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The Legalization of Marijuana: A Historical, Moral and Medical Approach

The first to take advantage of marijuana were prehistoric farmers, most likely for its fiber,

but speculation also exists that the seeds may have been planted as well. It is not known when

the psycho-active properties of marijuana were first realized, but it does not require a vivid

imagination to imagine early man ingesting it purposefully or accidentally. Surely to prehistoric

man the effects would have been almost supernatural, leading to religious practices, which in

turn would lead to medical use. From those early moments of human history marijuana has been

woven into the fabric of human society, being used for a multitude of purposes. For example, it

is not uncommon for societies to revolve heavily around marijuana, it has been common in many

Middle Eastern countries for thousands of years for men to smoke a mixture of tobacco and

hashish throughout the entire day with some restrain, and rarely do they seek intoxication.

Throughout this essay justification for the legalization of marijuana will be made by setting up a

world historical perspective as well as a legal perspective for the United States of America, such

as why marijuana was made illegal in this country in the first place. Points to be proven include

why marijuana should be made legal according to past decisions by our government, past issues

of racism, and modern evidence pointing out marijuana is not as dangerous as many would like it

to be.

Marijuana is known by many different names, such as chronic, dope, ganja, grass,

hashish, hash, herb, kif, mary jane, pot, reefer, sinsemilla, skunk, and weed. The plant itself

grows wild in most parts of the world, but flourishes in hot, dry climates such as Central Asia.

The plant includes the flowering tops, leaves, and stems which contain tetrahydrocannabinol

(THC); the active psychoactive ingredient. Marijuana can be ingested through a number of

methods, but the most popular have always been smoking and eating. Popular methods for
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smoking include rolling the marijuana into cigarettes commonly known as “joints”, rolling

marijuana into hollowed out cigars which are commonly known as “blunts”, and smoking with

simple to elaborate pipes which sometimes use water filtration (“Marijuana” 175). Man has been

using these methods for thousands of years.

From prehistoric man to modern man, marijuana has had an impact in countless aspects

of society, from medicine to clothing to spiritual enlightenment and everything in between. The

story of marijuana begins with the same people who brought humanity fire and the same who

laid the groundwork for modern society, prehistoric man. The likely first use of cannabis was for

its fiber, although speculation exists that prehistoric man may have grown it for its seed; the seen

in turn could them be eaten for its nutritional value (Booth 16). Fast forward to about 600 BC

for the first recorded use of marijuana for its psychoactive properties, Taoism was on the rise and

intoxication was seen as antisocial. By the first century Taoists were becoming more interested

in the supernatural, alchemy and magic; cannabis was used as a means to inducing visions

(Booth 19). From China, marijuana made its way to the Indian sub-continent, where it was

embraced by Brahmin priests and holy men who believed it took them closer to enlightenment.

The public was only given access to marijuana during important religious festivals (Booth 21).

The history of marijuana worldwide is long and illustrious, being used for personal enjoyment,

clothing, and manufacturing and for medicine. Marijuana use is not limited to the ancient world,

or the world outside the United States, marijuana had its place and remained there until

becoming illegal in the 1930s.

There is a common misconception that the Constitution, Declaration of Independence,

and Bill of Rights of the United States of America were written on hemp paper, this is false; all

three were written on parchment paper. Learning from thousands of years of man using hemp,
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early Americans in the colonies grew large amounts for rope, paper and clothing. The plant is

extremely versatile, being able to grow in many different regions; it especially thrived in the

south. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson cultivated hemp; Jefferson’s slaves on

Monticello were producing 2000 yards of hemp per annum (Booth 34). A 1792 Act of Congress

put a tariff on imported hemp of twenty dollars per ton, which rose to sixty dollars by 1828; the

hemp business in America was big business. The 1800s saw a large increase in hemp machinery,

especially for rope making. Hemp cultivation remained big in the United States until about

1900, when American occupation of the Philippine Islands offered the importation of Manila

hemp (Booth 36). In 1794 George Washington wrote a note to his gardener at Mount Vernon

saying, “make the most you can of the Indian hemp seed and sow it everywhere” (Washington

270). Our forefathers had the insight to plant large crops of marijuana for industry, and the

education to make use of the diverse plant with limited technology; there is no reason why our

modern society can not also make use of hemp. Our roots with marijuana in this country were

just like any other crop, the moral issue of slavery aside, crops boomed as did industry. The turn

of the twentieth century brought a new wave of ignorance regarding marijuana; policies meant to

demonize marijuana and its users began to sprout up everywhere.

Harry Jacob Anslinger was born in 1892 in Pennsylvania. He started his career working

for the War Department during the Great War and was later appointed to be the first

commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1930, which he held until 1962 (Booth 146).

