With monumental legislation passing in Colorado and Washington the debate over the future of cannabis has made an expected turn towards regulation, taxation, and legalization. For the first time since the debate over cannabis prohibition propelled during the 1960’s, two states have voted to completely legalize cannabis for recreational use, despite criminalized prohibition on a federal level. After decades of racist, stereotypical, and false propaganda spread about cannabis, legislation changes at the state level are creating a controversial debate over the risks and benefits of allowing legal use. Regardless of the controversy on both sides of the debate--voters are starting to realize its simply ethically wrong to imprison millions of people for the possession of a plant.
Cannabis prohibition is plaguing every level of society from the cartel violence happening at the border between the United States and Mexico, to the denial of vital medication for people suffering from chronic medical conditions, and the criminal implications forced on responsible, adult cannabis users. Unfortunately, thousands of adults every year are facing criminal charges for possession of a plant which hinders their ability to find employment, receive federal financial aid, and forever labels an offender as a criminal in the eyes of the law. While in certain states cannabis possession up to a certain level is completely legal.
This new problem emerging from drastic differences in state laws is pushing cannabis further into a grey area which is only increasing violence in areas where the plant is still strictly prohibited. With the future of cannabis in upheaval this blog dedicated to outlining the history of cannabis prohibition in the United States. Through examining the false propaganda spread to invoke public fear hopefully a future of individual freedom and legalized, regulated, and taxed use can happen for an industry potentially worth billions of dollars.
The first law relating to cannabis in the United States didn’t prohibit the plant or reference the term marijuana. According to Jack Herer, activist and author of “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” a book used in cannabis decriminalization efforts, claims that all farmers at Jamestown Colony in Virginia were ordered to grow Indian hempseed. Additional must-grow laws were later enacted in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Chesapeake Colonies by the mid-1700’s. Surprisingly in the United States Census of 1850 an astonishing 8,327 hemp ‘plantations’ (minimum 2,000-acre farms) were counted in which hemp was grown for cloth, canvas, and even cordage used for baling cotton.
Figure 1:
The female cannabis plant referred to as marijuana.
Source:
Blozie, Kimberly; "Cannabis/Marijuana cracked
by Medicinal Genomics"; (2012): Web.
In fact, botanically speaking hemp, cannabis, or marijuana is a member of the most advance plant species on Earth. Cannabis is able to use the sun more efficiently than any other plant, reaching 12 to 20 feet in one, three month growing cycle. Able to grow in the majority of climates and soil conditions, cannabis is one of the most important natural resources to ever be grown on this Earth. With the wide spread production of hemp through the 1850’s what changed this industrialize, successful crop into a prohibited drug banned from all forms of production?
Today industrialized hemp remains illegal because of its evil step cousin--marijuana. Our Federal Government even claims that people can’t tell the difference between “marijuana” a term commonly used to refer to the buds of the female plant and the physically different looking male hemp plant. The Federal Government even claims that hemp must remain illegal because officers flying over fields of industrial hemp might confuse it with a field of illegal marijuana. I see a clear difference between Figure 1 and 2 but you can determine for yourself the validity of this statement. Nevertheless both plants remain strictly prohibited and are classified as a Schedule I Narcotic which means that, according to the Federal Government, both forms of cannabis have no recorded medical use.
Figure 2:
The male cannabis plant referred to as hemp.
Source:
Krafft, Randy; "Stimulate the U.S. Economy by Legalizing
Industrial Hemp"; (2011): Web
Prohibiting a substance in this manner was warned against by President Lincoln, who’s belief in equal rights can be extended to the use of cannabis. Which can be seen in Lincoln’s response to repressive mentality, “Prohibition...goes beyond the bound of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetitive by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes...A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.” When possession of a plant becomes a criminal offense people generally assume a process involving medical, scientific, and government research was used to determine its removal from society; yet when studying the history of cannabis prohibition another picture emerges filled with racism, fear, yellow journalism, corrupt legislators, and personal greed.
The onset of the 20th century changed the history of cannabis, a plant that had been mandatory to grow throughout the United States, into the stigmatized evil weed we now refer to as marijuana. During this time many western states started to develop tensions with Mexican immigrants who regularly smoked marijuana. This tension escalated as small farmers started to stigmatize large farmers use of cheap Mexican labor. The uneasiness continued until the onset of the Great Depression which eliminated jobs and resources found in the prosperous 1920’s.
With tensions at an all time high--many white Americans started to focus on the differences between them and Mexican immigrants. According to Jack Herer, activist and author of “The Emperor Wears Clothes” politicians trying to please the white working class, blamed Mexican immigrants for a violent crime wave. Their habit of smoking marijuana, received the blame for a phony outbreak of crime and health problems. Before this time period the term “marijuana” wasn’t used as a term to refer to cannabis or hemp it originated, as a Mexican slang term, which politicians used to confuse and mislead the public. The terms popularity escalated during a series of media and governmental programs known today as the‘Refer Madness Movement'.
