The sociology of reefer madness: The criminalization of marijuana in the United States of America

In the United States of America, no legal sanctions against marijuana existed on the federal level until the U.S. Congress passed the Marihuana Tax Act in 1937. The social origins of this law are, in effect, a mystery. There is a lack of consensus among sociologists and historians, and no clear, concise explanation of how and why marijuana came to be criminalized in the United States. This dissertation attempts to fill that void. In the 1930s, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (forerunner of today's Drug Enforcement Administration) and the Hearst publishing empire framed marijuana use in the context of a violence-inducing, insanity-producing "assassin of youth." "Reefer," a slang term for a marijuana cigarette, thus came to be associated with "madness.". This dissertation provides its readers with a more comprehensive explanation of the Marihuana Tax Act than heretofore has been available. It examines the Act's passage and its subsequent enforcement in a social context, that of popular culture and historical studies of marijuana use. It develops and puts forth a new theory, the Social Control Hypothesis, of why the Marihuana Tax Act became law. It is unique in its analysis of the role that 1930s-era jazz music and anti-marijuana motion pictures played in relation to the passage and enforcement of the Marihuana Tax Act. The historical analysis is extended to include in-depth examinations of the related, but yet distinct, issues of marijuana's decriminalization, legalization and medicalization. By comparing drug use data in the United States and Holland (the Netherlands), where cannabis use has been decriminalized, this study empirically tests and refutes the "stepping stone hypothesis" (also known as the "gateway theory"), which claims that marijuana leads the user to cocaine and heroin. By examining the anti-marijuana media campaign of the Partnership For A Drug Free America, "The Sociology of Reefer Madness" follows the trail of Reefer Madness to the present day. It is thus demonstrated on two fronts: the medical marijuana issue and anti-marijuana media propaganda, that Reefer Madness is alive and well in the 1990s. Extensive research for "The Sociology of Reefer Madness: the Criminalization of Marijuana in the U.S.A." was conducted at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and Suitland, Maryland.