Marijuana Prohibition 1937-1997

A report prepared by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the "Marijuana Tax Act of 1937." 

Part I.   Marijuana cultivation in the United States can trace its lineage some 400 years. Cultivation of marijuana for fiber continued in America through the turn of the 20th century.  Marijuana first earned recognition as an intoxicant in the 1920s and 1930s. During this time, exaggerated accounts of violent crimes allegedly committed by immigrants intoxicated by marijuana became popularized by tabloid newspapers and the newly formed Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Congress approved the "Marihuana Tax Act of 1937" based almost entirely on this propaganda and misinformation. 

Part II. Marijuana remains the third most popular recreational drug of choice in the United States despite 60 years of criminal prohibition. According to government figures, nearly 70 million Americans have smoked marijuana at some time in their lives. Of these, 18 million have smoked marijuana within the last year, and ten million are regular marijuana smokers.  The vast majority of these individuals are otherwise law-abiding citizens who work hard, raise families, and contribute to their communities. They are not part of the crime problem and should not be treated as criminals. 

Part III. The Clinton administration is waging a more intensive war on marijuana smokers than any other presidency in history. Presently, law enforcement arrests a marijuana smoker every 54 seconds in America at a tremendous cost to society. This represents a 60 percent increase in marijuana arrests since Clinton took office. Over ten million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges since the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse issued its recommendation to Congress in 1972 to decriminalize marijuana.  Because of harsh federal and state penalties, marijuana offenders today may be sentenced to lengthy jail terms. Even those who avoid incarceration are subject to an array of additional punishments, including loss of driver's license (even where the offense is not driving related), loss of occupational license, loss of child custody, loss of federal benefits, and removal from public housing. Under state and federal forfeiture laws, many suspected marijuana offenders lose their cars, cash, boats, land, business equipment, and houses. Eighty percent of the individuals whose assets are seized are never charged with a crime.  Marijuana prohibition disproportionately impacts minorities. Blacks and Hispanics are over-represented both in the numbers of arrests and in the numbers of marijuana offenders incarcerated. Blacks and Hispanics make up 20 percent of the marijuana smokers in the United States, but comprise 58 percent of the marijuana offenders sentenced under federal law last year.  Part IV. Nonviolent marijuana offenders often receive longer prison sentences than those allotted to violent offenders.   Most Americans do not want to spend scarce public funds incarcerating nonviolent marijuana offenders, at a cost of $23,000 per year. Politicians must reconsider our country's priorities and attach more importance to combating violent crime than targeting marijuana smokers. 

Part V. Marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers at least $7.5 billion annually. This is an enormous waste of scarce federal dollars that should be used to target violent crime.  

Part VI. Marijuana prohibition makes no exception for the medical use of marijuana. The tens of thousands of seriously ill Americans who presently use marijuana as a therapeutic agent to alleviate symptoms of cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, or multiple sclerosis risk arrest and jail to obtain and use their medication.  Between 1978 and 1996, 34 states passed laws recognizing marijuana's therapeutic value. Most recently, voters in two states -- Arizona and California -- passed laws allowing for the medical use of marijuana under a physician's supervision. Yet, states are severely limited in their ability to implement their medical use laws because of the federal prohibition of marijuana. 

Part VII. America tried alcohol prohibition between 1919 and 1931, but discovered that the crime and violence associated with prohibition was more damaging than the evil sought to be prohibited. With tobacco, American has learned over the last decade that education is the most effective way to discourage use. Yet, America fails to apply these lessons to marijuana policy.  By stubbornly defining all marijuana smoking as criminal, including that which involves adults smoking in the privacy of their own homes, we are wasting police and prosecutorial resources, clogging courts, filling costly and scarce jail and prison space, and needlessly wrecking the lives and careers of genuinely good citizens.

The Fourth Amendment to the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution states:     The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

The Fifth Amendment reads, in part, "No person shall be...compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...." These amendments provide the foundation for the rights that protect all U.S. Citizens from intrusive law enforcement practices.

