The stigma attached to marijuana in the United States is tied to the history of the drug itself, as well as the historical context in which the drug first appeared.

Marijuana first began to appear in the USA during the 1920-30s, just as the use of cocaine was decreasing. Marijuana was found primarily among the Mexican farm workers who crossed the US-Mexico border during the 1920s to work on agricultural projects that stretched from the Southwest USA to Michigan and Montana in the North. As many as half a million workers are estimated to have come into the US during this time. At the end of the decade however, the Depression and the skyrocketing unemployment that accompanied it meant that migrant workers weren't welcome as it was denying Americans jobs. The Mexican workers were blamed for causing trouble with local citizens, and their custom of own-use growing of marijuana was a further reason for them to be feared. It was a way in which Mexicans could be blamed for more problems that Americans faced.

It also led to drugs being associated with foreigners and minority groups who were potentially dangerous or subversive. This tied into already established fears that linked the Chinese community to opium and connected cocaine with the African American population. All drugs were dangerous substances, with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics describing marijuana as "at least a danger equal to cocaine or morphine", a statement that has since been disproven multiple times.