The Shafer Commission, formally known as the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, was appointed by U.S. President
Richard Nixon in the early 1970s.[1] Its chairman was former Pennsylvania Governor
Raymond P. Shafer. The commission issued a report on its findings in 1972 that called for the
decriminalization of
marijuana possession in the
United States.[2] The report was ignored by the
White House, but is an important document against
prohibition.[3]
While the
Controlled Substances Act was being drafted in a House committee in 1970, Assistant Secretary of Health
Roger O. Egeberg had recommended that marijuana temporarily be placed in Schedule I, the most restrictive category of drugs, pending the Commission's report. On March 22, 1972, the Commission's chairman,
Raymond P. Shafer, presented a report to Congress and the public entitled "Marihuana, a Signal of Misunderstanding," which favored ending marijuana prohibition and adopting other methods to discourage use. The report was republished as a
Signet BooksNew American Library paperback in 1972.[4]
The Commission's report said that while public sentiment tended to view marijuana users as dangerous, they actually found users to be more timid, drowsy and passive. It concluded that cannabis did not cause widespread danger to society. It recommended using social measures other than criminalization to discourage use. It compared the situation of cannabis to that of
alcohol.[5]
The Commission's proposed decriminalization of marijuana possession was opposed, in 1974, by the recommendations of a congressional subcommittee chaired by Senator
James Eastland.[6]
The
Nixon administration did not implement the recommendations from the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse.[3] However, the report has frequently been cited by individuals supporting removal of cannabis from Schedule I of the
Controlled Substances Act.[7]
^
abGraham, Fred P. (February 13, 1972).
"National Commission to Propose Legal Private Use of Marijuana". The New York Times. Retrieved March 15, 2022. President Nixon said, "Even if the commission does recommend that it be legalized, I will not follow that recommendation."
Farnsworth M.D., Dana L. (May 1972). "SUMMARY OF THE REPORT FROM THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON MARIHUANA AND DRUG ABUSE: MARIHUANA: a signal of misunderstanding". Psychiatric Annals. 2 (5): 8–13, 16, 19–20, 25.
doi:
10.3928/0048-5713-19720501-04.
ISSN0048-5713.