1. Don't Leave Contraband in Plain View

Although law enforcement officers must obtain a warrant before they can conduct a privacy-invading search, any illicit material that can be plainly seen by any person from a non-intrusive vantage point is subject to confiscation. An arrest and a valid warrant to search the rest of the area is likely to ensue. A "roach" in the ashtray, a pipe or baggie on the coffee table, or a joint being smoked in public are common mistakes which all too-frequently lead to arrests.

2. Don't Put Anything Incriminating Into the Trash

Various courts have ruled that law enforcement officers are allowed to rummage through curbside trash bags without a warrant. A few seeds or stems can then be used as a basis for obtaining a warrant to search the individual's home. In fact, anything discarded into the public domain can be picked up by the police and used as evidence.

3. Never Consent to a Search

Many individuals arrested on marijuana charges could have avoided that arrest by exercising their Fourth Amendment rights. If a law enforcement officer asks permission to search, it is usually because: (1) there is not enough evidence to obtain a search warrant; or (2) the officer does not feel like going through the hassle of obtaining a warrant. Law enforcement officers are trained to intimidate people into consenting to searches. If an individual does consent, he waives his constitutional protection and the officers may search and seize items without further authorization. If officers find contraband, they will arrest the person. If an individual does not consent to a search, the officer must either release the person or detain the person and attempt to get a warrant. The fact that an individual refuses to consent does not give the officer grounds to obtain a warrant. The individual should politely say, "I do not consent to a search of my person, belongings, home, or vehicle. I retain my Fourth Amendment rights and all other rights under the United States Constitution. I will say nothing until my attorney is present."  If the officer conducts a search anyway, without a warrant, any contraband will likely be declared invalid evidence by the judge, and any charges will probably be dropped. If the officer does attempt to obtain a warrant and is successful in doing so, the validity of the warrant can still be challenged in court. It is always better to refuse to consent to a search.

4. Don't Answer Questions Without Your Attorney Present

Whether arrested or not, individuals should always exercise the right to remain silent. Anything a person says to law enforcement officers, reporters, cellmates, or even their friends can be used as evidence against him or her. Individuals have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. The right to remain silent should always be exercised.

5. Determining if You Can Leave

A person may terminate an encounter with officers unless the person is being detained under police custody or has been arrested. If the person cannot tell whether he or she may leave, the person can ask officers, "Am I under arrest or otherwise detained?" If the answer is, "No," the  person may leave.

6. Do Not Be Hostile; Do Not Physically Resist

There are times when individuals politely assert their rights and refuse to consent to a search but the officers nonetheless proceed to detain, search, or arrest them. In such cases, it is important not to physically resist. Rather, the individual might say, "Do what you feel you must; I will not physically resist. However, I do not consent to this."  The individual can later challenge the search in court.

7. Informing on Others

The police and prosecutors often try to pressure individuals into providing information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of others. Threats and promises by police and prosecutors should be viewed with caution and skepticism. Decisions should only be made after consulting with an experienced criminal defense attorney and examining one's own conscience.

Marijuana is a gateway drug. Even if marijuana itself causes minimal harm, it is a dangerous substance because it leads to the use of  'harder drugs' like heroin, LSD, and cocaine. 'Marijuana use is on the rise. . . . These findings are especially alarming since the use of marijuana - the most widely used drug - often leads to the use of other, more dangerous drugs.'

-- Join Together, Monthly Action Kit: Increase in Marijuana Use Among Young People,    Boston, (1995).

'Children who have used marijuana are 85 times likelier to use cocaine than children who have not used marijuana.'

-- Center on Addiction & Substance Abuse,  Cigarettes, Alcohol, and Marijuana: Gateways to Illicit Drugs New York (1994), p.9.

'It appears that the biochemical changes induced by marijuana in the brain result in a drug-seeking, drug-taking behavior, which in many instances will lead the user to experiment with other pleasurable substances.'

-- Gabriel Nahas, Keep Off the Grass Middlebury, VT: Paul S. Eriksson (1990), p. xxiii.

'Since marijuana use, harmful as it is in its own right, is often a prelude to the use of other drugs ...[it is] doubly disastrous.'

