What if Cannabis had never been outlawed in America? Would the drug be just as popular as Alcohol and Tobacco are today?
WI: Cannabis never outlawed in the US
- Thread starter spiderduck1997
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twovultures
Donor
Some other excuse would be found by local and the federal government to hassle blacks. However, this new excuse may not be as good for feeding prisons as marijuana, so you could see less imprisonment of black individuals and thus a healthier black community.
Without being outlawed, marijuana might never be associated with the 1960's counterculture. LSD would be even bigger among the hippy set, and possibly other drugs (perhaps meth would have an early rise
). Perhaps marijuana could become popular as a 'safe' alternative to smoking tobacco once those health problems are revealed. Of course, marijuana has its own problems, but once Phillip Morris realizes that they can grow it in a wider variety of environments than tobacco I think we will see a concerted effort by large companies to make it a marketable consumer good, which means that cultivars will have much less cool names than cat piss and Maui wowie.
True, although it certainly didn't help that "substitution" fears(basically the precursor to the gateway theory of today), had also become somewhat widespread up north.....or that Big Tobacco was becoming wary of competition(do note, btw, that the Marijuana Tax Act was introduced by a North Carolina congressman.....and N.C. just happens to be one of the primary tobacco growing states. Just something to think about).
One thing that might help keep the ban from going national.....is more companies like Philip Morris(a surprisingly progressive employer for its era, btw) popping up(or existing companies reforming!) . One thing that I found somewhat recently, is that they actually did, in fact, seriously consider growing a little bit of the stuff during the '70s, and lobbying for legalization(which is surprising, given what had happened just 40 years prior). Of course, that seems to have ended with the start of the Reagan era....but what if Reagan hadn't been elected? Might Philip Morris have continued on it's surprising quest to assist in legalization lobbying?
It isn't that surprising for Phillip Morris. Selling legal pot would just be another part of their business and one they would be suited for. Growing pot is no more difficult than growing tobacco and they have made cigarettes for decades. Making pot cigarettes would probably be no more difficult than making tobacco ones. If pot were legalized Phillip Morris would be great shape to seize part of what of a very lucrative market.
David S Poepoe
Banned
Hemp made ropes remain a larger portion of the market rather than being replaced by nylon rope.
Hemp-made everything, from paper to plastic, as well as animal feed, cooking oil, clothing etc.
I've read that one organization that opposed criminalization was the American Medical Association, whose members wanted to retain the ability to prescribe it to their patients.
Why would the US care what the League of Nations did? It wasn't part of the League. The LON wasn't strong enough to stop Italy from doing anything not talking the US. Countries wouldn't have stopped trading with the US over pot not talking about starting a war over it. What could the LON do to stop the US from ignoring it if they couldn't do anything about Italy or Japan?
I had the impression that the US led pressure for the banning in other lands but I may be wrong
Redhand
Banned
There would have to be restrictions on driving while high, so it wouldn't just be another cigarette. People would probably be a lot less productive if it got widespread approval and use. The Gateway theory might be applied to some other drug instead (just from personal experience with people I knew in high school, the gateway theory actually seems to hold up). Maybe Colorado becomes the first state to legalize Cocaine.
The US may take a greater interest in Afghanistan 70 years early. For the kush.
The US may take a greater interest in Afghanistan 70 years early. For the kush.
Son of Leman Russ
Banned
So, US still producing and forcing their imports, while some other non European countries trying to ban them? I smell Pot War toward Egyptians
It probably would have just been viewed as some ethnic food (well, not food but you know what I mean) that most people wouldn't even care about, at least not until it was understood that inhaling particular matter wasn't good for the lungs. If it caught on like tobacco, then the manufacturers of it would have been sues just like the tobacco industry (unless it was all viewed as one industry). If it was never illegal then the hippies likely would have ignored it in favor of something else, just so the spoiled brats can thumb their noses at authority.
That makes sense. Weren't opiates and cocaine restricted as a part of Prohibition, although they'd been easily available legally until then, as well?
Who said forcing their imports? That would be pretty unlikely. Most likely the US would grow it for itself and whoever didn't ban it.
bookmark95
Banned
turning point
I know what would have been a good turning point in marijuana prohibition. Marijuana had been banned due to the machinations of a Mr. Harry Anslinger, the first Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics from 1930 to 1962. He was helped in this campaign by William Randolph Hearst who was very racist toward the Mexicans who smoked it, and who was probably opposed to hemp as an industrial competitor. It portrayed marijuana as something spewed forth from the devil. A lot of this campaign had enormous racial undertones, which Anslinger denied. "Two Negros took a girl fourteen years old and kept her for two days under the influence of hemp. Upon recovery she was found to be suffering from syphilis." [1]
By 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act used a special loophole to make marijuana impossible to grow legally in the US. But one politician remained skeptical of Anslinger's claims: Fiorello La Guardia who opposed prohibition in all it's forms. In 1939 he convened a scientific committee that became known as the La Guardia Committee to investigate Anslinger's claims. By 1944, they found almost all of what Anslinger said to be untrue. Anslinger, however used his influence to suppress the report, and exerted his control over Hollywood, making sure he could approve any drug related movies that were produced.
What if the La Guardia report had reached President Roosevelt? That should be the turning point.
[1] James A. (1986). The War on Drugs: Heroin, cocaine, crime, and public policy. Palo Alto: Mayfield Publishing Company. p. 231. ISBN 0-87484-743-5.
Jump up ^
I know what would have been a good turning point in marijuana prohibition. Marijuana had been banned due to the machinations of a Mr. Harry Anslinger, the first Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics from 1930 to 1962. He was helped in this campaign by William Randolph Hearst who was very racist toward the Mexicans who smoked it, and who was probably opposed to hemp as an industrial competitor. It portrayed marijuana as something spewed forth from the devil. A lot of this campaign had enormous racial undertones, which Anslinger denied. "Two Negros took a girl fourteen years old and kept her for two days under the influence of hemp. Upon recovery she was found to be suffering from syphilis." [1]
By 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act used a special loophole to make marijuana impossible to grow legally in the US. But one politician remained skeptical of Anslinger's claims: Fiorello La Guardia who opposed prohibition in all it's forms. In 1939 he convened a scientific committee that became known as the La Guardia Committee to investigate Anslinger's claims. By 1944, they found almost all of what Anslinger said to be untrue. Anslinger, however used his influence to suppress the report, and exerted his control over Hollywood, making sure he could approve any drug related movies that were produced.
What if the La Guardia report had reached President Roosevelt? That should be the turning point.
[1] James A. (1986). The War on Drugs: Heroin, cocaine, crime, and public policy. Palo Alto: Mayfield Publishing Company. p. 231. ISBN 0-87484-743-5.
Jump up ^
Quite possibly nothing, we are talking about a time period leading into and actually fighting WWII. FDR had more important things to deal with and would likely put it on the back burner.