The Marijuana Identity Crisis
Though it has been around for thousands of years, it wasn’t until the 20th century that marijuana was first criminalized. The United States didn’t declare the use of this substance illegal until the 1930s with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. In the US, the ’60s and ’70s saw an epidemic of marijuana use, which resulted in increased enforcement of drug laws and stricter sentences for violators. During the Reagan administration there was even more crackdown on marijuana use such as three strikes laws that would result in life sentence for repeat offenders. New regulations even allowed for the death penalty to be sanctioned for drug lords.Then something changed.After two decades of crackdown on this drug, in 1996 California passed Proposition 215 allowing the legal use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. However, a Supreme Court decision overturned this law and disallowed this practice. In recent years a number of states have decriminalized the use of marijuana and many have allowed for the legal use with a physician’s recommendation. Though it has been decided that the federal government does have the right to restrict the sale and use of this product, it varies from one administration to the next whether or not states will be left to make their own decision or if the federal government will do its part to restrict the use of marijuana. The current administration has made it clear that it is not making the crackdown of marijuana use a priority, effectively allowing states to make their own decisions regarding this drug. Many recent elections have seen ballot propositions regarding the legalization of marijuana and this trend is likely to continue.The fate of marijuana use in this country is still unclear, but it has certainly seen drastic changes throughout the last century and will likely continue to do so.