Marijuana Laws: 1970S Leniency And Changing Societal Norms

The 1970s saw a significant shift in the legal treatment of marijuana in the United States. The decade started with the passage of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, which classified marijuana as a Schedule I drug, marking it as having a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use. However, as the decade progressed, there was a growing movement towards decriminalization, with states like Oregon and Alaska passing legislation to reduce penalties for possession.

Several key events in the 1970s helped shape the legal landscape of marijuana. In 1971, President Nixon declared a war on drugs, increasing federal funding for drug-control agencies and measures. Interestingly, the 1972 Shafer Commission, appointed by Nixon himself, recommended decriminalizing marijuana possession, but its recommendations were ignored.

By 1978, rates of adolescent marijuana use had skyrocketed, with 1 in 9 high school seniors smoking pot every day. This angered a growing number of parents, who saw kid-oriented paraphernalia as a gateway to drug use. The grassroots parent movement, which began in 1976, worked to overturn state decriminalization laws and reaffirm the federal government's anti-marijuana stance.

Despite this pushback, the 1970s overall represented a major era in the cultural history of the legal cannabis market. Marijuana use became increasingly mainstream, driven by a growing social acceptance, especially within the counterculture movement, which saw cannabis as a symbol of freedom and rebellion. The normalization of cannabis use contributed significantly to the broader conversation about drug policy reform, setting the stage for debates that continue today.

The Shafer Commission

The report, titled "Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding", was presented to Congress and the public on March 22, 1972. It recommended ending marijuana prohibition and adopting other methods to discourage use, such as social measures other than criminalization. The report compared the situation of cannabis to that of alcohol and concluded that cannabis did not pose a widespread danger to society.

The report was ignored by the Nixon administration and opposed by a congressional subcommittee in 1974. However, it has been frequently cited by individuals supporting the removal of cannabis from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. The Shafer Commission's findings contributed to a shift in public perception of marijuana, with eleven states decriminalizing marijuana and most others reducing their penalties over the course of the 1970s.

Nixon's war on drugs

On 17 June 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a "war on drugs", stating that drug abuse was "public enemy number one". He announced that a new, all-out offensive would be waged, and that it would be "worldwide", "government-wide", and "nationwide".

Nixon's declaration was motivated by addiction among US soldiers in Vietnam. The first measure of the war on drugs was the institution of urine testing for all US troops in Indochina.

Nixon's tough stance on drugs was also reflected in his attitude towards LSD researcher Timothy Leary, whom he saw as an enemy. In May 1970, Nixon declared: "I want a goddamn strong statement on marijuana...By God, we're going to hit the marijuana thing, and I want a hit right square in the puss."

However, Nixon's private conversations, which he infamously recorded, indicate that he may not have completely believed his public stance. In a recording from March 1973, Nixon admitted:

> "I know nothing about marijuana...I know that it's not particularly dangerous; I know most of the kids are for legalizing it...The penalties are ridiculous... [They] should not be penalties that, you know, like in Texas where people get 10 years for marijuana. That's wrong. In other words, the penalties should be commensurate with the crime."

In another recording from September 1972, Nixon noted that he was "for modification of penalties in many areas", but that he "didn't talk about it anymore".

Despite Nixon's private misgivings, his war on drugs led to soaring arrest rates that disproportionately targeted African Americans. By 1994, the war on drugs had led to the incarceration of one million Americans each year. In 2008, half a million of the 1.5 million Americans arrested each year for drug offenses were incarcerated, and one in five black Americans would spend time behind bars due to drug laws.

In the 1970s, Nixon's war on drugs was opposed by a bipartisan National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, known as the Shafer Commission. Appointed by Nixon at the direction of Congress, the Shafer Commission recommended decriminalizing the personal possession and use of marijuana, encouraging "persuasion rather than prosecution". Nixon ignored the commission's findings.

John Ehrlichman, Nixon's domestic policy advisor, later admitted the real motivation for the war on drugs:

> "The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people...We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course, we did."

Kid-friendly paraphernalia

Marijuana laws became more lenient in the 1970s due to a cultural climate shift that led to more lenient attitudes towards the drug. Reports commissioned by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson found that marijuana use did not induce violence or lead to the use of heavier drugs. By 1970, Congress repealed most of the mandatory penalties for drug-related offenses.

However, this shift towards leniency was short-lived. The rise of "kid-friendly paraphernalia" led to a federal crackdown on marijuana. Between 1973 and 1978, a dozen states decriminalized the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, and a booming market for paraphernalia emerged. This included items such as the BuzzBee Frisbee (with a pipe built in) and the "You're the Dealer!" board game. These products were sold in places like head shops, record stores, and even 7-Elevens, and by 1977, the paraphernalia market was bringing in $250 million annually.

