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The Online Reefer Madness Teaching Museum
INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL DIGEST
– Sept,
1937
“The Menace of Marihuana”
Editorial (Symposium Section) (page 183)
THEY had taken the precaution to hang burlap sacks
of Spanish moss on the sides of the gallows to deaden the sickening and
never-to-beforgotten sound of the trap, which foretold that a moment later a
life would be snuffed out to balance a debt contracted with the state because of
a ruthless murder.
Immediately before, a young man barely out of his
teens had walked the short distance from Condemned Row
to the 13 steps leading to Eternity.
He was too young to die, and while it was all over for him in a moment,
he left a heartbroken mother, a wife and one small child to endure, until death
relieved them, lives tortured by grief and humiliation.
With wild eyes he had protested his innocence to the last, never really
knowing that he had shot down a young bank messenger of his own age, without giving him
a chance. He did not even steal the
small bag containing the securities. He
was prompted only by the irresistible desire to kill. This young man had the opportunities of the average youth of
today, but he had left school after one year's attendance in a high school
because his entire personality had changed----.
This
sordid story could be continued, but it merely serves as an example of what is
occurring in almost every state of this Union.
The insidious reason for it is slowly but surely
eating through our social structure like termites undermine the sills of our
homes. It has been responsible for
murders, suicides, robberies, criminal assaults, holdups, and in every instance
the crime has been committed in a maniacal manner.
It is merely a simple little weed, which grows wild in most of the states
of the Country. This weed is ordinarily called Marihuana.
It is a weed of the Indian hemp variety, and has long been known in
Southern Asia and especially India as Cannabis India, and more recently as
Cannabis sativa. It has been used
by narcotic addicts in India and Southern Asia for many years, but has not
constituted an actual menace in America until about 30 years ago, when it was
introduced into this country, it is believed, across the Rio Grande.
It is true that Cannabis India has been used for
years in this country as one of the ingredients of proprietary sedative
mixtures, and in combination with salicylic acid and collodion in the treatment
of corns and other callous areas of the feet.
In any event, the weed grows prolifically in cities as well as rural
communities, and police officers in many states have destroyed tons of it to
prevent its falling into the hands of a certain type of smalltime racketeer, who
sells cigarettes made from the dried leaves.
In many respects, the peddling of these cigarettes is a more alarming
menace to our social order than some of the more widely known habit-forming
drugs. As yet, it has not
interested the big racketeers because it is so easily grown that it cannot be
controlled by the "Big Shots." For the most part, it gains circulation
through vendors of hot tamales, soft drinks, at Bar-B-Q stands, and through
other creatures "slinking" along without apparent means of making a
living. One of the most distressing
and terrifying things is the fact that these vendors have selected the youth of
the country as a market -for these cigarettes.
There
are all sorts of names for these cigarettes.
They are spoken of as "Mary Warners," "giggle smokes “muggles,"
"reefers," "loco weed, 'mu," "Mary Janes,"
"Mary Weavers,” "weed, "hasheesh, etc.
Some
idea may be formed of the increase of this addiction by a statement in a recent
article by H. A. Anslinger, United States
Commissioner of Narcotics, in American Magazine (July) 1937, that in 1931 the
marihuana file of the United States Narcotic Bureau was less than 2 inches
thick, while today the reports crowd many large cabinets.
Anslinger also brings up some interesting
historical references to this drug. One
of these is the fact that in 1090, a religious and military order of the Assassins,
whose history is one of cruelty, barbarity and murder, was founded.
The members of this order were habitual users of "hasheesh" or
marihuana, and it is said that the English word assassin is derived from the
Arabic word Haskshashin. The
Arabics pronounced it as it is spelled, which is probably the way an addict
under the influence of marihuana would pronounce "assassin." Moreover,
Anslinger suggests that the term "running
amok" is an expression which was used to describe the natives of the
Malay Peninsula 'who, while under the influence of hasheesh, engaged in violent
and bloody deeds.
As has -has b previously
stated, the sneaky vendors of this weed take advantage of youth, whom they
realize are adventurous and constantly craving an extraordinary thrill.
For example, a few years ago the startling discovery
was made in St. Louis scores of youngsters of high school age had become
victims of the weed. A St. Louis
paper at the time quoted one gentleman of the byways as saying, "The worst
thing about that loco weed is the way these kids go for them.
