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The Word 'Marijuana' Is Racist.

#21

Link Removed


Emily Murphy: A pioneer in the war on pot
"The Famous Five were a group of strong-minded, trail-blazing Alberta women who challenged the status quo and created lasting and positive change for every Canadian woman." That's how federal cabinet minister Rona Ambrose recently described the five legendary Western feminists whose appeal to the British Privy Council won women the legal status of "persons" in 1929. Ambrose was speaking in Edmonton, unveiling a giant piece of street art honouring the group. "These women are an important part of our country's history," Ambrose said, "and I am delighted that, through this mural, they are now a permanent part of our city's visual landscape."

They are indeed important to our country's history. Emily Murphy, who spearheaded the Persons Case in her bid to be appointed to the Senate, made Canada the first Western country to launch a war on pot. She convinced the government to ban cannabis by writing a book that, if it came on the market today, would certainly fall under the hate crimes provision of the Criminal Code.

Her anti-drug, anti-immigrant manifesto, The Black Candle, was published by Thomas Allen in 1922. It was a best-seller in its day and was reprinted in the 1970s by Coles Bookstores, so it's not hard to find a copy now.

Murphy had a theory that she concocted and passed off as truth: Africans, African-Americans, Chinese, Middle-Easterners, Greeks, Mexicans and other non-white people had banded together into an international conspiracy called The Ring.

The Ring had a plan to corrupt the "purity" of the white race. They'd flood the streets of European and North American cities with drugs. The Chinese would run the opium trade. Cocaine would come from South America.
 
#22
I'm not completely unfamiliar with the history of pot in the US and don't deny people used racism to demonize it but I don't really see any evidence that the word "Marijuana" was intentionally used for that purpose.
 
#24
nutdog said:
I'm not completely unfamiliar with the history of pot in the US and don't deny people used racism to demonize it but I don't really see any evidence that the word "Marijuana" was intentionally used for that purpose.
Click to expand...

Before 1931, most people knew of cannabis and hemp, and had not heard the word Marihuana.

Drug WarRant
Some quotes from this site: Harry J. Anslinger:
"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others."

"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races."

"Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."

"Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing"

"You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother."

"Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind."

Hearst papers:

"Marihuana makes fiends of boys in thirty days — Hashish goads users to bloodlust."

"By the tons it is coming into this country — the deadly, dreadful poison that racks and tears not only the body, but the very heart and soul of every human being who once becomes a slave to it in any of its cruel and devastating forms…. Marihuana is a short cut to the insane asylum. Smoke marihuana cigarettes for a month and what was once your brain will be nothing but a storehouse of horrid specters. Hasheesh makes a murderer who kills for the love of killing out of the mildest mannered man who ever laughed at the idea that any habit could ever get him…."

And other nationwide columns…

"Users of marijuana become STIMULATED as they inhale the drug and are LIKELY TO DO ANYTHING. Most crimes of violence in this section, especially in country districts are laid to users of that drug."

"Was it marijuana, the new Mexican drug, that nerved the murderous arm of Clara Phillips when she hammered out her victim's life in Los Angeles?… THREE-FOURTHS OF THE CRIMES of violence in this country today are committed by DOPE SLAVES — that is a matter of cold record."

"Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men's shadows and look at a white woman twice."

So, clearly racism was part of the criminalization plan.

Interesting info on the history of the word on these pages:
The Origin of the Word "Marijuana"

Is the word "marijuana" racist?

And here's a link to a PDF investigating the origins of the word historically, indicating the word or variants were known throughout the world for centuries, but not widely used in the US, until Anslinger popularized the word through newsreels and newspapers. Cannabis was familiar, marihuana was not, hence alien and sinister, just like "all those people".
http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp153_marijuana.pdf


I do love to research... ;)

 
Last edited:
#25
wraub said:
Before 1931, most people knew of cannabis and hemp, and had not heard the word Marihuana.

Drug WarRant
Some quotes from this site: Harry J. Anslinger:
"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others."

"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races."

"Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."

"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men."

"Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing"

"You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother."

"Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind."

Hearst papers:

"Marihuana makes fiends of boys in thirty days — Hashish goads users to bloodlust."

"By the tons it is coming into this country — the deadly, dreadful poison that racks and tears not only the body, but the very heart and soul of every human being who once becomes a slave to it in any of its cruel and devastating forms…. Marihuana is a short cut to the insane asylum. Smoke marihuana cigarettes for a month and what was once your brain will be nothing but a storehouse of horrid specters. Hasheesh makes a murderer who kills for the love of killing out of the mildest mannered man who ever laughed at the idea that any habit could ever get him…."

And other nationwide columns…

"Users of marijuana become STIMULATED as they inhale the drug and are LIKELY TO DO ANYTHING. Most crimes of violence in this section, especially in country districts are laid to users of that drug."

