This story was reported for the San Diego News Network on June 3, 2009. This was reported by Hoa Quach and Steven Bartholow.
As far back as 1854, marijuana appeared in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, the country’s official standard-setting for prescription drugs. At the turn of the century – when it was estimated 5 percent of people were addicted to opiates – the American government turned its eye toward drug addiction.
In 1914, the first federal drug laws were passed, making opiates and cocaine illegal.
After years of government propaganda – like the well-known film “Reefer Madness” – Americans began to equate marijuana with harder drugs, such as heroin and cocaine.
Marijuana was targeted and banned in a 1937 federal law, despite the protest of The American Medical Association. The AMA told Congress it did not “know of [any] evidence that marijuana is a dangerous drug” and warned that a prohibition “loses sight of the fact that future investigation may show that there are substantial medical uses for cannabis.”
Later, a number of peer-reviewed studies – including one commissioned by The Office of National Drug Control Policy and conducted by the Institute of Medicine in 1997 – concluded that marijuana is a safe and effective medicine that qualified patients should have safe access to.
In 1996, California and Arizona legalized the use of medical marijuana; since then, 11 states have done the same. The following is a timeline of milestones in the history of marijuana in the U.S.
– 1854: The U.S. Dispensary lists cannabis compounds as suggested remedies for a multitude of medical problems.
– 1937: Twenty-three states outlaw marijuana.
– 1937: The federal government passes the Marijuana Tax Act, which makes non-medical use of marijuana illegal, and makes it so difficult to obtain that it essentially ended its medical use.
– 1942: Marijuana is removed from the U.S. Pharmacopoeia list.
– 1950s: Congress passes the Boggs Act and the Narcotics Control Act, creating mandatory sentences for marijuana possessors and distributors.
– October 1970: Marijuana is listed in federal law as a Schedule I substance which has no accepted medical use.
– November 1976: In the People v. Randall, it is ruled that Randall’s use of marijuana constituted a “medical necessity.”
– 1978: As a result of the People v. Randall, a program was devised to allow patients to receive medical marijuana from the U.S. government.
– 1991: The federal Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program for medical marijuana was suspended.
– 1996: California Proposition 215 allows for medicinal marijuana use.
– 2003: California Gov. Gray Davis signs into law Senate Bill 420 and the Medical Marijuana Program is devised.