Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesIn 1996, marijuana legislation took a major step forward thanks to California. The Golden State became the first in the union to legalize medical marijuana via the Compassionate Use Act.
Liaison/Getty ImagesCountry music icon Willie Nelson is known for being a prominent figure in the marijuana community, but in a 2019 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Nelson claimed that marijuana "saved his life." Without cannabis, Nelson said that he would have never lived 85 years.
Steve Wood/Express/Getty ImagesIn 1948, Robert Mitchum, the star of classics like "Cape Fear" and "Night of the Hunter," was arrested and sentenced to prison for two months after being caught smoking a joint at a party in Los Angeles. At the time of his arrest, the consumption of marijuana was largely frowned upon, even on the West Coast. However, after his release, Mitchum returned to the spotlight in the box-office hit "Rachel and the Stranger."
Keystone/Getty ImagesIn 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act into law, crafting a system of categorizing and regulating drugs at the federal level. Shortly after, in June 1971, he became the first of several presidents to declare a war on drugs, calling drug abuse "public enemy number one." He followed his declaration by increasing federal funding for drug control agencies, introducing mandatory prison sentences for drug crimes and creating the Drug Enforcement Administration in 1973. His law would go on to affect the U.S. for decades.
Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesThe film "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" details the adventures of Harold Lee and Kumar Patel, played by John Cho and Kal Penn, as the two friends go on an epic quest for White Castle burgers to satisfy their marijuana-induced munchies. The duo deal with every problem beneath the sun in efforts to satisfy their hunger and claim some delicious burgers.
krblokhin/Getty ImagesThe bill would allow states to decide marijuana legalization for themselves and expunge cannabis records for some.
Luke Frazza/AFP via Getty ImagesHistory buffs and political fanatics might know this famous story. While campaigning for president, Bill Clinton was repeatedly asked whether he had ever used drugs. In response, Clinton usually asserted he had never broken the laws of the country. But when he was later asked whether he had broken international law in regards to drugs during a candidates' forum, Clinton said that although he had experimented with marijuana, he "didn't inhale."
Ron Wurzer/Getty ImagesWhen the Seattle Hempfest first launched in 1991, it was known as the Washington Hemp Expo and had only 500 people in attendance. Today, it is one of the most well-known cannabis policy reform events in the world. Famous musical artists, politicians and activists alike all take part in Hempfest and speak on both the lies and truths that surround marijuana consumption.
mark reinstein/ShutterstockFollowing in Ronald Reagan's footsteps, President George H.W. Bush took a tougher approach to the war on drugs campaign. By the time he left office in 1993, more than $12 billion was invested in the federal drug control budget. Much like Reagan's tactics, Bush's efforts were largely criticized for targeting underprivileged communities.
Keystone/Getty ImagesThe Beatles have been credited with inspiring the birth of many music legends, but it was another star that introduced them to marijuana. According to Paul McCartney, iconic musician Bob Dylan gave the group marijuana after mistaking the lyrics "I can't hide" in their song "I Want to Hold Your Hand" for "I get high." When the group corrected Dylan and told him they'd never smoked before, he gave them their first joint.
Jason Merritt/Getty ImagesComedian Sarah Silverman has pulled many hijinks in her long career, but while walking the E! Red carpet at the Emmy Awards in 2014, she shocked hosts when she showed what was in her clutch for the night. Along with a cell phone and gum, Silverman was also carrying a vaporizer pen.
melissamn/SutterstockOn Dec. 15, 1992, rapper Dr. Dre released his debut studio album, and, arguably, one of his most famous albums to date, "The Chronic." Named after a nickname for marijuana, "The Chronic" features numerous guest verses from a rapper who would later drop his own debut album: Snoop Dogg, who has built his own image around his marijuana use.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images"Real Time with Bill Maher" is an Emmy-nominated weekly talk show airing on HBO. Hosted by comedian Bill Maher, each show features actors, activists, politicians and more who serve as guest panelists as Maher discusses the previous week in news. On an episode that aired on Feb. 12, 2016, Maher smoked a joint during his closing remarks while encouraging marijuana enthusiasts to continue their fight for pot legalization.
Matt Archer/Getty Images"Alright, alright, alright." Matthew McConaughey debuted his now-signature catchphrase in his breakout role as older stoner David Wooderson in "Dazed and Confused." The movie chronicles the last days of high school for a group of teens in 1976. In a famous scene, the group comes to the consensus that George Washington smoked weed and grew the plant at his historical mansion in Mount Vernon.
