal for recreational use in four states.
03:08All of this stemmed from a rational fear and misunderstanding of the unfamiliar.