QUESTION: When and why did Marijuana become illegal?

Movie that inspired question:

Reefer Madness

Marijuana wasn’t always illegal. There was a time when it was mass produced and used freely. It’s important to know that going into this article.

Jamestown had a law in 1619 ordering all farmers to grow Indian Hempseed. There was even a time (1763-1767) where you’d be sent to prison if you didn’t grow it. I know right. You could even pay your taxes with the stuff, that’s how legal it was. Guys, it was the primary crop grown by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew it as well. Then of course it was used for medical reasons all across the United States.

Now to the question at hand.

California is said to be the first state to outlaw “preparations of hemp or loco weed” as a response to the tension between the Western States and the influx of Mexican-Americans who not only smoked weed but brought the plants with them from Mexico.

Other states in the west soon followed suit, then it spilled over to the Midwest. Those laws specifically targeted Mexican-Americans.

Then came The Harrison Act of 1914 which taxed cocaine and opiates. The Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act of 1922 was next, created to primarily put a lid on public opiate use. (Looking at you San Francisco)

SIDE NOTE: the reason it was taxed and not outlawed was because of the

10th amendment. The interpretation was that the regulation of medical practice and “local affairs” were beyond congressional power. Which is why Prohibition became an amendment.

In 1927, a legislator was quoted in The Butte Montana Standard saying, “When some beet field peon takes a few traces of this stuff…he thinks he has just been elected president of Mexico, so he starts out to execute all his political enemies.”

In Texas, on the floor of the Senate, this was said, “All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff [marijuana] is what makes them crazy.” This was actually said on the floor of the Senate.

You can see where this is going.

So that was the west coasts beef. Now on the east coast, there’s a whole other beef happening.

Check out this editorial from a newspaper in 1934, “Marihuana influences Negroes to look white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.”

Now, the music scene in Harlem and on the east coast was infused with the stuff. Hell, there were even songs showcasing it.

Prohibition came next and that was a complete disaster. So in the 1930s, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was created to enforce the Harrison and Narcotic Drugs Acts.

That brings us to the star of this article.

Harry Anslinger

He was a short, stocky man who in 1929 became head of the Department of Prohibition. Like I said prohibition was a hot mess so when it ended Anslinger was scared. He needed something he could actually enforce. Alcohol was too mainstream. But with marijuana, he could create fear. Mainly fear of minorities. He never had a problem with marijuana before, in fact, he is quoted to have said “ there is no more absurd fallacy than the idea that it makes people violent."

But listen, his department needed something to do, aka he needed to keep his job, so he turned his focus to the ‘evil devil weed’. He started by giving speeches to the public, letting them know exactly what would happen should they partake in this dreaded cannabis.

First you go into a "delirious rage"

Then you lose the power of connected thought

Finally, INSANITY

Anslinger said marijuana would turn a man into a “wild beast".

Anslinger furthered his campaign, inciting American parents with the Gore Files and the tale of Victor Licata.

SIDE NOTE: Anslinger created the Gore Files for the purpose of spreading his propaganda. There were insane articles that told of crazy minorites, axe murderers and sex crazed individuals all fueled by marijuana.

Here are some snippets of its handiwork.

“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.”

“… The primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effects on the degenerate races.”

“You smoke a joint and you’re likely to kill your brother”

“Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men”

And my favorite

“Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”

Now onto Victor Licata. He hacked his entire family to death with an axe in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida on October 16, 1933. The press labeled Licata an “axe-murdering marijuana addict” The truth is there was never any evidence that Licata partook in marijuana. In fact, before the murders, he was labeled mentally ill by psychiatrists with a recommendation to commit him. His parents refused. After the murder of his family, he was deemed unfit to stand trial for reasons of insanity and committed to a State Hospital for the Insane, where he later committed suicide.

But none of that mattered, the ball was rolling.

William Randolph Hearst added fuel to this fire for a few reasons. One: he hated Mexicans. Two: he was a big investor in timber and didn’t want hemp to be competition. And three these marijuana crime stories sold newspapers, which as we all know was Hearst’s specialty.

