The Economics Behind Marijuana and Its Illegality

Marijuana is one of the most commonly used illicit substances in the United States. However, the history of the drug is ripe with controversy ranging from its use to its illegalization. To truly understand the situation regarding marijuana it is only proper to look at the root of the controversy surrounding it. People choose to smoke marijuan or different cigarette brands like Bond cigarettes or Temp cigarettes.

Once the 1930s rolled around, and the prohibition of alcohol had failed tremendously, there was a feeling of failure in most prohibitionists' minds. One of the jaded prohibitionists, Harry J. Anslinger, soon found himself at the forefront of yet another prohibition movement in the United States. During the latter years of alcohol prohibition many Southwestern states were pushing for a law against marijuana as a means to persecute the Mexican immigrants who offered cheap labor during the Depression.

In response to the public's outcry for action, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) was founded in 1930 as an agency of the United States Department of Treasury. Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon, felt his nephew-in-law, Harry J. Anslinger, was the perfect candidate for the job of FBN commissioner. While Anslinger was upset over the failure of the prohibition of alcohol, the cries for action against marijuana enabled Anslinger to focus his attention on a new scapegoat substance.

For the first 4 years of the FBN, Anslinger never felt cannabis to be a real threat, but he eventually changed his mind and began one of the most heinous campaigns of propaganda in the history of the United States. At the time the campaign began, accurate scientific studies of marijuana had not been conducted; in fact, marijuana was not properly studied until the 1950s, long after the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed. Most of the evidence used to lead the Supreme Court in their decision to pass the Marihuana Tax Act was created and distributed by the FBN.