1862 — Advertisements for hashish candy appear.
1910 — Mexican immigrants are smoking “marihuana.”
1936 — Reefer Madness shows how smoking pot turns good folks into crazed villains.
1937 — Marihuana Tax Act passed thanks to racism.
1942 — Hemp for Victory! Kill the Nazis by growing pot!
1952–56 — Boggs Act and Narcotics Control Act: possession first offense 2–10 years in jail, up to $20,000 fine.
1968 — “Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people.” – John Ehrlichman
1970 — Controlled Substances Act designates marijuana as Schedule I alongside heroin.
1972 — Nixon’s Shafer Commission recommends decriminalizing marijuana and removing its Schedule I classification. Nixon doesn’t care.
1973 — Oregon decriminalizes marijuana drastically reducing penalties for possession.
1983 — D.A.R.E. program established.
1994 — Bill Clinton establishes “three strikes you’re out” rule.
1996 — California passes Prop 215 legalizing medical marijuana.
1998 — Entire West Coast has legal medical marijuana.
2012 — Colorado and Washington voters legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21+.
2014 — Oregon votes to legalize weed for recreational purposes.
2015 — Report shows 85 percent of arrests for marijuana possession are black or Latino despite not being more likely to smoke than white people.
2016 — Gallup Poll reports 60 percent of U.S. citizens support legal recreational pot and 90 percent support medical uses.
2017 — 21-year-olds can legally smoke in eight states plus Washington, D.C. Twenty-eight states allow for medical marijuana.
2018 — Weed is just straight-up federally legal?
Internet.
Al Gore.