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THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLICE SCIENCE - Vol. 2 --1931 p252
The following is one of the most influential articles ever published during the Reefer Madness era. Although published in the “American Journal of Police Science,” (not exactly the most widely read journal at the time), as its name implies, it was read by the right people and it was widely quoted by numerous other journals. Thus its influence was wide spread.
ABOUT EUGENE STANLEY (its author)
From what we have been able to find out about him (via the Internet), it’s real easy to see how he could have been both loved and hated.
On one hand we have an incorruptible individual who stood up the Huey P. Long:
Orleans Parish District Attorney Eugene Stanley began presenting evidence to a grand jury that massive fraud had occurred. . . . “by Sep. of 1933, Stanley had brought indictments against 513 New Orleans election officials” ---- Deliver the Vote: A History of Election Fraud, an American Political -by Tracy CampbellBut on the other, we have a hard core Reefer Madness case whose fake study was quoted everywhere: (Some Examples)
THE district attorney of New Orleans says that 13 out of 37 murderers, 13 out of 45 forgers, 36 out of 195 imprisoned for grand larceny, and 20 out of 115 detained for assault and robbery, are addicts of marijuana. Thus one out of every four arrested in that city is a marijuana addict. -- “Murderous Marijuana” By F.I. Furry, M.D. - HEALTH (May 1938 p9) Pacific Press PublishingIN addition, his study (assuming it ever took place) was really never that well documented. We have never been able to obtain a copy of it, and thus we can only presume that (again, assuming it was ever done) would have consisted solely of short statements made by prisoners (who were obviously under duress). A fact that was made all to clear in a book by Bonnie and Whitebread:
Of 37 murderers sentenced in New Orleans recently, seventeen were confessed marihuana users. -- Assassin of Youth (booklet) by the Rev. Divine
Some years ago a prosecuting attorney in New Orleans claimed that 50 per cent of the murders in his city could be traced to marihuana. Law enforcement officers all over the country have been dealing with marihuana-crazed young men and women who have violated the law under its influence. --- MARIHUANA THE NEW DANGEROUS DRUG by FREDERICK T. MERRILL
What's Wrong with Marijuana? [2]In the words of one website: (www.ukcia.org)
“. . .during the congressional hearings on the M.T.A.) Three major sources were relied on to support this consensus (1) a variety of horror stories from newspapers cited by Mr. Anslinger and others about atrocious criminal acts committed by individuals under the influence of the drug; [31] (2) studies by Eugene Stanley, the District Attorney of New Orleans, linking the drug and the population of the Louisiana jails; [32] and (3) some inconclusive experimentation on dogs. [33] As we noted earlier, the newspaper stories about crimes committed under the influence of marijuana have two things in common: The reports are unsubstantiated, and many of the accused invoked their use of marijuana as a defense to the charge . [34]
The New Orleans report concluded: "After an exhaustive research on marijuana from its earliest history to the present time, this drug is in our judgment the one that must be eliminated entirely." [35] What was this exhaustive research? It appears to have been nothing but quotations from the most hysterical series of newspaper articles to appear at that time [36] and reports of the number of marijuana addicts to be found in the prison population. [37] The relation of these figures to the conclusion that the drug must be regulated was never established.
The Stanley study [38] was even less well documented and even more outrageous in its description of the effects of marijuana use. "It is an ideal drug to quickly cut off inhibitions." [39] For this proposition Stanley relied on the story of the Persian "Assassins" who allegedly committed acts of terror while under the influence of hashish. “
“Eugene Stanley was the district attorney of New Orleans, Louisiana - an ambitious DA trying to find a scapegoat for an extended wave of robberies that were actually a result of the alcohol prohibition. The marijuana users he prosecuted were disproportionately black folks.”Thus, the author seems to have had two sides to him. One good and the other bad.
The American Journal of Police Science - Vol. 2 --1931 p252
MARIHUANA AS A DEVELOPER OF CRIMINALS
By EUGENE STANLEY
District Attorney, Parish of Orleans, New Orleans, La.
Many prosecuting attorneys in the South and Southwest have been confronted with the defense that, at the time of the commission of the Criminal act, the defendant was irresponsible, because of being under the influence of Marihuana to such a degree he was unable to appreciate the difference between right and wrong, and was therefore legally insane. A great deal of difficulty has been experienced in rebutting this defense with the testimony of psychiatrists, for, while some of these experts are conversant with the nature and effect of this drug, it has been the experience of the author that many of them are without any information on the subject. This is probably due to the fact that this drug has come into wide use in certain parts of the South only within the last ten years.
