The popularity of marijuana makes its illegality a highly scrutinized and controversial topic. Even though it is the third most frequently used nonmedical drug after alcohol and tobacco and the most popular illegal drug in the world, it is also the subject of extensive efforts by law enforcement agencies to stop its importation, cultivation, transportation, sale, and use. Further, preventing people, especially young people, from using marijuana is the subject of numerous educational and treatment programs. Even so, widespread use of marijuana continues in the United States, leading some people to contend that the nation's marijuana laws should be changed.

Prohibition Again"

From 1919 to 1933, the United States undertook an experiment to stop the manufacture, transportation, and sale of all alcoholic beverages. The result was a set of laws known as Prohibition.

Anslinger spoke about how he...