1850 CE
Cannabis first listed in the United States Pharmacopeia, third Ed., as “Extractum Cannabis or Extract of Hemp.”3 The listing continued until 1942
1850 CE
1860 CE
First Federal Commission to Study Cannabis was created
1860 CE
1873 CE
Oxford dictionary references this as the first written use of the word Marijuana in a book by Hubert Howe Bancroft's 1873 The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America. Other early variants include "mariguan" (1894),[12] "marihuma" first recorded in 1905, "marihuano" in 1912, and "marahuana" in 1914
1873 CE
by the late 1890s...
Many members of the medical community considered it a narcotic that should be regulated.
by the late 1890s...
1900 CE
50 years after being listed in the United States Pharmacopeia, and despite a medical community at odds, cannabis remedies were being sold over the counter as remedies for the common cough. More than 100 papers published articles about this, calling it “Pisos Cure” or the “One Day Cough Cure”
1900 CE
1908 CE
Roosevelt appoints Hamilton Wright to be the first Opium Commissioner, directing Narcotic Affairs front he state department of California. Wright pressed to have cannabis included in the initial draft of national narcotics legislation along with cocaine and opiates. This proposal was ill received by the pharmaceutical manufacturers, who objected to the inclusion of a seemingly harmless ingredient of proprietary medicines.
1908 CE
1910 CE
Mexican Revolution- Refugees and Immigrants flood into the United States, bringin with them the “Marijuana Menace”. During the Great Depression, massive unemployment and increased public resentment and fear of Mexican immigrants escalated public and governmental concern about the potential problem of marijuana. By 1931, 29 states had outlawed marijuana.
1910 CE
1911 CE
Massachusettes becomes first state to make cannabis illegal. The push to use marijuana as a tool for racism takes hold. A letter written by Henry J. Finger (father of Californias pharmacy law regulating sales of poison) to Hamilton Wright on July 2, 1911: “Within the last year we in California have been getting a large influx of Hindoos and they have in turn started quite a demand for cannabis indica; they are a very undesirable lot and the habit is growing in California very fast; the fear is now that it is not being confined to the Hindoos alone but that they are initiating our whites into this habit.”
1911 CE
1913 CE
Harrison Act declaring drug- use a crime (opium) in place, does not include cannabis.
1913 CE
1914 CE
Church of LDS bans cannabis usage.
1914 CE
1929-33 CE
Great Depression- Massive unemployment and increased public resentment and fear of Mexican immigrants escalated public and governmental concern about the potential problem of marijuana
1929-33 CE
1930 CE
Federal Bureau of Narcotics is formed by the Department of Treasury to enforce the provisions of the 1914 Harrison Act, appointing Henry Anslinger its first commissioner. Anslinger goes on to be the Father of the War on Drugs and drug policy in our country. Harry Anslinger conflated drug use, race, and music to criminalize non-whiteness.
1930 CE
Early 1930s CE
structure of CBN elucidated
Early 1930s CE
1931 CE
29 states outlawed marijuana by this point. Aslinger begins petitioning against cannabis and using the word “Marijuana” to make it sound more foreign and link it to the immigration issues.
1931 CE
1936 CE
Reefer Madness movie is released, "The political upheaval in Mexico that culminated in the Revolution of 1910 led to a wave of Mexican immigration to states throughout the American Southwest. The prejudices and fears that greeted these peasant immigrants also extended to their traditional means of intoxication: smoking marijuana. Police officers in Texas claimed that marijuana incited violent crimes, aroused a "lust for blood," and gave its users "superhuman strength." Rumors spread that Mexicans were distributing this "killer weed" to unsuspecting American schoolchildren. Sailors and West Indian immigrants brought the practice of smoking marijuana to port cities along the Gulf of Mexico. In New Orleans newspaper articles associated the drug with African-Americans, jazz musicians, prostitutes, and underworld whites. "The Marijuana Menace," as sketched by anti-drug campaigners, was personified by inferior races and social deviants.”
