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The Online Reefer Madness Teaching Museum
RELIGIOUS DIGEST – Dec. 1937 – Pub = by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Mr. Devine is a student of sociology, specializing in juvenile problems. In addition to being the pastor of the Christian Fellowship Assembly, he is available for a single address or a series of addresses dealing with "A Christian Clinic in Juvenile Problems and their Scriptural Solution." The
"Religious Digest" presents this article this month in the interest of
both youth and the Church. For
marihuana is a deadly danger, spreading like a contagious disease, leaving in
its wake the wrecks of precious boys and girls.
Like smallpox, it is no respecter of persons.
To American G-men, it is known as the "Killer
Drug." “THE MENACE OF MARIHUANA” By Robert James Devine (adaptation from a brochure) – page 84 HEY, what's matter, kid? Ya look as if the bottom was out. Grandma dead or is the canary sick or the goldfish, maybe? Honest, ya got a face on ya like ya'd just lost yer best friend.," "Oh, it's this crazy math. Good-night, they pile homework on a guy so he doesn't get a minute to himself. I can't do the stuff anyway. And what good is it? Just a lot of bunk to drive a fellow nuts. I can't get the right answers." "You're crazy, kid, to worry about that. Look in the back of the book for the answers, dumbbell. Whatda ya think they put 'em there for? Look at me. I don't have no trouble nohow with none of my problems. Don't take none home, neither. Me, I just work 'em out of my head, and what won't come that way I take from the back of the book. It's a cinch, kid. 'Course, besides that, I got a little secret that was give to me by another guy who had trouble gettin' places, just like you. When I get stuck now, I just float.” "Float? What do you mean, float? On your back? How can you do lessons floating on your back?" "Listen, simp. You ain't got it right atall. Floatin’ comes from floaters. You know---reefers. Muggles. Mary Warner. Get me? Boy, it's great---and how? Just a couple of 'em, kid, and ya kin wade through math or history or spellin’---or anythin’! Want to try some?” "I'd sure like to try anything that would help me with crazy math. First thing they know they're going to have me cuckoo, piling it on the way they do. Then they'll be sorry, 'cause the State'll have to take care of me for the rest of their life. What's this floating business like anyway?" "Not so fast, kid. This is somethin' different. Ya have be kinda initiated into this And ya haveta cross yer heart ya won't tell where ya got it, or anythin'. Ya smoke, don’t ya? Well, this is a smoke, too. Only it's different, like I told ya. Ya float! Honest, ya really float! Boy, it's great! And ya kin do anythin' ya want. Say, believe it or not, I can even sing after I smoke a coupla reefers. And fight? Say, y'a could lick the heavyweight champ with one hand. Lissen, the fella I got ‘em from says that's how the champs get to be champs. I can tell ya where to get Mary Warners, but they wouldn't sell 'em to ya until yer initiated. Ya can get ‘em right near the school any time. I’ll put ya wise, kid. If ya want to try 'em, I've got some. I use 'em right along. A lot of guys do. Dames, too. Boy, ya ought to come to one of our Mary Warner parties. Do we have fun---or do we have fun? Come on with me to my place. I smoke 'em down basement. My old man's dead and the old woman works out, so nobody knows nothing about it, see ? . I bet ya won't have no more trouble with yer lessons." The Fearful "Racket" Is On And so another high school student becomes a Marihuana customer, having been "sold" on the idea of artificial inspiration. The above "approach" is only one of the many used by trained assistants employed by the peddler of Marihuana. The "thrill" accompanying "reefer" smoking is a great selling point with many. Cleverly the go-between draws out of his intended victim an admission of a controlling desire or ambition, and subtly the prospective customer is made to realize that marihuana will fill the bill. Behind the go-between is the master mind of the beast (with profuse apologies to all beasts) who gloatingly rakes in he shekels that pile up from his remunerative racket. The dealer knows that when he has gained a customer from the ranks of high school or grammar school students, he has usually gained a customer for life. He has little to fear from the forces that should oppose him. Law enforcement agencies usually have their price for protection. Not always, perhaps, but too often. If you doubt that statement you have only to attempt, as I have attempted, to get some action through the recognized channels of law enforcement. I warn you that you will find yourself bumping your head against a stone wall. The churches are asleep at the switch; even fundamentalist brethren are afraid to death to face the issue lest someone accuse them of being side-tracked on the "Social Service Spur". The school system helps little because the school system is built around the idea of preparing the minority of students for college life rather than preparing the majority for every-day living. Every pastor worthy of the name should interest himself and his people in the battle against this hellish business. Its reaction upon the lives of young and old is so terrible that every right thinking citizen, whether he be a Christian or no, should rise up in revolt against the traffic. The spineless attitude of legislators who cannot be induced to pass laws which will make the growth and sale of this weed a crime to be punished drastically, should be protested. Spewed out of the maws of the "Moloch" of Marihuana are the wrecks of some of the finest, most promising young men and women of this age. Ruined mentally, physically, and spiritually, they