Most of them, boys and girls, are just punks and when they get high on
the stuff you can write your own ticket."
The
story is told by the same newspaper of a young man who became an addict and had
eventually to be confined in an institution for the mentally diseased.
In referring to him, one of his friends told an investigating reporter
that "he was a swell fellow until marihuana got him.
Like the rest of us, he thought the weed wasn't habit-forming and had no
idea of the possible consequences of smoking it. He smoked so many he couldn't quit. Finally he went crazy and his folks put him in a
sanitarium." Further
quotations from the St. Louis paper, which illustrate what occurred among the
young people who became victim of this weed through the encouragement of the
peddlers, who made claims of the weed's value as a "love
potion" and as the means by which they could easily become "the
life of the party", follow: Among these is the story of a girl student,
still in her teens, who told a reporter she had seen some of her friends under
the influence, and named a boy and a girl who had lost their senses so
completely after smoking marihuana that they eloped and were married.
"’Another
boy I know,' this same girl continued, 'got the habit so bad he didn't have
enough money to buy all the cigarettes he craved. To get the money, he stole jewelry from his mother while
under the influence of marihuana and pawned it.
He was arrested, but when his mother found out who the thief was she
naturally dropped her complaint. I
know at least 20 boys, some of them in school, whom I have seen smoking
marihuana cigarettes. Sometimes
three or -four of them crowd into a telephone booth and puff on a single
cigarette. Several girls I know
have smoked marihuana and I smoked with them, but I've decided it's bad business
and haven't smoked lately. Frequently,
several of us would get into a parked automobile belonging to one of the boys
and dose all the windows so that none of the smoke would escape."'
A
typical way of introducing this weed to a group of young people is generally
brought about in the following manner: One of them may encounter one of these
peddlers, or as discovered in one Midwestern city, a
school janitor was the distributor of the cigarettes for a group of
peddlers on the outside. The
youngster is told of the indescribable thrill resulting from a few puffs of
these homemade cigarettes. He is
usually told that it is "something different and causes no harm," but
is a "real kick." He
whispers this around to his closer friends and he is delegated to procure one or
more of the cigarettes. The price
ranges anywhere from two for 25 cents to whatever the peddler can get for them.
Usually when he has a victim in his clutches, his technic is no different
from those selling heroin, morphine or cocaine.
The youngsters will meet in some secluded place or may go for a ride in
an automobile. After a few puffs
there are outbursts of laughter and some of the most ordinary jokes will throw
the children into hysterical laughter. At
other meetings or at dances, those under the influence of this weed will dance
to a point of exhaustion. Inhibitions
and conventional barriers no longer exist.
To be sure, the physiologic effects vary in individuals; others may
become depressed, morose and vicious. A
previous feeling of exhilaration may be replaced by despondency, which has been
known to lead even to suicide. While
it cannot be proved, the increasing number of suicides by jumping from tall
buildings may have in part resulted from the use of this drug. Once started, an addict may be led to commit all of the
previously mentioned crimes and the end may be on -the gallows, as has been so
often the case in recent years.
One
of the most atrocious examples of the effects of this age-old drug was the case,
cited by Anslinger and others, of the youthful
addict in Florida who murdered his entire family.
When officers arrived at the home, they found the youth staggering about
in a human slaughterhouse. With
an axe he had killed his father, his mother, two brothers and a sister.
He seemed to be in a daze.
"I've
had a terrible dream," he said. "People
tried to hack off my arms !"
"Who
were they?" an officer asked.
"I
don't know. Maybe one was my uncle.
They slashed me with knives and I saw blood dripping from an axe."
He
had no recollection of having committed the multiple crime.
The officers knew him ordinarily as a sane,
rather quiet young man; now he was pitifully crazed.
They sought the reason. The
boy said he had been in the habit of smoking something which youthful friends
called "muggles," the childish name for marihuana.
Then
again, the case of the young desperado in Michigan who, a few months ago, caused
a reign of terror by his career of burglaries and holdups, finally to be sent to
prison for life after kidnapping a Michigan state policeman, killing him, then
handcuffing him to the post of a rural mailbox.
This young bandit was another marihuana fiend.
