The Boggs Act intensively increased the penalties for marijuana use. ... Parole was only privileged to first offenders convicted of possession, and the death penalty readily available for heroin dealers who served minors. ... In his address to congress he expressed his concern on the penalties for possession being more damaging than the drug itself. ...
The objectives were simple; to impose stiff penalties on those who use drugs outlined to be illicit, quell all to trade and commerce of such substances, and even to go as far to prevent countries with in our general border vicinity from producing and exporting these substances. ... (Duke) As of 1992 an estimated sixty million people have tried and or used marijuana and there has yet to be one recorded death attributed to overdose. ...
By 1970 over 55 federal drug laws and countless state laws specified a variety of disciplinary measures, including life imprisonment and even the death penalty. ... While possession was made illegal, the severest penalties were reserved for illicit distribution and manufacture of drugs. ...