"Was it marijuana, the new Mexican drug, that nerved the murderous arm of Clara Phillips when she hammered out her victim's life in Los Angeles?… THREE-FOURTHS OF THE CRIMES of violence in this country today are committed by DOPE SLAVES — that is a matter of cold record."

"Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men's shadows and look at a white woman twice."

So, clearly racism was part of the criminalization plan.

Interesting info on the history of the word on these pages:
The Origin of the Word "Marijuana"

Is the word "marijuana" racist?

And here's a link to a PDF investigating the origins of the word historically, indicating the word or variants were known throughout the world for centuries, but not widely used in the US, until Anslinger popularized the word through newsreels and newspapers. Cannabis was familiar, marihuana was not, hence alien and sinister, just like "all those people".
http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp153_marijuana.pdf


I love to do research... :D
Click to expand...
In trying to determine the validity of the OP I read just about everything you quoted prior to posting. I'm not anti pot and certainly there was much BS and racism. Just don't see the word itself as racist. YMMV.
 
#26
All good by me, just pointing out that the term "marihuana" was largely unknown to white, American voters, and was largely pushed in the media by Anslinger, Hearst, etc. in an effort to make the familiar sound foreign.

Everybody (practically) used cannabis or hemp daily in some way, but Marijuana? "What's that? Oh it's what those lazy border crossers and jazzbos use to get all hopped up? Not in my America!" :rolleyes:
 
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#29
wraub said:
Before 1937, cannabis was legal for all uses, as was hemp. Thousands of free market products contained cannabis or hemp.

The precursor to the DEA, and it's head Harry J. Anslinger, in cahoots with big industry interests (namely pharmaceutical companies, DuPont, Hearst newspapers, assorted paint and oil companies) worked to demonize cannabis in the media, spreading "news" stories talking "The Demon Marahuana" as a drug of laborers (read Mexicans) and Jazz musicians (read Blacks) who would soon influence America's Children into becoming salivating drug fiends.

Public demand created largely bogus hearings which further demonized cannabis, leading to its prohibition, along with hemp.
This lead to DuPont using its new product Nylon to fill all the market holes left by hemp being off the market, big pharma selling many products to fill market holes left by cannabis' removal, etc., the Hearsts using thier paper interests to replace hemp paper, etc.

Harry J. Anslinger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Drug WarRant

The Emperor Wears No Clothes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (this is the "bible" of the legalization movement, lots of legal documentation here.
The book, backed by H.E.M.P. (America), Hanf Haus (Germany), Sensi Seeds/Hash, Marihuana & Hemp Museum, Amsterdam, (Netherlands), and T.H.C., the Texas Hemp Campaign (America), offers $100,000 to anyone who can disprove the claims made within. Quoting from the book's back cover:

" If all fossil fuels and their derivatives, as well as trees for paper and construction were banned in order to save the planet, reverse the Greenhouse Effect and stop deforestation; then there is only one known annually renewable natural resource that is capable of providing the overall majority of the world's paper and textiles; meet all of the world's transportation, industrial and home energy needs, while simultaneously reducing pollution, rebuilding the soil, and cleaning the atmosphereall at the same time... and that substance is -- the same one that did it all before -- Cannabis Hemp... Marijuana!"
Click to expand...

The New Jim Crow is required reading as well.

Very depressing.
 
#30
wraub said:
All good by me, just pointing out that the term "marihuana" was largely unknown to white, American voters,
Click to expand...

That may be true, but I'd guess the main reason was the lack of communication instead of some sinister racist plot.

Back then IF people "heard" anything is was from an old newspaper or a telegraph.

New information was next to unavailable for average citizens.
 
#31
Schlyder said:
Link Removed


Emily Murphy: A pioneer in the war on pot
"The Famous Five were a group of strong-minded, trail-blazing Alberta women who challenged the status quo and created lasting and positive change for every Canadian woman." That's how federal cabinet minister Rona Ambrose recently described the five legendary Western feminists whose appeal to the British Privy Council won women the legal status of "persons" in 1929. Ambrose was speaking in Edmonton, unveiling a giant piece of street art honouring the group. "These women are an important part of our country's history," Ambrose said, "and I am delighted that, through this mural, they are now a permanent part of our city's visual landscape."

They are indeed important to our country's history. Emily Murphy, who spearheaded the Persons Case in her bid to be appointed to the Senate, made Canada the first Western country to launch a war on pot. She convinced the government to ban cannabis by writing a book that, if it came on the market today, would certainly fall under the hate crimes provision of the Criminal Code.

Her anti-drug, anti-immigrant manifesto, The Black Candle, was published by Thomas Allen in 1922. It was a best-seller in its day and was reprinted in the 1970s by Coles Bookstores, so it's not hard to find a copy now.

