The United States has had a long, love-hate relationship with cannabis, and that is apparent in Humboldt County and the City of Arcata in particular. Let's take an honest look at the ramifications Arcata faced and faces with illegal, quasi-legal and legal cannabis.

Illegal

Since 1937, cannabis, aka "marijuana," has been illegal in the United States. At that time it was the second most prescribed medicine in the country. The physicians did not know that this "marijuana" that the Congress was proposing to make illegal was Cannabis Sativa, one of their most effective tools. As a matter of fact, the American Medical Association opposed the act because the tax was imposed on physicians prescribing cannabis, retail pharmacists selling cannabis, and medical cannabis cultivation/manufacturing; instead of enacting the Marihuana Tax Act, the AMA proposed cannabis be added to the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act. Their protest came too late. Not since alcohol prohibition has there been such a failure of policy and practice. Let's explore the dark side of illegal cannabis.

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