How I Accidentally Legalized Marijuana
In 1937, Congressmen Harry Anslinger proposed The Marihuana Tax Act, which essentially made marijuana illegal and started Anslinger's War, an international war against marijuana and marijuana users. I was born 29 years into marijuana prohibition, and grew up in the 1970s when marijuana was still illegal, but I grew up in Michigan and ended up going to the University of Michigan, which is in Ann Arbor. The city of Ann Arbor led the country in legalizing marijuana, first, after John Sinclair was sentenced to 10 years in prison for giving an undercover police officer 2 joints ("10 for 2") John Lennon took up his cause and performed at the Free John Sinclair concert in December of 1971. The following spring Ann Arbor celebrated his release with the first Hash Bash on April 1st 1972, and a month later in May of 1972 the Ann Arbor City Council voted to decriminalize marijuana possession under one ounce by making the penalty a $5 ticket like a parking...