MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Medical Marijuana

Medical Marijuana

“Medical Marijuana” denotes the use of the Cannabis plant as a doctor-suggested herbal therapy or drug. It is an issue that most Americans are aware of. There was claim brought up by Angel Raich that enforcing the Controlled Substances Act against him would violate the Fifth Amendment. The Controlled Substances Act said that marijuana was classified as a Schedule-I drug having no medical use, this has been supported by both the Supreme Court in its decision of Gonzales v. Raich and by President Bush, even though 75% of the general public, many interest groups, and positive media attention have agreed to permit the use for medical purposes, resulting in an expensive effort by the United States to keep marijuana illegal with no revenue.

In 1937 Harry Anslinger introduced a bill into Congress that led to the criminalization of cannabis. This bill was known as the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. The Marihuana Tax Act did not itself criminalize the possession or usage of cannabis, but levied a tax equaling roughly one dollar on anyone who dealt commercially in cannabis, hemp or marijuana (Soloman.) Leary v. United States is a U.S. Supreme Court case dealing with the constitutionality of Marijuana Tax Act. Timothy Leary was arrested for the possession of marijuana in violation of the Marijuana Tax Act. Leary challenged the act on the ground that the act required self-incrimination, which violated the Fifth Amendment. The decision was unanimous. The Supreme Court declared the Marijuana Tax Act unconstitutional and Leary's conviction was overturned. However, Congress responded shortly after by passing the Controlled Substances Act to continue the prohibition of certain drugs in the United States (Leary v. United States.) The Controlled Substances Act was enacted in 1970. The CSA is the federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacturing, possession, use and distribution of certain substances is regulated. This all happened around the presidency of Richard Nixon who also commissioned the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse (Controlled Substances Act.) The act was created to study the abuse of marijuana in the United States. Raymond Shafer presented a report called “Marijuana, A Signal of Misunderstanding” which heavily favored the ending of marijuana prohibition. The Commission recommended "a social control policy seeking to discourage marihuana use, while concentrating primarily on the prevention of heavy and very heavy use." (Shafer.) In 1996 California voters passed Proposition 215 legalizing the medical use of marijuana. The United States Federal Government has limited the use of marijuana since the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act came into effect. Defendant Angel Raich used homegrown medical marijuana, which was legal under California law, but illegal under federal law (Lane.) In 2002 officers and agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration destroyed California resident Diane Monson's marijuana plants (Grim.) The marijuana plants were illegal Schedule I drugs under the federal Controlled Substances Act (“Controlled Substances Act”.) Monson and Angel Raich sued claiming that enforcing the CSA against them would violate the Commerce Clause, the Due Process Clause of the ...