It is the purpose of this article to give a brief outline of the nature and origin of Marihuana and the Legislation so far enacted concerning its sale and use; to recommend that this drug be placed within the provisions of the Harrison Anti-narcotic Act, and to give a list of some of the works which may be consulted by any person interested in making a thorough study of the situation.
Marihuana is the Mexican term for Cannabis lndica. The plant or drug known as Cannabis Indica, or Marihuana has as its parent the plant known as Cannabis Sativa. It is popularly known in India as Cannabis Indica; in America, as Cannabis Americana; in Mexico, as Mexicana, or Marihuana. It is all the same drug, and is known in different countries by different names. It is scientifically known as Cannabis Sativa, and is popularly called Cannabis Americana, Cannabis Indica, or Cannabis Mexicana, in accordance with the geographical origin of the particular plant. In the East, it is known as Charras, as Gunga, as Hasheesh, as Bhang, or Siddi, and goes by a variety of names in the countries of continental Europe.
Cannabis Sativa is an annual herb from the "hemp" plant; it has angular, rough stems and deeply lobed leaves. It is derived from the flowering tops of the female plant of hemp grown in semitropical and temperate countries. It was once thought that only the plant grown in India was active, but it has been scientifically determined that the American specimen termed "marihuana" or "Muggles" is equal in potency to the best weed of India. The plant is a moraceous herb. In the South, amongst the negroes, it is termed "mooter." In India, where marihuana is scientifically cultivated on a wide scale for the drug obtained from it, the plants, when small, are separated, the female plant being used exclusively for the purpose of obtaining the drug. In Mexico and in America, the plants are permitted to grow together indiscriminately, without separating the male and female specimens, and as a result the potency of the female is lessened by the admixture of the male element. In semitropical climates, because of the fertility of the soil and the ease with which hemp seed may be procured, the plant can easily be cultivated, and prohibition of its cultivation is rendered practically impossible. It resembles a weed, and has been found growing in some of the back yards and lots of cities. Traffic in it, and in the drug derived from it, has been found to be considerable, particularly in the South and Southwestern States.
CULTIVATION OF HEMP
Hemp is cultivated all over the world; its culture probably originated in China, from whence it spread. It is grown for three purposes; for the fibre, out of which rope, twine, cloth and hats are made; for the seed, from which a rapidly drying oil is obtained that is used in the arts and as a commercial substitute for linseed oil; and for the narcotic contained in the resin of the dried, flowering tops of the pistillate plant. The seed is also sold as a constituent of commercial bird seed.
Hemp was grown in the New England colonies for fibre to be used in the making of homespun. It was also grown in the Virginia and Pennsylvania colonies and cultivated at a very early date in the settlements of Kentucky, whence the industry spread to Missouri. It has been grown at various times in Illinois, near Champaign; in the Kankakee river valley, in Indiana; in Southeastern Pennsylvania and in Nebraska, Iowa and California. It is now abundant as a wild plant in many localities in Western Missouri, Iowa, Southern Minnesota and in the Southwestern and Western States, where it is often found as a roadside weed. It is not known when the plant was introduced into Mexico and the Southwest, but probably along with the early Spanish settlements. It was known in Chile in the 16th Century.
The hemp first cultivated in the United States was of the small European variety, but this has been replaced since 1857 by the larger Chinese hemp. Practically all the seed for present day American hemp culture is grown in tile Kentucky river valley.
CANNABIS INDICA OR SATIVA
Cannabis Sativa is designated as a "narcotic" in a number of State laws. It is sometimes mentioned in the law as "loco weed" because of its inebriate effect upon men and cattle; in others as "marihuana," "hemp," or "hashish"; in fact the drug is known by a wide variety of names. It is one of several drugs included under the anti-narcotic laws of 17 states, namely: Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana. New Mexico, Nevada, California, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Utah, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa. It is also prohibited under the laws of Mexico and England. In a great many of the States where this legislation was enacted, so widespread was the use of marihuana, and so terrific the result, that grave emergencies were declared to exist which justified the legislation taking effect immediately, and restrictions respecting tile smoking of "hemp" are mentioned along with those restricting opium smoking.
Although the different forms of the plant have been described under various botanical names, there are no essential differences in any of their specific characteristics, and all cultivated or wild hemp is now recognized as belonging to one species---Cannabis Sativa.
THE ORIGIN OF THE DRUG
The origin of the drug is very ancient.
