MARIHUANA MENACE
DISCOVERY of a large quantity of marihuana weed in the home of a Harris township Indian shocks us to the realization that this much-talked of drug menace is established right In our midst.

The general understanding has been that marihuana cigarets were being bootlegged Into Upper Peninsula communities from Chicago, Detroit and other large centers. But to learn that the weed is being grown locally and is being used by quite a large number of persons, particularly boys and girls, is somewhat of a surprise.

Traffic in marihuana is a federal offense. Studies of the effects of the use of this drug reveal that it is as dangerous to physical and moral welfare of the addicts as are other narcotics. The officers who have run down the source of marihuana distribution in this area are to be commended. Very likely, however, there are other peddlers of this dope, and the initial success In the drive against marihuana should spur the authorities in their efforts to get the traffic well under control.

Early Actress Is Assembly Speaker
A silent film star who reached the peak of her movie career in 1917 at the age of 17, Juanita Hansen , spoke on the evils of narcotics at a special assembly program at Escanaba senior high school yesterday afternoon. Especially timely washer discussion of marihuana , which is now the object of a nation - wide crusade and which has been found in large quantities in Escanaba recently.

“Narcotics nipped in the bud my film career, ” said the blonde beauty of the silent days, who dared death a score of times in the early “ thrillers” and is now in her late thirties. “One sniff, taken for a thrill at a Hollywood party, began the end of my career as an actress.”

Miss Hansen, who is staging a one-woman campaign against narcotic, said that Marihuana is the most dangerous of all narcotics. “It is a stepping stone to the use of other drugs.” she said, "and its use brings its victims into contact with the whole illicit trade.”

When asked how she believes the narcotic evil may be suppressed, she replied, “Through education--- ignorance is the cause of every addict’s downfall. Children know enough not to pick up rattlesnakes. I want them to know the story of my life, so they will know that just one sniff of a drug is as fatal as the bite of a cobra. —Daily Press Photo

MARIHUANA—ITS ORIGIN
Murder of State Policeman Brings on Campaign Against Weed
DETROIT, June 9. (AP)—One cold day last winter two Michigan state police officers, searching the winding roads of the south end of the state, overtook and arrested two hoodlums suspected of kidnaping and robbing a salesman.

Trooper Richards Hammond started for a police post with one of the suspects, while Trooper Sam Sineni bundled the second suspect into the commandeered car and headed for the same destination.

Hammond's Body Found.
Trooper Sineni and his prisoner reached the police post, but Hammond and the second prisoner never showed up.   Early the following-morning Hammond's body was found on the outskirts of a little south Michigan town.   He lay with his faced pressed into he sleet-covered earth, his hands shackled to a rural mailpost by his own handcuffs.   And a round hole at the base of his ear showed where be bullet that killed him had entered.

A manhunt over" the frozen counryside brought the arrest of Alcide (Frenchy) Benoit, small-time Detroit gangster.   Benoit confessed readily and blamed his act of murder on marihuana.

The case is not unique.   The police dockets of the nation are loaded with acts of violence which have been traced directly to use of the drug. Murderers in such widely scattered points as Newark. N. J., Clarksburg, W. Va., Houston, Tex., Tampa, Fla., and Columbus, O., have within recent years signed confessions stating that their acts of violence were committed under delusions brought on by the use of marihuana.

Not a New Drug.
Yet, oddly enough, marihuana is not a new drug. Many authorities have identified the narcotic intoxicant used by people of ancient civilizations as Indian hemp or, generally, marihuana. Such ancient historical writings as those of Herodotus and the poems of Homer contain references to the drug as a source of insensibility and drunkenness. Hindu priests and followers of the Hindu religion have taker various forms of the drug to induce religious hallucination and frenzy.   It is mentioned in he Arabian Nights tales.   Moslim sheiks knew its power on the suggestibility of their followers.   The literature of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is filled with reference to the prevalence of hashish intoxication.