2 of 8

Write now Article Tools

Page 2 of 9

only source for research marijuana. To obtain marijuana for research you have to apply to the National Institute for Drug Abuse to get some from their plot in Mississippi. That way they can make sure that the only people that get marijuana legally are the ones that are doing a study to reinforce the government's position.
The most prevalent method that is used against marijuana is the scare tactic. Scare tactics have been used quite successfully throughout history to get the general public on board with someone's agenda. Fear is a great motivator for people. The very act of making marijuana illegal was based on scare tactics that held very little if any truth to them. When Harry Anslinger, the man who is considered to be this country's first drug czar, wanted to create a national drug policy, he made up facts to support his position "Take all the good from Dr Jekyll, and all the bad from Mr. Hyde the result is opium. Marihuana may be considered more harmful . . . it is Mr. Hyde alone" (Gray 77). The same tactics are still being used today to demonize this plant. MTV in Canada even reported that smoking marijuana causes homosexual incest.

During the 1937 hearings before Congress on the proposed Marijuana Tax Act, Harry Anslinger told them . . . a story about a twenty-one-year-old boy from Florida who slaughtered his whole family with an ax. "The evidence showed that he had smoked marijuana," said Anslinger. He didn't bother to mention that Victor Licata had been diagnosed as mentally unstable . . .' (Gray 79). If marijuana were the scourge that our government wants us to believe then why do they need to employ scare tactics to make and keep it illegal?
The studies that show that marijuana is bad for you hit the papers and people see this and believe it to be true. When the studies are debated in the halls of academe and found to have no scientific value, the damage has already been done as far as the public is concerned, and the general public never sees the reports that repudiate the original reports.
In 1972 President Nixon appointed a former Pennsylvania governor, Ray Shafer, to head a commission on marijuana. His purpose was to create a scientific foundation for the administration's stance on marijuana. Their findings however, were opposite of public policy "marijuana use, in and of itself, is neither causative of, nor directly associated with crime . . . They found no basis for the gateway theory. Alcohol, they said, was probably a greater danger, and they

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• ...
• 9
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about The debate over legalizing marijuana?
We want to hear your view. Write now!