With his appointment came the birth of scare tactics and racism to fight drug use. Anti-Mexican

attitudes came to a peak during the Depression when jobs were scare; migrants were scene to be

stealing work from whites. In fact the Mexican name marihuana was deliberately chosen in the

hopes of it being a psychological tool to influence people against it. Anslinger and other
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government officials exploited anti-Mexican attitudes by targeting Mexicans in the South-West,

marijuana laws were used as an excuse to deport or imprison innocent Mexicans (Booth 148).

The popular attitude at the time was that cocaine drove Blacks to rape White woman and

marijuana spurred Mexicans into violent rages. In 1937 preliminary hearings were called for the

Marihuana Tax Act, a bill proposed after much demand from Anslinger. At the hearings,

Anslinger continued his tactics of shock and even offered his own medical opinions. No

scientific evidence or valid statistics were used during the entire process, and the so called

experts all but perjured themselves (Booth 154). The only serious voice of opposition during the

hearings came from Doctor William Woodward of the American Medical Association, who stated

openly the extreme bias of those holding the hearings and showed much disdain for the lack of

scientific evidence. The bill reached the floor of Congress and was quickly passed and was then

signed by President Roosevelt. This bill essentially made marijuana illegal for the first time by

placing a heavy tax of one hundred dollars per ounce onto it. This was the first major attempt by

the government to try and control the social use of marijuana, though in effect it simply drove the

business more underground. This was also the beginning of our government’s failure known as

the war on drugs.

Many years passed, and millions of dollars were spent fighting the so called evils of

marijuana. Anslinger’s campaign to demonize marijuana as a drug that would drive you literally

insane had a double effect on the country. For the most part, his efforts brainwashed a nation

already teetering with fears of communism into believing the evils of marijuana; but his efforts

also mystified the plant, it was no longer seen as a weed that could be cultivated for any number

of reasons, it was turned into a drug whose use came with serious ramifications. The war on

drugs continued and when President Nixon was elected it came into major spotlight again.
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Nixon made it a point to make it known he was hard on drugs and crime, and in 1972 he

commissioned that a report be made to help in his efforts against marijuana. The Report of the

National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, also known as the Shaffer Report, set out

to identify the problems that marijuana may or may not be having on individuals and society, as

well as putting forth recommendations based on their conclusions. According to the research

completed and analyzed by the commission regarding individual health, “there is little proven

danger of physical or psychological harm from the experimental or intermittent use of the natural

preparations of cannabis” (Marihuana 80). The report also adds that “the use of drugs is not in

itself an irresponsible act” adding, “the use of drugs for pleasure or other non-medical purposes

is not inherently irresponsible; alcohol is widely used as an acceptable part of social activities”

(Marihuana 160). The commission takes a fair stance, which has become a common argument

for those in favor of legalizing marijuana; that marijuana is no more harmful then alcohol and

that the use of alcohol does not make an individual irresponsible. The report concludes with

several recommendations for law change regarding possession, sale and growth at the state and

federal level. The commission recommends for state law that “possession in private of

marihuana for personal use would no longer be an offense” (Marihuana 193). It is also

recommended that small amounts of distribution not involving a profit would also cease to be an

offense. As for public use, possession of less then an ounce would no longer be an offense, but

the marijuana would be subject to seizure. Fines of one hundred dollars were also recommended

for the following offenses: possession of more then an ounce, public distribution not involving a

profit, public use, and disorderly conduct. Operating a motor vehicle while under the influence

would be punishable by a one thousand dollar fine and/ or one year in prison (Marihuana 194).

The federal recommendations were along the same lines. Nixon promptly ignored the findings
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of the commission, as they did not side with his policy or strict punishment. The Shaffer Report

is one more piece to expose the government’s unflinching stance on marijuana, which the drug is

evil and those who use it should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. From the

beginning this stance has not stopped marijuana use; it has only incarcerated people who

normally would have nothing to do with criminal activity and propagated ignorance.

