Legalization Of Marjiuana: The Facts: Speech

Hemp was the primary crop grown by George Washington at Mount Vernon, and a secondary crop grown by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello.

* It was famously used to treat Queen Victoria's menstrual pains, and was available from shops in the US.

As a Medicine in the 1800s in the U.S

* Migraines

* Asthma

* Epilepsy

* Insomnia

* Chronic bronchitis

* Gonorrhea

First State Laws Against Marijuana

* The first group of states to have marijuana laws were in the Rocky Mountain and southwestern states such as Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado around 1914.

* The only thing you need to know to understand the early marijuana laws in the southwest and Rocky Mountain areas of this country is to know, that in the period just after 1914, into all of those areas was a migration of Mexicans.

* They had come across the border in search of more money and jobs, they and with them, they had brought marijuana.

English: NORML members protest in Lafayette Park d...

United States

United States

Harry J. ANSLINGER

"The Father of the Drug War"

Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics

1930-1962

Harry J. ANSLINGER.....

* On January 1, 1932, the newly established Federal Bureau of Narcotics, and Harry J. Anslinger took over as commissioner of narcotics. Anslinger had no legal jurisdiction over marijuana, but his interest in it was intense.

First Federal Law Against Marijuana

* The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937

* The Act is often referred to by advocates for decriminalization of marijuana, who claim there is now very clear evidence that the act itself was based mostly on racism and wild, entirely unsupported claims. For example, Harry Anslinger allegedly said "Marijuana makes darkies think they're as good as white men".

* Southern states were also pressing for a federal law against marijuana to persecute Mexicans that saturated the workforce...