MM History List
1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue… and brought cannabis sativa to America. Thanks Chris!
1619 Settlers in America grow cannabis sativa for the production of hemp which is to make rope, clothing, and sails for ships. Hemp is such a hot commodity that a law is passed in Jamestown, VA that requires farmers to grow hemp on their farmland.
Hemp is used as legal tender for purchase and trade across Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia
1797 George Washington, the first president of the United States grows cannabis sativa at his plantation as one of his main crops
1840 Marijuana becomes a common ingredient found in medicine. These medicines are available in most U.S. Pharmacies
1876 The Sultan of Turkey gives the United States cannabis as a gift, and by 1880, Turkish smoking parlors are popping up all over the North East, with patrons from all walks of life
1913 California becomes the first state in the U.S. to pass anti-marijuana laws (ironic?)
1914 A white man living in Texas is murdered by a group of Mexican immigrants. Marijuana is believed by many whites to give superhuman strength to Mexican American immigrants, and El Paso Texas passes a city ordinance banning marijuana use calling it “killer weed”. This is believed to be the beginning of anti-marijuana propaganda
1937 President Roosevelt passes the “Marijuana Stamp Act”
This law made it illegal to possess marijuana in the U.S. without a special tax stamp issued by the U.S. Treasury Department. In theory, growing and selling marijuana was still legal as long as you bought the government tax stamp for $1.00. However, the Treasury Department did not issue any tax stamps for marijuana, effectively making growing, selling and possessing marijuana illegal under the Act.
1956 The Narcotic Control Act was passes which put marijuana in the same drug class as heroin
1960’s Marijuana culture is born, by the mid 1970’s, an estimated 24 million people in America have tried marijuana
1972 President Nixon combines all the drug enforcement agencies in America into one super agency, this is the birth of the DEA
1970’s Smoking marijuana becomes popular with middle class Americans, and activists push to decriminalize marijuana
1980’s The Reagan administration pushes its own war on drugs. An average of one person every 38 seconds is arrested for violating marijuana laws
1996 California is the first state to legalize medical marijuana with Proposition 215, since then, 13 other states have followed suite.
2010 This fall, Californians will vote on legalizing marijuana for recreational use. The outcome of this vote could change the way the world views marijuana use forever