The use of cannabis as a medicine began in 2737 BC (Earleywine 26). All over the world marijuana had been used for many medical purposes: Emperor Shen Neng prescribed it for many ailments. These treatments grew more popular in all of Asia and down the coast of Africa. Religious uses developed in certain sects of Hinduism in India. By the 1500s, some
Europeans had mentioned the plant’s medicinal use. In the 1842, Irish physician William O’Shaughnessy published medical experiments that he conducted in India. (Earleywine 26)
In the early 1900s, right after the American Revolution, the U.S. saw a rise in immigration from Mexico (Burnett 1). The Mexicans brought with them a plant that they used for medical purposes. They called it “marihuana” …show more content…
The use and sale of marijuana didn’t become illegal in the U.S. until 1937 when the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 became effective. During the hearings on marijuana law in the 1930’s, claims were made about marijuana’s ability to cause men of color to become violent and solicit sex from white women (Burnett 1). While the Act was ruled unconstitutional years later, it was replaced with the Controlled Substances Act in the 1970s (Burnett 1). This Act introduced Schedules to rank substances for their potential for addiction and for their dangerousness, with Schedule I being the most dangerous and Schedule V being the least dangerous. Marijuana was classified as a Schedule I drug, meaning it was highly addictive with no medical value (Burnett 1).. Later on, “The Schafer Commission, as it was called, declared that marijuana should not be in Schedule I and even doubted its designation as an illicit substance” (Burnett 1). As it stands, there are no documented cases of a fatal overdose of marijuana (Earleywine 27). President Nixon disagreed with the commission and marijuana remains a Schedule I substance. President Carter later recommended a federal decriminalization of marijuana but was unsuccessful (Earleywine