-- Senator Orrin Hatch, Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings, Teenage Drug Use (4 September 1996).

'Although marijuana is not as addictive or toxic as cocaine...smoking marijuana - or seeing others smoke marijuana - might make some individuals more disposed to use other drugs.'

-- Andrew L. Chalsma & David Boyum, Marijuana Situation Assessment, Washington, DC: Office of National Drug Control Policy (1994), p. 5.

Marijuana does not cause people to use hard drugs. What the gateway theory presents as a causal explanation is a statistical association between common and uncommon drugs, an association that changes over time as different drugs increase and decrease in prevalence. Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug in the United States today.  Therefore, people who have used less popular drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, and LSD, are likely to have also used marijuana. Most marijuana users never use any other illegal drug. Indeed, for the large majority of people, marijuana is a terminus rather than a gateway drug.

Marijuana's harms have been proved scientifically. In the 1960s and 1970s, many people believed that marijuana was harmless. Today we know that marijuana is much more dangerous than previously believed.  'Every single scientific study that has been done in the last several years shows alarming increases in the toxicity and danger of using marijuana.'

-- President Bill Clinton, remarks at signing of the Elementary and Secondary Education   Act of 1994, Framington, MA (20 October 1994).

Parents ...who used marijuana a generation ago ...need to ...realize ...that research has shown the drug to be far more dangerous ...than was known in the 1960s and 1970s.'

-- 'Marijuana for the Sick,' New York Times (30 December 1996), p. A14.

'New research tools, including sophisticated brain scanners and methods for studying the brain's system of chemical messengers ...provide new insights on the often subtle effects [of] marijuana.'

-- Earl Lane, 'Reefer Madness Revisited  Newsday (3 September 1996), p. B21.

'There are over ten thousand documented studies available that confirm the harmful physical and Psychological effects of smoking marijuana.'

-- California Narcotic Officers' Association,  Marijuana is NOT a Medicine,   Santa Clarita, CA (1996).

'Whatever you may have heard or thought about marijuana in the '60s, '70s, and '80s, forget it.'

-- 'Taking the Cover Off Pot,' Washington Post,  (7 December 1995), p. A24.

In 1972, after reviewing the scientific evidence, the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse concluded that while marijuana was not entirely safe, its dangers had been grossly overstated. Since then, researchers have conducted thousands of studies of humans, animals, and cell cultures. None reveal any findings dramatically different from those described by the National Commission in 1972. In 1995, based on thirty years of scientific research, editors of the British medical journal Lancet concluded that 'the smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not harmful to health.'

Marijuana has no medicinal value. Safer, more effective drugs are available, including a synthetic version of THC, marijuana's primary active ingredient, which is marketed in the United States under the name Marinol.  'There is no evidence to prove marijuana's use in chemotherapy. There are numerous alternative drugs that obviate the need to even pursue research on the subject.'

-- Drug Enforcement Administration, Drug Legalization: Myths and Misconceptions,   Washington DC: U.S. Department of  Justice (1994), p.49.

'Smoking pot does not qualify as a medicine. . . . The marijuana as medicine issue is a carefully orchestrated campaign ...by aging hippies, lawyers, and marijuana users who are imposing a cruel hoax on sick and dying people.'

-- Robert E. Peterson, The Marijuana as Medicine Scam, Lansing, MI: Michigan Office of Drug Control Policy (undated).

'Considering the known effects of marijuana on short - term memory, it seems probable that marijuana would impair . . . the patient's ability to remember to take other lifesaving . . .medicines.'

-- Richard A. Schwartz & Eric A. Voth, 'Marijuana as Medicine: Making a Silk Purse Out of a Sow's Ear,' Journal of Addictive Diseases 14:15-21 (1995).

'The pro-drug lobby exploits the suffering of patients with chronic illness ...as part of a strategy to legalize marijuana for general use.'

-- Drug Watch International, By Any Modern Medical Standard, Marijuana is No Medicine, Omaha (undated).