Patrick Hertzog/AFP via Getty ImagesHunter S. Thompson's classic work of gonzo journalism heavily mixes fact, fiction and drug-induced hallucination in its telling of the journalist's trip to Las Vegas with his attorney. Together, they rode across the country in a convertible truck, the trunk so stocked with drugs Thompson wrote it looked like "a mobile police narcotics lab." Thompson's ultimate road trip would go on to inspire the 1998 film of the same name starring Johnny Depp.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty ImagesIn 2005, Doug Wead, an author and close friend of George W. Bush, released recorded conversations he had with the future president from 1998 to 2000 as the then-Governor of Texas weighed and ultimately accepted a presidential nomination. In the tapes, George W. Bush said he would refuse to answer questions about his past behavior, particularly about drugs because he wouldn't want kids to follow in his footsteps.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images"These high school boys and girls are having a hop at the local soda fountain," begins the trailer for Louis Gasnier's film "Reefer Madness." "Innocently they dance. Innocent of a new and deadly menace lurking behind closed doors: marijuana! The burning weed with its roots in hell!" This low-budget exploitation film depicts the crimeful life of marijuana-smoking teens. The film sent parents into a panic. A year later, the Marihuana Tax Act began regulation of marijuana importation, cultivation and possession.
JC Olivera/Getty Images for BETWhat would have been an odd pairing 20 years ago now somehow makes so much sense. Together, rapper Snoop Dogg and lifestyle expert Martha Stewart have hosted a television show since 2016 called "Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party." The unlikely duo invite guest stars onto the show as they cook up delicious recipes and discuss marijuana usage in front of a studio audience.
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images"Hello, Wisconsin!" High school friends Eric, Donna, Kelso, Jackie, Hyde and Fez all navigate life in the '70s in "That 70s Show." The show centered around life, love and family relationships, but more often than not, the friends could be found in Eric's basement smoking weed together.
Jer123/ShutterstockArguably the spark that ignited the medical marijuana movement, Robert Randall was granted access to government marijuana after being arrested and prosecuted for growing his own plants on his Capitol Hill porch to treat his glaucoma. Without the drug, he argued, he would be blind. In 1976, the D.C. Superior court found Randall not guilty, stating that Randall's right to sight was greater than the state's need to enforce the drug laws and uphold public safety. Randall, who died in 2001, later founded ACT, or the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics, and further championed medical marijuana legalization.
Christopher Polk/Getty Images for CoachellaRihanna, a music sensation, fashion guru and beauty cosmetics pioneer, made headlines in 2012 when a photo was taken of her rolling a joint on her body guard's head as she sat perched on his shoulders at Coachella, a star-studded music festival.
Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesRoughly 400,000 people traveled to Bethel, New York, in the August heat of 1969 to attend Woodstock, a festival of arts and music. Tickets were sold but crowds stormed the gates and organizers stopped checking tickets. Performers over the three days included Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, The Grateful Dead and Joan Baez. In the decades since, Woodstock has become symbolic of '60s America at large. Rampant marijuana use is just one part of that history.
Theo Stroomer/Getty ImagesBoth Colorado and Washington made history in November 2012 when they made big changes to marijuana laws and legalized recreational marijuana. They did so by permitting personal possession for anyone 21 or older. While Washington at the time of legalization still banned "grow-your-own" pot, Colorado limited cultivation to six plants per person.
Carlos Schiebeck/AFP via Getty ImagesAt a school in Oakland, California, a young girl raised her hand to ask First Lady Nancy Reagan what she would suggest she do if someone offered her drugs. "Well," Mrs. Reagan responded, "you just say no." Thus began the First Lady's decades-long campaign to curb school-age drug use. By 1988, there were 12,000 "Just Say No" clubs worldwide, and the First Lady's message was taught in schools nationwide.
Shaun Botterill/Getty Images/Shaun Botterill/Getty ImagesMichael Phelps is famous for being the most decorated Olympian of all time. However, in 2009, Phelps made headlines for a reason other than his outstanding swimming talents: smoking marijuana. Phelps was photographed smoking from a marijuana pipe. The photo led to a three-month suspension from all competition and the loss of his endorsement deal with the iconic breakfast food brand Kellogg's.
grandriver/grandriver/Getty Images/Marijuana leaves in a pot
Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesIn the modern classic stoner movie "Pineapple Express," Seth Rogen plays Dale, a stoner and sole witness to a murder committed by a cruel drug lord and police officer. At the crime scene, Dale drops his joint, a specific strain dubbed Pineapple Express with a high THC concentration. The film follows Dale and his dealer Saul, played by James Franco, as they run from the officer and drug lord who rightly connects them to the forgotten joint.
