Cannabis Legalization, A Missed Opportunity for California
It has been estimated that the legalization and subsequent taxation (excise and sales tax) of cannabis in California could generate anywhere between $990 million and $1.4 billion annually in tax revenue. Additionally it has been estimated that legalization could reduce statewide enforcement costs by $150 million annually. Considering the number of human service agencies, departments, and programs that have had their budgets either significantly reduced or cut altogether, why has California forgone the opportunity to use the revenue and savings associated with cannabis legalization to support K-12 and higher education, early childhood, and elderly programs?
What’s the Problem with
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The USNDA encouraged states to make their respective laws uniform with the federal Narcotic Drug and Import and Export Acts regarding the control, sale, and use of narcotic drugs and suggested the prohibition of cannabis at the state level. The intent of the USNDA was to effectively safeguard and regulate narcotic drugs throughout all of the states. In 1934, the USNDA was disseminated to states. Initially only 9 states adopted the USNDA but a successful propaganda campaign eventually led to all states adopting the USNDA.
In 1937, Congress passed the Marihuana Tax Act (MTA) which imposed special use taxes on individuals who imported, manufactured, produced, compounded, sold, dispensed, prescribed, administered, or gave away cannabis and required that the aforementioned individuals register with the federal government. The MTA also imposed penalties (up to $2,000 fine and/or up to 5 years imprisonment) for violators of its provisions. The MTA and subsequent federal regulations dissuaded physicians from prescribing cannabis, retail pharmacists from selling cannabis, and the cultivation/manufacturing of medical cannabis. By 1954, penalties for illegal cannabis possession and sale were a minimum of 1 to 10 years and 5 to 15 years, respectively.
In 1969, the United States (US) Supreme Court ruled that the MTA violated the 5th amendment. Congress repealed the MTA in 1970 but chaptered the Controlled substances Act (CSA) into law that same year. The CSA
It has been used for medicinal purposes and used for pleasure purposes. During the 1930s, Harry Anslinger became commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. (CNN History of Marijuana in America) He fought for the prohibition of marijuana. (CNN History of Marijuana in America) The movie “Reefer Madness” was made as a scare tactic for the youth in the 1930s. Back then marijuana was made to look like cigarettes. In 1937, Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act, which immediately criminalized the drug and lead to decline in marijuana prescriptions. (Mark Eddy) "Marijuana was removed from the US Pharmacopeia in 1942, thus losing its remaining mantle of therapeutic legitimacy. (American Medical Association)" In 1951, the Boggs Act was passed, which stated that two-to-five years was the minimum sentence for any first offense drug crimes. (Families Against Mandatory Minimums) U.S. Customs were trying to keep foreign marijuana distributors from getting marijuana into the U.S. Marijuana was used by many people by the 1960s. The DEA came around in 1973. In 1996, California was the first to legalize medicinal marijuana and in 1998, Alaska, Oregon, Washington followed. Then other states began to legalize to medical marijuana as the years passed. On April 14, 2014 Maryland was the 21st state to legalize medical marijuana. Over the years there have been many disputes between the people and the government on marijuana
Background: The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 established the federal prohibition of marijuana. Dr. William C. Woodward of the American Medical Association testified against the Act, arguing that it would ultimately prevent any medicinal use of marijuana. The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 established five categories, or "schedules," into which all illicit and
The United states has taken consistent efforts to control the distribution and manufacture of medications and other drugs, with many efforts regulate possession importation and sales of various types of drugs. While there are several historic pieces of legislation that deal with the regulation and control of various substances, there is no other single piece of legislation that is an important and impactful to health care as the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. This essay will explore the history of this legislation, its purpose and passage from proposal to law. Some may argue American this is true for American society as a whole, because of the implementation of this law and the addition of the Drug enforcement Agency as the agency that
The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 didn’t actually ban marijuana. Like the Harrison Act, it effectively taxed marijuana into the shadows of the black market. Marijuana had sold for about $1 an ounce at the time, but the bill added a tax of $100 an ounce. The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 effectively taxed and regulated the hemp industry out of business.
Since the late 19th century, the federal and states governments of the United States have enacted laws and policies to deter the use and distribution of illegal drugs. These laws and policies have not only deemed what drugs are legal and illegal, but have also established penalties for the possession and distribution of these substances and established federal agencies to control drug use and administer drug law enforcement. This essay will not only examine the landmark drug laws and policies established by the federal and state governments, but also the enforcement of drug laws.
The history of drug use dates back for thousands of years with diverse purposes throughout humanity. According to Levinthal (2012), the drug-taking behavior gained federal awareness in the early 1900s, due to the lack of drug control regulations. Moreover, Levinthal (2012) mentions four major drug control laws which were established, including: (1) The Harrison Narcotic Act 1914, (2) The Marijuana Tax Act 1937, (3) The Boggs Act 1951, and (4) The Controlled Substance Act 1970. The drug control laws formed help regulate importation, manufacture, selling, or distribution of drugs within the United States (Levinthal, 2012).
