This Saturday, August 2nd, marks the 88th anniversary of the signing of the Marihuana Tax Act, the first federal marijuana prohibition law.
Since its inception, cannabis prohibition has been predicated on deception, stigmatization, and outright lies. The Marihuana Tax Act was passed in 1937 following almost no legislative debate and over the staunch objections of the American Medical Association, which disputed the government’s false claims that cannabis use invariably induced violence, insanity, and death.
Over the ensuing decades, we’ve witnessed first-hand the tragic consequences of this failed policy — including the denial of medical cannabis access to those who need it and the arrest of over 30 million Americans for violating marijuana laws. The failures of marijuana prohibition are no longer a matter of public debate, which is why nearly nine in ten Americans no longer support the federal government’s blanket criminalization of cannabis, and why 70 percent of adults now say that marijuana should be legal.
Since 1970, NORML has fought daily to expose prohibitionists’ lies and to end marijuana prohibition. And we’re succeeding.
Twenty-four states have legalized marijuana for adults and over a dozen more permit medical cannabis access. Public support for legalization is at an all-time high. Thanks in large part to NORML’s efforts, most Americans now agree that it makes no sense from a public health perspective, a fiscal perspective, or a moral perspective to arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate adults who choose to responsibly consume a substance that is objectively safer than either alcohol or tobacco.
But while we’ve made progress, we need your help to finish the job. In recent months, lawmakers from Texas to Ohio to the halls of Congress have launched a full-court press to roll back many of our legislative gains. We’re also seeing prohibitionists return to their roots — once again making sensational claims to the media about cannabis and its supposed effects.
Now is not the time to let them turn the tide and wash away our hard won progress. After nearly nine decades of cannabis bigotry and criminalization, it’s time to end marijuana prohibition once and for all.
NORML has been unwavering in its mission and we need you to continue to stand with us.
NORML has always relied on the grassroots, not multimillion-dollar donors or commercial interests, to ensure we have the resources necessary to lead this fight. That’s why we’re asking for your support today — on the anniversary of federal prohibition — so that we can continue to work to undo the harms of prohibition. Together, we are ending nearly a century of injustice. Together, we will prevail.
