In response to a substantial increase in drug-use patterns in American society during the 1960s and a swirling controversy about changing the marijuana laws to legalize the substances, in 1970, the U.S. Congress established the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse. The commission was directed to conduct a two-year study, the first on MARIJUANA and the second on "the causes of drug abuse and their relative significance." The commission was composed of thirteen members, four appointed by the Congress (two each from the Senate and the House) and nine appointed by the president. The chair of the commission was Raymond P. Shafer, former governor of Pennsylvania, and the vice chair was Dana L. Farnsworth, M.D., the director of Student Health Services at Harvard University.

In March 1972, the commission issued its first report, Marihuana: A...