Release: MONDAY January 20, 2020
As recently as 10 years ago, if someone were caught with a small bag of marijuana they might find themselves in a little legal trouble. If you go back 40 years or so, possession of just one marijuana joint could result in arrest, jail, job loss and more. If caught with a greater quantity, several years in prison wasn’t out of the question. Some still serving sentences will attest to that.
Now, though still technically a Federal crime, state after state is legalizing cannabis. First it was OK’d for medical use for people with cancer, chronic pain and other ailments. Now, allowances for “recreational” marijuana is sweeping through state legislatures. It’s purpose? To let people get legally stoned....
So, what has changed? If we dial the clock back 100 years this month it becomes clear. That’s when, in 1920, the 18th Amendment went into effect. For what many purported to be the greater good, the government banned the production, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages. Note: It did not prohibit the “consumption” of it. Catholics, Jews and others were still allowed to have it for religious purposes. Not surprisingly, a lot of people suddenly found religion.
In the end, prohibition proved to be a social and economic disaster. Overnight, tens of thousands in the beverage industry were jobless. Unemployment soared. On top of receiving no taxes from all those former workers, the tax base from every brewery, distillery and bar also dried up. In a few short years, prohibition contributed to “The Great Depression.” Alcohol was again legalized in 1934.
So, what’s with the current diametric change in the government attitude toward legalizing marijuana? What else? Money. A whole flood of untapped new taxes.
States are scrambling to establish dispensaries for marijuana distribution. If one state legalizes it and a neighboring state hesitates, legions of residents from one will flock to the other to purchase it. The selling state gets all the tax revenue that is already proving to be massive.
One of the best examples of how the government has profited from both alcohol and marijuana in the past are vintage tax stamps produced to ensure the Feds got their cut. Revenue stamps for beer, wine and spirits rolled off printing presses as quickly as beverages were brewed, fermented or distilled. Today, collectors covet those stamps.
Some of the stamps were impressively ornate. The best were created by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and produced by the National Banknote Company. Of course, they had to be intricate. Counterfeit tax stamps for use on the beverages could be as valuable as the product itself.
Naturally, most anyone receiving the shipments cared only for the product inside the crates and not the stamps affixed to them. The vast majority of stamps were discarded along with the box. For that reason, many wine and beer stamps dating from the 1860s through the 1940s are worth anywhere from a few dollars to as much as $30,000.
The marijuana stamps are far more elusive than those for alcohol for several reasons. First, fewer were issued because it was not nearly an industry the size of alcohol. Second, because marijuana has been so controversial for so long, whenever any have come to light, collectors and fans of cannabis have quickly snapped them up.
Marijuana stamps were actually “Documentary” revenue issues overprinted with the words, “Marihuana Tax Act of 1937.” A few sell for several hundred dollars while others bring over $15,000.
One last thing. When prohibition took effect, a few vintners survived by becoming creative. Some catered entirely to the sacramental wine market through special arrangements (probably payouts to certain insiders).
Others concentrated their grapes and sold them in compressed blocks with a label reading, “CAUTION: By adding yeast and water will turn into wine.” That essentially served as instructions for making wine. Collectors today pay handsomely for those instruction labels as well. Here’s a toast to unbridled creativity!