The lack of regulation meant that these products were easily accessible to children. A 1978 New York Times article found that three children, aged 11 to 13, were able to purchase $300 worth of paraphernalia without being asked any questions. This angered parents, who saw kid-oriented paraphernalia as a "gateway" to drug use. A grassroots parent movement, which began in 1976, worked to overturn state decriminalization laws and reaffirm the federal government's anti-marijuana stance.

• BuzzBee Frisbee: A frisbee with a built-in pipe, allowing users to "puff, puff, pass".
• "You're the Dealer!" board game: A board game with a clear appeal to children, which likely contributed to parents' concerns about the normalization of drug use.
• Rolling papers advertised with pictures of clowns: These papers were likely marketed towards a younger demographic, taking advantage of the lack of regulations on advertising.
• Miniature spoons: Small spoons, sometimes adorned with decorations, were used to hold joints or blunts when they became too short to hold comfortably.
• Bongs and pipes: Water pipes used to filter marijuana smoke. Bongs, in particular, were often shaped like spaceships or other child-friendly objects.

The La Guardia Report

The report contradicted claims by the U.S. Treasury Department that marijuana deteriorates physical and mental health, assists in criminal behaviour and juvenile delinquency, is physically addictive, and is a "gateway" drug to more dangerous narcotics. After more than five years of research, the committee drew up a catalogue of 13 salient points with their conclusions, including:

• Marijuana is used extensively in Manhattan, but the problem is not as acute as in other US sections.
• The introduction of marijuana into Manhattan is recent compared to other localities.
• The cost of marijuana is low and therefore accessible to most people.
• The distribution and use of marijuana is centred in Harlem.
• The majority of marijuana smokers are Black and Latin-American.
• The consensus among marijuana smokers is that the drug creates a feeling of adequacy.
• The practice of smoking marijuana does not lead to addiction in the medical sense.
• The sale and distribution of marijuana are not controlled by a single organised group.
• The use of marijuana does not lead to harder drug addictions, and no effort is made to create a market for these narcotics by stimulating the practice of marijuana smoking.
• Marijuana is not the determining factor in the commission of major crimes.
• Marijuana smoking is not widespread among school children.
• Juvenile delinquency is not associated with the practice of smoking marijuana.
• The publicity concerning the catastrophic effects of marijuana smoking in New York City is unfounded.

The 1944 report offended Harry Anslinger, head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, who denounced the report as "unscientific". Anslinger also interrupted each current research project on cannabis derivatives between 1944 and 1945 and personally commissioned the American Medical Association to prepare a report reflecting the government's position. The subsequent AMA study leveraged racism, asserting that "of the experimental group, thirty-four men were black, and only one was white" and that "those who smoked marijuana, became disrespectful of white soldiers and officers during military segregation".

In 1972, the AMA admitted that "these stories were largely false" and that there was no confirmation of a causal relationship between marijuana use and the use of heroin. Despite the La Guardia Report's findings, it had little effect on the decriminalisation of marijuana over the next seven decades. However, the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1969, and by the 1970s, eleven states had decriminalised marijuana, with most others reducing their penalties.

The counterculture movement

The 1970s were a time of significant social, political, and cultural upheaval, with major movements such as the ongoing struggle for Civil Rights and widespread protests against the Vietnam War. This was also the period when the anti-establishment counterculture and the hippie movement were at their peak, and the phrase "make love, not war" became their motto, opposing the violence and conflict exhibited in the mainstream culture.

During this period, marijuana use became increasingly mainstream, shifting from the fringes to the forefront of popular culture. This was largely driven by a growing social acceptance of weed, which was catalysed by the counterculture movement. The decade started with the passage of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, which classified marijuana as a Schedule I drug, marking it as having a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use. However, as the decade progressed, there was a growing movement towards decriminalization, with states like Oregon and Alaska passing legislation to reduce penalties for possession.

Several key events in the 1970s helped shape the legal landscape of marijuana. In 1971, President Nixon declared a "war on drugs," dramatically increasing federal funding for drug-control agencies and measures. However, in contrast, the 1972 Shafer Commission, appointed by Nixon himself, recommended decriminalizing marijuana possession, but its recommendations were ignored.

Moreover, in 1976, the federal government initiated a program providing for the compassionate use of medical marijuana, a move that contradicted its Schedule I classification. This led to the creation of the Compassionate Investigational New Drug program, which allowed patients with serious medical conditions to receive a regular supply of cannabis from the federal government.

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