But it didn&#x27;t get really strict until The Controlled Substances Act (1970), which got really crazy in &#x27;73 when Nixon basically created the DEA.<p><i>In 1973 President Richard Nixon&#x27;s &quot;Reorganization Plan Number Two&quot; proposed the creation of a single federal agency to enforce federal drug laws and Congress accepted the proposal, as there was concern regarding the growing availability of drugs. As a result, on July 1, 1973, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) and the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement (ODALE) merged to create the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). On December 1, 1975, the Supreme Court ruled that it was &quot;not cruel or unusual for Ohio to sentence someone to 20 years for having or selling cannabis.&quot;</i><p>It always blows my mind that literally right after the end of alcohol prohibition (1933), marijuana prohibition began (1937 though lighter than the &#x27;70s kind of illegal).  Basically historical mistakes repeated within literally years of one another.  That second error is still not corrected 40+ years later. Criminalizing drug use is absolutely barbaric and has wreaked more havoc than any drug could on society.