Figure 3:
Advertisement for the 1930's film Marihuana.
Source:
"Dog Eat Dogma"; (2011):Web.
Through repetition of this slang phrase linked to lazy, violence causing Mexicans--the words “hemp” and the scientific term “cannabis” were largely ignored. This lead people to believe that marijuana and cannabis, or hemp which had been used to make cloth, rope, and even medicine over the past three hundred years were completely different substances.The popular name for cannabis today is still derived from this slang term acquired through fear and racism. With the majority of racist slang terms from the 1930’s viewed as socially inappropriate today--why is the slang term “marijuana” still used instead of cannabis or hemp?
The term seems to solidify the acceptable of falsely spread cannabis propaganda that still remains the primary message set forth by the United State’s Federal Government. Negative stereotypes associated with cannabis use weren’t solely found in Western states, problems in Eastern states linked cannabis use with black jazz musicians. Again, racism was used to discriminate against the use of marijuana. Marijuana traveled with the popularity of jazz music from New Orleans, to Chicago and then to Harlem, becoming a major part of the music scene.
Figure 4:
Advertisement Circulated by the Federal Bureau
of Narcotics in 1935.
Source: Killer Drug by Federal Bureau of Narcotics.
Advertisement. 1935. Web
The mass media used fear and racism to push cannabis out of mainstream society, as one newspaper in 1934 captured:
“Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white women twice.” With the spread of false marijuana propaganda plaguing the early 20th century marijuana prohibition became the solution to stop minority group’s cultural habits from spreading into mainstream society. Ultimately marijuana became the scapegoat for all poorly perceived subculture habits which led to its eventual and continued eradication.
From 1919 to 1933, alcohol prohibition became the focus of public opinion due to its impact on individual rights and the spread of organized crime. With alcohol prohibition extremely visible and openly debated on all levels of society, drug laws were passed without the general public's knowledge. This accumulated in a new division of the treasury formed in 1930 known as the Federal Bureau of Narcotics with Harry Anslinger, the first unofficial Drug Czar, namedthe director according to Jack Herer. This marked the beginning of the war against cannabis. The Bureau of Narcotics became a revolutionary government agency with the unique opportunity to define the problems with narcotics and the steps that needed to be taken to deal with the problem.
At the time the only banned substances were cocaine and opiates, which lacked enough users to maintain an entire bureau, as a result Anslinger turned his attention to creating a problem with a plant already linked to racism and false propaganda--cannabis. These quotes from Anslinger are an example of the type of propaganda he used, “Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.” “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” “You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother.” “Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”
Figure 6:
Theatrical Poster for anti-marijuana film.
Source: Assassin of Youth Original Theatrical Poster by BCM Roadhouse Productions. Advertisement.1937. Web
In an interesting twist the Federal Government ignored the Siler Commission which studied the effects of off-duty marijuana smoking by American serviceman in Panama which concluded that smoking marijuana wasn’t a problem and that no criminal penalties should result in it’s use.Yet these blatantly racist and misleading statements aimed at solidifying subcultural groups as subordinate to white Americans was unacceptable during the early 20th century and an abomination now.With the adaptation of laws that outlaw discrimination based on sex, race, and gender is it appropriate to have laws in place that prohibit a substance based on manipulative propaganda spread to further the career of one man?
Harry Anslinger partnered with William Randolf Hearst, the owner of a huge chain of newspaper heavily invested in the timber industry to support it’s production. The elimination of hemp paper would leave little competition for the timber industry and his magazine to flourish. Ultimately, Hearst’s newspapers used Yellow Journalism, the type of journalism that relies on sensationalism and lurid exaggeration to attract readers, to manufacture a new threat to America for the purpose of outlawing hemp. Which is illustrated in this quote found in the San Francisco Examiner: “Marihuana makes fiends of boys in thirty days. By the tons it's 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 becomes a slave to its cruel and devastating forms.” Finally Anslinger and Hearst gained support from the Dupont Chemical Company, that had just patented processes for the production of plastics from oil and coal; and a new sulfate process that would make paper from wood pulp.
Figure 7:
Clip from the 1937 film Reefer Madness.
