Is marijuana ’s beer - like bombilation more damaging than what people get from operose liquor ? Is there a scientific reason why this drug is deemed so dangerous and illegal ? Nope . It turn out that marijuana ban laws in the thirties were designed to forestall “ darkie ” from thinking “ they ’re as good as white-hot men . ”
Over at The Fix , Maia Szalavitzhas a capital put-down of punditslike Tina Brown and David Brooks , who late made specious claim that marijuana makes you stupider . Brown actually say Americans who smoke pot wo n’t be capable to “ compete ” with the Chinese . Her moment of xenophobia was n’t out of keeping with the history of anti - locoweed grandiloquence .
Writes Szalavitz :
The truth is that our perception of marijuana — and in fact all of our drug laws — are based on early 20th 100 racial discrimination and “ science ” circa the Jim Crow era . In the early decades of the 20th century , the drug was linked to Mexican immigrants and bleak jazzman , who were seen as potentially dangerous .
Harry Anslinger , the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics ( an early predecessor of the DEA ) , was one of the driving forces behind raft prohibition era . He pushed it forexplicitly antiblack reasons , saying , “ Reefer pull in darkies think they ’re as good as white man , ” and :
“ There are 100,000 entire ganja smokers in the U.S. , and most are Negroes , Hispanics , Filipinos and entertainer . Their demonic music , jazz and golf stroke result from marijuana use . This marijuana causes white women to attempt sexual relation with Negroes , entertainer and any others . ”
The main reasonableness to interdict marijuana , he say was “ its effect on the degenerate races . ” ( And god forbid woman should sleep with entertainers ! )
Although it voice derisory now , it was this type of propaganda that do the drug to be outlawed in 1937 — along with support from the Hearst newspapers , which course ads calling marijuana “ the assassin of youth ” and release history about how it direct to vehemence and insanity . Anslinger remained as drumhead of federal narcotics endeavor as late as 1962 , whereafter he spread his poisonous message to the world as the American representative to the U.N. for drug insurance for a further two years .
Before marijuana was made illegal , the American Medical Association’sopposition to prohibition was ignore , as was an early report on marijuana in India by the British government , which did not find marijuana to be particularly habit-forming or life-threatening . That “ Indian Hemp Drugs Committee”reporthad concluded way back in 1894 that , “ The moderate use of hemp drug is much attended by no evil effect at all . ”
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