5 ms·
Marijuana didn't exactly become illegal in the United States because of its effects. It became illegal because of who was using it. It's hard to make sweeping
by eropple 9y ago
Marijuana didn't exactly become illegal in the United States because of its effects. It became illegal because of who was using it.
It's hard to make sweeping generalizations about its historical use but it's safe to say that the psychoactive contents of ancient strains of cannabis was much lower than today's and its use was, while not exclusively so, often restricted to rituals and people for whom the psychoactive effects were socially important (shamans etc.).
More recently, up through the 19th century, cannabis was recreationally used by plenty of people with no legal preventatives and it certainly doesn't seem like everyone were "potheads". But many of them weren't white, which, to the legal minds of the time, was just about as bad.
- knowThySelfx 9y agoYeah, used for rituals etc. I think most of the world too. It's also used in medicines. Ayurveda has always used it. And of course, modern medicine uses its contents. But I wonder what made weed illegal in most countries? I assume it happened not so long ago. Perhaps a century.
- eropple 9y agoI can't speak to most countries, but the United States did so largely due to concerted efforts to tar it as a drug of "negroes" and "Mexicans" and to attach to it mostly-untrue stories. "Reefer Madness" is an awful movie, but it's an awful movie that exists to push a policy position.
- knowThySelfx 9y agoUnderstood. Here's a little overview of what happened in India: https://www.quora.com/When-and-why-was-marijuana-made-illegal-in-India-and-what-was-its-legal-status-prior-to-the-NDPS-act https://www.quora.com/When-and-why-was-marijuana-made-illega...
- digi_owl 9y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Convention_on_Narcotic_Drugs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Convention_on_Narcotic_...
- yodsanklai 9y ago> Marijuana didn't exactly become illegal in the United States because of its effects. It became illegal because of who was using it. Is it really the case? I know it comes up in every discussion about cannabis but I'm wondering if it is really the case. Cannabis (and most psychoactive drugs with the exception of alcohol) are banned in most countries in the world and it has nothing to do with harassing minorities.
- fit2rule 9y agoCannabis was banned throughout the world, because American corporations wanted it banned, and after the US put it on the Schedule I list, efforts were made far and wide for the rest of the world to follow suit. And yes, cannabis was banned because of who was using it - as well as how USEFUL it was in disrupting other industries (such as paper) - not because of its effects. There are countless documentaries which discuss this - a simple Youtube search will yield results.
- knowThySelfx 9y agoAgreed that the US govt (read companies) put pressure on the govts. of other countries to get it banned.
- digi_owl 9y agoThere is a claim by a former member of the Nixon administration that drug laws where used to target blacks and hippies to disrupt anti-war protests etc. The same administration that pushed hard to get Cannabis classified as schedule 1 in the UN convention on drugs, as claimed by Canadian archive documents.
- 55555 9y agoI share your skepticism, generally. But I think other countries face sanctions if their local laws disagree with our drug laws, no? This would explain a lot of the agreement.
- int_19h 9y agoThe few countries that banned it early on, usually did so because of its vague association with opium, which was seen (rightly so!) as a serious problem. For those that banned it later, it's usually because they signed one of the global drug control treaties: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Opium_Convention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Opium_Convention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Convention_on_Narcotic_Drugs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Convention_on_Narcotic_... Both have been heavily pushed by US (indeed, it effectively organized the first one), and in both cases US was the one that targeted cannabis specifically. In the Single Convention, US was the one that demanded it to be placed on the most restrictive Schedule available. Here's a good read about all this: https://www.tni.org/en/publication/the-rise-and-decline-of-cannabis-prohibition https://www.tni.org/en/publication/the-rise-and-decline-of-c...
- jalcazar 9y agoBecause Harry Jacob Anslinger wouldn't have anything to do once alcohol was legalized, so he started a campaign against marijuana[1]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Anslinger#The_campaign_against_marijuana_1930.E2.80.931937 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Anslinger#The_campaig...