In 1937, Anslinger testified before Congress claiming that “Marijuana is the most violence causing drug in the history of mankind.” The accumulation of yellow journalism in addition to Anslinger's testimony persuaded Congress to pass The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 which called for an "occupational excise tax upon dealers, and a transfer tax upon dealings in marijuana”. The new tax virtually killed the legal cannabis industry because farmers couldn’t transfer cannabis without a special stamp and in order to apply for the stamp farmers had to bring their cannabis to Washington D.C. breaking the law in the process. The propaganda and laws created during this time period led to thesecommon practices:
Politicians wanting to appear tough on crime by passing tougher penalties
Constant increases in spending on law enforcement and prison
Racist application of drug laws
Taxpayer funded propaganda
Censorship of opposition speech
Political contributions from corporation that profit from cannabis being illegal
Ultimately this tactic of lying to the public about the beneficial nature of cannabis through the publication of “marijuana” propaganda has been successful in manipulated the history of a plant that's been cultivated for thousands of years. Figure 8: Assassin of Youth: Full Feature Film (1937)
Source: Devil's Harvest Original Theatrical Poster by ContinentalFilms.Advertisement.1942:Web.
The portrayal of cannabis as a violence inducing substance lasted until 1948 when Anslinger capitalized off of a much larger fear plaguing a new generation. During the peak of the Red Scare, politicians would do anything to link drug use to communism. As a result, Anslinger deployed a new public menace destroying the teenage generation--the communist tendencies inducing marijuana plant. According to Jack Herer, Anslinger began “red baiting” which is the act of attacking or persecuting as a Communist or communistic, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The frightened public was told by the Federal Government that smoking marijuana would give the user Socialist, Marxist, and Communist tendencies which ultimately gave users the power to overthrow the government. The substance that just years ago caused black men to rape white women--was now destroying the teenage youth, one pacifistic user at a time. Which can be seen in the quote from Anslinger, “Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing.” Figure 10: Novel Cover for Marijuana Girl
The Federal Government propelled marijuana's link to the Red Scare by telling Americans that Communists would use marijuana to hinder our American soldiers' motivation to fight.This false message received such a large amount of attention worldwide that within the next twenty years Russia and China, both Communist countries, outlawed marijuana out of fear that American’s would use it to turn communist soldiers into pacifists. Which completely contradicted cannabis's use as a medical drug and relaxant for thousands of years in this region. Regardless of the time period the Federal Government has been spreading propaganda aimed at demonizing cannabis use. Whether the message is marijuana causes violence, pacifism, laziness, insanity, or terrorism--the plant has been manipulated into a feared narcotic that’s taken the blame for social upheaval. Unfortunately the information presented to citizens regarding cannabis has been deliberate deception. Which has lead users and non-users to question if cannabis is a violence inducing devil weed, or if our government is deliberately manipulating the image of a plant.
In 1961 Anslinger secured a treaty that would change the image of cannabis around the world; the legislation known as the 1961 Single Convention Narcotic Treaty exported our anti-marijuana laws to one hundred and sixty countries around the world. Unfortunately for Anslinger decades of prohibition and scare tactics didn't stop a monumental change in the acceptance of cannabis within the United States. For the first time middle class, white Americans began using marijuana this happened when the hippie counter-culture which was synonymous with marijuana use became the majority culture.
Under the bureaucratic authority of Harry Anslinger any research into the therapeutic benefits of cannabis was prohibited until 1962. After which time he was forced into retirement (Omni Magazine, Sept. 1982) . For a brief period between 1962 and 1976 researchers were able to study the therapeutic and medicinal benefits of cannabis. With the growing popularity of cannabis by the hippy counter-culture, millions of Americans started using cannabis. This caused concerned parents and the federal government to want to know the dangers associated with marijuana which has been stigmatized for over thirty years thanks to Hearst and Anslinger. Research sponsored by the Federal Government began to ease the fears American's once had towards the “evil weed” thanks to countless studies that suggested an array of therapeutic uses hidden inside the cannabis plant. Ultimately, this research started to become relevant in terms of readmitting the plant back into mainstream medicine. This research lasted until 1976 when cannabis was once again lobbied against this time by the pharmaceutical companies. With marijuana use peaking in the 60's and into the 1970's until the war against marijuana was once again given a boost. Nixon announced the War on Drugs in 1971. Since this announcement millions of cannabis users have been arrested and imprisoned for simple possession of the cannabis plant.
To learn more about cannabis laws in your state or to get involved with movements happening in your areas visit: http://norml.org
Cannabis prohibition is plaguing every level of society from the cartel violence happening at the border between the United States and Mexico, to the denial of vital medication for people suffering from chronic medical conditions, and the criminal implications forced on responsible, adult cannabis users. Unfortunately, thousands of adults every year are facing criminal charges for possession of a plant which hinders their ability to find employment, receive federal financial aid, and forever labels an offender as a criminal in the eyes of the law. While in certain states cannabis possession up to a certain level is completely legal. 
