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Marihuana Tax Act of 1937

The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 75–238, 50 Stat. 551, enacted August 2, 1937, was a United States Act that placed a tax on the sale of cannabis. The H.R. 6385 act was drafted by Harry Anslinger and introduced by Rep. Robert L. Doughton of North Carolina, on April 14, 1937. The Seventy-fifth United States Congress held hearings on April 27, 28, 29th, 30th, and May 4, 1937. Upon the congressional hearings confirmation, the H.R. 6385 act was redrafted as H.R. 6906 and introduced with House Report 792. The Act is referred to, using the modern spelling, as the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act. It was overturned in 1969 in Leary v. United States, and was repealed by Congress the next year.[1]

Other short titles

  • 1937 Marihuana Tax Act
  • The Taxation of Marijuana

An Act to impose an occupational excise tax upon certain dealers in marijuana, to impose a transfer tax upon certain dealings in marijuana, and to safeguard the revenue there from by registry and recording.

MTA

October 1, 1937

The La Guardia Committee Report[edit]

The only authoritative voice that opposed Anslinger's campaign against cannabis was that of New York Mayor, Fiorello La Guardia, who appointed in 1938 a commission of investigation, and in 1944 strongly objected to Anslinger's campaign with the La Guardia Committee.[31]

Legal history of cannabis in the United States

(1942) a United States Department of Agriculture war-time film encouraging farmers to grow hemp suitable for U.S. Navy hawser requirements.

Hemp for Victory

, propagandistic film of 1936.

Reefer Madness

the first in depth study into the effects of smoking marijuana.

La Guardia Committee

John F. Galliher, Allynn Walker Social Problems, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Feb., 1977), pp. 367–376

The Puzzle of the Social Origins of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937

First Person Jailed for the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937.

Samuel R. Caldwell

William B. McAllister, "Harry Anslinger Saves the World: National Security Imperatives and the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act," The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs 33, no. 1 (Spring 2019): 37-62.

Full Text of the Marihuana Tax Act as passed in 1937

Marijuana Tax Stamps: History of the Marihuana Tax Act with photos of government issued tax stamps

Full transcripts of the congressional hearings for the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937