HARRY J. ANSLINGER
(Harry Jacob Anslinger)
This type of statement made by otherwise respectable government officials has developed a view on the part of many Americans that the Government lies about marijuana. See {617560}and {593334}.
Actually, The Surgeon General has explained that alcohol has been the most violence-inducing drug. There is no evidence whatsoever that marijuana causes violence.
Despite all the scientific knowledge, Anslinger and his bureau constantly lied about the dangers of marijuana—even to physicians most of whom knew better. It was so blatant that most of the American public discounted anything the Bureau said and even discounted what government health agencies told the public. So the actual problems associated with marijuana found a jaded, suspicious public. It took years to overcome the Anslinger hyperbole. See {593333} and {593334}.
In order to convince the States to outlaw weed, Anslinger started a campaign to associate marijuana with insanity, murder, violence, sex and sex crimes. This type of statement made by otherwise respectable government officials has developed a view on the part of many Americans that the Government lies about marijuana. See {617560}, {593333}, and {593334}.
This testimony was so absurd that we look at it with humor today. But tragically, he was the highest narcotics officer in the government . He actually believed that marijuana was a more dangerous drug than opium without the medicinal benefit of opium.
This type of statement made by otherwise respectable government officials has developed a view on the part of many Americans that the Government lies about marijuana. See {617560} and {593333} .
Harry Jacob Anslinger was a United States government official who served as the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics during the presidencies of Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy. He was a supporter of Prohibition, and of the criminalization of drugs, and spearheaded anti-drug policy campaigns. Anslinger held office as commissioner for an unprecedented 32 years, until 1962. He then held office for two years as U.S. Representative to the United Nations Narcotics Commission. The responsibilities once held by Anslinger are now largely under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy.