Then,
there was another case of a 16-year-old how who was
arrested in California for burglary.
Under -the influence of marihuana he had stolen a revolver and was on the
way to stage a holdup when apprehended. Then
there was the 19-year-old addict in Columbus, Ohio, who, when police
responded to a disturbance complaint, opened fire upon an officer, wounding him
three times, and was himself killed by the returning fire of the police.
In
Ohio, a gang of seven young men, all less than 20 years old, had been
caught after a series of 38 holdups. An officer asked them where they got their incentive.
"We
only work when we're high on 'tea,' " one explained.
"On
what?"
"On
tea. Oh, there are lots of names
for it. Some people call it
‘mu’ or smuggles' or 'Mary Weavers' or 'moocah' or 'weed' or 'reefers'
there's a million names for it."
"All
of which mean marihuana?"
"Sure.
Us kids got on to it in high school three or four years ago; there must
have been 25 or 30 of us who started smoking it.
The stuff was cheaper then; you could buy a whole tobacco tin of it for
50 cents. Now these peddlers will charge you all they can get,
depending on how shaky you are. Usually
though, it's two cigarettes for a quarter."
Case
after case could be cited as Commissioner Anslinger
has done in his recent article in the American Magazine, and police departments
over the country have in their files many similar cases.
What has been said, however, illustrates how the cigarettes are procured
by the youth of America.
Dr.
Frank R. Gomila, Commissioner of Public Safety of New Orleans, has been keenly
interested in the traffic in this drug, and his very efficient police force have
ferreted out a disquieting amount of activity in the sale of marihuana
cigarettes to school children. His
problem is not any greater than that which exists in many other cities of the
country, but perhaps the use of marihuana has been in existence in this southern
city much longer than in cities of the north.
With the collaboration of Madeline C. Gomila, Assistant City Chemist, Dr.
Gomila has made an exhaustive study of this menacing drug.
These two investigators have gathered some very valuable statistical data
which has hitherto been unpublished. They
are continuing their study and will publish their findings at a later date.
The privilege of reviewing their work thus far has been accorded us and
much of the material in this review may be credited to them.
Many
of the case histories given here have been reported previously by Commissioner
Anslinger, of the Bureau of Narcotics. He
also invites attention to another use of marihuana, by musicians in the night
clubs of America. It is said that
some of them acquired the habit along the Mexican border and in seaport cities,
because it was found that the musician who desired to produce the
"hottest" effects turned to marihuana for aid.
For instance, it was found that the musician who uses "reefers"
finds that the musical beat seemingly comes to him quite slowly, thus allowing
him to interpolate any number of improvised notes with comparative ease.
While under the influence of marihuana, he does not realize that he is
tapping the keys with a furious speed impossible for one in a normal state of
mind; marihuana has stretched out the time of the music until a dozen notes may
be crowded into the space normally occupied by one.
Or, to quote a young musician arrested by Kansas City officers as a
"muggles smoker":
"Of course I use it---I've got to.
I can't play any more without it, and I know a hundred other musicians
who are in the same fix. You see, when I'm 'floating,' I own my saxophone.
I mean I can do anything with it. The
notes seem to dance out of it---no effort at all.
I don't have to worry about reading the music---I'm music crazy.
Where do I get the stuff? In
almost any low-class dance hall or night spot in -the United States."
Commissioner
Anslinger quite properly contends that the sooner we face the fact that the
traffic in this insidious drug is approaching a national menace, the sooner we
may do something about it.
Madeline
Gomila in her investigation has found that 46 out of 48 states have found it
necessary to pass some legislation against the use, possession and sale of this
menacing weed, but those who have had any experience in dealing with such cases
as have been enumerated, are unanimous in the opinion that its control should be
under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Narcotics of the United States Treasury
Department. Bills have been
introduced into Congress, the latest of which was by Representative Doughton,
North Carolina, and other bills are before the United States Senate.
Such legislation should and probably would have the unanimous support of
the medical profession if they were properly awakened.
The
foregoing was written with the sole object of awakening interest in this
national menace, and we feel that it should be made the subject of discussion by
every medical society. Apparently
it has not been generally realized that this widely available and easily
distributed narcotic weed has been the cause of many crimes.
The time for drastic action has arrived to meet the menace of marihuana.
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