On this day: August 2
POSTED: 01:10 PM PDT Aug 01, 2012
UPDATED: 11:00 PM PDT Aug 01, 2012
America formally declares its independence, the U.S. Census is born, a president dies, JFK becomes a hero and a young Robert Zimmerman changes his name, all on this day.
Reuters
1937: The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America. Although the act didn't officially criminalize marijuana use, its effect was render marijuana and all of its byproducts illegal. In 1969 in Leary v. United States, part of the Act was ruled to be unconstitutional as a violation of the Fifth Amendment, since a person seeking the tax stamp would have to incriminate him/herself.
