On November the 2nd of 2010, during the same day as the mid-term election in Congress, the Californian voters had the opportunity to vote to a referendum about the proposition 19 also known as the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act. We want also explain you what happened before this date about cannabis in the USA and what was this proposition about. History of the question of cannabis in american laws History of the prohibition of cannabis at the federal level
The prohibition of cannabis started in the USA in the 1900s. By the mid-1930s, cannabis was regulated in every states by laws instituted through the Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act. In 1937, the Marihuana Tax Act, which was the federalisation of this laws passed at the state level, was passed on the federal level. This act taxed every actor of the production and consommation of cannabis : imports, productors, but also prescriptors such as dentists or doctors... Without criminalizing the use and consommation of cannabis, this law dissuaded its use because people risked an amend of 2000$ and jusqu'à 5 years of jail.
But in 1965, Timothy Leary was condamned to 30 years of emprisonment because of illegal possession of cannabis in vertu of that Marihuana Tax Act. He sued the Supreme Court claiming that this law was unconstitutionnal because of the Fifth Amendment, that protects the rights of accused people and especially he used the sentence “nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself”. In fact, the person that should pay the tax had to condamn himself of possession of cannabis. The Supreme Court declared that law unconstituionnal in 1969, that is why the Controlled Substances Act was passed in 1970.
At the federal level, the Congress of the USA passed a law in 1970 called Controlled Substances Act. This act was the title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act. This act created the Controlled Substances Agency (or Administration ?) that