Here are some examples taken from the San Francisco Examiner:

“Marihuana makes fiends of boys in thirty days – Hashish goads users to bloodlust."

“By the tons it is coming into this country – the deadly, dreadful poison that racks and tears not only the body but the very heart and soul of every human being who once becomes a slave to it in any of its cruel and devastating forms…Marihuana is a short cut to the insane asylum. Smoke marihuana cigarettes for a month and what was once your brain will be nothing but a storehouse of horrid specters. Hasheesh makes a murderer who kills for the love of killing out of the mildest mannered man who ever laughed at the idea that any habit could ever get him…."

And that’s just one article. One of many.

Along with Hearst and Anslinger, various newly established pharmaceutical companies that wanted hemp gone for the obvious reasons joined the ranks to bring marijuana down.

So all of this brings us to:

THE MARIJUANA TAX ACT OF 1937

Anslinger (along with a scrapbook of sensational editorials from various Hearst publications and the Gore Files) went to Congress with his committee. And Congress does what they do best. They had hearings.

Now imagine Anslinger all prepared and salivating, ready to get his law passed when suddenly out of the shadows comes Dr. William C. Woodward, Legislative Council of the American Medical Association.

Oh, the rounds they went. Woodward slammed Anslinger for distorting facts and making up lies. He also chastised Anslinger and the Bureau for using the term marihuana over hemp.

SIDE NOTE: back then the word marihuana was associated with Mexicans doing drugs, it was only used when making the argument against it. It was considered a bad word, a propaganda word if you will. Hemp, however, was considered something completely different and was not used in derogatory manners.

This is just a very small piece of Woodward’s testimony.

Dr. Woodwards: “You have been told that school children are great users of marihuana cigarettes. No one has been summoned from the Children’s Bureau to show the nature and extent of the habit, among children.

“ Inquiry of the Office of Education – and they certainly should know something of the prevalence of the habit among the school children of the country, if there is a prevalent habit – indicates that they have had no occasion to investigate and know nothing of it.”

Etc, etc, etc…. Oh Dr. Woodward and his facts. He should know better.

Now it was Anslinger and the committees turn, they went after the doctor, questioning his motives."

Chairman: “If you want to advise us on legislation, you ought to come here with some constructive proposals, rather than criticism, rather than trying to throw obstacles in the way of something that the Federal Government is trying to do. It has not only an unselfish motive in this but they have a serious responsibility.”

Dr. Woodwards: "We cannot understand yet, Mr. Chairman, why this bill should have been prepared in secret for years without any intimation, even, to the profession, that it was being prepared."

Love this guy so much.

Did I forget to mention Anslinger spent 2 years secretly planning this Act…..yeah.

The Chairman went on to read quotations from editorials from the Washington Times. Yes, his facts were newspaper articles. His emphasis was on the children and how they must be protected from this “insidious” drug.

So on August 2, 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act came to be.

Obviously, this issues is very complicated and this is just a summarization. This became captivating research and was so much more involved and dirty than I imagined. I encourage you to read about Anslinger, not just for knowledge of the past, but perhaps for some insight into the present and the future.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Anslinger

http://www.csdp.org/publicservice/anslinger.htm

http://antiquecannabisbook.com

reefermuseum.org

pointsadhsblog.wordpress.com

theagitator.com

drugswarrant.com

drugpolicy.com

druglibrary.com

mountvernon.org

marijuanalibrary.org

Gerber, Rudolph. Joseph, (2004) Legalizing Marijuana: Drug Policy Reform and Prohibition Politics. Westport, CT, Praeger

Link to movie

Free link if you have Amazon Prime

Reefer Madness in Black and White and Color

Reefer Madness the Musical (2005)

My personal favorite the Reefer Madness Collection. Comes with 10 exploitation films used to warn American teens of the dangers of drugs and alcohol, sex and other reckless behavior.