Tag: Federal Bureau of Narcotics

Marijuana Posted on

1996: MARIJUANA – A Medicinal Marvel

Cannabis, or marijuana, has proven medical benefits and few, if any, toxic side-effects. Why, then, has it been a prohibited medicine for over fifty years? Dr Lester Grinspoon interviewed by Jana Ray © 1996 by Jana Ray For further information, contact: c/- B.C. Anti-Prohibition League PO Box 8179 Victoria, British Columbia, V8W 3R8 Canada Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 3, #5 (August-September ’96). PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia. nexus@peg.apc.org Telephone: +61 (0)7 5442 9280; Fax: +61 (0)7 5442 9381 From our web page at: http://www.peg.apc.org/~nexus/ Medicinal cannabis, also known as medical marijuana, is beginning to receive attention worldwide. Unfortunately, scare tactics and misinformation surrounding the international ‘war on drugs’ continue to dominate in the political and medical arenas, leaving many unwilling or unable to […] Read More

Marijuana Posted on

Who Masterminded U.S. Pot Prohibition?

Harry Anslinger testified that marijuana induces homicidal mania, but he was just one witness in a strange show trial. Harry Anslinger, the longtime Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, is widely considered the prime mover behind marijuana prohibition. But during the Congressional debate on prohibition in the spring of 1937, Anslinger was just one witness in a strange show trial.  He testified that marijuana induces homicidal mania and so forth, but it was not Anslinger who designed the complicated prohibitive-tax strategy. That maneuver was thought up by the Treasury Department’s top lawyer, Herman Oliphant. Nor was Anslinger called back to refute Dr. William Woodward of the American Medical Association, who made many telling points in opposition to the prohibitive-tax bill. It was Congressman Fred Vinson of […] Read More