Drugs

8 Pages 1910 Words

smoking of hashish (dried resin) came hand in hand (1). The growing of hemp spread dramatically…it was introduced into New England in 1629 (2), and as America grew in size so to did hemp travel further and further west, hemp plantations were a common sight in pre-Revolutionary Kentucky (3). A notable fact is that both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were both growers of hemp (4). The agricultural use of marijuana is well documented in early American history but the actual abuse of the substance itself gains no real note until the 1850’s when its medicinal properties grew in popularity. From that time period until prohibitive acts were passed by Congress, pot could be bought at many general stores and pharmacies all across the country. The Mexican revolution of 1910 brought a new influx of immigrants into the USA, immigrants who introduced marijuana smoking into the mainstream of American culture (5), which continued running its process until the Marijuana Act of 1937 made the drug illegal to purchase, sell, and use. The 1950’s spawned increased activism against recreational pot use, and that voice for sobriety did not subsist in any really tangible lapse of time until the late 1970’s when then President Jimmy Carter and his administration lobbied unsuccessfully for the decriminalization of marijuana (6). The largest blow to date against the anti-hemp lobby was Proposition 215, a law enacted b...