Marihuana Tax Act of 1937
Other short titles |
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Long title | An Act to impose an occupational excise tax upon certain dealers in marijuana, to impose a transfer tax upon certain dealings in marijuana, and to safeguard the revenue there from by registry and recording. |
Acronyms (colloquial) | MTA |
Enacted by | the 75th United States Congress |
Effective | October 1, 1937 |
Citations | |
Public law | 75-238 |
Statutes at Large | 50 Stat. 551 |
Legislative history | |
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United States Supreme Court cases | |
Struck down by U.S. Supreme Court in Leary v. United States on May 19, 1969 |
Major United States federal drug control laws |
---|
1906 Pure Food and Drug Act |
Regulates labeling of products containing certain drugs including cocaine and heroin |
1914 Harrison Narcotics Tax Act |
Regulates opiates and cocaine |
1937 Marihuana Tax Act |
Required taxation of marijuana |
1919 Volstead Act |
Implemented 18th Amendment establishing alcohol prohibition in the United States |
1933 Blaine Act |
Alcohol prohibition repealed via 21st Amendment Repeal of Prohibition in the United States |
1961 Convention on Narcotics |
Treaty to control marijuana |
1970 Controlled Substances Act |
Scheduling list for drugs |
The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937,
Background
Regulations and restrictions on the sale of
"The primary purpose of this legislation must be to raise revenue, because we are resorting to the taxing clause of the Constitution and the rule is that if on the face of the fill it appears to be a revenue bill, the courts will not inquire into any other motives that the Congress may have had in enacting this legislation. This bill is modeled on the Harrison Narcotics Act and the National Firearms Act. The Harrison Narcotics Act has been sustained by the Supreme Court, the first time by a 5-to-4 decision, and a second time by a 6-to-3 decision. The Supreme Court in March of this year [in Sonzinsky v. United States] sustained the constitutionality of the National Firearms Act, insofar as it related to the occupational tax."
The total production of hemp fiber in the United States in 1933 decreased to around 500 tons per year. Cultivation of hemp began to increase in 1934 and 1935, but production remained low compared with other fibers.[5][6][7]
Interested parties write that the aim of the Act was to reduce the hemp industry through excessive taxation
The American Medical Association (AMA) opposed the taxation because the tax was imposed on physicians prescribing cannabis, retail pharmacists selling cannabis, and medical cannabis cultivation/manufacturing. The AMA proposed cannabis instead be added to the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act which would have been more efficient and created less burden on doctors.[18] Dr. William Creighton Woodward, legislative counsel for the AMA, testified on behalf of the AMA.[19] He stated that the claims about marijuana addiction, violence, and overdosage were not supported, and that the law should not burden further investigation into medical use.[19]
After hearings with lawyers from Du Pont Chemicals and the Hearst Newspapers Group, the taxation was passed on the grounds of 'differing' reports
Operation of the act
Shortly after the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act went into effect on October 1, 1937, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Denver City police arrested Moses Baca for possession and
After the Philippines fell to Japanese forces in 1942, the Department of Agriculture and the US Army urged farmers to grow fiber hemp. Tax stamps for cultivation of fiber hemp began to be issued to farmers. Without any change in the Marihuana Tax Act, 400,000 acres (1,600 km2) were cultivated with hemp between 1942 and 1945. The last commercial hemp fields were planted in Wisconsin in 1957.[22]
In 1967, President Johnson's
In 1969 in Leary v. United States, part of the Act was ruled to be unconstitutional as a violation of the Fifth Amendment, since a person seeking the tax stamp would have to incriminate him/herself.[24][25] In response the Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act as Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970,[26] which repealed the 1937 Act.
Etymology
Although the spelling "marijuana" is common in current use, the spelling used in the Marihuana Taxation Act is "marihuana". "Marihuana" was the spelling used in Federal documents at the time.
