1923 CE
Cannabis is outlawed in Canada

In 1923, Cannabis was added to the schedule of the Opium and Narcotic Control Act, effectively making it illegal to use in Canada. Both the House of Commons and the Senate agreed to the addition without any discussion at all. This raises the question, Why was cannabis criminalized without debate?

Seems there was a draft of the bill that did not include cannabis, but, on one of the carbon copies, an unknown scribe scribbled "Cannabis Indica (Indian Hemp) or hasheesh" in the margin. No one knows who added that phrase, or ordered it added.

Two social forces at the time may have contributed to the ease with which cannabis prohibition was passed. Police forces were actively campaigning for increased powers and restrictions on civil liberties. Simultaneously, there was widespread panic in Canada inspired by an anti-drug, anti-Chinese campaign led by editorials and articles in the Vancouver Daily Sun and Maclean's.

Source: Carstairs, C. (2006). Jailed for Possession. University of Toronto Press.

Drugs: Cannabis (marijuana)
Regions: Canada
Topics: Prohibition