Deconstructing US Marijuana Prohibition Policies in the Early Twentieth Century

Abstract

In the early 1900s, cannabis was used widely as a medicinal drug. However, through the fi rst half of the twentieth century, marijuana became negatively associated with Mexican-origin populations in the United States. Anglo American views of race and class became central to the creation of legislation prohibiting marijuana. This article provides a sociohistorical analysis of the 1910–1930s period, when the cannabis prohibition movement was at its peak. An intersectional theory of marijuana prohibition is used to deconstruct the dominant theories that have been offered. Marijuana prohibition cannot be explained by any single factor, but stems from the intersection of multiple factors. Background factors include the historical use of marijuana in Mexico, immigration to the United States, racism, and the pharma–medical industrial complex. Foreground factors include cultural stereotyping and mass media, governmental bureaucratic entrepreneurship, and moral crusade movements. The intersection of these factors socially constructed both a stigmatized image of the Mexican and the present reality of marijuana prohibition. Research on the complex origins of marijuana prohibition can inform the present policy debate on medical and recreational use of cannabis in the United States.