The issue at hand is the legalization of marijuana in California. Five research questions are as follows: 1. Do you believe that marijuana should be legalized in California as it has been in Colorado and Washington? 2. Do you believe that marijuana is harmful? 3. Should marijuana be sold is the same manner as alcohol and tobacco, with ID checks? 4. Would you support legalizing the importation of marijuana from other countries or transporting it into California across state lines? 5. Is the legalization of marijuana a high priority for government officials or a low priority?
Marijuana became a problem in America from 1913 to the late 1930s. California was the first state to ban marijuana in 1913, and Utah outlawed marijuana in 1914. From 1915 to 1937 it was banned by 30 states, in the southwestern states it was outlawed because of racial prejudice against the mexicans who used it. In other states they thought that marijuana was a “gateway” drug and lead to heroin addiction. Marijuana also became illegal because of Henry Hearst, he invested in the timber industry to support his newspaper business and he did not want hemp as a competitor. Another man was also trying to get marijuana banned, he was the director of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Harry Anslinger. He saw a business opportunity, like many other corrupt
Cannabis dispensaries and medical marijuana licenses have become more and more commonplace in California in recent years. Because recreational use of marijuana is not let legal in the state of California like it is in Colorado, only those who have a medical marijuana license can buy weed legally in The Golden State. Here’s how to obtain a Medical Marijuana Identification Card (MMIC):
It wasn't until the mid-nineteenth century that western doctors began prescribing it to their patients, and soon it could even be bought in drug stores. It was commonly used in the U.S. to treat asthma, epilepsy, dysmemarrhea, gonorrhea, and migraines, being compared to opium in strength but much kinder on the body. The use of marijuana declined with the development of aspirin and barbiturates, which were much more dependable. The belief that Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. This new law to discourage recreational smoking required anyone purchasing the drug for certain medical purposes to pay a tax of one dollar per ounce, while those inclined to use it for other purposes paid one hundred dollars per ounce. In 1970 Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act, assigning psychoactive drugs to five schedules. Cannabis came under schedule 1, the most restrictive. Drugs outlined under schedule 1 were said to have no medical use, a high potential for abuse and no safe uses. In 1978 New Mexico enacted the first law to make it legal for medical use, and by 1994, 36 other states followed. Cannabis was not recognized as a medicine by the federal government , and in order to dispense it, states had to conduct special research and receive FDA approval. Because this was so hard to do, only 10 states actually established programs in which cannabis was used as a medicine. Patients had to complete extensive paperwork in order to get
While laws prohibiting the use of drugs, in one form or another, can be traced back to the 1870s, it was not until 1968, when Richard M. Nixon was elected President, that our current drug war was conceived. In 1970 Congress passed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse and Control Act.(2) With an
In this essay I will explore the positive and negative effects of legalizing Cannabis in California. I support the legalization of Cannabis, these are my reasons why; If California does legalize Cannabis then it would decrease the money spent on drug enforcement and criminal persecution. Legalizing Cannabis would also reduce the value of the black market product. It would also generate revenue for the California economy because it would be a taxable item that is in high demand.
Starting in 1914 the U.S introduced the first probation acts that prohibited the consumption of Opiates and Cocaine with the Harrison Narcotics act of 1914 Later this act was amended to include marijuana. This Act was the first use of federal criminal law in the United Sates to attempt to deal with the nonmedical use of drugs (wisegeek). The war of drugs started primarily in the 1971 when Nixon declared the war on drugs. He dramatically increased the size and presence of federal drug control agencies (Drug Policy). With the first major organized drug imports from Columbia from the Black Tuna Gang based in Miami, Florida Columbia was quickly growing into a drug superpower able to feed America’s growing addictions.
The act was drafted by Harry Anslinger and introduced by Rep. Robert L. Doughton of North Carolina, on April 14, 1937. The imposed tax equaled roughly one dollar on anyone who profited from cannabis, hemp, or marijuana. The Act did not itself make the possession or usage of hemp, marijuana, or cannabis unlawful but it did add a punishment and implementation to the rule to which marijuana, cannabis, or hemp handlers were subject. A $2000 fine and five years' imprisonment could result in the violation of these processes.
Those who didn’t comply with the regulations were jailed or fined. The law made it very difficult to obtain marijuana medically. The Federal Bureau of Narcotics used “anti-diversion” regulations, or regulations to prohibit certain exported goods, which angered physicians further. By 1941, medical cannabis was removed from the U.S. Pharmacopeia and National Formulary (Grinspoon 1-8). In the 1960s, stories of its medical properties were published in mainstream magazines, and as the legislative concerns about the recreational purposes surfaced, Congress passed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act (1970). Also known as the Controlled Substances Act, this placed psychoactive drugs into five categories, with marijuana in Schedule I: the most restrictive, indicating very little medicinal value, safety concerns, and a high potential for abuse. Dronabinol (i.e. marinol), a marijuana derivative, was placed in Schedule III, allowing it to be used safely as medicine. Following the categorization, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) attempted, through several petitions and legal hearings, to encourage the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs to re-categorize natural marijuana as a Schedule II drug, so it could be prescribed by doctors (Grinspoon 8-10). Also, the states began to challenge federal legislation, creating a significant conflict within federalism.