John G. Mabanglo/AFP via Getty ImagesDuring the height of the AIDS epidemic, clubs supplying marijuana to terminal patients grew across the country. San Francisco was home to the largest Buyers' Club, which was founded in 1991 and grew to over 8,000 members. Along with illegally selling marijuana to terminal AIDS patients, the clubs also provided relief for cancer patients and others with illnesses marijuana was known to alleviate.
Don Paulsen/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesThere are many stories that detail how the 20th of April became an unofficial marijuana holiday but one story claims that the American rock band Grateful Dead is largely responsible for the national spread of the holiday. While a reporter was wandering through a crowd of fans awaiting the start of the band's concert in 1990, he was handed a flyer from a "Deadhead" that said, "We are going to meet at 4:20 on 4/20 for 420-ing." High Times reported the story, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Evening Standard/Getty ImagesRock & Roll Hall of Fame legend and Grammy Award-winning artist Bob Marley is known for creating songs that aimed to unite individuals around the globe and empower those in their fight against injustices. Marley was also known for his advocacy for marijuana consumption. In 2014, Marley Natural — the world's first global cannabis brand — was announced in honor of Marley's life, legacy and beliefs in the benefits of cannabis.
acronymofficial/ShutterstockAfter American poet, writer and political activist John Sinclair was sentenced to prison for the possession of two joints, Michiganians gathered in April 1972, to protest the law and demand his release. Thus the Ann Arbor Hash Bash, one of the first U.S. events all about cannabis, was born. Today, the Ann Arbor Hash Bash is held the first Saturday of April at noon at the University of Michigan.
Julien Reynaud/APS-Medias/AbacaPress.com/TNSMany celebrities have admitted to consuming marijuana, but some individuals were shocked when Oscar Award-winner Frances McDormand graced the cover of High Times magazine in May 2003.
Tommaso Boddi/Getty ImagesAnthems are hard to make, but when rapper Afroman dropped his hit single "Because I Got High" in 2000, he made one that was embraced by the marijuana community. The song depicts how Afroman has a plan to clean, organize and seemingly get his life together, but after getting high, he no longer feels the energy to do so.
Paras Griffin/Getty Images for YouTube MusicGrammy Award-winner 2 Chainz is known for dropping catchy bars in his numerous rap songs that sum up his life, beliefs and work ethic, but in 2015, he put the mic down to school TV host Nancy Grace on the legalization of marijuana. After Grace showed an inflammatory video and argued that marijuana use causes poor judgment, 2 Chainz spoke on how marijuana positively affects communities and has many beneficial uses.
Mike Coppola/Getty ImagesIn the cult classic movie "The Big Lebowski," Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski is played by Jeff Bridges. "The Dude" loves bowling and weed and, at one point, crashes his car as he ignores the rules of the road while both smoking a joint and sipping a beer.
Jason Merritt/Getty ImagesIn the TV show "Weeds," widowed mother Nancy Botwin, played by Mary-Louise Parker, starts selling marijuana to support her family's comfortable lifestyle in this eight-season HBO series. Botwin's most frequent clients include several of her affluent neighbors in suburban LA.
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In 1996, marijuana legislation took a major step forward thanks to California. The Golden State became the first in the union to legalize medical marijuana via the Compassionate Use Act.
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A chamber of Congress will vote to remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substance for the first time in the nation’s history. The U.S. House of Representative confirmed its historic vote will occur during September work period and would effectively decriminalize cannabis nationwide.
The legislation in question, known as the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act (MORE Act), would not legalize marijuana at the federal level. Instead it would remove cannabis from its Schedule I drug classification, which the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) defines as “drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”
Once removed, states could then decide whether to legalize cannabis for medical or recreational use. The bill would also expunge cannabis records for some and create a fund to support individuals impacted by the enforcement of marijuana laws.
“Passage of the MORE Act is essential in order to truly right the wrongs of federal marijuana criminalization, and to once and for all allow the majority of states that have legalized cannabis for either medical or adult-use to embrace these policies free from the threat of undue federal prosecution or interference,” said NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano.
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It’s unknown whether the MORE Act will have enough votes to carry the Democrat-controlled House. Even if it does, the Senate is not expected to vote on the bill considering the long-held opposition by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Republicans, who control the Senate, have not show support for ending cannabis prohibition in recent weeks. The head of the Republican National Committee would not answer whether medical marijuana supporters had a place in the GOP in a recent interview. And President Donald Trump told a Republican crowd earlier this month not to allow cannabis legalization ballot if they want to win.
The Fresh Toast is a daily lifestyle platform with a side of cannabis. For more information, visit www.thefreshtoast.com.
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