Marihuana Stamp Act
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2014 8:39 pm
Was passage of this law (in 1937) a wise decision? I ask in light of the recent event in Colorado.
After a two-hour committee hearing and a 92-second debate on the house floor, marijuana was de facto criminalized by Congress with passage of The Marihuana Tax Stamp Act of 1937, signed into law by President Roosevelt. A violation of the Tax Stamp Act was a felony with a maximum fine of $2,000 and/or 5 years in prison.
On October 2, 1937, exactly one day after the Marihuana Tax Stamp Act became law, the FBI and Denver police arrested a laborer named Samuel R. Caldwell, age 57, for selling three marijuana cigarettes to a Mexican worker named Moses Baca. FBN Director Harry Anslinger arrived in town for this historic event. Three days later, Baca and Caldwell were indicted and both pled guilty to violating the Marihuana Tax Stamp Act (clearly without legal advice). Baca received an 18 month prison sentence in Leavenworth for possessing a quarter ounce of weed. The sentencing judge's statements are indicative of the swill that the propaganda machines had been churning out: "I consider marijuana the worst of all narcotics, far worse than the use of morphine or cocaine. Under its influence men become beasts. Marijuana destroys life itself. I have no sympathy with those who sell this weed. The government is going to enforce this new law to the letter." Samuel Caldwell was given four years hard labor in Leavenworth and fined $1,000.