In the year 1090, A. D., the religious and military order or Sect of the Assassins was founded in Persia, and the numerous acts of cruelty of this sect was known not only in Asia, but in Europe as well. This branch of the Shiite sect, known as Ismalites, was called Hashishan, derived from Hashish, or the confection of hemp leaves (Cannabis Indica). In fact, from the Arabic "Hashishan" we have the English word "Assassin." It is mentioned in the Arabian Nights, and was known at the time of the crusades. It was known to the Greeks as "Nepenthe," and was lauded in the immortal Odyssey of Homer as a drug to lull all pain and anger, and to bring forgetfulness of all sorrow.
It was known in ancient times to the Egyptians, and its use in Egypt, at the present time, is wide-spread. In fact, it is presently as widely used amongst the Egyptians, and in the East, as opium is used by the Chinese, and alcohol by the Americans and Europeans. Its effect upon the Malays has been terrific, and the natives of the Malayan Peninsula have been known, while under its influence, to rush out and engage in violent or bloody deeds, with complete disregard for their personal safety, or the odds arrayed against them. To run "amok" in the Malay Peninsula is synonymous with saying one is under the influence of this drug.
In America, particularly in the South and Southwestern portions of the United States, it is called marihuana. It is popularly known amongst the criminal element as "muggles," or "mooter" and addicts are commonly termed "muggle heads."
THE EFFECT OF THE USE OF THE DRUG
The flowering tops of the female plant are the source from which the drug is obtained, and in America these flowering tops are gathered and rolled into cigarettes and smoked, the smoke being inhaled. A favorite method of enjoying these cigarettes is for the user to draw the smoke into the mouth and then blow it out against the cupped hands, whence lie inhales it.
In India, marihuana or "muggles" is mostly used in "ganja" form, which is the Indian name for a mixture of the stems, leaves and flowering tops of the cultivated female plant. It is smoked, as in America, in the form of cigarettes, or in a pipe; its smell is typically offensive, and is easily recognized by the initiated.
Bhang or siddi, are the Indian names for the mixture of these dry leaves and capsules without stems, whether male or female, cultivated, or in its wild state. It is the cheapest and the weakest of all the preparations of hashish, and is taken as "tea." In that country, the resinous substance which exudes from the flowering head of the female plant is called "charris," and is either smoked or taken in pills or in confections, or mixed with sugar or honey, and is commonly sold amongst the bazaars of Egypt and the far East.
In many respects, the action of Cannabis Sativa is similar to that of alcohol and morphine. Its toxic effects are ecstasy, merriment, uncontrollable laughter, self-satisfaction, bizarre ideas lacking in continuity, and its results are extreme hyperacidity, with occasional attacks of nausea and vomiting. It has also been described as producing, in moderate doses, anything from a mild intoxication to a dead drunk, a drowsy and semi-comatose condition, lapsing into a dreamy state, with a rapid flow of ideas of a sexual nature, ending in a deep sleep, interrupted by dreams. On awakening, there is a feeling of great dejection and prostration. Large doses produce excitement, delusions, hallucinations, rapid flow of ideas, a high ,state of ecstasy, psychomotor activity with a tendency to willful damage and violence, with a temporary amnesia of all that has transpired. In cases of prolonged addiction, especially in the Malays, the somnolent action of Cannabis Indica is replaced with complete loss of judgment and of restraint-the effect so frequently observed in alcoholic intoxication.
It is commonly used as an aphrodisiac, and its continued use leads to impotency. This has been observed amongst the natives of India.
It is an ideal drug to cut off inhibitions quickly.
At the time of the founding of the religious sect or order of "Assassins," in Persia, by Hassan Ben Sabbat, young men whom the Sheik desired to subjugate were given this drug, and when under its influence, were taken, blindfolded, into the garden of the Sheik, where every pleasure which appealed to the senses awaited them.
When complete indulgence in these pleasures had been had, they were taken from this garden, arid so eager were they for a further opportunity to use the drug and for a repetition of the attendant pleasures, that they were under the complete domination of the Sheik, who alone knew its secret, and gladly followed his will, even to the extent of sacrificing their lives if so commanded, in order further to experience the pleasures to which they had been initiated.
At the present time, the underworld has been quick to realize the value of this drug in subjugating the will of human derelicts to that of a master mind. Its use sweeps away all restraint, and to its influence may be attributed many of our present day crimes. It has been the experience of the Police and Prosecuting Officials in the South that immediately before the commission of many crimes the use of marihuana cigarettes has been indulged in by criminals, so as to relieve themselves from the natural restraint which might deter them from the commission of criminal acts, and to give them the false courage necessary to commit the contemplated crime.
