Re-criminalizing cannabis is worse than 1930s 'reefer madness'
In the 1930s, parents across the U.S. were panicked. A new film, “Reefer Madness,” suggested that evil marijuana dealers lurked in public schools, waiting to entice their children into a life of crime and degeneracy.
In the 1930s, parents across the U.S. were panicked. A new film, “Reefer Madness,” suggested that evil marijuana dealers lurked in public schools, waiting to entice their children into a life of crime and degeneracy.
The propaganda film captured the essence of the anti-marijuana campaign started by Harry Anslinger, a government employee eager to make a name for himself after Prohibition ended. Ansligner’s campaign demonized marijuana as
a dangerous drug, playing on the racist attitudes of white Americans in the early 20th century and stoking fears of marijuana as an “assassin of youth.”
Over the decades, there’s been a general trend toward greater social acceptance of marijuana by a more educated society, seeing the
harm caused by the prohibition of marijuana. But then, on Jan. 4, Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded
an Obama-era memorandum suggesting federal agents should let states regulate control of marijuana and focus their efforts on other drugs.
Re-criminalizing marijuana in light of current research findings, including
my own research of more than 15 years, makes Sessions’ proposed crackdown on legal marijuana look worse than reefer madness.
Researchers like myself, who regularly talk with people who are actively using hard drugs, know that legal cannabis can actually
reduce the harmful effects of other drugs.
A trailer for “Reefer Madness.”
Reefer madness
Re-criminalizing marijuana is a decision that makes little sense unless we consider the motives. History can shed some light here.
Media mogul William Randolph Hearst supported
the criminalization of marijuana, in part because Hearst’s paper-producing companies were being replaced by hemp. Likewise, DuPont’s investment in nylon was threatened by hemp products.
Anslinger’s tactics included
racist accusations linking marijuana to Mexican immigrants. His campaign included stories of urban black men who enticed young white women to become sex-crazed and instantly addicted to marijuana.
Anslinger’s campaign succeeded beyond his aims. His fearmongering was based more on fiction than on facts, but it made him head of the Bureau of Narcotics for 30 years. The social construction of cannabis as one of the most dangerous drugs was completed in 1970, when marijuana was classified as
a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning it had high potential for abuse and no acceptable medical use.
Almost 50 years later, the classification remains and Anslinger’s views endure among many policymakers and Americans.
