The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 2, levied a tax on the sale of cannabis. While the act did not criminalize possession outright, it imposed prohibitive taxes and onerous requirements that effectively banned marijuana use and commerce, creating the basis for federal cannabis prohibition and influencing drug policy for decades.

The 1937 Act is a pivotal moment in the criminalization of marijuana, a subject that would become a central theme in the counterculture poetry of the 1960s and beyond. The law's targeting of cannabis inspired poets like Allen Ginsberg and the Beat writers to advocate for its legalization, framing marijuana as a symbol of liberation from oppressive state control in their verses.