Opinions - Needs help with why marijuana is illegal.

[skaterdienick]

swim is presenting a formal proposal on why marijuana should be legal. hes looking into different aspects such as its medicinal value, how alcohol is legal and such. but what swim needs is a boost in the right direction. reasons why marijuana was made illegal in the first place. i truly dont believe it was to "protect" citizens.

please list realiable sources and thank you for your time

[fnord]

How about doing the leg work yourself. There are plenty of resources on the internet.

yes there are plenty of resources online and this is one of them,swim cant say for cetain but one avenue you might look at is that it was made ileagle as an excuse to persecute teh hippies and mexicans back in teh 60's.dont know if thers truth to this but its just what i heard

[IntrepidTraveler]

Originally Posted by fnord

How about doing the leg work yourself. There are plenty of resources on the internet.

yes there are plenty of resources online and this is one of them,swim cant say for cetain but one avenue you might look at is that it was made ileagle as an excuse to persecute teh hippies and mexicans back in teh 60's.dont know if thers truth to this but its just what i heard

The first ban on marijuana came in 1937, so I don't think that theory holds much weight. Just google "marijuana united states prohibition history," or something like that. You'll learn a great deal in a small amount of reading.

[fnord]

actually it was 1915 due to mormons useing it!lol but heres some stuff ont he mexican/hippie conection:The Mexican Connection

In the early 1900s, the western states developed significant tensions regarding the influx of Mexican-Americans. The revolution in Mexico in 1910 spilled over the border, with General Pershing's army clashing with bandit Pancho Villa. Later in that decade, bad feelings developed between the small farmer and the large farms that used cheaper Mexican labor. Then, the depression came and increased tensions, as jobs and welfare resources became scarce.

One of the "differences" seized upon during this time was the fact that many Mexicans smoked marijuana and had brought the plant with them.

However, the first state law outlawing marijuana did so not because of Mexicans using the drug. Oddly enough, it was because of Mormons using it. Mormons who traveled to Mexico in 1910 came back to Salt Lake City with marijuana. The church was not pleased and ruled against use of the drug. Since the state of Utah automatically enshrined church doctrine into law, the first state marijuana prohibition was established in 1915. (Today, Senator Orrin Hatch serves as the prohibition arm of this heavily church-influenced state.)

Other states quickly followed suit with marijuana prohibition laws, including Wyoming (1915), Texas (1919), Iowa (1923), Nevada (1923), Oregon (1923), Washington (1923), Arkansas (1923), and Nebraska (1927). These laws tended to be specifically targeted against the Mexican-American population.

When Montana outlawed marijuana in 1927, the Butte Montana Standard reported a legislator's comment: "When some beet field peon takes a few traces of this stuff... he thinks he has just been elected president of Mexico, so he starts out to execute all his political enemies." In Texas, a senator said on the floor of the Senate: "All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff [marijuana] is what makes them crazy."

Jazz and Assassins

In the eastern states, the "problem" was attributed to a combination of Latin Americans and black jazz musicians. Marijuana and jazz traveled from New Orleans to Chicago, and then to Harlem, where marijuana became an indispensable part of the music scene, even entering the language of the black hits of the time (Louis Armstrong's "Muggles", Cab Calloway's "That Funny Reefer Man", Fats Waller's "Viper's Drag").

Again, racism was part of the charge against marijuana, as newspapers in 1934 editorialized: "Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men's shadows and look at a white woman twice."

Two other fear-tactic rumors started to spread: one, that Mexicans, Blacks and other foreigners were snaring white children with marijuana; and two, the story of the "assassins." Early stories of Marco Polo had told of "hasheesh-eaters" or hashashin, from which derived the term "assassin." In the original stories, these professional killers were given large doses of hashish and brought to the ruler's garden (to give them a glimpse of the paradise that awaited them upon successful completion of their mission). Then, after the effects of the drug disappeared, the assassin would fulfill his ruler's wishes with cool, calculating loyalty.

By the 1930s, the story had changed. Dr. A. E. Fossier wrote in the 1931 New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal: "Under the influence of hashish those fanatics would madly rush at their enemies, and ruthlessly massacre every one within their grasp." Within a very short time, marijuana started being linked to violent beha

http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stori...naIllegal.html

[IntrepidTraveler]

"But I was a devout Catholic, why am I in hell?"
"Well, as it turns out, you were wrong."
"Well then who the hell was right?!"
"Oh yes, it turns out the Mormons--Yes, the Mormons were right all along."

-South Park

I learn something new on DF everyday.

[Nagognog2]

Jack Herer wrote the book on the subject: The Emperor Wears No Clothes. It can be read on-line here:

http://www.jackherer.com/

Even Police_Occifur might find this an eye-opener!

