George Washington, being a farmer, grew hemp, including two smokable varieties. Growing hemp was encouraged by the government to help the country flourish. Hemp use declined in the late eighteenth century, however, because processing hemp by hand requires a lot of work. Today it is illegal to grow any type of hemp in the united states, though it is not illegal to import the innocuous kind. The reason things changed was that in the early 1900's a wave of mexican immigrants introduced recreational marijuana use to the American public. Propaganda of the time proclaimed marijuana to be a deadly, mania-inducing drug that was corrupting the white population's youth. Laws began to be passed, and soon every state had some sort of prohibition on marijuana.
	The 1937 Marihuana Tax Act was the first federal legislature making pot illegal. The law restricted the selling, cultivation and possession of marijuana for any use other than industrial or medical, but also essentially restricted its use for those purposes as well, with an expensive tax and a stamp system that made it impossible for anyone to legally get away with it. The law required people to buy tax stamps that would allow them to buy and sell marijuana, but the stamps were not made available, and the taxes were huge. The man behind the act was Harry Anslinger, the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, today's DEA. Anslinger was a racist who was appointed by his uncle-in-law, a man who was closely involved with Dupont Chemicals, which had just invented a new way of making paper. Of course, Dupont didn't want to have hemp to compete with, because it can be used to make paper as well. America saw a rise in hemp cultivation again in 1942, when it became useful to the government for the war effort. When the war was over, a new law was passed, keeping marijuana illegal. Since then, the restrictiveness of cannabis laws has risen and fallen several times, but has generally stayed pretty much the same. Most recently, it looks like marijuana's image has changed to that of a harmless plant in most people's views. Decriminalization is looking better and better to the people who make the laws as more is learned about the real effects of marijuana, and of marijuana prohibition.
	In the late nineteenth century, marijuana became a common ingredient in medicines and easily available at pharmacies. Today, Medical marijuana is making a comeback. In 1996, California passed prop 215, allowing doctors to prescribe medical marijuana to their patients. Marijuana's most widely known use today is to control nausea and vomiting, especially for cancer and AIDS patients. It can also be used to treat glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. Most large cities in California now have cannabis clubs where anyone with a prescription can buy highly potent medical marijuana with prices ranging up to $700 per ounce, and the pot is worth it. 