The legal status of marijuana in United States as of 2017

When the Appalachian trail was first created, many of the rights to use the land for the trail weren’t set in stone. They were more like handshake agreements between the landowners and the trailblazers. This was acceptable for many years until around the 1970’s when use of the trail spiked dramatically. It wasn’t only the number of people it was what they were doing. The 1970’s were at the tail end of the quote hippie culture” and with their ideas of returning to nature they also brought their drugs, namely marijuana.

This didn’t exactly sit well with well with landowners who then began revoke the use of their land for the trail. Which required the federal government to step in and begin acquiring the land for federal use.

The history of the Appalachian trail is very similar to the history of the legalization of marijuana. It’s all a conversation between local and federal government. While many states are legalizing marijuana it’s still technically illegal on a federal level. This is highlighted even more on a place like the Appalachian trail.

With 21 state adopting medical marijuana laws, and 8 states and the District of Columbia adopting recreational laws legalization of marijuana is becoming increasingly common across the nation. 9 of the 14 states the Appalachian trail runs through are among these legalized states. However, the Appalachian trail is federal property and even in legal states it While the use of marijuana isn’t new on the Appalachian trail, this new legalized climate is. More and more partakers of marijuana are coming to enjoy the corridor with a high.

What make the Appalachian trail an interesting place for this conversion about legalization between local and federal government is it adds an element of anonymity. Hikers have been complaining about marijuana smokers but there’s not much the trail can do about it. Most of the complaints are done way after the fact and people are constantly moving up and down the trail. Additionally, everyone uses trail names, so the complaints never really get back to them. There are park Rangers but they are far and few between, a ranger would have to be at the right place at the right time to be effective. Logistics and funding don’t really make it worth the effort to stop it.