The cruelties of the government regarding marijuana users are not relegated to past

events such as jazz musicians being hassled and arrested; we currently live in a society where

people are under attack every day by their government for smoking marijuana. The Shaffer

Report already acknowledged in 1972 that marijuana is not the destroyer of societies as the Drug

Enforcement Administration (DEA) would like the public to believe. Ironically enough for an

employee of the DEA, administrative law judge, Francis Young concluded after extensive

testimony that "marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances

known to man” (Nadelman 32). Countless experts have come forward in many different areas

with the same conclusion, that marijuana is safe if used responsibly. Over-indulgence is

dangerous for any activity, be it drinking alcohol, eating cheeseburgers or smoking marijuana;

personal responsibility must be a factor when discussing legalizing marijuana. No pro-marijuana

advocates are asking that Americans be allowed to drive down the street smoking a joint, or that

teenagers should be allowed to smoke, or that smoking on school campuses should be allowed; it

is quite the contrary as shown by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws’

(NORML) “Principles of Responsible Cannabis Use”. The principles of responsible cannabis

use lay out five important factors for marijuana smokers to abide by. The first is that only adults

may smoke, which is perfectly a reasonable point. The second is that no person should drive

under the influence of marijuana, another reasonable point as it has been shown through various
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studies that marijuana does have a negative impact on reaction time for certain individuals. The

third is set and setting, which means that the cannabis user must evaluate his surroundings and

regulate use accordingly; which is to say a person should not become too intoxicated. The fourth

factor has to do with abuse, it states that if marijuana use becomes a habit or interferes with

health then the use must be stopped. The last factor involves respect for others, a responsible

user respects those who do not smoke and does not take cannabis use into the public. These

principles are online at http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3417 and were adopted by

the NORML board of directors on February 3rd, 1996. The principles adopted by NORML are

reasonable and responsible, a proverbial slap in the face to those who argue that marijuana

smokers are degenerate and irresponsible. Marijuana arrests make up the majority of drug

related arrests in this country, adding to an already over crowded legal system. According to

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/marijuan.html, which cites “Crime in the United States: FBI

Uniform Crime Reports 2004”, 771,605 marijuana arrests were made in 2004. 771,605 arrests

for a drug that is relatively harmless when compared to other illegal drugs such as cocaine or

methamphetamine. According to the New Mexico Marijuana Arrests chart, 3,343 people were

arrested for marijuana in 2002. 68 in Luna County alone, ranking this county as 11th in the state

for 2002. It is clear that too many individuals are being arrested for a drug that has time and time

again been announced as not being the social corrupting factor that many would like it made to

be. From the findings of the Shaffer Report to recent remarks such as the aforementioned

statement by Francis Young, marijuana has been shown to be well within an individual’s right to

use responsibly. The truth is that marijuana smokers come from all classes and of all

backgrounds in society; there are criminals who smoke pot and doctors who smoke pot.

Marijuana smokers are not an entire group by themselves, they are individuals of every group,
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and to label all marijuana smokers as degenerate is to label a neighbor, a professor, a lawyer or a

garbage man. The uses of marijuana do not stop at recreation and clothing, marijuana has been

used as medicine by cultures throughout the world since the time of Christ.

By the second century AD, medicine in China was the most advanced in the world. And

the most famous physician in China, Hua Tuo discovered that cannabis resin mixed with wine

was an effective analgesic. He also invented another anesthetic known as mafei-san, it was a

mixture of cannabis and aconite and it is said he was able to conduct major invasive surgery

using it (Booth 19). The ancient Persian text the Venidad lists cannabis as the most important of

10,000 medical plants. The medicinal uses of marijuana are not limited to the past; doctors in

our modern world use the plant for a number of ailments from open wounds to constipation.

Doctors in India often refer to traditional methods of treatment using cannabis because it is

believe to have miraculous capabilities. The Indian doctors refer to the cannabis as either vijaya

or bhanga, and it is widely used to treat ailments such as diabetes, tuberculosis, elephantiasis,

asthma, hemorrhoids, anemia and even rabies. These doctors have been using these treatments

since the tenth century, and the powers of cannabis are obvious if it has lasted this long in

medical use (Booth 292). More proven methods of medical marijuana use are to help patients

undergoing chemotherapy counteract loss of appetite and nausea. By the 1990s large numbers of

people suffering from multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy were turning to marijuana and

hashish for help with the pain, but were forced to resort to illegal street dealers. Modern research

is not completely stopped, some are still able to grow or receive marijuana for research purposes.

A study published in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society was one such

project. Titled “Non-acute (residual) neurocognitive effects of cannabis use: A meta-analytic

study”, the project set out to determine the effects of marijuana on an individual’s ability to think
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and reason after long term use. The researchers set out to study current heavy cannabis users,

past users and people with very limited experience with cannabis. Grant et al reports after

studying that after twenty eight days of abstinence heavy users neurocognitive reports were

“indistinguishable from former heavy users or non-using controls”, which is another way of

saying the effects of marijuana on an individual’s brain are not permanent in the neurocognitive

sense (686). The support for medical marijuana is not limited to the scientific, much of is it

moral. Not all people using medical marijuana are doing so to get high, they ingest marijuana to

alleviate pain or to bring back an appetite lost to any number of treatments. Just one story of

marijuana easing the suffering of disease is Dorothy Gibbs’, she is 90 years old and suffering

from post-polio syndrome. She does not rave about being high, she simply says, "It just makes

me feel better." Dorothy is a member of Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, or WAMM,

based in Santa Cruz, California. The 85% terminally ill group meets weekly to receive hand outs

of marijuana grown within and for the group. These people are not drug addicts or criminals,

most have never even used illegal drugs until developing their respective terminal illness; they

are simply individuals receiving treatment that traditional medicine can not supply (Nieves 48).

