Reefer Madness

University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute. "Learn About Marijuana: Factsheets: What Is Cannabis?" Learn About Marijuana: Factsheets: What Is Cannabis? University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, June 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. The University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute’s Factsheet What is Cannabis? makes science-based information about the cannabis sativa plant available for the public. The Factsheet informs the reader about the composition of…

of danger that heightens the experience and gets the adrenaline pumping. “The two sides agree that countless lives have been destroyed by marijuana, but disagree about what should be blamed: the plant itself, or the laws forbidding its use.” (Reefer Madness) It is with this that while there are some points to keeping it illegal, the law keeping it taboo, makes it more likely to be…

from fifty to sixty years ago were under the impression that marijuana was a harmful and addictive drug. The reason for this fear of maijuana was due to the propaganda that the government had exposed their people to. Films like Reefer Madness, and ridiculous novels like reefer boy, gave them false information about marijuana (Joyce 2015). The truth is alcohol is probably more harmful than marijuana, its definitely caused more deaths (Ingraham 2014).…

editorials were printed allying marijuana with certain minorities and going as far as linking marijuana use with violent tendencies and sexual deviance (The Union). The anti-marijuana cause continued into the 20th century and in 1936 the film Reefer Madness was born, the first propaganda film regarding marijuana. The effective negative coloring of the public’s discernment, produced by media propaganda, created attitudes that rippled across generations and established anti-marijuana laws, but…

drug-related crimes (Walker, 2015). For instance, in the 1930s there were swells of national hysterics about “reefer madness,” there were crazy stories in regards to the now somewhat legal marijuana and how it would drive people into complete madness (Walker, 2015). It was suggested that marijuana made people violent and especially made women promiscuous (Walker, 2015). Even a 1938 film called Reefer Madness gave people insight that caused them to believe marijuana caused people to go “crazy”…

The legalization of marijuana has been a hot topic in recent years with twenty-three states and the District of Columbia having laws allowing medical cannabis and 4 states allowing recreational cannabis. While still illegal on the federal level, activists argue its medical and industrial uses, how the state of the federal law infringes on the country 's right to free will, the financial toll the war on drugs creates , and because of the prohibition neglects regulation of marijuana it is…

topic in today’s world. Even though it has very useful properties in combatting the effects of various mental disorders, cancer, and other health-compromising issues, there are still individuals who are against the legalization of marijuana. “Reefer Madness,” the Marijuana Tax Act, and stricter sentencing laws in the early 1900’s drastically affected the public’s view of cannabis and the products created from it, and the stigma of these events and countless others have not yet left the mind’s of…

Michael Vitiello, Proposition 215: De Facto Legalization of Pot and the Shortcomings of Direct Democracy, 31 U. Mich. J. L. Reform 707, 749–51 (1998) (“In 1937, Harry J. Anslinger was serving as the United States Commissioner of Narcotics. He had served in the Treasury Department where he aggressively enforced the Harrison Act and headed the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in the Treasury Department. Anslinger's appeal to racism and hysteria was unabashed. He and other proponents of the Marijuana…

There is a reason it was made illegal in the first place. In the argument over the legalization of marijuana it is important to look at how marijuana became illegal in the first place. The cannabis plant was cultivated for both industrial and medicinal uses in the United States since the 1600’s. Cannabis was given little attention by any governing body in the United States until the state of California decided to regulate the sale and possession of marijuana in 1913(Houser and Robert E.…

sparked by anti-drug crusaders who painted an inaccurate portrayal of the drug. Instead of using facts they claimed the drug was dangerous and had the ability to ruin lives. The drug began to be regulated in1906. In 1936 the cult classic film Reefer Madness came out which depicted the drug as a substance that could turn good kids into dope-smoking fiends. Since then advocates of the legalization of marijuana have had a lot of difficulty changing the minds of the public. Some myths about…