REEFER MADNESS ERA MOTION PICTURES

• First with its dirty work long ago done, there was no longer a need for such a campaign.   And the bureau now simply wanted the whole thing to be forgotten.   Why stir up old memories of their lie campaign which could come back to hunt them.   Best to simply forget the whole thing.
  
  
• Second, was the philosophical viewpoint of Harry Anslinger himself.   He simply believed that “Out of Sight”, literally meant, “Out of Mind:”; -- aka, the ostrich with his head in the sand approach.   As one education so well put it:

THE PROBLEM OF ADOLESCENT DRUG ADDICTION -- PREVENTION THROUGH EDUCATION
Dr. Clare C. Baldwin
Assistant Superintendent of Schools (1951) "This letter (written by Mr. Anslinger) represents the official attitude that has dominated this subject, and has resulted almost in its exclusion from educational analysis and attack.   It is similar to the kind of thinking which for years kept cancer, tuberculosis, or venereal disease out of public view.   Very frankly, in my opinion the Commissioner's arguments are specious and contrary to all of our evidence. . .

But more important is the evidence controverting the Commissioner's statement that, "We find that most young people who have become addicted, acquired this evil habit not because of ignorance of consequences, but rather because they had learned too much about the effects of drugs ".   Actually it is amazing how casually the first shot of heroin was taken or the first reefer was smoked by these boys and girls.   Perhaps a peddler said, "Do you want something to make you feel good? Sniff this." Or, "Smoke this." Often it was a case of "The other fellows were doing it, so I decided to try it." The simple truth is that most of these youngsters took the initial step with only an experimental curiosity to learn what the effects would be, and all of.   them were abysmally ignorant of the ultimate consequences.   I can never be persuaded it was anything but ignorance --- ignorance of the general public and the victims alike --- which accounts for what has happened.

"This over-the-top '50s juvenile delinquency melodrama has developed a cult following for its rabid anti-marijuana message and a thoroughly enjoyable performance by teen-pic icon Dick Bakalyan as one of the teenagers gone bad.  A reform-school graduate turns some long-in-the-tooth high schoolers onto the loco weed; before long, they're hopelessly addicted, with crime, insanity, and death the inevitable results.  The Cool and the Crazy was shot on location in Kansas City, where Dick Bakalyan actually spent a few hours in jail when local cops thought he was a for-real bad guy and not just acting."
--Www.allmovie.com - as per world-cat

After a gig, Gene Krupa (Sal Mineo) is confronted by a guy with a cigarette case full of reefers.   “Reefers?” he asks.   “Wheat, the tender weed.” The guy says.   “So that’s what they look like.” Responds Gene.   Later, after a party, a singer corrupts Gene by slipping him a reefer when he asks for a cigarette.   He takes a drag and realizing what it is takes another.   “Don’t diddle it.” The lady says.   At the end of a concert, Gene is greeted by detectives in his dressing room.   “These two envelopes, one of them contains 37 marijuana cigarettes, reefers.   The other containing two, one half smoked, found in your coat pocket.” Gene is arrested, jailed and black balled in the jazz world.   There are also some great classic newspaper headlines in this movie.   --- Source: Marijuana in the Movies (booklet).

"Jeanette, a pretty high school student, is looking for "kicks."   She starts hanging out with a wild crowd, and begins popping "bennies, uppers" and other pills.   Soon she graduates from barbiturates to (gasp!) marijuana, which of course means that she is immediately turned into a heroin addict.  Pretty soon Jeanette is stealing to feed her marijuana and heroin habits, then descends even further, and becomes a streetwalker."

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