Who wants to be branded a drug addict in our drug testing economy? Not anyone that I know. It’s an expensive label gleaned from the stereotype of those who abuse cannabis but don’t normally believe they do.
The ‘evil drug’ mental construct placed on cannabis officially dates back just 81 years in the United States. One man, Harry Anslinger, made it possible.
The birth of the drug wars
In 1930, Harry Anslinger became the first US commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, now known as the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The story goes that he initially was not opposed to marijuana at all, saying, “There is no more absurd fallacy” regarding harm to people and its provocation to violence. (1) That is… until he became commissioner.
Prohibition on alcohol was due to end soon, and therefore it appears Anslinger chose to lump marijuana in with heroin and cocaine for the sake of his job security, holding the position for a record 32 years.
In a radio address, he stated, regarding what was then known as “Indian hemp,” that young people would become “slaves to this narcotic, continuing the addiction until they deteriorate mentally, go insane, resort to violent crime, and murder”.
Despite little scientific evidence for his claims at the time, he slyly sensationalized marijuana and disparaged African-Americans and Latinos, in particular, as leading the way. Anslinger managed to scare the begeebers away from the Americans.
The great efforts of Commissioner Anslinger set the stage for the film Reefer Madness in 1936, to further terrorize the American population. As the person who drafted the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, (2) his dramatic testimony before Congress no doubt influenced its passage.
In addition, Anslinger found a significant ally in William Randolph Hearst of the Hearst media empire, who easily provided the platform and gave voice to Anslinger’s anti-hemp campaign. (3) Some say that Hearst teamed up with Anslinger to protect the interests of his own logging company against potential competition from industrial hemp.
The medical marijuana challenge continues
To this day, cannabis is a Schedule I drug along with heroin and others that are said to have “no currently accepted medical treatment use in the US.” However, this official statement goes against the government’s own understanding of the plant’s evidence: benefits based on pure hypocrisy.
How is that? In 2003, US Patent #6,630,507 was granted to the US Department of Health and Human Services (4) It is a patent for the potential use of plant cannabinoids found in cannabis sativa strains that are non-psychoactive, and with the stated purpose of protecting the brain from damage and degenerative disease.
Although 29 states and Washington DC have legalized medical marijuana, many restrictions are in place, with some states being cannabidiol (CBD) only and others having no provisions for cannabis use at all. When you get the chance, watch this video, The Life You Deserve: Medical Marijuanacreated by the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.
What more evidence could there be than the amazing recovery of the girl in the video. Cannabis is a plant, for crying out loud. This is what Willie Nelson says about it:
“I think people need to be educated about the fact that marijuana is not a drug. Marijuana is a herb and a flower. God put it here. If He put it here and wants it to grow, what does he give the government the right to say that God is wrong?”
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“The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937: Statement by Harry J. Anslinger.” Schaffer Library of Drug Policy. Consulted on February 26, 2012.
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Full text: http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/taxact/mjtaxact.htm
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Martin A. Lee. Smoke signals. Notary. 2012.
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Full text: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6630507.PN.&OS= PN/6630507&RS=PN/6630507