Why Was Marijuana Made Illegal To Begin With?

Various governments across the United States began to look into the effects of marijuana in the 1910s and El Paso was the first city to introduce an ordinance against cannabis in 1914. One of the reasons that many states were looking into the legalization of marijuana came down to a fear that Mexican immigrants would use the plant and continue to plant cannabis plants to pacify American citizens.

It was commonly thought that many marijuana smokers were people of minorities, entertainers and people that were seeking out unfavourable sexual relationships of the time. Hearing these accusations today regarding marijuana can seem a bit silly and also somewhat of a racist viewpoint but these were facts in the case for marijuana prohibition of the time.

There was intense fear mongering that was incited against marijuana and propaganda films such as Reefer Madness in 1936 worked to drive even more fear into the public. A series of dramatic stories on reefer hysteria continued to spread the propaganda which would eventually spread throughout the United States.

Marijuana continued to have a vilified stigma about it for over a half century. Mindsets continued to change and options for medical cannabis opened up throughout the United States. Since the early part of the 2000’s, more people were beginning to try cannabis products even though they were illegal and more medical uses for cannabis products were being explored.

Today we see ourselves in a time where we are dispelling the myths associated with marijuana and dissolving the fear and propaganda surrounding its use. Even though certain parts of the United States has still not completely legalized the use of marijuana, we are beginning to see mindsets changing and more local governments becoming more receptive to the idea of its legalization.

This post was written by Flo Sugyatno, operations manager of LOCAL’d and cannabis expert. LOCAL’d is a helping hand to the companies that strengthen your community in the Washington, DC area. Helping them to grow through financial and promotional support, LOCAL’d is one of the best Washington DC weed stores!