Letters to the Editor  Marijuana laws are based on lies  Federal
marijuana prohibition began in the thirties when Congress passed
the 1937 Marijuana Tax Stamp Act. The first drug czar,  Harry
Anslinger provided the testimony before Congress which ensured
passage of the law. Mr. Anslinger later admitted that his
testimony was untrue and that with marijuana being relatively
harmless, it was not really a problem. The law said that to
possess marijuana one must first purchase a tax stamp for it,
but in order to get the stamp you had to have the marijuana in
your possession. Additionally, there were few stamps printed
because there was no intent to use them anyway. Police started
arresting people based on the law and continued to arrest them
until the law was declared unconstitutional for obvious reasons
in 1970.  President Nixon doubled down on the Anslinger lie.
After rejecting the advice of his self-appointed commission of
experts, The Shafer Commission, Nixon signed into law the 1970
Controlled Substances Act.