are thrown upon a state already over-burdened with the flotsam and jetsam of sin. Alarming Growth of Menace Ten years ago there was little traffic in marihuana in this country. Since then it has steadily forged its way to the front until it has reached second place and is rapidly overhauling the barbital group for first place. It is conservatively estimated that one out of four persons in the American South has the marihuana habit. Seventeen states in the Union have prohibited its sale under state laws. Federal control over marihuana under the Harrison Act has been urged, but so far there is no Federal jurisdiction over the growth and sale of this terrible scourge. The International Treaty for the Limitation of Narcotics recently acted on by the League of Nations, has included it in its agenda. The weed now grows wild in almost every state in the Union, is easily obtainable and has come into wide use. The situation that faces us as a nation is especially fraught with danger because of the fact that the drug is being carried as a new habit to circles which hitherto have not been contaminated. Reports reaching the Narcotic Division of The Federal Bureau of Investigation show the existence of a dangerous and rapidly increasing traffic in at least twenty-nine states. The “Killer Drug”---the G-Men Call It I have received from Mr. Harry Anslinger, Federal Commissioner of Narcotics, Washington, up-to-the-minute lists of crimes committed by marihuana users. They include the most brutal, the most fiendish, the most horrible crimes listed in the records of the F. B. I. So much is this so, that the weed has become known to the G-Men as "The Killer Drug”. Among its many names is one which bears out this evil reputation. It is known as "Hashish". Now hashish has an ancient history. So far back as 1090, A. D., a branch of the Shiite sect was founded in Persia. It was called Hashishan, derived from hashish, which in turn was the name given to a confection of hemp leaves (marihuana). This sect, a religio-military order, became famous for its unprecedented acts of cruelty, which were known not only in Asia, but in Europe as well. Because they fortified themselves for their brutal murders through the use of hashish, they were called “hashishans". Now listen to this: From that Arabic word "hashishan," we derive our English word "Assassin"! It is a far cry from the marauding bands whose cruelty and indescribable atrocities made them famous over the known world as "Assassins" to the more refined but none-the-less cruel murderers who prowl our streets and prey upon girls, women and other innocent and defenceless victims, but the records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation show that in too many cases the motivating power is the same----- whether it be called by its ancient name, "hashish," or its modern name, the "killer" drug----marihuana. Other names for marihuana are: Indian Hemp, Cannabis, Cannabis Indica, Cannabis Americana or Cannabis Sativa. Among the "trade" it is known as “hey”, “greefo”, "mugles", "weed", "Mary Warner", etc. In fact, the drug is known in various localities by a wide variety of names. The Awful Effects of the Drug The active narcotic principle of marihuana is known as "cannabin". The toxic effects produced by cannabin seem to be exclusively to the higher nerve centers. The reactions might be described as fourfold. First---an exaltation with a feeling of well-being; usually a happy, jovial mood; a sense of ability and strength; under the effects of the drug one could easily step across the Atlantic Ocean in a couple of strides. Nor would it be difficult to climb the Empire State Building unaided. This feeling of exhilaration, exaltation, and artificial ability is much sought after by certain types of musicians and artists in every line of endeavor. The increased feeling of physical strength and power may be very fleeting. The general euphoria experienced as a part of the first reaction may last but a few moments. It is usually followed by a stimulation of the imagination which leads to a more or less delirious state characterized by vivid kaleidoscopic visions. These visions are often of a pleasing, sensual kind, sometimes of a gruesome nature. Addicts have testified that this delirious state is accompanied by a remarkable loss in spatial and time relations; persons and things in the environment look small; time is interminable; seconds seem like minutes and hours like days. An ordinary man or woman will become, in the eyes of the marihuana addict, beautiful beyond compare. Sexual desire flames into fires of passion, undeniable, uncontrollable. The most debasing per-versions are invited and practiced. This is true whether the users of the drug are school children meeting in basement rooms, or college youths in groups within or outside of the campus; or whether it be prison inmates who have secured quantities of the drug through trusties. Marihuana has been grown on prison farms by trustees, unknown to the officials, and taken in to the inmates. When it is realized that under its influence inmates fall desperately in love with each other, just as they would with members of the opposite sex outside prison walls, one can understand the debaucheries which take place within such institutions. Even a fleeting rememberance of the recent death of one of the murderers of little Bobby Franks will recall that it was the refusal of another inmate to submit to his demands for unbelievable perversions that led to his death by stabbing, in the Illinois State Prison. "As It Was in the days of Sodom" But it is this second reaction as it affects the boys and girls of school age that makes for a menace to our civilization. The number of perverts is increasing so rapidly as to be drawing the attention of men and women in every