Marihuana Tax Act of 1937
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HR. 238 [75th]: Marihuana Tax Act
full text
Signed by the president.
Introduced August 2, 1937
Sponsor(s) Rep. Robert L. Doughton [-]
Source: {{{footnotes}}}
Major U.S. Federal
narcotic laws
Image:Marijuana icon.jpg
1906 Pure Food and Drug Act
Regulates labeling of products containing
certain drugs including cocaine and heroin
1914 Harrison Narcotics Tax Act
Regulate opiates and cocaine
1937 Marihuana Tax Act
Criminalization of marijuana.
1964 Convention on Narcotics.
Treaty to control marijuana
1970 Controlled Substance Act
Scheduling list for drugs
v • d • e
In the United States, the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act, Pub. 238, 75th Congress, 50 Stat. 551 (Aug. 2, 1937), was a significant bill on the path that led to the criminalization of cannabis. It was introduced to U.S. Congress by "Drug Czar" Harry Anslinger, then Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.
Contents
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* 1 References
* 2 Further reading
* 3 External links
The Act did not itself criminalize the possession or usage of hemp, marijuana or cannabis, but levied a tax equaling roughly one dollar on anyone who dealt commercially in cannabis, hemp or marijuana. It did, however, include penalty provisions and a complex Regulation 1 codifying the elaborate rules of enforcement marijuana cannabis or hemp handlers were subject to. Violation of these procedures could result in a fine of up to $2000 and five years' imprisonment. The net effect was to make it too risky for anyone to deal in the substance until World War II required the United States Department of Agriculture to make its 1942 movie "Hemp for Victory". The film encouraged and taught farmers to grow variants of hemp suitable as raw material for hawsers used by U.S Marines; the hemp was used as a substitute for other raw materials that were blocked by Japan.
The bill was passed on the grounds of different reports[1] and hearings [2]. Anslinger also referred to the International Opium Convention that from 1928 included cannabis as a drug, and that all states had some kind of laws against improper use of cannabis. Some testimonies included that cannabis caused "murder, insanity and death.[citation needed] Today, it is generally accepted that the hearings included incorrect, excessive or unfounded arguments.[citation needed] By 1951, however, new justifications had emerged, and a bill that superseded the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed.
The background also included a report about the commercialized hemp reporting that from 1880 to 1933 the hemp grown in the United States had declined from 15,000 acres (61 km2), to 1,200 acres (5 km2), and that the price of line hemp had dropped from $12.50 per pound in 1914 to $9.00 per pound in 1933.[3]
In 1967, President Johnson's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of justice opined, "The Act raises an insignificant amount of revenue and exposes an insignificant number of marijuana transactions to public view, since only a handful of people are registered under the Act. It has become, in effect, solely- a criminal law, imposing sanctions upon persons who sell, acquire, or possess marijuana."[4]
In 1969 in Leary v. United States, this act was found to be unconstitutional since it violated the Fifth Amendment, since a person seeking the tax stamp would have to incriminate him/herself.[5] In response the Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act as Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970[6]. The 1937 Act was repealed by the 1970 Act.
Although the spelling "marijuana" is more common in current usage, the correct spelling for the Marihuana Tax Act is "Marihuana". "Marihuana" was the spelling most commonly used in Federal Government documents at the time. To stay consistent with prior law, it is still spelled "Marihuana" in some congressional bills such as HR 3037, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2005.
In addition... the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 legitimized, made official, the use of the labeling of hemp and cannabis plants and products to be termed/called, "marihuana" or, as it is now said, "marijuana"... prior to 1937, "marihuana/marijuana" was slang, it was not included in any official dictionaries... as a reference (consult any dictionary prior to 1937) the author refers you to Webster's New International Dictionary, 1921, Published by G.&C. Merriam Company, Springfield, Mass., U.S.A., pg. 1318 - which is where if such a official word existed, it would be present, and it's not. The slang word marihuana/marijuana is probably of Mexican origin. In the years leading up to the tax act considerable issues existed involving illegal immigration of Mexicans into the United States, and the one thing Mexicans were identified as being in possession of was cannabis, what they called marihuana. It was the southern, border states that called for action. As documented by the History Channel's documentary, "Hooked: Illegal Drugs and How They Got That Way", copyright 2000, A&E Television Network, Cat. No. AAE-70805, Volume 1, Harry Anslinger resisted the call to even consider criminalizing cannabis... but under considerable pressure by southern states, and recent propaganda/horror movies inspired by, such notable figures as, William Randolf Hearst, Anslinger bowed to pressure, and based on the success of the tax act earlier created to "ban" possession of machine guns, created the tax act to ban what the Mexicans seemed to possess, that being marihuana, and therefor, illegal immigrants could now be arrested for possession of marihuana, as well as all US citizens.
