But in 1929, when the Colorado Legislature passed a law making the sale, possession and distribution of marijuana a felony in Colorado, minorities were clearly the focus of the measure. A Mexican immigrant who’d murdered his stepdaughter in Denver that year was reportedly under the influence of cannabis; sensational newspaper stories played up both the drug and his origins. Val Higgins, a Denver chaplain, told the Rocky Mountain News that the new, stricter legislation was necessary to control the growing Mexican population. “The use of marijuana came into the state with the Mexicans migrating here for agricultural work,” he said. “Its use is growing because of the increasing number of Mexicans and the ease with which most of them have been able to avoid penalties.”

A really nice look at marijuana’s legal history, specifically in Colorado.