Pubdate: Sun, 17 Jun 2007
Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL)
Copyright: 2007 News-Journal Corporation
Contact:  http://www.news-journalonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/700
Note: gives priority to local writers
Author: Seth Robbins, with News Researcher Karen Duffy contributing
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

MARIJUANA LAW'S U.S. HISTORY

Since the earliest settlers, marijuana has long been a cash crop in 
the United States. Many people, however, don't know how it became 
illegal. This is a brief history of the infamous weed.

1619: The first American law pertaining to marijuana, passed by the 
Virginia Assembly, required every farmer to grow it. Fibers from 
hemp, which is much less potent than the smokable kind, were used to 
make ship sails and rope.

1900-1930: Sailors and West Indian immigrants smoked marijuana in 
port cities along the Gulf of Mexico. In New Orleans, newspaper 
articles associated the drug with jazz musicians, prostitutes and the 
underworld. Police officers in Texas said marijuana "aroused a lust 
for blood" and gave its users "super human strength."

1931: Twenty-nine states had outlawed marijuana, generally with 
little fanfare or debate.

1936, "REEFER MADNESS": This propaganda film, originally financed by 
a church group and made under the title "Tell Your Children," is 
about what happens when teens try marijuana: a hit-and-run accident, 
manslaughter, suicide, rape and even a descent into madness. Soon 
after the film was shot, however, exploitation filmmaker Dwain Esper 
purchased the film, cut in several salacious shots and repackaged it 
under its now famous title.

1937, FEDERAL GROWING BAN: The Marihuana Tax Act passed, prohibiting 
Cannabis sativa -- the genus for the species of plant designated by 
Carl Linnaeus in 1753 -- from being grown. The legislation did not 
criminalize the use or possession of pot, but required anyone looking 
to grow marijuana to seek a tax stamp from the government. Failing to 
pay the tax resulted in fines up to $2,000 and five years in prison. 
The bill sailed through Congress, and only three lines were written 
on its passage in the New York Times.

BIRDSEED BROUHAHA: The one group to balk at the marijuana-growing ban 
was birdseed makers. They used hemp seeds in their bird feed, and to 
this day, because of an exemption, they are allowed to use sterilized seeds.

BEFORE 2000: Drug agents became better at spotting hidden crops from 
helicopters and planes. They combed through national forests and 
wetlands, known to be a fertile ground for illegal marijuana. 
Wildfires scorched growers' lands and sent their crops up in smoke. 
Poachers were such a problem that mild-mannered farmers placed punji 
boards, planks with upward facing spikes, around their fields. 
Criminal organizations installed armed guards.

POST-2001, TOUGH TO SMUGGLE: Smugglers found their jobs more 
difficult after Sept. 11 when the government beefed up its border 
patrol. Seizures mounted to more than 1 million kilograms. So, 
growers packed up their plants and hauled them inside because it was 
a good way to avoid detection, and produce, in controlled conditions, 
a more profitable product.

2005: According to a White House survey, there were more than 25 
million marijuana users in the United States.

- -- Compiled by Seth Robbins with News Researcher Karen Duffy contributing
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom