Cannabis is a plant that has its uses tied to a vast selection of past and current civilized societies. The plant’s ethnobotanical roots reach the likes of the dynasty periods of China and 14th century Islam, where its earliest prohibition efforts are on record. With the plant’s different tonic and pharmaceutical uses, its restrictions in history have primarily been based on class attenuations. Although the ethnobotany of cannabis proves to have positive medicinal uses, the federal scheduling of the narcotic is still labeled as “one” and illegal in the United States, because of malicious lobbying efforts during its early domestic prohibition and an overwhelming amount of social stigma caused by political fear mongering.
The history of cannabis traces all the way back to nomadic developments in Central Asia. While its implementation and uses were initially very primitive, the neolithic revolution changed how humans treated the plant. This expansion of cannabis utilization occurred circa the Clovis Point tribes and right after the historically recognized Ice Age. What this meant was that the global temperature became warmer and more temperate so that people could build the earliest stages of agrarian societies. Foodstuffs such as wheat and vegetables were the earliest to be cultivated around the Fertile Crescent, and the cultivation of cannabis followed suit. The fibers within the stalks of the male counterpart of cannabis, hemp, were weaved into nets to catch fish and regulate other societal practices. The oils produced from the flowering of the female plants were used for soaps, medicine, and other tonic substances. As various social practices developed, the plant’s uses in the 21st century became very different from that of the most primitive civilizations and subsequent cultures. With the United States as the target population discussed within this essay, a lot of cannabis consumption is seen within its youth demographic. A study domestic to the United States compiled through online means on youth trends in cannabis usage shows that “of those eligible, 3,035 (58%) completed the entire survey and passed the data quality checks. Of those, 405 reported no lifetime use of cannabis. The final sample for the present analyses was, therefore, N = 2,630. Table 1 provides demographics and substance use frequencies. These youths had a mean age of 16.4 (standard deviation = 1.1), were in grade 6 through first year of college, were 51% female, and 79% Caucasian.”(Knapp) Nowadays, cannabis is a plant that is primarily used for recreational and medical purposes. A lot of today’s youth consume the plant for its psychoactive effects by means of edible concoctions/arrangements, smoke, and electrically generated vapor. While the plants’ uses are criticized by the federal government, states have declared within their sovereign right to legalize and decriminalize the plant where they see fit respectively. Some of those states include California, New York State, Vermont, and Washington.
Early prohibition endeavors were most prominent within the United States by the hands of Harry J. Ainslinger, a Republican politician who was a prohibition officer and a railroad cop.
After Ainslinger was inducted into the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, the pre-war economic depression during the 1930s created a budget squeeze for the United States Federal Government. Having lived through the era of alcohol prohibition and realizing that the prolific usage of cannabis could only be stopped through drastic measures, Ainslinger associated the plant with more dangerous drugs like heroin and its use of smoking with African Americans and people of Latin American descent. Ainslinger made it a priority for the United States to recognize the drug that was once a nuisance and never heard by regular Americans as something that could harm white women and make minority demographics develop inflated egos/self importance. The malicious fear mongering attempts continued until 1937, where a congressional hearing regarding the prohibition and taxation of cannabis took place. Within the hearing, Ainslinger provided newspaper clippings as evidence and while still having his claims refuted by an expert from the American Medical Association, the proceedings were that Cannabis would be restricted and regulated unfairly by the Federal Government.
In the 21st century United States, sovereign powers have come far in sparking liberation efforts and regulating the plant in their respective rights. Out of the 50 or so states of the United States of America, 8 have legalized recreational and medical usage, while 21 states and Washington D.C. have legalized medical usage. A Gallup Poll done in May of 2019 stated that 64% of Americans supported the legalization of cannabis, when only 12% of respondents supported legalization in 1969. An overwhelming support for the legalization of cannabis is further justified by the possible reform of the criminal justice system. Rescheduling the drug on a federal level will allow amnesty for certain offenders and help fix a for-profit prison system that has incredibly concerning racial disparities. “Medical experts have recognized marijuana’s potential therapeutic value in treating a wide range of symptoms and conditions, including chronic pain, seizures, inflammation, nausea, and insomnia. Research suggests that cannabis can also ease symptoms like the muscle spasms and stiffness of progressive neurological disorders, such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Additionally, marijuana has been shown to help treat nausea and vomiting in some cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and to counteract loss of appetite among people with HIV/AIDS. When combined with other therapies, it may also help individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).”(Gale)
The future of Cannabis if federally legalized in terms of nationwide marketability and usage is projected to be primarily youth oriented. The first step to federal legalization would be having clearer research and testing done by local and state facilities with varying methods of implementing cannabis. The federal government would have to then make prior studies, research, and new developments in knowledge released to the public, which they have been lackluster in doing for the past several years. In terms of capital gain, the Federal Government was projected to make $132 billion USD in tax revenue and have over a million new jobs available if the plant was rescheduled from 2017-2026, a ten year span.
Cannabis is a plant that has its uses tied to a vast selection of past and current civilized societies. Although the ethnobotany of cannabis proves to have positive medicinal uses, the federal scheduling of the narcotic is still labeled as “one” and illegal in the United States, because of malicious lobbying efforts during its early domestic prohibition and an overwhelming amount of social stigma caused by political fear mongering. The most concerning factor of not legalizing the plant are the current incarceration rates in state and federal prisons. Hourly cannabis arrests have gone from 33 per hour to 95 per hour from 1992 to 2006. That is almost triple in a 14 year span. When people’s ability to see daylight are stomped on and restrictions to the most basic of human rights are imposed to also the most economically disadvantaged demographics by the United States Federal Government for smoking a plant with a distinct odor, in order to funnel privatized prison systems, the issues of legality and decriminalization goes beyond a recreational or trivial medical issue. The problems regarding the federal scheduling of cannabis become affiliated with the most basic of civil liberties.