Marijuana controversy
Specific issues, such as the controversy surrounding the use of marijuana have throughout recorded history increasingly been looked at from different points of view. Our beliefs concerning the non-medical use of drugs, more specifically marijuana, have largely been dependent on what type of information is available for us, and whom we are receiving it from. The beginning of the marijuana controversy throughout North America, in reality, did not even surface until the early 1920s. In 1922, Emily Murphy, Canada's first female judge and respected figure, generated awareness when she wrote, "The Black Candle", Canada's first book on drug abuse. Since then, attitudes concerning the use of marijuana have been constantly changing, and thus have created ongoing arguments between two opposing forces within North American culture. Through an assessment of the material provided, this paper will focus on and explain how attitudes towards the use of marijuana have evolved over time. In her article, Murphy includes a variety of evidence concerning the use of marijuana. Her evidence consists of information provided by doctors, authority figures, fictitious literature, and writers who chose to express their feelings towards either marijua
Similarly, although much later, marijuana was prohibited in the United States, 1937 to be exact, and much in the same fashion as it was in Canada. Harry Anslinger, the Chief of the new Bureau of Narcotics, under the wing of the Treasury Department in Washington, had been determined, if not more, than was Emily Murphy. Supposedly, as a child he had heard cries coming from a women because she needed her opium fix and could not get it, and he had been affected by the shrill cries ever since, ultimately developing a strong hatred for drugs. Contrary to Anslinger's strategy, the Treasury Department originally wanted to unify the States in an agreement that they would all be under, understandably, to sort out the confusion regarding different laws and penalties in each State. In 1932 the narcotics bureau put forward a draft narcotics law stating that they wanted the drug prohibited except for medical purposes. This was unsatisfactory to Anslinger, considering his deep hatred for drugs. Accordingly, he decided immediately to prepare a brochure of propaganda regarding the use of marijuana and the harmful side effects it wrought. Anslinger, in one of his hate filled articles, wrote that "those who are accustomed to habitual use of the drug are said eventually to develop a delirious rage after its administration during which they are temporarily, at least, irresponsible, and prone to commit violent crimes; and that prolonged use was 'said to produce mental deterioration". Again, the latter comment was conceived before any scientific studies of marijuana had been done, and therefore, Anslinger was either making his own information up or actually conducting research and believing what he had found, as was the case with Murphy. Although marijuana was highly unknown at this time, Anslinger's campaign certainly would have generated awareness throughout America, as did Murphy with the Canadian public as well. Eventually, after numerous campaigns against the use of marijuana, Anslinger had finally, as he must have felt, succeeded in prohibiting marijuana in 1937. However, to Anslinger's misfortune, in 1939 Fiorella La Guardia, the Mayor of New York city, with the assistance of the New York Academy of Medicine, set up a medical committee to perform scientific tests of marijuana in controlled conditions. The findings of the tests reported that marijuana had no short-term side effects, and that generally the subjects were "of a friendly, sociable character". The scientific evidence provided by the "La Guardia Report" generated a new breed of public awareness at this stage. The government increasingly became aware of the fact that marijuana was not a harmful drug, and furthermore, that the attempts to ban it seemed senseless to them. However, by 1956, without disturbing public opinion, Anslinger changed the direction of his campaign by saying "that marijuana, if used over a long period, leads to heroine addiction." By the 1960s, when it was becoming obvious that the campaign to stop the use of marijuana was not working, State legislatures, influenced by Anslinger's advice, decided to intensify enforcement, and to increase penalties. na or hashish. The conclusive evidence reported by her sources basically says that marijuana produces "trance like symptoms" , "a staggering walk" , "acute mania" , "paranoia" , "a tendency to commit violent crimes" , and that "it can also cause death." This type of evidence, which was basically the only evidence available at this time, surely would have been believable coming from a judge, thus creating fear throughout society. However, at this stage in t
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Approximate Word count = 2444
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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