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SEX-CRAZING DRUG MENACE
Fast-Growing Debasement of Our
Youngsters,
Making Them Wantons and Killers
Physical Culture
magazine – Feb. 1937
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SHAME and death are the evil blossoms of a sinister
growth that threatens to ruin the health and minds of thousands of America's
youth; Striking in the darkness, this stealthy public enemy can be fought only
by the clear daylight of publicity. Only
in this way can we secure the drastic legislation to cope with a new and deadly
menace. But just what is this
gloomy monster of destruction?
Consternation swept an exclusive Eastern finishing
school recently when one of its popular girl students suddenly killed herself.
The school authorities hushed up the scandal with a story of accident,
then launched an investigation to determine the cause of the tragedy.
The
suicide was a charming, seventeen-year-old girl of good family. Money worries were out of the question. Her scholastic record, until shortly before her death, had
been good. She had no serious love
affairs. Illness was also
precluded; she had been a normal, athletic girl who liked school sports and
played them well enough to compete in basketball, tennis and pool events.
Her teachers were questioned. All they could vouchsafe was that, for several weeks, the
girl, whom we shall call Janet, had been moody, inattentive, and forgetful.
Accustomed to the whims of schoolgirls, they put it
down to some new pose-perhaps an exaggeration of the "vague" mannerism
which was cultivated for a time by fashionable debutantes. But it evidently was not a pose this time, they agreed.
The girl's school chums were questioned.
Several of them seemed to be keeping something back.
But the school authorities persisted, and finally got to the bottom of
the whole heart-rending, pitiful story.
Janet had been one of a number of girls to attend a
football game in a nearby university town.
The game was followed by the usual collegiate dance and houseparty-chaperoned
about as well as these mass adventures of youth can be in this modern era, when
adolescence practically sets its own rules.
A new acquaintance, with a family background that
should have been sufficient in the way of credentials, averred that the party
was getting dull and proposed a trip to a certain "hot spot"-a
roadhouse where he guaranteed better swing music than was being furnished at the
college affair.
Janet, another girl, and another boy agreed to go
along, on the theory that they would be gone only a couple of hours, and would
never be missed. In view of the
similar impulsive "walkouts" that mark most such affairs, they were
probably justified in the assumption.
However, before reaching the roadhouse, the sponsor
of the excursion wheeled his car to a stop on a lonely woods-road, and, turning
to the others, said:
“How about a little drag of love-wee?”
The girls didn’t like the sound of it.
“Aw.” Said their host, “that’s just a nickname.
Some call it love-weed, some call it greefa, some call it muggles.
It just gives you a little extra kick that's all.
Makes the music sound better. Take
a whiff. One won't do you any harm, anyhow."
Janet was still unconvinced. But, after all the others had passed a cigarette from lip to
lip, she yielded, rather than be called a "sissy."
The acrid smoke made her cough. "Whew!"
she said. "You can keep
them." "Try again,"
was the reply. "Hold it longer
this time. You'll be wild about
it."
True enough, this time it didn't taste so bad.
But, as she breathed out the last of the pungent smoke, tasting something
like stale coffee flavored with licorice, she resolved she would experiment no
more.
The resolve came too late.
With that last inhalation of the insidious, poisonous fumes, her
will-power dropped away from her like a rent garment, leaving her a tractable,
pliant creature, as exposed to chance suggestion as if her soul had been naked
to the wind.
Again, she breathed in that treacherous, stinging
vapor, surrendering herself and her youthful senses to its imperious, idiot
power.
"Love-weed?" she thought.
"Is this love?" Stripped of inhibitions, her ego clamored to be
informed. Reality mingled with
delusion, lending false glamour to the voice, the touch, and the dope-dazed
kisses of her companion.
Time passed-but with no sense of time.
She found herself on a dance floor, dancing with a man she had never seen
before. It seemed an eternity
between each beat of the music. Other
men strangers-approached her. She
was passive in their hands.
The rest is too horrible to tell. Even the victim did not tell it all herself.
But she confided enough to enable investigators to piece out the rest
from her companions and from employees of the roadhouse.
Then the investigators understood why this
seventeen-year-old girl, with all the world before her, had chosen the dark path
of self-destruction. To the credit of the authorities of that particular school,
they did not let their investigation stop when it had attained its immediate
object.
What they wanted to know, was this “love-weed”?
How did it happen to be in the possession of a college boy?
How widely was it used, particularly among the young?
The
results of that inquiry were astounding to its authors-though by no means so to
the narcotic enforcement officials who eventually heard their story.
They learned, first of all as police, social
workers, and child welfare groups all over the country have learned in the last
few years-that "love-weed" is one of the many names of a too-easily
procurable narcotic which goes under the scientific title of cannabis Americana.
