Racism, Reefer and the Depression

Saw a program last night on the History Chanel called Hooked about the history of our current drug laws. It was quite interesting and I never knew how racism played a huge part in our current drug laws. I know from just looking at the prison data that racism does play into sentencing, but I had no idea how racial fear actually drove our drug policies from birth.

In a nut shell, after the Mexican Revolution, there was a max emmigration from Mexico to the US. When the great depression hit, the southwestern states wanted a way to get rid of the immigrants because there werent enough jobs to go around, so they used marijuanna laws to help do it. Until last night, I had never heard of Mexican repatriazation during the Depresion era.

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Americans had quickly associated smoking opium with Chinese immigrants who arrived after the Civil War to work on railroad construction. This association was one of the earliest examples of a powerful theme in the American perception of drugs: linkage between a drug and a feared or rejected group within society. Cocaine would be similarly linked with blacks and marijuana with Mexicans in the first third of the 20th century. The association of a drug with a racial group or a political cause, however, is not unique to America. In the 19th century, for instance, the Chinese came to regard opium as a tool and symbol of Western domination. That perception helped to fuel a vigorous anti opium campaign in China early in the 20th century.

http://www.drugtext.org/library/articles/musto01.htm
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Marijuana cultivation began in the United States around 1600 with the Jamestown settlers, who began growing the cannabis sativa or hemp plant for its unusually strong fiber that was used to make rope, sails, and clothing. Until after the Civil War, marijuana was a source of major revenue for the United States. During the 19th century marijuana plantations flourished in Mississippi, Georgia, California, South Carolina, Nebraska, New York, and Kentucky. Also during this period, smoking hashish, a stronger preparation of marijuana derived from the dried resin of the plant, was popular throughout France and to a lesser degree in the US.



Between 1850 and 1937 marijuana was widely used throughout United States as a medicinal drug and could easily be purchased in pharmacies and general stores. Recreational use was limited in the US until after the Mexican Revolution of 1910, when an influx of Mexican immigrants introduced the habit.



The Volstead Act of 1920, which raised the price of alcohol in the United States, positioned marijuana as an attractive alternative and led to an increase in use of the drug. "Tea pads," where a person could purchase marijuana for 25 cents or less, began appearing in cities across the United States, particularly as part of the black "hepster" jazz culture.



By 1930 it was reported that there were at least 500 of these "tea pads" in New York City alone. During the Great Depression as unemployment increased, resentment and fear of the Mexican immigrants became connected to marijuana use. Numerous research Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act which criminalized the drug. From 1951 to 1956 stricter sentencing laws set mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related offenses. In the 1950s the beatniks appropriated the use of marijuana from the black hepsters and the drug moved into middle-class white America in the 1960s.



The increasing use of marijuana by mainstream white Americans helped lead to the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, under which mandatory penalties for drug offenses were repealed by Congress and marijuana was categorized separately from other narcotics. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) was founded the same year.



In the late 1970s, President Carter’s administration, including his assistant for drug policy, Dr. Peter Bourne, pushed for decriminalization of marijuana, with the president himself asking Congress to abolish federal criminal penalties for those caught with less than one ounce of marijuana. A grassroots parents’ movement responded by lobbying for stricter regulations and was instrumental in changing public attitudes.



In 1986, President Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, reinstating mandatory minimums and raising federal penalties for possession and distribution. In 1996, California enacted Proposition 215, which legalized medical marijuana use for people suffering from AIDS, cancer, and other serious illnesses and a similar bill was passed in Arizona the same year.



Current domestic marijuana cultivation trends are towards indoor production due to law enforcement efforts to curtail outdoor cultivation. The majority of foreign marijuana is supplied by trafficking organizations in Mexico, although countries in the Far East, such as Thailand and Cambodia, also supply the United States.

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Here is another small paragraph that talks about the Mexican repatriation during the depression. I am going to post the link because this site also speaks of how many Mexican Americans lost their land also (interesting stuff, but I already knew this)

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As the Depression became more severe in the early 1930s, millions of people were jobless and being aided somewhat by the first faltering attempts at public welfare. Throughout the Southwest and such cities as Gary, Indiana; Detroit, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio, where there were large concentrations of Mexicans and Mexican Americans, public officials decided that it would be cheaper to send the Mexican legal aliens back to Mexico than to carry them on the public welfare rolls. Thus, a system of repatriation began.

http://www.jsri.msu.edu/museum/pubs/MexAmHist/chapter15.html

 

good post flygirl.

I knew some of this too, the bit about the anti-marijuana movement being really about anti-Mexicanism (did you know that elements within the US popularized the name 'marijuana' because that name reinforced it as a Mexican 'thing').

You didn't mention the role of the Tobacco industry though, was there anything about the Toby involvement?

 

Thanks. I feel so green. I didnt know most of that (with the exception of the land stealing).

I didnt catch the whole program, unfortuantely I was at work and missed parts of it. I dont think they spoke of a tobacco connection, though. Thanks for the info. I will do a search and see if I can find anything about that.

 

The current controversy of all this is the fact that doctors still depend on marijuana for medical needs to supply their patients with, but still, a narcotic is still a narcotic nonetheless.

 

Cocaine Ban

Fly Girl on that same special about drugs it mentioned that in most Southern states,cocaine was banned because they would go nuts and rebel against the White establishment. Most Black men use cocaine to ease their pain after loading the cotton on the boats and other hard jobs. White men always have the fear of slave revolts even though they are in control of the state governments through terrorist means.

