The Free View-- weblog of a presidential candidate

The History of Drug Prohibition in the U. S. (History of the Drug War)

This speech by law professor Charles Whitebread is actually titled "The History of the Non-Medical Use of Drugs in the United States", but I don't think that's a very accurate title. His speech, which makes a pretty good essay, doesn't talk that much about drug use. It's really a history of the hows and whys behind the major laws that have grown into the War on Drugs. It's quite fascinating -- one of the best relatively short tellings of that story that I've read. The speech was given to the California Judges Association 1995 annual conference.

Here are some highlights:

Basically, none of the white people in these [Rocky Mountain and southwestern] states knew anything about marijuana, and I make a distinction between white people and Mexicans to reflect a distinction that any legislator in one of these states at the time would have made. And all you had to do to find out what motivated the marijuana laws in the Rocky mountain and southwestern states was to go to the legislative records themselves. Probably the best single statement was the statement of a proponent of Texas' first marijuana law. He said on the floor of the Texas Senate, and I quote, "All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff (referring to marijuana) is what makes them crazy." Or, as the proponent of Montana's first marijuana law said, (and imagine this on the floor of the state legislature) and I quote, "Give one of these Mexican beet field workers a couple of puffs on a marijuana cigarette and he thinks he is in the bullring at Barcelona."

Well, there it was, you didn't have to look another foot as you went from state to state right on the floor of the state legislature. And so what was the genesis for the early state marijuana laws in the Rocky Mountain and southwestern areas of this country? It wasn't hostility to the drug, it was hostility to the newly arrived Mexican community that used it.

On the hearings for the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937:

The other piece of medical testimony came from a man named Dr. William C. Woodward. Dr. Woodward was both a lawyer and a doctor and he was Chief Counsel to the American Medical Association. Dr. Woodward came to testify at the behest of the American Medical Association saying, and I quote, "The American Medical Association knows of no evidence that marihuana is a dangerous drug."

That's an exact quote. The next Congressman said, "Doctor, if you haven't got something better to say than that, we are sick of hearing you."

And then on the final voting on that Act:

They were getting ready to pass this thing...without discussion and without a recorded vote when one of the few Republicans left in Congress, a guy from upstate New York, stood up and asked two questions, which constituted the entire debate on the national marijuana prohibition.

In the Senate there never was any debate or a recorded vote, and the bill went to President Roosevelt's desk and he signed it and we had the national marijuana prohibition.

It's a sad bunch of our country's history, but vitally important one to know about if we're ever going to finally leave it in the past.

The History of the Non-Medical Use of Drugs in the United States
(a.k.a., The History of Drug Prohibition in the U. S.)