walk of life. Grossest immorality is being practised, not by hardened criminals with long records, but by the sweetest girls and most promising boys, whose parents, pastors, and teachers apparently know nothing of their secret vices. Marihuana parties have been described in detail in juvenile courts when boys and girls with their parents, have stood before juvenile judges and told of the, nights of debauchery and licentiousness covering long periods of time, and attributable to the smoking of marihuana. – [editorial note; “How come we don’t get invited to those kind of parties?”] Come with me to a juvenile court where such evidence is being given: Perhaps ten to twenty-five boys and girls, from 8 to 15 years of age, have been brought in for questioning following an investigation into school conditions. The stories are sordid in the extreme; filthy, nauseating---but true! The marihuana, in cigaret form, had been procured in this case, from the man who kept a school supply store just around the corner from the school. (If any of my readers wish to locate any the source of supply of marihuana ciqarets in his or her city let him look first within a block of the high school! This storekeeper sold chocolate bars and gum; milk and school supplies. The children initiated into the "reefer" group pooled the candy and milk money given them by fond parents, and purchased a supply of "Mary Warners". The lower-than-skunk storekeeper in this case, supplied them with a basement room, which he had furnished with a couple of old mattresses and other needed pieces of furniture. Here he could guarantee them freedom from interference for hours at a time. He had even sent his wife and family away on an extended visit to make sure that his illicit operations would not be discovered. Here the youngsters played at being married. Rings stolen from the ten-cent stores served to bind the mock ceremonies which permitted unbridled lusts to have full sway. Probing by the juvenile judge resulted in shamefaced girls sobbing out sordid stories disclosing many nights of debauchery and degradation. Sometimes these young girls would be too drunk to leave the basement where they had staged their "parties" and so had to stay all night. Each party was a continuous round of dissipation, drunkenness and drugs. The stories of the girls varied according to the number of marihuana parties they had attended. Some of them said they had started their wrongdoing because they lost control of themselves after smoking a few "Mary Warners". One said she had gone ahead even though she knew it was wrong, because she "loved" her boy friend and was afraid that some other girl would take him from her. One boy, 16 years of age, just before he was called to testify, took his "girl" by the arm and said: "Don't worry, kid. I've been in this mess before and I can tell whether it's serious or not. They won't do anything to us. All they'll do is tell us to be good." But the little girl was really afraid. She had heard something said about a doctor and a physical examination. Poor child, the marks of her serious adventures were stamped upon her for life. All but one of her little girl friends were in her unfortunate class. The sole exception was found just in time to save her from the same fate as the others. The story itself reads like many other records of almost any juvenile court. But no amount of repetition or callousness can take away the tragedy and misery of each individual case. Detailed evidence in court describes such parties as are staged by young boys and girls who have learned to smoke marihuana cigarets. Sin When It Is Finished After the first thrill, producing its effect of swashbuckling, braggadocio to the accompaniment of false feelings of physical strength, the dope begins its deadIy work of arousing sexual pass ions. Over in one corner of the room, one child begins to disrobe his or her companion, as the case may be. It becomes general in a very few minutes, until clothes are scattered all over the floor, and the naked youngsters give themselves over, with a wild abandon, to the ecstacies of every imaginable perversion prompted by drug-crazed minds. Some evidence is to the effect that those involved in these unspeakable debaucheries never "cheated" on "husband" or "wife". Whatever comfort parents may get out of that boast is questionable in the extreme. One such girl, giving evidence in the presence of her parents, stated that her father worked nights, and that she knew she was safe if she got home by 1:30 on her mother's club nights, for her mother never got home until after that hour! Arouses Desire To Kill Loved Ones But let us draw the curtain on this filthy yet pitiful scene. Before long some innocent remark by a member of the party will bring forth an angry reply, for the drug will have carried its victims into the third phase of reaction, which is the desire to kill someone, or do serious bodily harm. One of the idiosyncrasies of this dreadful drug is its power to make bitter enemies of those who but a moment before were inseparable companions. No wonder the G-Men call it the "killer" drug! Not only does it bring to its votaries the desire to kill, but, worse still, the desire to kill someone near and dear to him or her. And to kill in the most brutal, fiendish manner! Hashish! Assassin! The habitual user may carry in his mind for months, or even years, the desire to kill a chum, or a brother or sister, or a parent. Seldom until after the deed has been performed will such an one admit to that overpowering desire that haunted him through the terrible months or years of the past. When you read of atrocious crimes, horrible, fiendish killings or mutilations, you may know that, in nine cases out of ten, the perpetrator of the terrible deed has been a marihuana addict! And this is the