Why is marijuana classified as an illegal substance?
Marijuana is classified as an illegal substance for many, many reasons - political, social reasons. It would seem to go back to racist tendencies in the earlier part of last century. It certainly seems that there was a lot of hysteria around the idea of black jazz musicians pursuing white women and using marijuana somehow for nefarious purposes, to lure these women. The government certainly picked up on that theme. Really, back in the “good old days” of the old Justice Department, they knew they didn't have the resources to pursue everybody who smoked marijuana, everybody who would have marijuana available to them, where it would grow in their yards, might grow in their farm fields. People might find it on the side of the road. During World War II, just several years after the passage of the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act, the government was actively encouraging people to grow hemp for the campaign to win in Europe and Japan. It was actually called “Hemp for Victory”. Back in the time where it was widely available and the government was first getting into the business of earnest marijuana prohibition, they realized, we don't have the resources to get to everybody who might have this drug available to them and either prosecute them or intervene in some way. So they started this hysterical campaign. They started these hysterical campaigns where they'd tell people that marijuana will make you wild-eyed, and you will see people who have been smoking marijuana on the streets lurking in dark alleys with red eyes with their inner demons having come out waiting to pounce on unsuspecting passers-by.
