|
|
Cannabis, more commonly known as marijuana, has been illegal under the system of prohibition ever since 1937. The trend of marijuana’s prohibition is very closely linked to that of alcohol. As history has proven prohibition does not work. It is important to understand why. To do so the three stages of prohibition - exaggeration, silence, and severe penalties - and the effects of prohibition in the last half-century will be considered. Research has proven that marijuana damages the short term memory, distorts perceptions, impairs judgment and complex motor skills, alters the heart rate, can lead to severe anxiety, and can cause paranoia and lethargy. While all of that is true, I personally do not think that compares to the effect of alcohol and tobacco. For instance, alcohol’s cause of cirrhosis to the liver, to cigarettes lung cancer, to coronary heart disease, or the plain fact that they are both carcinogens to speed up all cancers, are all good examples of how bad alcohol and tobacco can be. Alcohol is a factor of half of highway fatalities, half of all arrests, half of all homicides, and a fourth of all suicides, costing America $15 billion a year(National 15). It is important to keep in mind that while I compare these three drugs marijuana is not addicting, like alcohol and tobacco are (Schlosser 41). However, all drugs from alcohol to tobacco to marijuana have a social impact. All drugs are capable of disrupting the home, affecting the way the user performs at work, and causing a withdraw from society. I think all drugs equally share this power, because these social impacts are mostly a mental problem of people around the user. Therefore no drug is worse than any other drug when it comes to social impacts, they all are equally bad. The first crop of American hemp was grown in 1611(Grinspoon 11). However, the modern practice of smoking marijuana was not introduced until the 1920’s. This was a time of drug intolerance. America was in the stages of prohibition of alcohol. Marijuana was introduced and smoked by the same people who where users of opiates, immigrants. In the 1930’s it was a common belief that immigrants were inhumane, and violent, and these attitudes were associated with marijuana. Because marijuana was used by the same users of opiates, it was immediately defined as a narcotic(Musto 45). By 1931 all but two states had anti-marijuana legislation. By 1937 all states had made marijuana illegal. And in 1937 the federal government created the Marijuana Tax Act(National 14). The details of the tax are irrelevant because no tax stamps were ever issued. Ironically not once during this time period was any research made on marijuana and it’s effects. It was assumed that marijuana was a narcotic, possessed a psychological dependence, provoked violent crime, and caused insanity(National 14). One of the three strategies of fighting marijuana was silence. It was believed that if youth did not hear about marijuana, then they would not become curious about it and experiment with it. In the 1930’s it was deemed that no schools could talk about marijuana. The Motion Picture Association of America banned all films that showed narcotics from 1934-1956(Musto 46). This strategy did not produce much, so the anti-marijuana population quickly moved into the next step, exaggeration. The purpose of exaggeration was to scare possible users from trying marijuana. The American Journal of Medicine wrote, "Marijuana users will suddenly turn with murderous violence upon whoever is nearest to him. He will run amuck with knife, axe, gun, or anything else that is close to the hand, and will kill or main without reason(Musto44)." This is from F.
|