1936 CE
1937 CE
Marijuana Tax Act Passed by Congress- taxing cannabis, this law continues today in policy under the Controlled Substances Act of 1971. In principle, the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 stopped only the use of the plant as a recreational drug. In practice, though, industrial hemp was caught up in anti-dope legislation, making hemp importation and commercial production in this country less economical
1937 CE
1940 CE
Pharmacological Characteristics Studies with single cannabinoids. Research into Cannabis Begins. First chemical synthesis of CBN occurs and CBD is discovered & Isolated.
1940 CE
1942
THC first extracted from Cannabis. Cannabis is removed from the U.S. pharmacopeia.
1942
1950s CE
Federal laws which set mandatory sentences for drug-related offenses were enacted.
1950s CE
1956 CE
Cannabis included in the Federal Narcotics Control Act
1956 CE
1960 CE
Studies into Cannabis Begin to Increase and there is a Societal Shift- more lenient attitudes towards cannabis
1960 CE
1963 CE
CBD Structures and Stereochemistry elucidated
1963 CE
1964 CE
THC Structures & Stereochemistry elucidated by an Israeli chemist by Raphael Mechoulam. His research marked the beginning of our discovery of the endocannabinoid system and inspired more studies that would later unveil other unknown cannabinoids and sequesterpenes.
1964 CE
1965 CE
CBD & THC are first synthesized in a lab
1965 CE
1970 CE
Studies into Therapeutic Applications begin Controlled Substances Act passed by Congress- Schedule 1 UK Withdraws THC Tinctures as Medicine CBN discover to be natural receptor antagonist Researchers discover that our bodies build up a tolerance to THC over time Congress repealed most of the mandatory penalties for drug-related offenses by this time Over the course of the 1970s, eleven states decriminalized marijuana and most others reduced their penalties.
1970 CE
1971 CE
The Federal Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, more commonly known as the Controlled Substances Act, became effective on May 1, 1971. This act took over the policies of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937.
1971 CE
1972 CE
President Nixon appoints a council to review marijuana laws. They suggest decriminalizing cannabis and he chooses not to act. John Ehrlichman, counsel to Nixon: “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be against the war (Vietnam) or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and the Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did” (A Tale of Two Countries; ACLU Research Report 2020).
1972 CE
1973 CE
Oregon becomes first state to decriminalize Cannabis
1973 CE
1978 CE
New Mexico becomes the first state to recognize the medical applications of cannabis.
1978 CE
1976-1989 CE
In 1976 a parent's movement against marijuana began and was instrumental in affecting public attitudes which led to the 1980s War on Drugs. Mandatory sentences were re-enacted by President Reagan. The "three strikes you're out" policy, required life sentences for repeat drug offenders. The War on Drugs continued under President George Bush in 1989.
1976-1989 CE
1980 CE
Studies begin on THC and Appetite stimulation
1980 CE
1988 CE
Cannabinoid Receptors CB1 and CB2 Discovered- Humans have an Endocannabinoid system
1988 CE
1990-1993 CE
1990- CB1 & CB2 Receptors confirmed & cloned
1990-1993 CE
1993 CE
Studies into how Receptors work begin Anandamide Discovered- Our Bodies Natural THC- endogenous cannabinoids
1993 CE
1996 CE
California becomes first state to legalize medical cannabis. They passed the “Compassionate Use Act”, or Proposition 215, allowing for the sale and medical use of marijuana for patients with AIDS, cancer, and other serious painful diseases. Tension between federal laws criminalizing marijuana and state laws permitting marijuana in certain circumstances began- this continues today.
1996 CE
1997 CE
Researchers discover that CB1 receptors are found at central & peripheral nerve terminals
1997 CE
1998 CE
Oregon establishes a legal medical marijuana program
1998 CE
2005 CE
Researching Cannabinoids as Analgesics begins
2005 CE
2012 CE
Washington and Colorado are the first states to re-legalize recreational marijuana in the U.S.
2012 CE
2014 CE
In Oregon, Measure 91 was voted in, legalizing the consumption, personal possession, and home growing of cannabis by adults.
2014 CE
2015 CE
Recreational sales begin in Oregon.
2015 CE
2018 CE
The Farm bill was signed into law, removing hemp from the definition of marijuana in the CSA, and declassifying it as a Schedule 1 substance as designated by the DEA.
2018 CE
2022 CE
House passes a Decriminalization of Cannabis bill but it faces an uncertain fate in the Senate.
2022 CE
