2727 BC • China begins using marijuana as medicine
500 AD • Cannabis reaches Europe by way of India and Africa
1492 • Christopher Columbus brings cannabis sativa to the new world
1619 • Jamestown colony law: all settlers required to grow cannabis
1797 • George Washington’s primary crop at Mount Vernon is cannabis
1876 • The Sultan of Turkey gives the U.S. marijuana as a gift
1880 • Smoking parlors open up all over the Northeast
1891 • Queen Victoria is prescribed marijuana by her doctor to relieve menstrual cramps
1908 • Henry Ford’s first Model T is made with hemp plastic and runs on hemp ethanol
1937 • Federal law bans marijuana, five years after the U.S. abandons its ban on alcohol
1942 • The U.S. military uses marijuana as truth serum
1965 • 1 million Americans had tried marijuana
1972 • 24 million
1980 • The government begins its war on drugs
1980’s • Every 38 seconds someone is arrested for violating cannabis law
1996 • Prop 215 passes in California making medical marijuana legal
NOW • Marijuana is America’s #1 cash crop at $36 billion a year