Of its
other names, probably the most familiar is marijuana, originating in Mexico,
where the drug has long been a source of poverty, madness and crime. Others are “greefa,” also of Mexican origin, “Mary
Warner,” “reefer,” “muggles,” “mooter,” “moots,” and “joy
smoke.”
But regardless of its name, the investigators
found, it is regarded everywhere in the United States today as a major menace to
society and particularly to that very important factor in society, the Nation's
youth.
Scarcely
known outside the medical profession a few years ago, this insidious narcotic,
which might better called "hate-weed" than "love-weed" is
now so widely used throughout the United States that every metropolitan police
officer and welfare worker know it by taste, sight and smell.
They
know its pernicious effects, too not only on the young and inexperienced, but
upon the weak and criminally inclined of all ages.
Yet
the fight against it has been s handicapped thus far by inadequate laws and
public apathy or ignorance that it is continuing to extend its hold over a
constantly widening area and an ever-increasing number of people.
THIS alarming situation was recognized by the State
Department of the Federal Government in a recent report to the League of Nations
Advisor Committee on Narcotics which frankly said:
"Addiction to marijuana, which was formerly
confined largely to the Middle West and Southwest, appears to be spreading.
It has now become a problem in the Southeastern and Northeastern parts of
the United States.
"A disconcerting development in quite a number
of States is found in the apparently increasing use of marijuana by the younger
element in the larger cities."
Fully a year ago, H. J. Anslinger, speaking as
United States Narcotic Commissioner, pointed out the threat to youth from this
hell-weed, at the same time urging stricter laws and heavier fines for marijuana
peddlers.
"While the use of other narcotics is
decreasing, marijuana smoking is increasing," this Federal official said.
"It is being taken up, worst of all, by young boys and girls, mostly
between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two.
Driven by the craving for this vicious and destructive drug, many of
these youthful addicts are turning to petty crime.
"The courts have been too lenient in these
cases. What we need most is jail
sentences for the peddlers."
Commissioner Anslinger estimated the total number
of drug addicts in the United States at 100,000, but said the figures had
probably risen since marijuana made its slimy way across the border from Mexico
and crept into our unguarded citadels of youth.
Directors of the Civilian Conservation Corps
recently added their pleas for protection from the new, insidious enemy.
But New Hampshire, where the plea originated, is one of nineteen states
which has no marijuana control law to back up the Federal Narcotic Act, and
Charles A. Burrows, Federal Narcotics Agent for New England, was forced to tell
the worried camp directors there was little the government could do about it.
A peculiarly perilous characteristic of the drug,
from the viewpoint of youth protectionists, is that it commonly inflames the
erotic impulses especially when smoked by adolescents.
In the case of young girls, this has resulted in
many tragedies resembling that of Janet. In
the case of youths between fifteen and twenty-five, it leads to revolting sex
crimes.
Irrespective of whether the addicts are boys,
girls, or adults, continued use of the drug almost invariably leads to mental
collapse and, quite frequently, to complete insanity.
On this, the government report just transmitted to the League of Nations
says that, taken in sufficient quantity, marijuana produces an "almost
immediate lust, complete irresponsibility and a tendency toward willful
violence," adding:
"Those
who are habitually accustomed to the use of cannabis frequently develop a
delirious rage after its administration, during which they are temporarily, at
least, irresponsible and liable to commit violent crimes. The prolonged use of this narcotic is said to produce mental
deterioration and eventually insanity."
How
has such a perilous and terrifying drug contrived to establish such an extensive
bold on America's carefully protected youth?
Parents
will want to know the answer to that, and, on behalf of the many thousands of
parents who read PHYSICAL CULTURE, I have gathered information on that phase of
this momentous problem from all possible sources
First, all agree, and the hardest to combat, is the
accessibility of marijuana. Unlike
the other narcotics, which can only be produced by expensive processes,
marijuana can be cultivated in nearly any soil, and smoked with no more
preparation than a little drying out.
SECOND, legislation has been very inadequate, owing
to the slowness of some states to adopt the uniform narcotic drugs act.
States which were still without this important law, as of June 22, 1936,
were Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Montana,
New Hampshire, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming.
Third,
the idleness to which, American youth was subjected during depression
conditions, coupled with the emphasis on the erotic appeal in current motion
pictures, plays, and some types of publications.
Psychologists generally agree that the natural energy of youth is bound
to find an outlet in harmful diversion, provided it is thwarted from its logical
expression in necessary work or competitive play.
Fourth,
the general leveling of the manners and morals of the sexes. This is regarded as of particular importance in providing
opportunity.
Fifth,
the after-effects of prohibition, which got youth into the habit of looking for
a "thrill" outside the law.
Sixth,
and not the least important, an amazing disagreement until recently among
medical men themselves on the nature and effects of cannabis Americana.
No one
investigating the subject can fail to be impressed by this phase of the
marijuana problem.
