My Term Paper

I wrote a term paper last year about the prohibition of marijuana, specifically outlining the life and times of DEA leader Harry J. Anslinger. I just thought some of you historical buffs might find it interesting; for the rest of you, read it anyway. You might learn something about the drug we all love so much:

Marijuana has been around for a very, very long time. Its psychoactive properties have been well documented since ancient times, when it was often used in celebrations and as part of sacred rituals. The fibers of the Cannabis sativa plant were also utilized in fabrics, rope, and even paper. Hemp even has its place in more modern history. George Washington and ThJ♥ both grew it, the first American Flag was made from it, and both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were printed on paper made from it. In fact, the plant has a rich history in America, and has only been used recreationally in this country since the beginning of the 20th century, and its use would not be portrayed as a social problem for another thirty years. When the campaign against â??reefer madnessâ?� did come about, however, one man stood above the rest in the ruthless fight against this supposed menace, and that man was Harry J. Anslinger, Commissioner of the newly formed U.S. Bureau of Narcotics, predecessor to the DEA. His campaign culminated in the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, a prohibitive tax designed solely to effectively outlaw marijuana use. However, the methods he employed in his campaign, as well as his motives for doing so, were both dubious, to say the least. Anslinger relied on lies, deceit, and yellow journalism to pass a law that was in essence little more than afavor to family ties.
Harry Jacob Anslinger was born on May 20, 1892 in the small Pennsylvania town of Altoona. His war against drugs started soon after, at the tender age of 12, when a traumatic experience changed the course of his life, and subsequently, the course of American history. In his book The Murderersâ??The Shocking Story of the Narcotic Gangs, Anslinger described that fateful day:
As a youngster of 12, visiting the house of a neighboring farmer, I heard the screaming of a woman on the second floor. I had never heard such cries of pain before. The woman, I learned later, was addictedâ?¦to morphineâ?¦. Then her husband came running down the stairs, telling me I had to get into the cart and drive to town. I was to pick up a package at the drug store and bring it back to the womanâ?¦. I never forgot those screams. Nor did I forget that the morphine she had required was sold to a twelve-year-old boy, no questions asked. (Sloman, 31).

Anslingerâ??s motives were benevolent enough at first, and he showed vigor for prohibition unmatched in his peers, as well as a painstaking level of detail in investigation, and a flair for writing. In 1929, he was appointed as Assistant Commissioner of Prohibition, and was quick to suggest tyrannically harsh punishments for the sale, trade, and even possession of liquor. In 1930, Anslinger was appointed as the director of the US Bureau of Narcotics, serving under the US Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, of Mellon banking fame.
It was around this time that reports of a strange plant being brought up from Mexico started surfacing in the news, first along the border of Mexico, and then further into the states. One of the first areas to report any distinct patterns of use was New Orleans. It seemed this new plant, known to the Mexicans as â??marijuana,â?� was being used mostly by African Americans and Mexican immigrant workers. However, this plantâ??s exotic mystique and often unpredictable effects made it a perfect target for the newly formed Bureau of Narcotics after the complete failure of alcohol prohibition. The obvious solution to this challenge would simply be to write marijuana into the 1914 Harrison Narcotics Act, which dealt with the regulation of morphine and other opiates. However, that path was fraught with danger and uncertainty. There was a distinct possibility that including marijuana in the Harrison Narcotics Act would nullify the constitutionality of the entire Act, because marijuana was, unlike opium, a domestic plant, and also was not included in the International Opium Conference of 1912. The act had only barely survived a previous Supreme Court ruling, and changing the act would almost certainly render the whole act unconstitutional (Sloman, 37). Anslinger would have to find a different approach. The approach he eventually decided to pursue was that of the prohibitive tax. If the government taxed an item heavily enough, it wouldnâ??t have to be illegal; however, no one would be able to afford it. It was a perfect solution to the dilemma.
While certain areas in the nation had begun to notice an issue with the use of marijuana among certain minority groups, the nation as a whole cared little about the topic. After all, the depression was in full swing, with no immediate end in sight. Anslinger would first have to rile the nation into a state of anger and fear, and then rile Congress into a state of frenzied legislating. Fortunately for him, Anslinger had a knack for sensationalism that had helped him reach his current elevated governmental position. It was then that Anslinger embarked on a propaganda campaign unparalleled in American history in its sheer level of deceit and absurdity. Anslingerâ??s goal was to make the public afraid of the threat of this exotic intoxicant, and one of the main tools in his arsenal was the fact that the primary users of the drug were African Americans and Mexicans. Subsequently, Anslinger embarked on a nationwide campaign, telling stories of African Americans using â??voodoo jazzâ?� and marijuana to seduce and rape innocent white women; he even read these â??reportsâ?� into the congressional record without objection (Herer, 27)! On the congressional record, Anslinger is quoted as saying:
There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others (â??Anslingerâ??s Liesâ?�)

