The post Are You Allowed To Smoke Weed In A National Park? appeared first on High Times.
The United States National Park System is unlike any other in the world. In total, the system includes 417 areas touching every state in the union as well as territories like Puerto Rico and Guam. The country’s national parks cover more than 84 million acres, including the land under the White House in Washington, D.C. In 2016, an astounding 330,971,698 people visited national parks. That’s 5 million more people than the entire US population. Not only are the national parks incredibly popular, they reside everywhere recreational weed is legal. If you’re planning on visiting one of the country’s national parks this year—and you totally should—then you might be asking yourself, are you allowed to smoke weed in a national park? Turns out the answer is shockingly simple.
A Short History Of Cannabis And National Parks
Yellowstone National Park in the American West holds the honor of being the first national park in the United States. On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the act that created Yellowstone.
It would take another 34 years before the country established the National Park Service. President Woodrow Wilson signed the act inaugurating the NPS on August 25, 1916.
Both of these landmark events, however, predate the federal prohibition of marijuana. The United State’s national ban on cannabis only began in 1937, through the Marihuana [sic] Tax Act of 1937.
Remember that in that time hemp agriculture was a major part of US industry. The country even recognized some medical applications of the plant. But the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 basically made possessing or transferring