NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, has created this beautiful presentation on a brief history of marijuana in the United States.
Much of this has been laid out, and more. However, since the clip is so brief, some background was left out.
Did you know that it wasn’t only the Mexican influx in the early 20th century that lead to a fear of marijuana, it was also the Jazz revolution in the Deep South? And, that the idea to tax illegal drugs arose from the acquiring of the Philippine Islands by the United States following the Spanish-American War. On these Spanish-colonized islands, a taxing structure was in place to gain revenue from the opium trade.
