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VIRGINIA LAW REVIEW

VOLUME 56 OCTOBER 1970 NUMBER 6

THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT AND THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE: AN INQUIRY INTO THE LEGAL HISTORY OF AMERICAN MARIJUANA PROHIBITION

Richard J. Bonnie* & Charles H. Whitebread, II**

'Assistant Professor of Law, University of Virginia. B.A., 1966, Johns Hopkins University; LL.B., 1969, University of Virginia.

"Assistant Professor of Law, University of Virginia. A.B., 1965, Princeton University; LL.B., 1968, Yale University.

Zip File of the entire report - about 217K


Mr. Snell. What is the bill?

Mr. Rayburn. It has something to do with something that is called marihuana. I believe it is a narcotic of some kind.

Colloquy on the House floor prior to passage of the Marihuana Tax Act.


Introduction

We wish to express our sincere appreciation to the students who assisted us in the preparation of the tables at Appendix A. Because the drug statutes of the several states are particularly confusing and difficult to find, and because so many jurisdictions have recently changed their drug laws, the preparation of the chart required long, tedious work which so many were kind enough to perform. To them, our most sincere thanks.

We should like to thank especially Michael A. Cohen, John F. Kuether, W. Tracey Shaw, Alan K. Smith, and Allan J. Tanenbaum, all students at the University of Virginia School of Law, whose research assistance and tireless effort were invaluable.

We are particularly indebted to Professor Jerry Mandel who supplied us with much of the raw data used in the historical case studies in this Article. In his excellent article on drug statistics in the Stanford Low Review, Problems with Official Drug Statistics, 21 STAN. L. REV. 991 (1969), Professor Mandel suggested in a footnote that someone should attempt a history of the passage of anti-marijuana legislation. We have followed his suggestion and earnestly hope that our product will fill this gap.

A modified and expanded version of this Article will be published in book form in the spring of 1971.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION

II. THE ANTECEDENTS: CRIMINALIZATION OF NARCOTICS AND ALCOHOL

III. THE GENESIS OF MARIJUANA PROHIBITION

IV. PASSAGE OF THE UNIFORM NARCOTIC DRUG ACT: 1927-1937

V. PASSAGE OF THE MARIHUANA TAX ACT OF 1937

VI. THE 1950's: HARSHER PENALTIES AND A NEW RATIONALE-THE "STEPPING STONE" THEORY

VII. MARIJUANA USERS IN THE COURTS: 1930-1965

VIII. THE PUBLIC DISCOVERS THE TRUTH ABOUT MARIJUANA

IX. MARIJUANA LEGISLATION CLASHES WITH JUDICIAL SKEPTICISM AND EMERGING VALUES-PIECEMEAL JUDICIAL RESPONSE: 1965-1970

X. THE HEART OF THE MATTER-SUBSTANTIVE CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES TO THE MARIJUANA LAWS: 1965-1970

XI. LEGISLATIVE RECONSIDERATION: 1965-1970

XII. CONCLUSION: BEFORE THE FALL

APPENDIX A. STATUTORY TABLES

APPENDIX B. BIBLIOGRAPHY

From The Marijuana Conviction by Richard J. Bonnie & Charles H. Whitebread U. of VA Press 1974

CHAPTER V Marihuana Becomes a "National Monster"

CHAPTER VI The Federal Bureaucracy Finds a Way


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