[sergei77]

Good documentary which explains why Marijuana became illegal:

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?...e+War+On+Drugs

[skaterdienick]

Originally Posted by Police Officer

How about doing the leg work yourself. There are plenty of resources on the internet.

thanks for wasting time and writing an unhelpful response. last swim checked this forum was used to ask for information. swim could look up almost everything thats posted on here from other sources but figured it was quick and easy. so maybe next time swiy might want to be more helpful.....


to the rest of the swiy's. thank you very much for the responses that swim can use.

Reputation Comments on this post:

stop whining and maybe answer the original thread question

[fnord]

thanks for wasting time and writing an unhelpful response. last swim checked this forum was used to ask for information.

thats EXACTLY what this forum is for

[Police Officer]

Originally Posted by skaterdienick

swim is presenting a formal proposal on why marijuana should be legal....please list realiable sources and thank you for your time

Boy I received ALOT of negative feedback when I told this kid to look stuff up for himself. Sorry about that. I'm just from a different school, I guess. When my kids come home from school I tell them to do their homework, versus telling them to give me their homework so I can do it for them.

On a separate note...Imagine the footnotes on that paper if he cites dopers who post on an internet forum.

[Alfa]

Originally Posted by Police Officer

On a separate note...Imagine the footnotes on that paper if he cites dopers who post on an internet forum.

Are you saying that you are a doper?

This may seem as a stupid comment, but I'd like to show you that you take to much for granted. IMHO.
You might find it interesting to know that researchers, writers, journalists and educational book writers are citing Drugs Forum. And on a frequent basis to.

[Heretic.Ape.]

This link has some pretty good info for starters by way of a brief intro to the history of pot illegalization.
http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/...j_outlawed.htm

When and why was marijuana outlawed?

California, 1913
The first state marijuana prohibition law was passed in California in 1913. The law received no public notice in the press. It was passed as an obscure technical amendment by the State Board of Pharmacy, which was then leading one of the nation's earliest and most aggressive anti-narcotics campaigns. Prior to the passage of the law, there was no indication that cannabis was a problem in California. The Origins of Cannabis Prohibition in California from California NORML
Utah, 1914
Utah outlawed marijuana in 1914. A number of Mormons moved to Mexico when polygamy was outlawed in Utah in 1910. When they returned to Utah, marijuana was one of the things they brought back with them. Marijuana was outlawed with a number of other common vices as part of Mormon religious prohibitions enacted into law.
Other state laws 1915-37
Marijuana was outlawed in 30 states by 1930. There were two primary reasons for the laws.
In the southwestern states, marijuana was outlawed because of racial prejudice again the Mexicans who used it. As one Texas legislator said, "All Mexicans are crazy and this stuff (marijuana) is what makes them crazy."
In the other states, it was outlawed because of fears that heroin addiction would lead to the use of marijuana - exactly the opposite of the modern "gateway" myth.
The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937
Marijuana was outlawed at the national level in the US by the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. (Note that the US Government has traditionally used the spelling "marihuana".) There were a number of reasons given for its passage in the congressional testimony. The quotes included:

• Two weeks ago a sex-mad degenerate, named Lee Fernandez, brutally attacked a young Alamosa girl. He was convicted of assault with intent to rape and sentenced to 10 to 14 years in the state penitentiary. Police officers here know definitely that Fernandez was under the influence of marihuana. But this case is one in hundreds of murders, rapes, petty crimes, insanity that has occurred in southern Colorado in recent years.
• I wish I could show you what a small marihuana cigaret can do to one of our degenerate Spanish-speaking residents. That's why our problem is so great; the greatest percentage of our population is composed of Spanish-speaking persons, most of who are low mentally, because of social and racial conditions.
• Did you read of the Drain murder case in Pueblo recently? Marihuana is believed to have been used by one of the bloody murderers.
• . . .a boy and a girl . . . lost their senses so completely after smoking marihuana that they eloped and were married.
• It is commonly used as an aphrodisiac, and its continued use leads to impotency.
• Practically every article written on the effects of the marihuana weed will tell of deeds committed without the knowledge of the culprit, while he was under the influence of this drug. . . . "A man under the influence of marihuana actually decapitated his best friend; and then, coming out of the effects of the drug, was as horrified as anyone over what he had done" (9). Then we have the case of a young boy in Florida. The story runs as follows: "A young boy who had become addicted to smoking marihuana cigarettes, in a fit of frenzy because, as he stated while still under the marihuana influence, a number of people were trying to cut off his arms and legs, seized an axe and killed his father, mother, two brothers and a sister, wiping out the entire family except himself." (10)

From Additional Statement of Harry Anslinger from Transcripts of the Congressional Hearings for the Marihuana Tax Act

There was no credible evidence that any of these statements were actually true.

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There is a lot more at this informative site: monkey recommends wandering around it a bit.
h.a.

