Gabriel Johnson

Political science 1100

Professor Gutaj
8/3/16

Legalizing marijuana
The topic of legalizing marijuana has been prominent in the U.S. sense the 1930s. In
1937 the marijuana tax act or the prohibition on marijuana was placed on the U.S. This was
because just after the 1920s the introduction of recreational use of marijuana was making people
fearful of the consequences or symptoms of using this drug.
During this time there was a cultural fear of this drug. This is because during this same
section of time the united states citizens where very fearful of the increase of Mexican
immigrants.
After the Mexican Revolution of 1910, Mexican immigrants flooded
into the U.S., introducing to American culture the recreational use of
marijuana. The drug became associated with the immigrants, and the
fear and prejudice about the Spanish-speaking newcomers became
associated with marijuana. (pbs.org)
Because of this fear it made people susceptible to anti-drug associations and
campaigners. Who were pushing their agendas and proposals for new laws
and regulations. This fear of the Mexicans immigrants was what led to the
people supporting the interests of these organizations.
It wasnt until 7 years after the law was passed that researchers discovered that marijuana
wasnt as dangerous as they previously believed. Marijuana has remained mostly illegal over the

last half a century. In the 1960s the cultural aspects where starting to change. The free spirited
hippie movement of the 1960s brought about changing attitude towards marijuana. Culturally
this led to more acceptance of marijuana usage.
A changing political and cultural climate was reflected in more lenient attitudes
towards marijuana. Use of the drug became widespread in the white upper middle class.
Reports commissioned by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson found that marijuana use did
not induce violence nor lead to use of heavier drugs. Policy towards marijuana began to
involve considerations of treatment as well as criminal penalties. (pbs.org)

After the drug had been made slightly more legal the Parents Movement Against Marijuana was
created. They along with other conservative institutions would petition the government to make
stricter regulations and laws to protect teenagers so they could not have access to the drug. It
took the government ten years and even though cultural attitudes where starting to change,
conservative influences continued to pressure politicians to keep laws strict. In 1986 the AntiDrug Abuse Act created mandatory sentences that makes the punishments for the drug similar to
other drugs like heroin.
The mass incarceration of over 500,000 individuals for drug offenses has a dramatic
economic toll on the country. Although the federal government continues to keep marijuana
completely illegal, the public support of legalization has been over 50% in the last ten years.
Because of this, states have taken it upon themselves to hold referendums on marijuana
legalization. As of June 2016 25 states and Washington D.C. have legalized marijuana for
medical use. 4 states currently have complete legalization of marijuana.
An example of the economic benefit can be seen in Colorado and how it has effected the
cash flow and tax revenue of the state. In Colorado, where both medical and recreational
marijuana are legal, the state reaped $44 million in sales and excise taxes on pot in 2014.

(Gurciullo). The economic impact of fighting the drug war in which marijuana is a large
component is dramatic. The Drug Policy Alliance estimates that drug related costs from law
enforcement to prison adds up to at least 51$ billion just on the state and local level in 2013. That
does not include the 15$ billion in federal dollars that was included in the 2013 budget. The
group says over 4 decades, American tax payers have dished out 1$ trillion on the drug war
The issue of marijuana legalization has proven to be a hot topic throughout almost one
hundred years of our history. Throughout this one hundred years our cultural, ideological and
political interests have changed drastically. From making changes in policy to changes in our
social views, marijuana has clearly had an impact on our political space as well as our
government space, because of social views.

Work cited
Pbs.org http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dope/etc/cron.html
Brianna Gurciullo, updated November 2015

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/marijuana/
The Drug Policy Alliance Sledge, Matt, the drug war and mass incarceration by the
numbers April 8 2013 huffpost.com
No author, Pew Research Center, people-press.org April 4 2014
No author, Marijuana trend in the 1960s Wiki-land.wikispaces.com