Quote:
Originally posted by Rodney
[B]Actually, the jazz era is a good thing; but as I recall marijuana only became illegal on the federal level in '35 or so. In those days, the majority of smokers were actually farmworkers in the southwest (and urban blacks, to a degree), so the purity police had an easy time making it illegal: poor Latino farmworkers and black ghetto-dwellers had no clout.
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that was when it was first being made illegal. Reefer Madness came out in the mid 30's to try and slow use and avoid letting it hit middle class america as hard. Around the 50's is when they revised the laws so that penalties were much harsher and enforcement was much stronger.
"Federal laws (Boggs Act, 1952; Narcotics Control Act, 1956) were passed to establish mandatory sentences for drug-related offenses, including marijuana. A first offense or marijuana possession carried a minimum sentence of 2-10 years with a fine of up to $20,000."
There were TONS of cases of people getting sentenced for rediculous amounts of time over very small amounts of marijuana.
theres numberous sites online that have great timelines. I would suggest picking an area that interests you most and go from there to now. With medical marijuana being legal in multiple states with more on the way.
*EDIT*
also rent and watch the movie "Grass". Woody Harrelson narrates it. It's basically a video timeline and history of marijuana law and use.