Murphy had a theory that she concocted and passed off as truth: Africans, African-Americans, Chinese, Middle-Easterners, Greeks, Mexicans and other non-white people had banded together into an international conspiracy called The Ring.

The Ring had a plan to corrupt the "purity" of the white race. They'd flood the streets of European and North American cities with drugs. The Chinese would run the opium trade. Cocaine would come from South America.
Click to expand...

She wasn't wrong about the plan, just in who carried it out. Who would have guessed it was supported or allowed to happen by governments?
 
#33
wraub said:
Before 1931, most people knew of cannabis and hemp, and had not heard the word Marihuana.

Drug WarRant
Some quotes from this site: Harry J. Anslinger:
"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others."

"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races."

"Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."

"Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing"

"You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother."

"Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind."

Hearst papers:

"Marihuana makes fiends of boys in thirty days — Hashish goads users to bloodlust."

"By the tons it is coming into this country — the deadly, dreadful poison that racks and tears not only the body, but the very heart and soul of every human being who once becomes a slave to it in any of its cruel and devastating forms…. Marihuana is a short cut to the insane asylum. Smoke marihuana cigarettes for a month and what was once your brain will be nothing but a storehouse of horrid specters. Hasheesh makes a murderer who kills for the love of killing out of the mildest mannered man who ever laughed at the idea that any habit could ever get him…."

And other nationwide columns…

"Users of marijuana become STIMULATED as they inhale the drug and are LIKELY TO DO ANYTHING. Most crimes of violence in this section, especially in country districts are laid to users of that drug."

"Was it marijuana, the new Mexican drug, that nerved the murderous arm of Clara Phillips when she hammered out her victim's life in Los Angeles?… THREE-FOURTHS OF THE CRIMES of violence in this country today are committed by DOPE SLAVES — that is a matter of cold record."

"Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men's shadows and look at a white woman twice."

So, clearly racism was part of the criminalization plan.

Interesting info on the history of the word on these pages:
The Origin of the Word "Marijuana"

Is the word "marijuana" racist?

And here's a link to a PDF investigating the origins of the word historically, indicating the word or variants were known throughout the world for centuries, but not widely used in the US, until Anslinger popularized the word through newsreels and newspapers. Cannabis was familiar, marihuana was not, hence alien and sinister, just like "all those people".
http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp153_marijuana.pdf


I do love to research... ;)
Click to expand...

It was more commonly referred to as reefer or tea by users at that time.
 
#34
El Güero said:
That may be true, but I'd guess the main reason was the lack of communication instead of some sinister racist plot.

Back then IF people "heard" anything is was from an old newspaper or a telegraph.

New information was next to unavailable for average citizens.
Click to expand...

Actually, in reading Congressional records and statements by politicians and others, there was definitely a racist component to criminalization efforts.

And the methods of distribution were radio, newspapers, and theater newsreels. Plenty of communication methods, but mostly one-sided missives controlled by the US Government and media outlets controlled by robber barons and corporate interests.
 
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#36
wraub said:
was largely pushed in the media by Anslinger, Hearst, etc. in an effort to make the familiar sound foreign.
Click to expand...

wraub said:
Actually, in reading Congressional records and statements by politicians and others, there was definitely a racist component to criminalization efforts.
Click to expand...

I'd be more inclined to make the connection if there was a document that stated in some way that the word "marijuana" should be used for that purpose. Other quotes used the words "reefer" and "joint". Interesting words that seem to have no clear history. Are they also racist? What about "pot"?

One Drop said:
Yes, they didn't invent a new one but took advantage of the existing one.

Why did they not just use the proper common term, cannabis?

Or if they wanted to adopt the name for the 'street drug', why not the ones common to the era?
Click to expand...
Is it possible that the word arrived with the influx of Spanish speaking migrants and the authorities picked up on it? I don't know, just seems to be in the realm of possibility.
 
#37
Duh. Everything is racist. Or hadn't you heard?
ucbrother2.jpg
 
#38
wraub said:
All good by me, just pointing out that the term "marihuana" was largely unknown to white, American voters, and was largely pushed in the media by Anslinger, Hearst, etc. in an effort to make the familiar sound foreign.

Everybody (practically) used cannabis or hemp daily in some way, but Marijuana? "What's that? Oh it's what those lazy border crossers and jazzbos use to get all hopped up? Not in my America!" :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

wraub said:
Actually, in reading Congressional records and statements by politicians and others, there was definitely a racist component to criminalization efforts.

And the methods of distribution were radio, newspapers, and theater newsreels. Plenty of communication methods, but mostly one-sided missives controlled by the US Government and media outlets controlled by robber barons and corporate interests.
Click to expand...

All makes perfect sense to me.
 

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