THE GOVERNMENT'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS MARIHUANA
Indian hemp (marihuana) addicts were made eligible for treatment in recent legislation enacted by the 70th Congress, approved January 19th, 1929, establishing narcotic farms for the confinement arid treatment of persons addicted to the use of habit-forming narcotic drugs. This legislation is somewhat unique in Congressional legislation, since Indian hemp is not classified as a habit-forming drug or narcotic in other Federal narcotic laws.
Inasmuch as the harmful effects of the use of marihuana are daily becoming more widely known, and since it has been classed as a narcotic by the statutory laws of seventeen American States, England and Mexico, and since persons addicted to its use have been made eligible for treatment in the United States Narcotic Farms, the United States Government, will unquestionably be compelled to adopt a consistent attitude towards it, and include it in the Harrison Anti-narcotic Law, so as to give Federal aid to the States in their effort to suppress a traffic as deadly and as destructive to society as that in the other forms of narcotics now prohibited by this Act.
REFERENCES
See American Illustrated Medical Dictionary (Dorland, 1927) "Marihuana."
ARNY, HENRY V., Principles of Pharmacy, 3d ed. Philadelphia and London, W. B. Saunders Company, 1926, 1078 pages. "Cannabis": pp. 767-708. References: p. 779. (BETHEA)---Materia Medica and _Prescription Writing, 1926, pp. 114-16.
Boyce, Sidney S., Hemp (Cannabis Sativa) a practical treatise on the culture of hemp for seed and fibre, with a sketch of the history and nature of the hemp plant. New York, Orange Judd Company, 1900, 112 pp.
Briosi, GIOVANNI, Intorno alla anatomia canapa (Cannabis Sativa)
Milano, Tip. Beriiardoni di C. Rebeschini c c., 1894-96. 2 v.
"Bibliografia": v. 1, pp. 2-28; v. 2, pp. 14-38.
Century Dictionary & Encyclopedia (Vol. 12, p. 771, 19W).
Daggett, Charles H., Theory of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Philadelphia and New York, Lea & Febiger, 1910, 539 pages. "Cannaibs Indica"; p. 480
Edmunds C.W., and J.A. Gunn. A text-book of pharmacology and therapeutics. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Lea & Febiger, 1928. 743 pages. "Cannabis"; pp. 280-282
Encyclopedia-Brittanica (14th Ed. & 1929) --- Vo..II---p. 420---Hemp.
Evers, Norman and G.D. Elsdon. The analysis of drugs and chemicals. London, C. Griffin and Comp[any (1929), 372 pages. "Cannabis Indica" p. 190
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FOOTNOTES:
[2]- The Forbidden Fruit and the Tree of Knowledge: an Inquiry into the Legal History of American Marijuana Prohibition -- by Richard J. Bonnie & Charles H. Whitebread, Virginia Law Review, Vol. 56, Oct. 1970, No 6 -------------
32 Tax Act Hearings at 32-37.
33 Id. at 50-52.
34 See id. at 22-23. It is entirely likely that some of these particularly lurid stories were the product of desperate defendants, who, upon being caught red-handed in the commission of crime, sought mitigation of their penalties by claiming to be under the influence of the drug. See Bromberg, Marijuana: A Psychiatric Study, 113 J.A.M.A. 4 (1939). Bromberg cautions, "The extravagant claims of defense attorneys and the press that crime is caused by addiction to marihuana demands [sic] careful scrutiny, at least in this jurisdiction [New York County)." Id. at 10.
35 Tax Act Hearings 35.
36 A good example is the series run by the St, Louis Star-Times in early 1935 which featured such articles as the one entitled "Young Slaves to Dope Cigaret Pay Tragic Price for Their Folly" on Jan. 18, 1935.
37 See Gomila & Gomila, Marihuana-A More Alarming Menace to Society Than All Other Habit-Forming Drugs, quoted in Tax Act Hearings 32, 34. Mr. F. R. Gomila was public safety director of New Orleans.
38 Stanley, Marihuana as a Developer of Criminals, 2 Am. J. Police Sci. 252 (1931), quoted in Tax Act Hearings 37-42, is based on, and indeed is nearly a word-for-word paraphrase of, Fossier's article in the New Orleans Medical journal, supra note 91 at P. 1044. As we have seen, Fossier, in reaching his conclusions, overlooked the Panama Canal Zone study.
39 Tax Act Hearings 39.
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