This week, Senator Cory Booker introduced legislation to legalize nationwide. If passed, New Jersey鈥檚 Democrats' bill would 鈥渆xpunge federal marijuana convictions and penalize states with racially-disparate arrest or incarceration rates for marijuana-related crimes,鈥 .
Thing is, the drug wasn鈥檛 always prohibited. Anglo-Americans and Europeans have known about marijuana鈥檚 medicinal benefits since at least the 1830s. Around that time, , an Irish doctor studying in India, documented that cannabis extracts could ease cholera symptoms like stomach pain and vomiting. By the late 19th century, Americans and Europeans could buy cannabis extracts in pharmacies and doctors鈥 offices to help with stomach aches, migraines, inflammation, insomnia, and other ailments.
Just because people in the past used something for medicinal purposes doesn鈥檛 always mean it was a good idea. But modern research has backed up claims that marijuana has real medical benefits. For example, it can and alleviate pain without causing physical dependence.
Despite its medical usefulness, many Americans鈥 attitudes toward cannabis shifted at the turn of the century. This was at least partly motivated by Mexican immigration to the U.S. around the time of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, according to Eric Schlosser, author of .
鈥淭he prejudices and fears that greeted these peasant immigrants also extended to their traditional means of intoxication: smoking marijuana,鈥 . 鈥淧olice officers in Texas claimed that marijuana incited violent crimes, aroused a 鈥榣ust for blood,鈥 and gave its users 鈥榮uperhuman strength.鈥 Rumors spread that Mexicans were distributing this 鈥榢iller weed鈥 to unsuspecting American schoolchildren.鈥
It鈥檚 worth noting that alcohol to be more dangerous than marijuana. In addition, cannabis doesn鈥檛 really cause superhuman strength, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration鈥檚 fact sheet on the drug says that 鈥淣o death from an overdose of marijuana has been reported.鈥
Even though there was no evidence to support claims that marijuana had a Jekyll-and-Hyde effect, 29 states outlawed marijuana between 1916 and 1931. The essentially banned it nationwide despite objections from the American Medical Association related to medical usage. This act came just a year after the film warned parents that drug dealers would invite their teenagers to jazz parties and get them hooked on 鈥渞eefer.鈥
The federal government and states continued to increase punishments related to marijuana until the late 1960s when the laws began to touch white, upper-middle-class college students who were smoking the drug.
鈥淒uring the mid-1970s, virtually all states softened penalties for marijuana possession,鈥 . However, the federal government continued to cling, as it does today, 鈥渢o a policy that has its origins in racism and xenophobia and whose principal effect has been to ruin the lives of generations of people.鈥
Today, have legalized medical marijuana, and have legalized it for recreational use. Its illegality at the national level has created tension between the federal and state governments. However, around the issue suggests that legalization鈥攐r rather, re-legalization鈥攃ould be in America鈥檚 future.