'There could be no worse message to young people....Just when the nation is trying its hardest to educate teenagers not to use psychoactive drugs, now they are being told that marijuana [is a] medicine.'

-- Barry McCaffrey, Director of National Drug Control Policy, Office of National Drug Control Policy Press Release, Washington DC (15 November 1996).

Marijuana has been shown to be effective in reducing nausea induced by cancer chemotherapy, stimulating appetite in AIDS patients, and reducing intraocular pressure in people with glaucoma. There is also appreciable evidence that marijuana reduces muscle spasticity in patients with neurological disorders. A synthetic THC capsule is available by prescription, but it is not as effective as smoked marijuana for many patients.   Pure THC may also produce more unpleasant psychoactive side effects than smoked marijuana. Many people use marijuana as a medicine today, despite its illegality. In doing so, they risk arrest and imprisonment.

Marijuana is highly addictive. Long-term marijuana users experience physical dependence and withdrawal, and often need professional drug treatment to break their marijuana habits.   'There is a demand for marijuana-specific treatment that is currently unmet. Marijuana dependence is a challenge that does not pale in comparison to other dependencies, as many people think.'

-- National Institute on Drug Abuse, 'Marijuana Treatments Involving Social Support or Relapse Prevention Appear to Reduce Chronic Drug Use,' NIDA Notes 5,2 (1990), p.16.

'Studies show that after abruptly stopping marijuana use, the long-term heavy pot user may develop signs and symptoms of withdrawal.'

-- Neil Swan, 'A Look at Marijuana's Harmful Effects,' NIDA Notes 9,2 (1994) p.16.

'In 1993, over 100,000 people entering drug treatment programs reported marijuana as their primary drug of abuse, showing they need help to stop.'

-- National Institute on Drug Abuse, Marijuana: What Parents Need to Know, Rockville, MD (1995), p.19.

Marijuana offenses are not severely punished. Few marijuana law violators are arrested and hardly anyone goes to prison. This lenient treatment is responsible for marijuana's continued availability and use.  'Marijuana enforcement has become far too lax. . . . Marijuana felons must face greater odds of arrest and incarceration.'

-- Robert E. Peterson, The success of Tough Drug Enforcement, Vestal, NY: Performance   Accountability Evaluations (1996), p.iv.

'The lax treatment has allowed criminals to use and traffic in marijuana with impunity.'

-- Robert E. Pierre, 'Marijuana's Violent  Side,' Washington Post (24 September   1996), p.1.

'There have to be meaningful consequences when people pollute our young people with marijuana. Right now, we are not doing a good job.'

-- Patrick McGowan, Minnesota Sheriff, quoted in 'Too Easy on Drugs, Bennett Tells,' The Sacramento Bee (19 June 1990), p.1.

'Marijuana is how this country got into this [drug] problem in the first place. . . . Possession of less than one ounce of marijuana . . . [is often] classed a minor infraction. . . . I believe this is far too lenient.'

-- William Bennett, Director of National Drug Control Policy, quoted in 'Too Easy on Drugs, Bennett Tells,' The Sacramento Bee (19 June 1990), p.1.

'It's time to get tough with those who sell marijuana to our most vulnerable citizens - children. . . . Clearly, we should be as tough on marijuana dealers as we are on heroin and cocaine pushers.'

-- Senator Mitch McConnell, Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings, Teenage Drug Use (4 September 1996).

Marijuana arrests in the united states doubled between 1991 and 1995. In 1995, more than one-half-million people were arrested for marijuana offenses. Eighty-six percent of them were arrested for marijuana possession. Tens of thousands of people are now in prison for marijuana offenses. An even greater number are punished with probation, fines, and civil sanctions, including having their property seized, their driver's licenses revoked, and their employment terminated. Despite these civil and criminal sanctions, marijuana continues to be readily available and widely used.'

by Paul Hager

Chair, ICLU Drug Task Force

1. Marijuana causes brain damage

The most celebrated study that claims to show brain damage is the rhesus monkey study of Dr. Robert Heath, done in the late 1970s. This study was reviewed by a distinguished panel of scientists sponsored by the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. Their results were published under the title, Marijuana and Health in 1982. Heath's work was sharply criticized for its insufficient sample size (only four monkeys), its failure to control experimental bias, and the misidentification of normal monkey brain structure as "damaged". Actual studies of human populations of marijuana users have shown no evidence of brain damage. For example, two studies from 1977, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showed no evidence of brain damage in heavy users of marijuana. That same year, the American Medical Association (AMA) officially came out in favor of decriminalizing marijuana. That's not the sort of thing you'd expect if the AMA thought marijuana damaged the brain.