People who are against medical marijuana often argue that once marijuana is made legal for

medicinal use that other drugs will be next to be made legal, for recreational use or medicinal

use. This is not logical thinking, as the “slippery slope” argument is not valid in any sense. Also

anti-medicinal marijuana advocates argue that those seeking the effects of THC can find them in

Marinol, which is synthetic THC. What is not made known though when these people argue in

favor of Marinol is that its side effects often knock out individuals into a stupor. The drive for

medical marijuana is a call for compassion to the members of our society who live with daily

pain and teeter on the edge of life and death everyday. Along with responsible personal use,
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legalizing marijuana for medicinal use is the only right way to go. Many people who are against

the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana often ignore fact and resort to age old rhetoric.

The arguments against marijuana have not changed much in the history of the debate,

those against legalization fall back on the same arguments time and time again. The most

popular argument used is that marijuana is a gateway drug, meaning that people who use

marijuana will move on to harder drugs such as cocaine or heroin. This is a bad argument for

many reasons, first of all in a logical debate the slippery slope argument does not hold up. You

can not simply say one thing leads to another. Second, there is no scientific evidence to suggest

that people who smoke marijuana instinctively move on to harder drugs. By the reasoning of

those who fall onto the gateway drug argument, then tobacco and alcohol should also be illegal

because some people who smoke cigarettes or drink move onto harder substances. Those

against legalization also argue that if marijuana was made legal that crime rates would rise. The

opposite is true. If marijuana was made legal and an individual could grow his own supply or

buy it at a licensed store, then dealers would be cut out of the operation. If dealers were cut out

of the operation then fighting over drug dealing territory would stop, bad drug deals would cease

to exist, and illegal trafficking would no longer be an issue. If you cut out the illegal side of

marijuana you are cutting out a vast other array of illegal activities involved with the drug trade,

suck as trafficking and selling. If marijuana was made legal dealers would be out of business,

there would be no incentive to deal something that is already sold legally in stores. It would also

be much harder for minors to get marijuana if it were made legal, because dealers do not card,

but stores do.

Marijuana is not the menace to society as the government and many other groups would

like it to seem. The history of marijuana is long and illustrious, and it has not changed much.
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Modern Man, like his ancestors, uses marijuana for medicine, recreation and industrial purposes.

Modern Man, unlike his ancestors, must remain covert in his use and must resort to the black

market for supply. Thousands of people are made into criminals every year for a plant that is

admitted by many to be relatively harmless when compared to other drugs it is grouped together

with. Lives are ruined for miniscule amounts, funds for education are taken away for arrest,

property is seized for growing; it all has to stop. Past societies have not collapsed due to burnt

out masses, in fact the opposite is true, Man has reached our current level of knowledge and

technology alongside with marijuana. Not to say man as thrived because of marijuana, but weed

has always been there and we have made it anyways. The important thing to remember is that

marijuana is not for everyone, and that marijuana users must remain responsible while it is illegal

and when it becomes legal. America will not be truly free until the day marijuana is made legal.
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Works Cited

Booth, Martin. Cannabis: A History. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003.

Editors, The. "Marijuana Research ." Scientific American. 291.6 Dec. 2004: 8.

Grant, Igor, Igor Grant, Raul Gonzalez, Catherine L. Carrey, Loki Natarajan, and Tanya

Wolfsen. "Non-Acute (Residual) Neurocognitive Effects of Cannabis." Journal of the

International Neuropsychological Society 9 (2003): 679-689.

Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding. National Commission on Marihuana and Drug

Abuse. New York: Signet, 1972.

"Marijuana." The Encyclopedia of Drug Abuse. 2nd Ed. New York: Facts On File, 1992.

Nadelman, Ethan A. "An End to Marijuana Prohibition: The Drive to Legalize Picks Up."

National Review. July. 2004: 28-34.

"New Mexico Marijuana Arrests." Chart. National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana

Laws. 20 Mar. 2006 <http://www.norml.org>

Nieves, Evelyn. "Half an Ounce of Healing." Mother Jones Feb. 2001: 48-53.

Washington, George. The Writings of George Washington. Vol. 33. Washington: Library of

Congress. 270.