 

Dont smoke then they will not be doing anything illegal

 

Re: Cocaine Ban

I missed that. I am going to go onto the History Chanel and see if they have it for sale.

I never liked history in school and I am only now finding it fascinating. Real history with all the ugliness.

 

I love the History Channel and History in general, thats why I took a bachelors and masters degree in History

 

I am learning to love it. I think what turned me off in school ws they taught wars and not exactly history. Meaning, most of what they taught was simply the wars. I am seriously turned off by warfare.

 

that sounds bad, i cant believe schools were that bad in teaching history--my high school history classes were brilliant, the books talked about so much more--we had civil rights, politics, the New Deal, founding fathers, and economics

but i hear public schools in the US are pretty bad

 

They ARE bad, in fact, they are getting worse...

also, history was always tweaked with in public schools, that's why when historical events are discussed among many American youths, you only hear about half-truths and suspicions as to why so many horrible and murderous things happened such a long time ago...

yes, murder and horror. Is history so boring now?

And, it seems like the more you study the events, the more you learn something different...

and, by my track record, the History Channel and PBS are the only networks on TV that doesn't cut out too much of the facts.

There are websites out there in the Information Superhighway that can broaden your understanding of historical events, if need be, however, just like anything else you have an interest in, there will be junk you'll come across, as an imitation of the real thing, so you have to read between the lines.

 

That is so so sad, I taught in both private and public schools, history and social studies, as well as science and mathematics

in the public schools i didnt experiece any problems with the content, except the newer books tried to infuse new things, which was a bad thing as long as it wasnt revisionist

i found that it probably was the teacher whom didnt push one issue more, but I taught from the first nations(Native Americans) to today. I am sure there are plenty of bad public schools out there and bad public teachers, we have plenty here in urban Philadelphia

What was missing in your history text books that you didnt get? I went to public and private schools growing up in the Deep South in the 70s and 80s and I got a great history education, thats what made me go into history as a major.

but I am sure there are plenty of northern urban schools and some rural schools which were really bad

 

The education I received when I attended school was fair enough for me to know and understand what I am talking about...

however, it would all depend on the teacher you have, and the school you attended...

and, plenty of things were missing to me. For example, in one class where I attended in high school, I was taught about slavery in America, but not once did the teacher elaborate on the cause of slavery. He basically just taught the class that we, as a people, were enslaved, which was sketchy to me, but he still continued to push it...

and, in a separate history class from that, I was also taught about slavery, but at the same time, I was taught that a bunch of white guys wearing wigs just decided to get up, travel, and build America on their own! This teacher basically tried to teach me that AFTER these white guys wearing wigs decided to 'build' America, they then after-wards, decided to enslave black people, and then 'felt bad about it', and then decided to free the slaves, and help them with their daily needs(food, shelter, clothing, etc.) which is just as ludicrous as other things that I didn't believe. I can sense a liar a dozen miles away, which is why without the help of the average American school system, I was able to learn and find out things on my own.

Oh, and according to the American school system, there was no World War I, or Holocaust, or Third Reich, or Soviet Union, or Songhai Empire, or Roman Empire, or Great Depression, and otherwise.

 

As I stated in the thread "What is being read?" I recommend two books:

The People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen

Actually, when I teach social studies (5th and 6th grade) I barely use the texts provided. I may use it as one of the resources and then supplement it with other sources. For those of you who may be skeptical of the quality of education this can provide, the textbooks don't follow the National teaching standards as well as they should. For example, the social studies standards I am focusing on this quarter are on economics (supply and demand, resources available within the U.S., and inventions). The textbook has very little on these standards, which are 1/4 of the year's standards in total. To address these standards, I have created a unit that centers on African-American inventors and the products they have created (since 98% of the school is Black). A teaching unit such as this would never be available in textbooks bought by school boards.

 

Sounds like a pretty good strategy...

 

Oh My! Sardonic

You didnt have World WAr I, Holocaust, Third Reich, Songhai,Ghana, Malian Empires, Soviet Union or Roman Empire or Great Depression???

wow!! I am glad i will not send my kid to public school if that is true. In Florida, South Carolina and Texas where I went to both public and private, I had all of those areas of history, social studies.

in 5th Grade I had Native American history

In 7th Grade I had American History with, Great Depression, New Deal, Civil War,

in 9th Grade I had world history from the beginning of recorded history through African, Asian, Russian and Western Civ--Esp. Roman and Greek, Persian Empires, Arab Empires, Egyptian, Western Africa, Chinese and Japanese and of course Europe

10th I have American History to Reagan Era (I was in HS--1980-1984)

11th was American Government

12th International Government and History


Man, am I happy to have gone to school in those states where that was an imperative!!

 

Yeah, I know. It's bad enough that the economy is falling apart in this country, let alone the school system, but as long as you have a competent enough teacher or two, who will urge you to 'find out on your own what you don't know, and want to know, if you can't get the answer from someone else' then you should be fine.

It's one thing not to teach your students all that they should learn, but it's another thing not to encourage further learning. That's worse to me.

 

I knew about that.... i love History and i studied it right un until my second year in university coz i wanted to do more relevant things to do with my course. But History is very fascinating. But you have to be very careful when studying history because a lot of facts are either lies or not even recorded at all. So you have to make sure the facts are accurate.

 

Facts are facts and cannot be lies. Perhaps you meant lies presented as facts... :lol: