Why is marijuana illegal?

For thousands of years the marijuana plant (hemp) was legal. It was woven and used as a fabric, food, incense, rope and cloth; not to mention the medical benefits such as pain relief, alleviating nausea and vomiting, and more recently stimulating hunger in chemotherapy and AIDS patients. Known uses date back to the 3rd millennium BC, with recorded cannabis pollen in the United Kingdom dating back to about 19 AD, and even grown by George Washington in the USA during the 18th century. More recently (in history) it has been used as a recreational, religious/spiritual and medical drug, later becoming illegal in the early 20th century.

A question that is often asked is why is marijuana illegal? Recent generations typically don't understand why marijuana was originally banned, nor do they understand why Governments are hesitant to re-classify it.

In 1894 the British and Indian Governments concluded that the social use of marijuana was acceptable, and previous claims that the drug caused users to go insane were not plausible. However, the western world was changing and hemp was seen as a danger to profits, which could be made from alternative synthetics, fossil fuels and chemical medicinal drugs. Thus, during the 1924 Opiates Conference in Geneva, delegates were persuaded that marijuana was also a dangerous and addictive drug, backed up by unfounded claims that members of the public in Egypt were suffering from insanity due to smoking it. A special committee was created to investigate this claim. However before they were able to report back, the drug had already been added to the list of prohibited drugs. The UK had abstained from the vote, but under the conditions of the conference, they were forced to include marijuana in the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1928.

In 1930, on the other side of the pond, Harry J Anslinger was appointed the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN). Anslinger viewed the FBN as a great career opportunity, and feared that the banning of opiates and cocaine might not be enough to help build his new agency. So he took marijuana under his wing and began working on making the drug illegal on the federal level within the USA. He did this by misconstruing marijuana use through a multitude of lies and racist positions. Anslinger set out to convince the American public that marijuana was bad because it was used by degenerate races, caused insanity, criminality and death, and caused white women to want to have sex with black men and black men to think they were as good as white men. He also promoted stories of marijuana smokers becoming axe murderers. Anslinger even claimed that it was used by “ginger haired niggers” to undermine society by the spreading of marijuana addiction.

This was further fuelled by yellow journalism. Anslinger was able to secure the help of William Randolf Hearst, owner of a chain of large newspapers. Hearst had invested large amounts of money in the timber industry to support his newspaper businesses, and he didn't want to see the development of hemp paper as competition. Hearst had lost 800,000 acres of timberland to Mexicans, fuelling his hatred for them. Telling sensationalist lies about Mexicans and marijuana sold newspapers, thus Hearst was able to line his pockets.

Anslinger and Hearst were supported by a number of chemical and pharmaceutical companies who wished to outlaw hemp for a variety of reasons, most of which boiled down to eliminating competition. In 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act was passed, despite the legislation being slammed by Dr. William C Woodward for distorting the truth, implying misconduct on Anslinger's part. Anslinger was later sacked by President John Kennedy whilst Anslinger was pursuing efforts to eradicate the use of hemp.

So why is it still illegal?

It seems the reasoning behind marijuana's current legal status is a confusing and illogical discussion in which to be. In the United Kingdom, the Government refuses to debate the issue and in recent years has reclassified the drug several times. One of the most recent times they were confronted with a make-it-legal argument, their response was simply that it might send the wrong message to the public (that it's okay to take drugs) if marijuana was legalised. Marijuana remains illegal in many countries despite being declared remarkably safe by the British Medical Association (BMA) and Harvard University professor, Lester Grinspoon. But there are countries, several of them in Europe, moving toward new legislation. That doesn't mean there aren't negative effects of using marijuana. But I believe it's important to give such arguments context and remind ourselves that there are legal substances that are addictive and have negative effects - tobacco and alcohol, to name two.

I do not use marijuana. But I believe it's important that personal choice is preserved in matters such as this. Just as I make a personal choice to drink vodka on a Saturday evening.