For
years, neither marijuana nor its Asiatic bad brother, hashish, which goes under
the scientific name of.cannabis Indica, was classed in the pharmacopeia as a
narcotic.
Scientific
treatises on marijuana are particularly scant, and it is doubtful that anyone
has made a real analytical study of it, comparable with the thousands of such
studies that have been made of the effects of opium, cocaine, and the other
traditional narcotics.
However, the Federal Narcotic Bureau now classes it
very emphatically as a narcotic, and medical observers of its effects on
delinquent youths are beginning to think it may be the most dangerous of all.
Not
because of its immediate effects, which may vary considerably with the age and
temperament of the individual, but because of its wide use, its cheapness, and
the insidiously harmless guise under which it masquerades.
No one
can take morphine or cocaine without knowing it.
But a pinch of marijuana can easily be inserted in a cigarette without
the smoker being the wiser.
"G-men"
who this fall unearthed and sent to prison a huge interstate vice syndicate,
reaching from New York to Maine, were not surprised to find that many of the
victims, as well as their enslavers, were marijuana addicts.
THE use of the drug to entrap girls was old in Asia
and Mexico before it ever came to the attention of New York practitioners of
this most loathsome of human occupations.
That ancient, but by no means mythical, Oriental
potentate, "the Old Man of the Mountain," employed hashish in a way
that was only slightly more terrible---or less, according to the viewpoint.
A ruler by blackmail, like any modern racketeer, he fed his hoodlums with
a hashish paste before sending them out on murder jobs.
Etymology has embalmed this practise in that dreadful word
"assassin," derived directly from "hashish."
Police have encountered some cases of gang leaders
using marijuana in that same way. But
not with great success, as the drug renders the user too incautious for modern
methods of killing.
By and large, police are more fearful of the
steadily debasing effect of marijuana on youthful morals than of the rare addict
that turns to murder.
He can
be handled. But the non-criminal
addict goes on about his usual pleasures, corrupting other boys and girls, and
steadily widening the trail of moral devastation which this invading poison has
blazed across our land.
It
seems strange that American girls and boys should fall prey to such a habit,
savoring of the sensuality and languor of the Orient, rather than the
full-blooded vitality of the New World. But,
as sociologists have been pointing out for a number of years, many a youth of
today enjoys a leisure comparable only with that of the ancient Oriental
potentate.
Vigorous
and habitual outdoor exercise is the logical way to resist the enervating
influences of easy transportation, rich and abundant food, and similar
innovations that are taken for granted by the rising generation.
But, lacking the natural outlets for youth's abundant energy, it is to be
expected that the weak and experimentally inclined will turn to sensation.
To this type, a "reefer party" is one
more thrill. If he can find a young
an innocent girl to share his moral degradation, that adds still another
sensation.
Visions of an erotic nature may visit the
"reefer" slave while under the influence of the narcotic. But not always. Many
experience only a horrible sensation of approaching death.
Charles Baudelaire, the French poet, was a hashish addict and his death
was a typical example of the devastating effects of cannabis addiction.
A master of language, he suddenly found himself unable to pronounce the
simplest words. This was followed
by a general collapse of his faculties and a condition medically classified as
"general paralysis of the insane."
For the last three months of his life, he lay helpless and inert, only
his eyes reflecting the torturing hallucinations that possessed his once-great
mind. He died at forty-six, a
melancholy figure of self destroyed genius.
The delusion of super-acuteness of senses which he
mentions in his writings is familiar to medical students of marijuana addiction.
This is usually accompanied by an exaggeration of the ego, which makes
the dope slave feel he actually is the master of everything and everybody.
He has ideas which he feels are very brilliant, but
which he cannot express. At first,
his delusions fit into his surroundings, but, as the effect of the drug becomes
stronger, he gradually loses the power of controlling his thoughts, and sinks
into a fantastic succession of confused dreams and impressions.
It seems incredible that a drug of such potency
ever could be permitted to fall into the hands of adolescents, let alone younger
children. Yet a recent survey of
the marijuana situation revealed that, as far back as 1926, 200 New Orleans
school children, under the age of fourteen, were discovered to be addicts!
In this case, as in many others, a vicious drug peddler was to blame.
Large cities had a monopoly on the traffic at one
time, but no longer. Not long ago,
the police of Wichita, in the heart of the great agricultural state of Kansas,
revealed that marijuana parties were being staged at roadhouses by boys and
girls of high school age. After a
few "reefers" had been smoked, the party became an orgy conducted
under conditions that shocked the investigating officers.
These orgies by youthful addicts are familiar to
police-and are becoming too familiar to school principals and welfare workers.
IN a Connecticut city, officers of a morality squad
recently found girls of tender years appearing in scanty garb before an audience
of men. The odor of marijuana was
strong in the building, and several of the members of this unsavory audience
were found to be "under the influence." No one will regret that,
without exception, these particular addicts will have several years in prison to
recover from their bad habits, and build up a new set of moral ideas.
