Great American Substance War
Austin Jacobs
I can vividly remember the first time I saw marijuana in person; however, I cannot remember the first time I saw an alcoholic beverage or the first time I tried a sip of alcohol. It wasn’t until recently that I started to wonder why alcohol is able to be legally advertised, produced, sold, and consumed while marijuana is not. It is almost impossible for a child to grow up in the United States without having been exposed to alcohol and it is socially acceptable; whereas, society tries to shelter children from exposure to illicit drugs like marijuana. American society handles the regulation of these two substances very differently now, but that has not always been the case.
The 18th amendment, which took effect on January 17th 1920, marked the beginning of what is now referred to as the prohibition era. Fueled by the temperance movements sweeping the nation, the 18th amendment banning any alcoholic beverage was supposed to increase the nation’s prosperity, diminish crime, and eliminate juvenile delinquency (Prohibition). Instead prohibition led to the invention of organized crime, the mass distribution of bootlegged liquor, and filled jails with suspects guilty of minor alcohol charges. The government spent millions of dollars to try to enforce prohibition but with the passage of the 21st amendment in 1933 alcohol once again became legal in the United States.
The Marihuana Tax Act took effect on October 1, 1937 which effectively made the “importation, manufacture, production, compounding, sale, dealing in, dispensing, prescribing, administering, and giving away of marihuana” illegal in the United States (Marihuana). Propaganda such as Reefer Madness motivated our culture to shy away from the use of the drug, but it is difficult to say that it has made any positive impact in the long run. Like with prohibition the Marihuana Tax Act had many unforeseen consequences. Marijuana use exploded to a point where by 1979 68.2% of young adults ages 18 to 25 admitted to using marijuana at least once in their life (Alcohol). Crime rates also increased as over 800,000 people are arrested each year for possession (typically minimal amounts) of marijuana (Nadelmann). The criminalization of marijuana also gave power to a rising group in organized crime called drug cartels. As with alcohol, the war against marijuana costs the government a small fortune and is largely ineffective. Both the 18th amendment and the Marihuana Tax Act made criminals out of ordinary citizens by making previously legal substances illegal and greatly increased the amount of organized and violent crime.
Just because the government felt that both these substances should be illegal in the 1930s does not mean that the substances themselves are all that similar. Of course some similarities do exist, but other than the fact that both substances are used primarily for recreational purposes, the similarities are mainly in effect. Both substances have the ability to impair judgment, cause feelings of euphoria, slow reaction time and pose health concerns. However slight the similarities in effect may be, the differences are all that more dramatic.
In 2001 alcohol-attributed deaths (AAD) were estimated to be 75,766. 331 people died of an alcohol overdose in that same year, and the statistics just become more frightening (Alcohol). In addition to deaths, alcohol also results in thousands of years of potential life lost due to conditions such as liver cirrhosis (Alcohol).
Marijuana, on the other hand, has never been reported to have killed anyone from using it, and there is yet to be an instance of lung cancer in a marijuana-only smoker (Nadelmann). Unlike alcohol, marijuana has not been shown to increase the chance of violence while under the influence of the substance. In fact, Francis Young, who was a law judge for the Drug Enforcement Agency said that "marijuana may well be the safest psychoactive substance commonly used in human history" (Nadelmann). A number of different studies have been conducted regarding harmful effects of marijuana and other substances and most of them indicate the same thing; marijuana has very minimal negative effects associated with it especially when compared to alcohol. Researchers like Dr. William Slikker of the National Center for Toxicological Research were able to determine that marijuana use has shown no sign of causing long-term brain damage or killing brain cells (Gieringer). There also has been no reliable evidence suggesting that marijuana use reduces fertility or causes birth defects if used by a pregnant woman whereas it is common knowledge that alcohol has all of the aforementioned negative effects (Gieringer).
Possibly the biggest difference between these two substances is why they were outlawed in the first place. Alcohol was outlawed to combat a major problem America was going through at that time, which was an extraordinarily large epidemic of alcoholism spreading through working class males, but marijuana never went through the same stage; marijuana wasn’t perceived as dangerous to the typical family model or morality until after its criminalization and the government’s reefer madness propaganda. It is widely believed that marijuana was outlawed to protect the wealthy producers of wood and synthetic products. In 1930 new machines designed to break down hemp into useful fibers were invented and hemp became a viable, economically efficient alternative for wood, wood pulp, and synthetics (Cannabis). In 1937 Dupont started to develop nylon and that same year congress outlawed marijuana. While some just pass this off as just a coincidence others see this and wonder why the government called for an increase in hemp production to replace the wood industry just 21 years before outlawing the very same plant (Cannabis). Skeptics also wonder why the government briefly allowed farmers to grow hemp for twine during World War II because not even synthetic rope could be produced and then criminalized hemp production again. Many of these skeptics believe in a conspiracy theory that the government is protecting major corporations that would feel competition from the hemp industry (Cannabis).