In addition, the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 legitimized the use of the term "marijuana" as a label for hemp and cannabis plants and products in the US and around the world. Prior to 1937, "marijuana" was slang; it was not included in any official dictionaries.[27] The word marijuana is probably of Mexican origin. Mexico passed prohibition for export to the US in 1925 following the International Opium Convention.[28] In the years leading up to the taxation act, it was in common use in the United States, "smoked like tobacco", and called "ganjah", or "ganja".[29][30]
The La Guardia Committee Report
The only authoritative voice that opposed
See also
- Legal history of cannabis in the United States
- U.S. Navy hawserrequirements.
- Reefer Madness, propagandistic film of 1936.
- La Guardia Committee, the first in depth study into the effects of smoking marijuana.
References
- ^ For repeal, see section 1101(b)(3), Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, Pub. L. No. 91-513, 84 Stat. 1236, 1292 (Oct. 27, 1970) (repealing the Marihuana Tax Act which had been codified in Subchapter A of Chapter 39 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954).
- ^ Harry J. Anslinger, U. S. Commissioner of Narcotics and Will Oursler : The Murderers, the story of the narcotic gangs, Pages: 541-554, 1961
- ^ ROOSEVELT ASKS NARCOTIC WAR AID, 1935
- ^ "Statement of Clinton M. Hester, Assistant General Counsel, Treasury Dept". www.druglibrary.org. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
- ^ "David P. West: Fiber Wars: The Extinction of Kentucky Hemp chapter 8". Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
- ^ STATEMENT OF DR. A. H. WRIGHT, 1938
- ^ H.T. NUGENT: COMMERCIALIZED HEMP (1934-35 CROP) in the STATE OF MINNESOTA
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7618-2890-7.
- ISBN 978-0-19-518295-8.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-932857-00-9.
- ISBN 978-1-58544-596-7.
- USDABulletin No. 404, Washington, D.C., October 14, 1916, p.25
- ^ "Hayo M.G. van der Werf : Hemp facts and hemp fiction". Hempfood.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2011-04-20.
- ^ "Michael Karus: European Hemp Industry 2002 Cultivation, Processing and Product Lines. Journal of Industrial Hemp Volume 9 Issue 2 2004, Taylor & Francis, London". Informaworld.com.
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(help) - ^ Prof. L. Trossarelli: -the history of nylon, Prof. L. Trossarelli
- ^ Wolfe, Audra J. (2008). "Nylon: A Revolution in Textiles". Chemical Heritage Magazine. 26 (3). Retrieved 20 March 2018.
- ^ American Chemical Society: THE FIRST NYLON PLANT. 1995
- ^ "Statement of Dr. William C. Woodward, Legislative Counsel, American Medical Association". Retrieved 2006-03-25.
- ^ a b Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate, 75c 2s. HR6906. Library of Congress transcript. July 12, 1937
- ^ The Marijuana Tax Act, Reports
- ^ The Marijuana Tax Act
- ^ "David P. West:Hemp and Marijuana:Myths & Realities". Archived from the original on 2016-11-20. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
- ^ Balancing the Grass Account
- ^ Timothy Leary v. United States, 395 U.S. 6, 89 S. Ct. 1532 (1969)
- ^ Kriho, Laura (2013-10-31). "Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 rises from the dead - Boulder Weekly". Retrieved 2016-09-11.
- , enacted October 27, 1970
- ^ Webster's New International Dictionary, p. 1318, G. & C. Merriam Company (1921).
- ^ "MEXICO BANS MARIHUANA.; To Stamp Out Drug Plant Which Crazes Its Addicts". New York Times. New York City. December 29, 1925.
- ^ The American Agriculturist Family Cyclopaedia, 751 Broadway, New York, copyright:1888, by A. L. Burt
- ^ Webster's New International Dictionary, 1921, published by G.& C. Merriam Co., Springfield Massachusetts
- ^ The La Guardia Committee Report
Further reading
- The Puzzle of the Social Origins of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 John F. Galliher, Allynn Walker Social Problems, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Feb., 1977), pp. 367–376
- Samuel R. Caldwell, First Person Jailed for the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937.
- William B. McAllister, "Harry Anslinger Saves the World: National Security Imperatives and the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act," The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs 33, no. 1 (Spring 2019): 37-62.