5. Mandatory sentencing laws were applied to drug possession
For most of American history, the sentencing of offenders convicted of violating drug laws was discretionary according to the judge who heard the case. In 1951, Congress inserted itself into the sentencing process with the passage of the Boggs Act, which was signed into law by President Harry Truman. Under the provisions of the act, those found guilty of possession of marijuana for the first time were to be sentenced to a minimum of two years, with judges retaining a modicum of discretion by allowing them to sentence the violator to up to ten years. Since then both Congress and the legislatures of several states have imposed mandatory penalties and sentences for the possession of different drugs, taking the sentencing power away from judges in some cases, while in others returning the discretion to the courts.
Prior to the passage of the Boggs Act, a commission formed by New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia performed a five year study, with their report written by the New York Academy of Medicine. The LaGuardia Committee, as it came to be called, refuted the assertions of the federal government and the Bureau of Narcotics regarding marijuana use, its prevalence, and its impact on society. It reported that there was no demonstrated link between marijuana and crime, nor was there evidence that marijuana was a gateway drug (in New York City, where the study was conducted). The study also reported that the use of marijuana was for the most part limited to the black and Hispanic neighborhoods of the city, in particular Harlem, where it did not contribute to juvenile delinquency nor truancy. The head of the Bureau of Narcotics, Harry Anslinger, personally denounced the LaGuardia Committee and its report in writing and in testimony before Congressional Committees.