It is easy to see how the history of policy and regulation shapes our societal views towards different substances although it remains baffling to me why the government would end prohibition on alcohol while criminalizing the less dangerous cannabis plant. At one point in time the government started a war on both alcohol and marijuana and both were grossly ineffective. At this point the main difference between the two is that congress realized their multimillion dollar mistake that was the 18th amendment whereas tax payers are still paying for the ongoing multibillion dollar mistake initiated by the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937.
The 18th amendment, which took effect on January 17th 1920, marked the beginning of what is now referred to as the prohibition era. Fueled by the temperance movements sweeping the nation, the 18th amendment banning any alcoholic beverage was supposed to increase the nation’s prosperity, diminish crime, and eliminate juvenile delinquency (Prohibition). Instead prohibition led to the invention of organized crime, the mass distribution of bootlegged liquor, and filled jails with suspects guilty of minor alcohol charges. The government spent millions of dollars to try to enforce prohibition but with the passage of the 21st amendment in 1933 alcohol once again became legal in the United States.
The Marihuana Tax Act took effect on October 1, 1937 which effectively made the “importation, manufacture, production, compounding, sale, dealing in, dispensing, prescribing, administering, and giving away of marihuana” illegal in the United States (Marihuana). Propaganda such as Reefer Madness motivated our culture to shy away from the use of the drug, but it is difficult to say that it has made any positive impact in the long run. Like with prohibition the Marihuana Tax Act had many unforeseen consequences. Marijuana use exploded to a point where by 1979 68.2% of young adults ages 18 to 25 admitted to using marijuana at least once in their life (Alcohol). Crime rates also increased as over 800,000 people are arrested each year for possession (typically minimal amounts) of marijuana (Nadelmann). The criminalization of marijuana also gave power to a rising group in organized crime called drug cartels. As with alcohol, the war against marijuana costs the government a small fortune and is largely ineffective. Both the 18th amendment and the Marihuana Tax Act made criminals out of ordinary citizens by making previously legal substances illegal and greatly increased the amount of organized and violent crime.
Just because the government felt that both these substances should be illegal in the 1930s does not mean that the substances themselves are all that similar. Of course some similarities do exist, but other than the fact that both substances are used primarily for recreational purposes, the similarities are mainly in effect. Both substances have the ability to impair judgment, cause feelings of euphoria, slow reaction time and pose health concerns. However slight the similarities in effect may be, the differences are all that more dramatic.
In 2001 alcohol-attributed deaths (AAD) were estimated to be 75,766. 331 people died of an alcohol overdose in that same year, and the statistics just become more frightening (Alcohol). In addition to deaths, alcohol also results in thousands of years of potential life lost due to conditions such as liver cirrhosis (Alcohol).
Marijuana, on the other hand, has never been reported to have killed anyone from using it, and there is yet to be an instance of lung cancer in a marijuana-only smoker (Nadelmann). Unlike alcohol, marijuana has not been shown to increase the chance of violence while under the influence of the substance. In fact, Francis Young, who was a law judge for the Drug Enforcement Agency said that "marijuana may well be the safest psychoactive substance commonly used in human history" (Nadelmann). A number of different studies have been conducted regarding harmful effects of marijuana and other substances and most of them indicate the same thing; marijuana has very minimal negative effects associated with it especially when compared to alcohol. Researchers like Dr. William Slikker of the National Center for Toxicological Research were able to determine that marijuana use has shown no sign of causing long-term brain damage or killing brain cells (Gieringer). There also has been no reliable evidence suggesting that marijuana use reduces fertility or causes birth defects if used by a pregnant woman whereas it is common knowledge that alcohol has all of the aforementioned negative effects (Gieringer).
Possibly the biggest difference between these two substances is why they were outlawed in the first place. Alcohol was outlawed to combat a major problem America was going through at that time, which was an extraordinarily large epidemic of alcoholism spreading through working class males, but marijuana never went through the same stage; marijuana wasn’t perceived as dangerous to the typical family model or morality until after its criminalization and the government’s reefer madness propaganda. It is widely believed that marijuana was outlawed to protect the wealthy producers of wood and synthetic products. In 1930 new machines designed to break down hemp into useful fibers were invented and hemp became a viable, economically efficient alternative for wood, wood pulp, and synthetics (Cannabis). In 1937 Dupont started to develop nylon and that same year congress outlawed marijuana. While some just pass this off as just a coincidence others see this and wonder why the government called for an increase in hemp production to replace the wood industry just 21 years before outlawing the very same plant (Cannabis). Skeptics also wonder why the government briefly allowed farmers to grow hemp for twine during World War II because not even synthetic rope could be produced and then criminalized hemp production again. Many of these skeptics believe in a conspiracy theory that the government is protecting major corporations that would feel competition from the hemp industry (Cannabis).
It is easy to see how the history of policy and regulation shapes our societal views towards different substances although it remains baffling to me why the government would end prohibition on alcohol while criminalizing the less dangerous cannabis plant. At one point in time the government started a war on both alcohol and marijuana and both were grossly ineffective. At this point the main difference between the two is that congress realized their multimillion dollar mistake that was the 18th amendment whereas tax payers are still paying for the ongoing multibillion dollar mistake initiated by the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937.