High school principals in various portions of the
country have also found wholesale expulsions necessary, following the exposure
of marijuana "cults" among pupils.
These cults usually start with one or two couples
and end up with a dozen. A teacher
of thirty years' experience gave me some details of one of these orgies, as
obtained from two fifteen year-old girls who participated.
The teacher would not credit them unit she had questioned the girls
separately.
The ownership of the building where these orgies
were held was traced to the same conscienceless peddler who had supplied the
cult members with marijuana. But
the parents of the students involved were opposed to letting the scandal become
public, and it was impossible to conduct a successful prosecution of the man.
It is safe to say that the lives of all these
children have been indelibly marked by an experience that will make it almost
impossible for them to lead normal adult lives.
The marijuana peddler, incidentally, left town, but the parents and
teachers of his victims have no way of knowing he is not sowing the same seeds
of degradation and despair in some other community.
The cheapness of marijuana is one of the things
local and Federal officers find difficult to fight.
They have succeeded recently in some cities in driving the price to fifty
cents. When they can get it to a
dollar, they will feel they have marijuana on the run.
THIS method has been effective in control of the
opium and morphine traffic, and Federal officers are sure it can be worked with
equal success against this new and no less deadly menace to human health and
happiness.
Led by Parent-Teacher associations, clubwomen have
also begun of late to take an active hand in the combat, with results that
promise no good for the peddlers.
Among the first to take cognizance of the new drug
threat hanging over American childhood, was Mrs. Grace Morrison Poole, dean of
Stoneleigh College at Rye, New Hampshire and former president of the General
Federation of Women's Clubs of America. Speaking
as president of that influential organization, Mrs. Poole said:
"The women of America are just beginning to
understand the frightful peril of marijuana.
We know now that it is a real danger.
We suspect a carefully organized plot among dope peddlers to make addicts
of school children, so as to assure themselves of a future supply of customers.
"It is a horrible and frightening situation, but we hope it has not
gone too far to be checked.
"Liquor was bad enough, but it is easy to
recognize. With this insidious
narcotic, the girl is often ruined mentally, morally and physically before her
addiction is detected.
"Educational work is needed among mothers and
teachers as well as school children. We
must learn to detect marijuana addiction in time, so we can save the child and
punish the peddler.
"Publicity, such as is offered by the more
constructive periodicals, is the best possible weapon at present, and every
mother should be grateful for the help given in this crucial cause."
In an effort to get at the source of supply, the
Federal Narcotic Bureau has been educating officers and civic workers in the
appearance of marijuana when growing. A
typical member of the large botanical family of hemp-scientifically grouped as
cannabis sativa the narcotic variety may be distinguished by its long clustered
leaves, and its flowering tops. It
is these tops that are used by veteran addicts, though the peddlers boast of
selling everything but the roots to novices.
In all except nineteen states, it is illegal to plant or cultivate
marijuana, but there are always those who will take a chance.
It has even been found growing wild in Connecticut and New Jersey, and
state police there were called upon this summer to stamp it out.
Convicts at Joliet, Illinois, and San Quentin, California, were
discovered growing it in prison garden patches.
Cultivated plots have also been found-and destroyed-in such unexpected
districts as Coney Island and the so-called "jungle" near Brooklyn
bridge.
Police in all Eastern cities report a growing
addiction among whites, contrasted with the situation two or three years ago,
when the most of the users were from such districts as New York's Harlem.
Certain types of professional musicians are blamed
by police for spreading the habit in night clubs.
These musician addicts defend themselves or the ground that they can keep
better time when narcoticized. A
delusion, say the doctors, like everything else about "Mary Warner."
Officials everywhere realize they have a long, hard fight ahead.
They wish they had stopped bad Mary before she slipped over the border
from Mexico, and began her attack on
American youth.
But they are confident they will drive her to cover
in the end, just as they have licked Lady Morphia and her train of deadly hand
maidens.
FOR Americans, at bottom. are not sensualists nor
idle dreamers the stuff from which Queen Narcotia draws her hapless subject
throng. We are realists and doers,
with far too much common sense to waste time , the fatal charm of "Mary
Warner" or any other prize bloom in the Devil’s pet garden.
Now and then, there will be an unfortunate Janet,
for the susceptibility of individuals to marijuana varies to an amazing degree:
But there will be fewer such tragedies as the peddlers go behind the bars where
they belong.
Meanwhile, the advice of medical and narcotic
experts to thrill-seekers, old or young, is to find some safer thrill than using
marijuana in any form. Making a
delayed parachute jump from an altitude of a thousand feet is suggested as a
starter.
Physical Culture magazine – Feb. 1937 – Pub.
By Macfadden Publications, Inc. 1926 Broadway, New York, N.Y.
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