Cannabis History
Cannabis History
Propaganda and Prohibition : America ’ s War on Marijuana
by Karla Deel , contributing writer
“ Welcome my son , welcome to the Machine . What did you dream ? It ’ s alright , we told you what to dream .”
-Pink Floyd , Welcome to the Machine of marijuana fear and loathing pummeled American households . A quick scan of newspaper headlines from that time will tell you that the anti-marijuana propaganda machine was incredibly powerful , subversive , hyperbolic , and played smartly and effectively on our greatest fears .
“ Dope Deranges Nervous System , Causes Mania and May Lead to Death ,” “ Marijuana Evil Lurks in our City ’ s Schools , Wrecking the Lives of America ’ s Youth ,” “ A Weed of Evil Propensities ,” “ Devil ’ s Weed ,” “ Save our Youth !” “ Weed of Madness !” “ Shortcuts to Insanity !” “ The Quickest Way and Surest to the Insane Asylum is Addiction to the Marijuana Weed … Confirmed Addicts Always End in the Asylum !”
Marijuana escalated from being a staple medicine offered in all mom-and-pop drugstores to lamented as the Devil ’ s Lettuce , and now banned as a Schedule I drug thought to have higher associated dangers for users than methamphetamine , cocaine , and fentanyl , a drug that killed over 112,000 people in 2023 alone . Guess how many marijuana deaths there have been ? Not one , ever . But when mania
Ahh , the propaganda machine . Waging war on our minds since the dawn of time . Historically used to promote war , religion , and political agendas , propaganda , when mass-consumed , has the power to completely alter the way a society functions and what it believes . By the early to mid-1930s , on the backs of the alcohol teetotalers , a wave
28 June 2024