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Marijuana Law’s U.S. History
Since the earliest settlers, marijuana has long been a cash crop in the United States. Many people, however, don’t know how it became illegal. This is a brief history of the infamous weed.
1619: The first American law pertaining to marijuana, passed by the Virginia Assembly, required every farmer to grow it. Fibers from hemp, which is much less potent than the smokable kind, were used to make ship sails and rope.
1900-1930: Sailors and West Indian immigrants smoked marijuana in port cities along the Gulf of Mexico. In New Orleans, newspaper articles associated the drug with jazz musicians, prostitutes and the underworld. Police officers in Texas said marijuana “aroused a lust for blood” and gave its users “super human strength.”