Introduction of Marijuana
INTRODUCTION OF MARIJUANA
INTO THE UNITED STATES
The use of marijuana has been an active past time for thousands of years, however, it did not reach the United States until around 1912. A wave of Mexican immigrants was entering the country in the effort to find work; with them came marijuana. The use of marijuana was a normal custom among the Mexican people, but the White Americans in towns bordering Mexico saw the use of this particular plant in a different light. Fueled with racism and frustration associated with the lack of work for the American people, whites proclaimed that the smoking of marijuana gave the Mexicans super-human strength and transformed those who smoked it into violent murderers. With the increase in rumors of bloodshed and mayhem brought about by Mexicans on marijuana-rampages, the city council of El, Paso, Texas passed a law, the El Paso Ordinance of 1914, banning the possession of marijuana (Grass: The History of Marijuana). As a result, the regulation not only provided a way to control marijuana, but Mexicans as well.
THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF NARCOTICS AND
UNIFROM STATE NARCOTIC LAW
Meanwhile, those Americans who did not reside in states bordering Mexico were quite unfamiliar with the use of marijuana, and were much more concerned with the then current war on opium, morphine, cocaine, and heroin addiction plaguing society. In the early 1930’s the United States government decided that these public health issues of addiction could be handled by the United States Department of Treasury, who in turn established the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (R.J. Bonnie, 1970). Harry J. Anslinger was assigned as the Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Anslinger was an alcohol prohibitionist who believed that “progress can only be achieved by controlling the deprived impulses of the masses”; he believed that if laws implemented in society were strict enough and if enough people were punished for partaking in prohibited acts, the
INTO THE UNITED STATES
The use of marijuana has been an active past time for thousands of years, however, it did not reach the United States until around 1912. A wave of Mexican immigrants was entering the country in the effort to find work; with them came marijuana. The use of marijuana was a normal custom among the Mexican people, but the White Americans in towns bordering Mexico saw the use of this particular plant in a different light. Fueled with racism and frustration associated with the lack of work for the American people, whites proclaimed that the smoking of marijuana gave the Mexicans super-human strength and transformed those who smoked it into violent murderers. With the increase in rumors of bloodshed and mayhem brought about by Mexicans on marijuana-rampages, the city council of El, Paso, Texas passed a law, the El Paso Ordinance of 1914, banning the possession of marijuana (Grass: The History of Marijuana). As a result, the regulation not only provided a way to control marijuana, but Mexicans as well.
THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF NARCOTICS AND
UNIFROM STATE NARCOTIC LAW
Meanwhile, those Americans who did not reside in states bordering Mexico were quite unfamiliar with the use of marijuana, and were much more concerned with the then current war on opium, morphine, cocaine, and heroin addiction plaguing society. In the early 1930’s the United States government decided that these public health issues of addiction could be handled by the United States Department of Treasury, who in turn established the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (R.J. Bonnie, 1970). Harry J. Anslinger was assigned as the Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Anslinger was an alcohol prohibitionist who believed that “progress can only be achieved by controlling the deprived impulses of the masses”; he believed that if laws implemented in society were strict enough and if enough people were punished for partaking in prohibited acts, the
References: Booth, Martin (2005). Cannabis: A History. New York: Holtzbrink. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=O7AoY6ljSygC&printsec=frontcover#PPT1,M1 Bonnie, R. J. & Whitebread, C. H. (1979). The Forbidden Fruit and the Tree of Knowledge: An Inquiry into the Legal History of American Marijuana Prohibition Deitch, Robert (2003). Hemp: American History Revisited. Algora Publishing. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=PKDrpeRRY94C&printsec=frontcover#PPR10,M1 Mann, Ron. (2000, July 14). (1999). Grass [Motion Picture]. Canada: Sphinx Productions. Sloman, Larry (1998). Reefer Madness: A History of Marijuana. New York: Macmillan. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=P9fctBQGq10C April 20, 2009