Cannabis News NORML - Working to Reform Marijuana Laws
  Pot Turns Man Into Bat
Posted by CN Staff on April 12, 2003 at 12:11:23 PT
By Josh Indar  
Source: Chico News & Review 

cannabis Part of the reason that the government has been so ineffective in stopping people from using marijuana just might stem from the ludicrous, biased and often racist arguments it used to make the plant illegal in the first place.

Marijuana has been prohibited under federal law since 1937, when Congress, acting on fears brought up by the DEA's predecessor, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, passed the Marihuana Tax Act.

Although bureau Commissioner Harry Anslinger told Congress that marijuana was an addictive drug used primarily by Mexicans, "Negroes" and jazz musicians "which produces in its users insanity, criminality and death," William C. Woodward, chief counselor for the American Medical Association, lobbied against the act, saying, "The American Medical Association knows of no evidence that marijuana is a dangerous drug."

Woodward, who was later misrepresented on the floor of the Senate as having solidly supported the bill, was told after his testimony that the committee was "sick of hearing him" and was advised to "go home."

The only testimony that supported Anslinger's claims came from a Temple University pharmacologist who claimed to have injected a cannabis extract into the brains of 300 dogs, one of whom later died. After the law passed, the pharmacologist, James C. Munch, went on the narcotics bureau payroll as its "official expert" on marijuana.

Although he was later reprimanded by the bureau for testifying in court that he had once used the drug himself--he evidently told a jury in New York that, "After two puffs from a marijuana cigarette, I was turned into a bat"--Munch still served as the bureau's pot expert until 1962.

Note: The federal government's credibility on marijuana is suspect.

Source: Chico News & Review, The (CA)
Author: Josh Indar
Published: April 10, 2003
Copyright: 2003 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Website: http://www.newsreview.com/
Contact: chicoletters@newsreview.com

Related Article:

The Perils of Prop. 215
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15946.shtml

CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archives
http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml


Home    Comment    Email    Register    Recent Comments    Help

 
Comment #5 posted by FoM on April 13, 2003 at 09:54:38 PT
About The Museum
I was very upset about the destruction of the museum. I have always been interested in the ancient history of civilization. The United States isn't very old but Iraq is. I want to know how we got here from there.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #4 posted by Lehder on April 13, 2003 at 08:49:47 PT
speaking to power
The Senate committee investigating the safety of cannabis and its utility as medicine grew quickly "sick" of the testimony of the chief counselor of the AMA, but raised to expert status the pervert who injected cannabis into the brains of 300 dogs.

It is the nature of totalitarian movements that they reward and empower the most ignorant and brutal elements of society. Our totalitarians have passed the point of critical mass, so that their every act of ignorance and brutality strengthens their movement and damages the civilized.

I see the drug war as the original vanguard of a now universally destructive movement that despises all that is good in human beings and all of civilization.

Unrespecting of the lives thousands of innocents, our government war planners have been equally insensitive to the preservation of the antiquities of Iraq. The same value system that deemed war a necessity has taken not even an effortless measure to preserve the cultural remnants of ancient Mesopotamia, the hanging gardens of Babylon and even, some say, the Garden of Eden. Absolutely needlessly, all these precious items that illuminate the origins of civilization have been shattered as the U.S. army stands passive:

"When I shone my torch over one far shelf, I drew in my breath. Every pot and jar ­ "3,500 BC" it said on one shelf corner ­ had been bashed to pieces....And all this happened while US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, was sneering at the press for claiming that anarchy had broken out in Baghdad."

http://162.42.211.226/article2908.htm

Having expended the enormous effort of waging a war, would it have been too much trouble to guard the museum?

In the effort to re-legalize cannabis, it's no use appealing to a mythical rationality of government power or persuading the powerful of the evident destructiveness of their drug war. They are not ammenable to reason but must be overwhelmed and overthrown.

Noam Chomsky says that it's pointless to 'speak truth to power', but he tells us what we must do, and the Internet and this little board cannabisnews, utterly beyond the comprehension of our government, is a part of it:

"First of all, power already knows the truth. They don't need to hear it from us. Secondly, it's a waste of time. Furthermore, it's the wrong audience. You have to speak truth to the people who will dismantle and overthrow and constrain power. Furthermore, I don't like the phrase "speak truth to." We don't know the truth. At least I don't.

We should join with the kind of people who are willing to commit themselves to overthrow power, and listen to them. They often know a lot more than we do. And join with them to carry out the right kinds of activities. Should you also speak truth to power? If you feel like it, but I don't see a lot of point. I'm not interested in telling the people around Bush what they already know."

http://www.word-power.co.uk/catalogue/1583225900



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #3 posted by lag on April 12, 2003 at 16:21:42 PT
The URL to the counterpunch article is here
http://www.counterpunch.org/harrison04122003.html

They messed the date up on their URL.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #2 posted by FoM on April 12, 2003 at 14:28:07 PT
Thanks Virgil
This time of year is always the slowest because it's spring. I spent a couple hours mowing today and it was nice to get out and smell the fresh grass and the garlic that grows in the spring. Here's Ann Harrison's article and thank you for the stats. We are growing even during this time of year and with this war happening which says a lot to me. They want to send police over to Iraq to help stop the anarchy and I thought send all the DEA agents and they could do a good job instead of hassling people in the states.

PS: I don't go to Alexa because the stats don't seem to reflect activity of the web site you are checking out but more on the use of Alexa as a search tool. I use Google to find what I want and am very happy with it. I don't know if that makes sense or not but our stats are accurate so I trust them.

http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread15927.shtml

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #1 posted by Virgil on April 12, 2003 at 14:07:21 PT
Seems like the news stonewall is yielding
It seems like the recent articles have the ring of truth to them. The WOD is the people's war. It is time we ended it.

There is an article about Ed Rosenthall on the weekend edition of CounterPunch titled "Judge Delays Ruling on Medical Pot Mistrial" by ANN HARRISON. I have not read it because the link is not working. It is the 6th story listed- http://www.counterpunch.org/

I see where cannabisnews is now listed as 52,350 at http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=&p=Det_W_g_40_M1&url=cannabisnews.com The rating has slipped past the 50,000 mark. The Cnews stats show more use than ever- http://cannabisnews.com/stats/ - with the possibility it averages over a 100,000 hits in April. The March average was 95,100. I think that people are just taking to the Internet for news and discussion more than ever, which seems like a positive trend to me.



[ Post Comment ]


  Post Comment
Name:        Password:
E-Mail:

Subject:

Comment:   [Please refrain from using profanity in your message]

Link URL:
Link Title:


Return to Main Menu


So everyone may enjoy this service and to keep it running, here are some guidelines: NO spamming, NO commercial advertising, NO flamming, NO illegal activity, and NO sexually explicit materials. Lastly, we reserve the right to remove any message for any reason!

This web page and related elements are for informative purposes only and thus the use of any of this information is at your risk! We do not own nor are responsible for visitor comments. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, news clippings on this site are made available without profit for research and educational purposes. Any trademarks, trade names, service marks, or service names used on this site are the property of their respective owners. Page updated on April 12, 2003 at 12:11:23