During his time in office, Anslinger kept files on such prominent jazz musicians as Thelonius Monk, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Dizzie Gillespie, the entirety of the NBC Orchestra, and myriad other famous musicians, with the hopes of busting them all in a huge, nationwide drug bust (Herer, 66). This bust, however, never came to be. According to Anslinger, 50% of violent crimes at the time were committed by Spaniards, Mexican Americans, Latin Americans, Filipinos, African Americans, and Greeks, and every one of these crimes could be traced directly to the use of marijuana (Herer, 27).
While Anslinger played heavily on racial fears and prejudices to bolster support for prohibition, his strategy did not rely solely on them. One of Anslingerâ??s most coveted possessions was his â??Gore Fileâ?�, a collection of sensationalist reports by local police and various newspapers chronicling horribly gruesome crimes stemming from marijuana intoxication or addiction. Many of these stories were written by William Randolph Hearst, also one of the largest publishers of such yellow journalism, and not a single one of these stories is currently believed to be true by researchers who have followed up on the them (Herer, 27). One of Anslingerâ??s favorite stories was that of Victor Licata, a 21-year-old Florida man who murdered his parents and three siblings with an axe while under the influence of marijuana. This case was a true gem to Anslinger because Licata had been a marijuana smoker for six months, and local police suspected that the drug had left him mentally unstable. What Anslinger failed to mention when spreading this story around the nation is that Licata was found soon after his crime to be criminally insane, and was diagnosed with dementia praecox. In fact, the local police had attempted to have Licata committed a full year before his crime, but his parents insisted on taking care of him at home (Sloman, 62). Anslinger even went so far as sayâ??to Congress, no lessâ??that â??marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.â?� (â??Father of the Drug Warâ?�), a statement proven false by a plethora of different things, including the entirety of the 1960â??s.
In August of 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act, effectively prohibiting the use of marijuana, sailed through congress and into the law books. However, throughout Anslingerâ??s whole campaign, from 1930 to 1937 and beyond, one must question Anslingerâ??s motives. Surely all the lies and deceit could not have been solely the result of a traumatic experience as a child. Just as certainly, no such actions could result from a moral calling, as the means would be quite contradictory with the ends. In fact, Anslingerâ??s motives were much more pragmatic, and fell well within the realm of mundane governmental corruption and private interests.
In the mid 1930â??s, a machine was invented that could quickly and easily remove the fibers from hemp stalks. Before this, stalks had to be left out to rot in the fields before the fibers could be removed by hand, which a very labor-intensive process. With the advent of the cotton gin, this practice became impractical and hemp fabric fell out of favorâ??until, that is, the invention of this new hemp-processing technology. Hemp fabric was poised to make a huge comeback (Herer, 14-16). Similarly, the Department of Agriculture had recently perfected technology from making paper from hemp pulp (as opposed to fiber), a process more economically viable and ecologically friendly than the analogous process for wood pulp (Herer, 21-22). Meanwhile, the DuPont company had discovered the synthetic fabrics Rayon and Nylon, and had patented its own papermaking technology for wood pulp (Herer, 6, 22). All of these products were threatened by the recent advances of hemp processing technology. In fact, if hemp had not been made illegal when it was, one expert speculates that 80% of DuPontâ??s business would never have come to be (Herer, 22). Also, the Hearst Paper Manufacturing division stood to lose billions because of new hemp technology.
Harry J. Anslinger had ties to both the DuPont corporation and the Hearst family. Anslinger had been appointed to his position as director of the Bureau of Narcotics by Andrew Mellon, whose bank had just loaned the DuPont corporation a huge sum of money (Herer, 27). Naturally, then, good business for DuPont meant a safe investment for Mellon, Anslingerâ??s immediate superior. Moreover, Anslinger was married to one of Mellonâ??s nieces, which perhaps explains why he climbed the governmental ranks so quickly, becoming director of the Bureau of Narcotics after a mere three years in the field of prohibition. Serving the interests of DuPont meant pleasing his boss and his father-in-law. In fact, DuPont was so confident in its unspoken relationship with the government that it boasted in its 1937 Annual Report to stockholders of the â??revenue raising power of governmentâ?¦converted into an instrument for forcing acceptance of sudden new ideas of industrial and social reorganizationâ?� (Herer, 22-23). In other words, the government can be bought in order to protect industry investments.
Hearst had a slightly less complicated relationship with Anslinger. It was in Hearstâ??s best interest to see hemp outlawed, so Hearst published outrageous and gruesome stories, and Anslinger took those stories to congress. Anslinger got his bill passed, and Hearst got protection from competition.
No one can deny that Anslinger was creative. However, his methods were deceptive, immoral, and often downright racist. His purpose was not to serve a higher moral calling, or even to help the nation, but to protect investments made by friends and family. Whether marijuana would have eventually been outlawed without Anslingerâ??s campaign is mere speculation; whether marijuana should be illegal at all is irrelevant. Marijuana was outlawed when it was not because of a dire social threat, but because of an economic threat to a few choice companies, and the brilliantly crafted lies of a single man, who shall forever go down in history as the man who made marijuana illegal.