Reputation Comments on this post:

great link.

[Police Officer]

Originally Posted by Alfa

Are you saying that you are a doper?

You might find it interesting to know that researchers, writers, journalists and educational book writers are citing Drugs Forum. And on a frequent basis to.

lol C'mon Alfa. As explained here (*I'm refering to the first definition), a doper is a regular drug user. So no, I'm not a doper. And I can say I'm relatively certain that he wont be citing me, so I excluded myself as being a contributor. I just dont see me assisting with a formal proposal on why marijuana should be legal.

BTW, when I call someone a doper by no means am I incinuating that they are stupid.

As far as me taking too much for granted, dont worry about it. I am regularly amazed at how smart, clever, and educated dopers are. And of course the question really is -Why- am I amazed?

[augentier]

Originally Posted by Police Officer

-Why- am I amazed?

Maybe you have always been under the impression that drug users fry away their brain , marijuana does that you know!!!

Reputation Comments on this post:

i like fryed foods!

[Police Officer]

Originally Posted by augentier

Maybe you have always been under the impression that drug users fry away their brain , marijuana does that you know!!!

Of course drugs fry your brain. Havent you ever seen those egg commercials?

[grandbaby]

^

Hey, P.O. this is off topic for this thread, but have you thought about starting a thread talking about how your time on D-F has changed your views of "dopers"? I'm sure you've had some of your pre-existing opinions changed and perhaps some of them reinforced during your time here, and I think it would be really intersting to hear your story of a) what you thought of "drug"-users before you joined D-F, b) why you joined D-F, c) a summary of some of your experiences here, and d) your current state of mind regarding "druggies", the internets, and drug-law-enforcement. Purty-please?

By the way, I agree with your original post in this thread. It would have been more in line with the intent of D-F for Skaterdienick to do the research himself, then present his findings or his paper here for discussion. There's plenty of info out there to find on this subject (quite a bit of it on this site, actually -- and using the search engine before posting is one of D-F's rules), and IMO, starting new threads to ask such basic questions is a waste of cyber-space-&-time. But then, I'm really old-school, too. Maybe this is the way all homework will be done in the future...

(Oh, and also by the way, "doper" is an insult. You can't pretend it doesn't have a negative conotation. Or maybe you don't mind if we call you a "pig," with the excuse that "a 'pig' is simply a law-enforcement official."? )

Reputation Comments on this post:

Great post. I've actually thought about it, but decided against it. Yes, DF has changed my view for sure.

[Felonious Skunk]

Originally Posted by Police Officer

Of course drugs fry your brain. Havent you ever seen those egg commercials?

PO, you and I expose ourselves as the dinosaurs that we are for admitting knowledge of that commercial. The damned thing was broadcast about 35 years ago.

Any questions? <fry fry>

Reputation Comments on this post:

im only 23 and i remember it!

[Nagognog2]

Originally Posted by Police Officer

BTW, when I call someone a doper by no means am I incinuating that they are stupid.

Well, I guess we could call that progress, at least. I'm reminded of reading history from the Dark Ages. We know that some people had jobs to man the boiling pitch-pots on the ramparts of the castles. And pour the boiling pitch down upon those trying to scale the walls. But never once were the names of those whose job it was to scald and burn the people below ever mentioned.

I see this as being the history books in 500 years (give or take). Humans have been altering their consciousness for as far back as one can go and look. The prohibition of doing such is a recent invention (and some research will show the reasons in full). So which will outlast the other? Human nature? Or prohibition?

Man those Pitch-Pots, Porky! Here come the Visigoths!

<cue the song: "Hey, Hey We're the Monkees!">

[skaterdienick]

Originally Posted by Police Officer

Boy I received ALOT of negative feedback when I told this kid to look stuff up for himself. Sorry about that. I'm just from a different school, I guess. When my kids come home from school I tell them to do their homework, versus telling them to give me their homework so I can do it for them.

in no way did swim ask for this assignment to be completed by someone on here. he merely asked for reliable sources of why marijuana was originally made illegal a.k.a. the history(only the first minute of my speech)...same as if swim went to a library and asked a librarian where he could find books/sources on this. maybe if you actually spent a little time reading my original post you would have seen what swim was asking for. but you can continue with your negativity if you please.

Reputation Comments on this post:

ignore him hes a prick,he gave me bad rep for telling him that thats what people do on forums they ask questions.

[Nagognog2]

Okay. Enough spanking the Porky. He bad. He will be good. Sort of.

I hope you did check the Jack Herer link. That has enough data to keep you busy for a month.

[Heretic.Ape.]

^ and his writing will get you pissed off and riled up about the whole pot situation...it gets me a little depressed about the state of the world, such a valuable resource being shunned and demonized for no good reason. sigh.