--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > Marijuana was outlawed for two reasons. In the southwestern states, > > it > > was outlawed because "All Mexicans are crazy and marijuana is what > > makes them crazy." In the northeastern states, it was outlawed > > because > > of the fear that heroin addiction would lead to the use of marijuana - > > exactly the opposite of the modern "gateway" myth. When it was > > outlawed at the national level, the head of the Federal Bureau of > > Narcotics stated that marijuana drove people insane. As proof, he > > offered the example of a young couple who smoked a joint and became > > so crazed that they eloped and got married. > > Very colorful. Also mainly untrue, just the urban > legend version. Marijuana was made illegal in the > US after a concerted lobbying and propaganda cam- > paign started by William Randolph Hearst, for the > oldest of reasons, money. He had nothing against > its use as a drug -- he wanted to make *hemp* > illegal because it was being proved to be a better > source of paper than trees, and he had vast holdings > of forest lands and paper mills to support his > publishing business. > > The real story has been thoroughly researched and > documented in a film, the name of which I don't > seem to be able to find right now, but I'll look > for it this weekend when I'm in Amsterdam. It's > a pretty amazing story. The clincher seems to have > been playing the race card. A "study," purporting > to have come from an established research lab > (which turned out to never have existed) was sent > to every Congressman and Senator in the US. The > study claimed that they had proved conclusively > that when black men smoke marijuana, they tend to > rape white women. The next day, marijuana was > illegal in the United States. >
Your version, at least parts, are colorful but mainly out of perspective. :) the excerpt I posted was from Clifford Schaffer Director, DRCNet Online Library of Drug Policy http://www.caymannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000033/003369.htm// not some stoner's website of urban myths. I posted the piece, not becasue it was complete or comprehensive, but had some funny parts I had not previously heard, such as "The first US Official Expert on marijuana testified in court, under oath, that marijuana could make your incisors grow six inches long and drip with blood. He went on to say that when he tried it, it turned him into a bat." Hearst was a factor, but a modest one compared to Harry Jacob Anslinger 1892(3) - 1975 http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/anslinger_harry/anslinger_harry.shtml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Anslinger who is the primary focus of the film, Grass, the one I speculate you may be trying to remember http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0214730/ an excellent flim on the history of drug, particularly marijuana, law making -- but more braodly, a film on the excesses aqnd manipulative strategies prevelant in a so-called democratic society. As the film, and many other sources document, in the southwest and west, marijunana laws were primarily introduced as an anit-immigrant, andi-mexican tactic. Why you think this is an urban myth is well, ... As early opium laws were anti-chinese. And anti-cocaine and marijuana laws were partly anti-black as you note for the latter. The Act is often referred to by advocates for decriminalization of marijuana, who claim there is now very clear evidence that the act itself was based mostly on racism and wild, entirely unsupported claims. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937_Marijuana_Tax_Act And racism and drug laws still appear to have some correlation. http://www.drugwarfacts.org/racepris.htm http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0823-01.htm Other cites http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2003/12/22/whyIsMarijuanaIllegal.html http://www.heartbone.com/no_thugs/hja.htm http://www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/mj005.htm ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Great things are happening at Yahoo! Groups. See the new email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/TISQkA/hOaOAA/yQLSAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