2. Marijuana damages the reproductive system

This claim is based chiefly on the work of Dr. Gabriel Nahas, who experimented with tissue (cells) isolated in petri dishes, and the work of researchers who dosed animals with near-lethal amounts of cannabinoids (i.e., the intoxicating part of marijuana). Nahas' generalizations from his petri dishes to human beings have been rejected by the scientific community as being invalid. In the case of the animal experiments, the animals that survived their ordeal returned to normal within 30 days of the end of the experiment.   Studies of actual human populations have failed to demonstrate that marijuana adversely affects the reproductive system.

3. Marijuana is a "gateway" drug -- it leads to hard drugs

This is one of the more persistent myths. A real world example of what happens when marijuana is readily available can be found in Holland. The Dutch partially legalized marijuana in the 1970s. Since then, hard drug use -- heroin and cocaine -- have DECLINED substantially. If marijuana really were a gateway drug, one would have expected use of hard drugs to have gone up, not down. This apparent "negative gateway" effect has also been observed in the United States. Studies done in the early 1970s showed a negative correlation between use of marijuana and use of alcohol. A 1993 Rand Corporation study that compared drug use in states that had decriminalized marijuana versus those that had not, found that where marijuana was more available -- the states that had decriminalized -- hard drug abuse as measured by emergency room episodes decreased. In short, what science and actual experience tell us is that marijuana tends to substitute for the much more dangerous hard drugs like alcohol, cocaine, and heroin.

 4. Marijuana suppresses the immune system

Like the studies claiming to show damage to the reproductive system, this myth is based on studies where animals were given extremely high -- in many cases, near-lethal -- doses of cannabinoids. These results have never been duplicated in human beings. Interestingly, two studies done in 1978 and one done in 1988 showed that hashish and marijuana may have actually stimulated the immune system in the people studied.

5. Marijuana is much more dangerous than tobacco

Smoked marijuana contains about the same amount of carcinogens as does an equivalent amount of tobacco. It should be remembered, however, that a heavy tobacco smoker consumes much more tobacco than a heavy marijuana smoker consumes marijuana. This is because smoked tobacco, with a 90% addiction rate, is the most addictive of all drugs while marijuana is less addictive than caffeine.. Two other factors are important. The first is that paraphernalia laws directed against marijuana users make it difficult to smoke safely.   These laws make water pipes and bongs, which filter some of the carcinogens out of the smoke, illegal and, hence, unavailable. The second is that, if marijuana were legal, it would be more economical to have cannabis drinks like bhang (a traditional drink   in the Middle East) or tea which are totally non-carcinogenic.  This is in stark contrast with "smokeless" tobacco products like snuff which can cause cancer of the mouth and throat. When all of these facts are taken together, it can be clearly seen that the reverse is true: marijuana is much SAFER than tobacco.

6. Legal marijuana would cause carnage on the highways

Although marijuana, when used to intoxication, does impair performance in a manner similar to alcohol, actual studies of the effect of marijuana on the automobile accident rate suggest that it poses LESS of a hazard than alcohol. When a random sample of fatal accident victims was studied, it was initially found that marijuana was associated with RELATIVELY as many accidents as alcohol. In other words, the number of accident victims intoxicated on marijuana relative to the number of marijuana users in society gave a ratio similar to that for accident victims intoxicated on alcohol relative to the total number of alcohol users. However, a closer examination of the victims revealed that around 85% of the people intoxicated on marijuana WERE ALSO INTOXICATED ON ALCOHOL. For people only intoxicated on marijuana, the rate was much lower than for alcohol alone. This finding has been supported by other research using completely different methods. For example, an economic analysis of the effects of decriminalization on marijuana usage found that states that had reduced penalties for marijuana possession experienced a rise in marijuana use and a decline in alcohol use with the result that fatal highway accidents decreased.   This would suggest that, far from causing "carnage", legal marijuana might actually save lives.

