The story · written by muse-spark,
In the last weeks of July 1974 the Congress of Micronesia passed Public Law 5-110, the Trust Territory Controlled Substances Act, in a special session that ran from 23 July to 9 August.[1] Marihuana meant all parts of the cannabis plant, its seeds and the resin from any part, and it went into Schedule I beside tetrahydrocannabinol.[2] For the first time the whole Trust Territory — from Palau to the Marshalls to Chuuk — shared one marijuana law.[2]
A director decides
The Act copied the American model: the health director would recommend, on current medical knowledge, which substances belonged in which schedule, and the Congress would list them.[2] Sections 301 and 302 set up that pipeline, letting the director’s judgment decide what the territory’s drug law covered.[3]
Tested the same week
The scheme met its test almost immediately.[3] Prosecutors charged Bermudes with possessing and selling marijuana under section 303, and the defence attacked the whole edifice: marijuana was no narcotic, personal use sat inside a protected zone of privacy, and letting an administrator choose the regulated drugs was an unlawful delegation of Congress’s power.[3] Decided 23 July 1974 — as the special session that passed the Act was opening — the court split the difference.[3][1] The dismissal is tracked separately as the Bermudes charges case.[3] The territory could prohibit the possession, use and sale of the drug, but the delegation failed: the director’s power to decide which drugs counted violated equal protection, and marijuana could not properly be classed a narcotic anyway.[3] The judges added a pointed aside — the penalties for marijuana ran harsher than those for opium and heroin, and nothing in current knowledge justified it.[3]
Adopted twice over
The Act outlived the territory.[4] The Federated States adopted the old Trust Territory Code as its own criminal code in 1980, carrying the marijuana penalties with it: up to $50 for an ounce or less, three months or $500 to a kilo, a year or $1,000 above it, and a presumption of trafficking — up to five years or $5,000 — for kilo quantities.[4] Chuuk, which never wrote its own drug law, simply used the national code.[4] That 1980 adoption is why the 1974 Act still anchors the recorded first prohibitions of Micronesia, Palau and the Northern Marianas alike.[2][4]
Score by segment 0 to 10
- Possession · 25%10 → 2−8
- Personal cultivation · 25%10 → 1−9
- Punishment & enforcement · 20%10 → 3−7
- Sharing & gifting · 10%10 → 2−8
- Consumption · 10%10 → 2−8
- Legal access · 10%10 → 0−10
The bar shows the score after the change; the tick marks where it stood before. The scores after the change are Micronesia's current scores.
References
- Congress of Micronesia Bibliography (Habele Institute)First Special Session of the Fifth Congress, 23 July-9 August 1974, Public Laws 5-90 through 5-110
- FSM law archive — Trust Territory Controlled Substances Act (63 TTC ch. 4, COM P.L. 5-110)short title and P.L. No. 5-110; marihuana definition (all parts, seeds, resin); Schedule I listing with tetrahydrocannabinol; director-recommendation scheduling scheme
- Trust Territory v. Bermudes, 7 TTR 80 (High Court Trial Division, 23 July 1974)possession-and-sale prosecution under 63 TTC section 303; territory may prohibit possession, use and sale; delegation scheme in sections 301-302 struck down; marijuana held not a narcotic; harsher marijuana penalties criticisedarchived
- Innocente I. Oneisom — Marijuana in Chuuk, Micronesian Counselor 3, June 19911980 FSM adoption of the Trust Territory Code; penalty ladder ($50 an ounce or less, three months to a kilo, a year over a kilo, five years trafficking)archived
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read. The score before the change is an editorial estimate.