Busted! The Story of Samuel Caldwell: The first Federal Marijuana Conviction In America

Final Description (plain text) A true story at the hinge of two American prohibitions. In 1937, Samuel R. Caldwell became the first person prosecuted under the Marihuana Tax Act—just four years after he’d been among the last men busted for bootlegging as alcohol prohibition ended. This book follows that startling overlap, showing how one life was caught between two national crackdowns. Drawn strictly from primary sources—court dockets, Treasury files, newspaper archives, and sentencing records—this account lets the documents speak. No embellishment. No mythology. Just the machinery of law at work, step by step. As Caldwell’s case moves from arrest to conviction, you’ll see the birth of federal cannabis enforcement and the moment the government shifted its focus from alcohol to a new target. If you care about how policy turns into prosecution, how headlines become history, and how the justice system records its own decisions, this is the unvarnished record. For readers of narrative history and legal nonfiction who value receipts, not rumors. Includes: Chapter 13 reproductions of original court records. View Less