7. Marijuana "flattens" human brainwaves

This is an out-and-out lie perpetrated by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. A few years ago, they ran a TV ad that purported to show, first, a normal human brainwave, and second, a flat brainwave from a 14-year-old "on marijuana". When researchers called up the TV networks to complain about this commercial, the Partnership had to pull it from the air. It seems that the Partnership faked the flat "marijuana brainwave". In reality, marijuana has the effect of slightly INCREASING alpha wave activity. Alpha waves are associated with meditative and relaxed states which are, in turn, often associated with human creativity.

8. Marijuana is more potent today than in the past

This myth is the result of bad data. The researchers who made the claim of increased potency used as their baseline the THC content of marijuana seized by police in the early 1970s. Poor storage of this marijuana in un-air conditioned evidence rooms caused it to deteriorate and decline in potency before any chemical assay was performed. Contemporaneous, independent assays of unseized "street" marijuana from the early 1970s showed a potency equivalent to that of modern "street" marijuana. Actually, the most potent form of this drug that was generally available was sold legally in the 1920s and 1930s by the pharmaceutical company Smith-Klein under the name, "American Cannabis".

9. Marijuana impairs short-term memory

This is true but misleading. Any impairment of short-term memory disappears when one is no longer under the influence of marijuana. Often, the short-term memory effect is paired with a reference to Dr. Heath's poor rhesus monkeys to imply that the condition is permanent.

10. Marijuana lingers in the body like DDT

This is also true but misleading. Cannabinoids are fat soluble as are innumerable nutrients and, yes, some poisons like DDT. For example, the essential nutrient, Vitamin A, is fat soluble but one never hears people who favor marijuana prohibition making this comparison.

11. There are over a thousand chemicals in marijuana smoke

Again, true but misleading. The 31 August 1990 issue of the magazine Science notes that of the over 800 volatile chemicals present in roasted COFFEE, only 21 have actually been tested on animals and 16 of these cause cancer in rodents. Yet, coffee remains legal and is generally considered fairly safe.

12. No one has ever died of a marijuana overdose

This is true. It was put in to see if you are paying attention. Animal tests have revealed that extremely high doses of cannabinoids are needed to have lethal effect. This has led scientists to conclude that the ratio of the amount of cannabinoids necessary to get a person intoxicated (i.e., stoned) relative to the amount necessary to kill them is 1 to 40,000. In other words, to overdose, you would have to consume 40,000 times as much marijuana as you needed to get stoned. In contrast, the ratio for alcohol varies between 1 to 4 and 1 to 10. It is easy to see how upwards of 5000 people die from alcohol overdoses every year and no one EVER dies of marijuana overdoses.

WHAT IS THE ICLU DRUG TASK FORCE?

The Indiana Civil Liberties Union (ICLU) Drug Task Force is involved in education and lobbying efforts directed toward reforming drug policy. Specifically, we support ACLU Policy Statement number 210 which calls for the legalization of marijuana.  We also support an end to the drug war. In its place, we favor "harm reduction" strategies which treat drug abuse as what it is -- a medical problem -- rather than a criminal justice problem.

The Drug Task Force also works to end urine and hair testing of workers by private industry. These kinds of tests violate worker privacy to no good purpose because they detect past use of certain drugs (mostly marijuana) while ignoring others (e.g., LSD) and cannot detect current impairment. In situations where public and worker safety is a legitimate concern, we advocate impairment testing devices which reliably detect degradation of performance without infringing upon worker privacy.

For more information about the activities of the Drug Task Force, call the ICLU at (317) 635-4059 or call Paul Hager at (812) 333-1384 or e-mail to [email protected] on the InterNet.