# Before it was outlawed, could you smoke pot openly? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 24, 2002, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914 "2002-03-24T23:30:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hayduke\_Lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Hayduke\_Lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hayduke_Lives)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/1 "2002-03-24T23:30:42Z")
I’ve read that weed was banned only in the begining of the 1900’s. So before then, could a person openly smoke it? Could Abe Lincoln have been smoking legal weed? ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/2 "2002-03-24T23:42:16Z")
Hell, in Ann Arbor you’d only be fined $5 for doing it. And that law wasn’t changed until sometime in the 1990s. No kidding. ---
**Author:** ![Hayduke\_Lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Hayduke\_Lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hayduke_Lives)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/3 "2002-03-24T23:47:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CrankyAsAnOldMan \* > \*\*Hell, in Ann Arbor you’d only be fined $5 for doing it. > And that law wasn’t changed until sometime in the 1990s. No kidding. \*\* But if you were fined (even only 5 bux) that means it was still illegal. Was there any place in the US where it was perfectly legal? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/4 "2002-03-25T00:22:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hayduke Lives!! \* > \*\* > > But if you were fined (even only 5 bux) that means it was still illegal. Was there any place in the US where it was perfectly legal? \*\* I think the point is, if people STILL smoke it openly in places where it is illegal, why on earth wouldn’t they when it WAS legal? It was legal everywhere at some point. ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/5 "2002-03-25T00:24:22Z")
IIRC, his majesty’s herb wasn’t ‘fully’ illegal until the late seventies/early eighties in most places (in the U.S.). that is, due to its decriminalized status, you could carry up to an ounce, in one bag, of (and, depending on _de facto_ laws, perhaps in public smoke a joint of) weed, and fear no real harassment or prosecution. and then came ol’ uncle ronnie. ---
**Author:** ![Hayduke\_Lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Hayduke\_Lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hayduke_Lives)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/6 "2002-03-25T00:36:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jb\_farley \* > \*\*IIRC, his majesty’s herb wasn’t ‘fully’ illegal until the late seventies/early eighties in most places (in the U.S.). that is, due to its decriminalized status, you could carry up to an ounce, in one bag, of (and, depending on _de facto_ laws, perhaps in public smoke a joint of) weed, and fear no real harassment or prosecution.and then came ol’ uncle ronnie. \*\* This doesn’t sound right. If weed was somewhat legal until the 80’s, what was Joe Friday so pissed about when he caught someone with it? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/7 "2002-03-25T01:19:59Z")
To answer the OP,-- of course you can do something openly if it isn’t illegal. Now what you really want to know, perhaps, is a history of marijuana and the law. > [@](#): > > Until the inclusion of marijuana in the Uniform Narcotic Drug Act in 1932 and the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act in 1937, there was no “national” public policy regarding the drug. However, as early as 1914 the New York City Sanitary Laws included cannabis in a prohibited drug list and in 1915 Utah passed the first state statute prohibiting sale or possession of the drug. By 1931 twenty-two states had enacted such legislation. From [Marijuana History](http://law.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.druglibrary.org%2Fschaffer%2FLIBRARY%2Fstudies%2Fvlr%2Fvlrtoc.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Stinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@Stinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stinky)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/8 "2002-03-25T01:36:13Z")
Marijuana was legal until the narcotic act of 1948. Some states did not pass laws aganst it untill the 70’s but it was aganst federal law. Before '48 you could legaly smoke it in public, but most people had never even heard of it, except for Jazz musicans and mexican workers in the south west. It became popular when the government started a campain aganst it in order to pass the narcotic act. They used raceism aganst mexicans (witch is why we call it marijuana instead of hemp) and fear of hopped up blacks useing it to corupt white women. The gov. was aided in there campain by newspapers looking for higher circulation and by prohabitionist who were looking for another dog to kick after the failure of acohol prohabition. It is ironic that the campain to outlaw the herb is what made it popular with the mainstream. Some people maintain that Du Pont was behind the whole thing to get rid of hemp witch competed with nilon to make rope ( it wouldn’t be the first time someone used the government to get rid of cheeper compatition) but I have not seen any proof of this so take it as you will. \ **Author:** ![Stinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@Stinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stinky)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/9 "2002-03-25T01:49:56Z") I should state that marijuana was first made illegal by the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 but was struck down by the suppreem court. Due to the fact that the government wasn’t issueing any tax stamps for weed. It was finally outlawed by the Narcotic Act of 1948. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/10 "2002-03-25T13:06:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stinky \* > \*\*I should state that marijuana was first made illegal by the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 but was struck down by the suppreem court. Due to the fact that the government wasn’t issueing any tax stamps for weed. It was finally outlawed by the Narcotic Act of 1948. \*\* Well, actually, the Marijuana Tax Act wasn’t made unconstitutional until 1969. In Leary v. US, Timothy Leary was arrested coming over the border from Mexico with marijuana. In addition to being arrested for possession, he was arrested because he didn’t have declare it and pay a tax on it in conformance with the act. The court ruled, it looks like 9-0, with the decision written by Justice Harlan, that the law was unconstituional, because it required self incrimination…“If you have the marajuana, you have to declare it, or you’ll violate the Tax Act, but if you declare it, you’ll be arrested for violating posession charges.” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/11 "2002-03-25T13:36:18Z")
> [@](#): > > The court ruled, it looks like 9-0, with the decision written by Justice Harlan, that the law was unconstituional, because it required self incrimination…“If you have the marajuana, you have to declare it, or you’ll violate the Tax Act, but if you declare it, you’ll be arrested for violating posession charges.” I wonder if that’s where gun control opponents got the “fact” that convicted felons don’t have to register their guns? (“A felon doesn’t have to register his guns because it’s illegal for him to possess them, thus registration would violate his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.”) (Note: If there is a “yes or no” answer to that, please post it; otherwise, let’s not turn this into a gun control thread.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/12 "2002-03-25T13:56:05Z")
It may not have been legal, but in the mid-70s I used to walk through downtown Boston and Cambridge and could easily smell folks smokin’ the Evil Weed. They’d walk right past the police, with no results! ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/13 "2002-03-25T16:15:41Z")
Several times a year, where I am in California, I smell pot near the beach. It seems the surfers openly smoke it there. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/14 "2002-03-25T16:47:41Z")
I’ve worked in NYC for 21 years now, I don’t think a day has passed when I HAVEN’T seen (or smelled) someone walking down the street openly smoking pot. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/15 "2002-03-25T18:53:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stinky \* > \*\*Some people maintain that Du Pont was behind the whole thing to get rid of hemp witch competed with nilon to make rope ( it wouldn’t be the first time someone used the government to get rid of cheeper compatition) but I have not seen any proof of this so take it as you will. \ **Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2002, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/16 "2002-03-26T00:50:10Z") > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jb\_farley \* > \*\*and then came ol’ uncle ronnie. \*\* According to [Slate magazine](http://www.slate.com) it was actually Uncle Dick. ---
**Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2002, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/17 "2002-03-26T00:51:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stinky \* > \*\*Before '48 you could legaly smoke it in public, but most people had never even heard of it, except for Jazz musicans and mexican workers in the south west. It became popular when the government started a campain aganst it in order to pass the narcotic act. \*\* But “Reefer Madness” came out in the '30s?? – Beruang ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Frink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Mr.Frink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Frink)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2002, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-it-was-outlawed-could-you-smoke-pot-openly/99914/18 "2002-03-26T03:08:54Z")
[ul][li]In **1915** Utah became the first state in the Union to pass a law prohibiting the use of cannabis.[/li][li]From **1915 to 1937** 26 other states pass laws criminalizing the use of cannabis.[/li][li]In **1937** , the U.S. Congress passes **the Marihuana Tax Act** over the objection of the American Medical Association. Harry Anslinger, commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics testified on behalf of the gov’t: "_“Marihuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.”_ [/li][li] **1951** Congress passes \*\*The Boggs Act \*\*, catagorizing cannabis in the same class as all other narcotics and quadrupaling the penalties for its use. Commissioner Anslinger once again testfies for the gov’t, but no longer claims that cannabis causes insanity. The new rationale for its prohibition is that it is "_the certain first step on the road to heroin addiction."_.[/li][li]In **1969** the Supreme Court overturns **the Marihuana Tax Act**. Congress responds by passing the \*\*Dangerous Substances Act \*\* establishing the “Scheduling” of drugs that is still in use today. Cannabis is placed in “Schedule One”, a catagory for drugs that have _“little or no medical use and a high potential for abuse”_. On the bright side, penalties for possession are reduced for the first time in U.S. history.[/li][/ul] I know that this post is a little bit off topic, but I wanted to clear up some of the muddled history of drug prohibition going on here. As for the OP, _of course_ one could smoke cannabis in public before it was illegal. But it was very rare–it was used mainly by Mexicans in the southwest. Cannabis use wasn’t really popularized in what we’d now call the “counterculture” until the 1950s, when the “Beatniks” learned about it from the Jazz culture they admired & imitated. _(Source for above timeline: [The History of the Marijuana Laws](http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm) by Charles Whitebread, Professor of Law, USC Law School)_