stuff that is being sold "just around the corner” from high schools in almost every state of the Union! While we boast of our orthodoxy and fight to protect our fundamental positions (and rightly so!) boy and girls under our very noses are being inveigled into the most damnable soul and body destroying habit known to law enforcement officers and agencies today. But there is yet another reaction. INSANITY! No one need tell you, fellow-pastor, of the appalling conditions in the psychopathic institutions of this country. Over-crowded, these hospitals vomit their surplus into the county jails, where no equipment or facilities for handling such cases are to be found. No wonder authorities tell us that within 75 years one-half of the population of these United States will be insane, or that in 105 years, at the present rate of progress of insanity, every resident of our land a psychopathic patient! A Plea In God's Name Such is the work of marihuana. I could write much more plainly upon this subject, but it should not be necessary to delve deeper into such sordid stories in order to arouse God’s people to greater efforts on behalf of those concerning whom Jesus Christ said: “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Fellow pastors! Evangelists! Parents! Sunday school teachers! What are the conditions in your local high schools and colleges? Do you know? Should you know? Are you aware of the fact that “Ether parties” are staged by college students and that they are spreading to high schools as supplementary to the marihuana parties? Do you know that three distinct drugs are being mixed into little pink pellets for the high school trade in a mad desire on the part of the manufactures and peddlers to share some of the ill-gotten but very extensive profits of the marihuana growers and traders? Only Remedy---The Old Time Gospel Away with our carefully worded little sermons on birds and bees and butterflies preached to a lot of church-goers suffering with spiritual indigestion because they feed and feed and feed on splendid sermons and refuse to go out and exercise in the Lord's vineyard! Away with our prim, precise approach and our dignified hearing while all around us boys and girls are going plumb to hell! Away with our fear of being charged with "social service" work or the preaching of the "social gospel". Social gospel? Bah! Rather is it the carrying out of the great commission of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Social service? Fiddlesticks! It is the service outlined by Him who loved us! And gave Himself for us! And never has He rescinded His orders. It can never be social service or a social gospel as long as Jesus Christ is presented as Saviour and His finished work on Calvary as the only basis of salvation! And that's what these boys and girls need! Brethren, we face a problem here---a serious problem. You may rant and rave about the dangers of communism, of apostasy, of atheism. And again I say:---rightly so. But all of these evils are finding their most fertile soil among our youth. Only the church of Jesus Christ has been slow to awaken to the value of winning the boys and girls in their formative years. We have played at it while destructive agencies have been in earnest. And yet we have the only solution to the problem. The psychiatrist has not the solution; neither has the psychologist, nor the sociologist. Legislators have not found the solution, neither have the law enforcement bodies. I have studied most of the proposed solutions offered by these agencies. While I say that they have not the proper solution, I must admit to their credit that they are trying hard, with the limited equipment at their disposal, to do something to stem the tide of child crime. In the same breath I am forced to admit with shame, that we, who have the solution to the problem, are doing little, if anything about it! "The Children of This World" Recognize What Is Needed I wish you might have been with me in a recent series of sociology studies taught by, a State University professor. We were dealing primarily with juvenile Delinquency. Toward the close of the course the professor asked his students, (among whom were high school superintendents and principals, doctors, welfare workers, etc.) what they would suggest, after weeks of intensive study, as solutions to the problems of delinquency. I wish you might have heard the suggestions offered. One was confident that more and better dental clinics would solve the problem; another assumed that state-paid optometrists correcting faulty vision among the children would solve the problem; still another that chiropodists correcting maladjusted feet would do more than any other agency to combat child crime-and so on and on and When I ventured to assert that the vital spot had not yet be touched in the discussion, the heart was deceitful and, all things desperately wicked, and that that the problem was one could be met only by spiritual means, the professor said: "We are prepared to admit that spiritual forces must be recognized in any battle against crime. But the spiritual forces in this country may be likened to an immense dynamo standing over there in the corner; plenty of potential power, but utterly idle and unless and until someone turns the switch. The church," said he, "is entrusted with the task of setting the great dynamo in action, but the church seems to have lost or thrown away the key to the switch.” Brethren in the ministry and service of the Lord, I had to admit that to a large extent the professor was correct. There is no group of men whose work so vitally and continually touches the whole problem of delinquency; there is no group whose efforts should be so focused on that problem. Back to Reefer Madness Museum Page #1 |
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