Matthew Saltman
E & D Roberts
May 2, 2018
Title
Marijuana usage in the United States has become an extremely controversial issue in recent years. Nowadays, Marijuana usage has never been higher. A recent poll released by NBC News found that fifty-two percent of Americans over the age of eighteen had tried Marijuana once in their life. Moving to Portland, I realized how Marijuana fit into the culture of the city. Dispensaries are sprinkled throughout the city, the green cross visible from blocks away. After looking into Marijuana and its effects from a physical standpoint, I had trouble understanding how weed was regulated more than alcohol and other drugs. Looking into the history of Marijuana, I found that the moral panic originated in the mid 1900s and has maintained its fuel from a variety of reasons. After studying this history in depth, I found it particularly revealing about the nature of America and the values that have defined and structured society today. Focusing mainly on the baby boomer generation, I found that they are the folk-devils of the panic, but also rightfully deserve some blame for maintaining the legacy set by Harry Anslinger. To fully grasp the origins of the moral panic, we must first return to 1929, and the Department of Prohibition.
Harry Anslinger cultivated the moral panic against Marijuana because of racism and greed. Prohibition of alcohol started in 1920, and as a result the Department of Prohibition was created. In 1929, prohibition of alcohol was a dying cause as more and more people began to protest laws against drinking. Around the same time, Harry Anslinger was appointed to lead the Department of Prohibition. Realizing that the cause against alcohol was dying, Anslinger found himself in a bit of a predicament, leading a department whose main purpose would soon vanish. Anslinger, who had once said himself that Marijuana was not an issue, and provided no real risk, completely changed his stance and shifted his department’s attention to pot.
Anslinger’s campaign against Marijuana was not only fueled by his fear of job security, but was also racially motivated. Anslinger sought out to group marijuana in the same class as heroin, and till this day is still considered a schedule I drug ( “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse”). Anslinger also used marijuana to target African Americans. Anslinger once said “the primary reason reason to outlaw marijuana is its effects on the degenerative race.” Anslinger went on to clarify that “most [cannabis smokers] 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(the man).” Anslinger began targeting African Americans through their jazz music. As he framed the genre as “satanic,” he tapped into the omnipresent racism in the United States during the 1920s to gain support for his campaign against marijuana.
Anslinger cultivated his campaign on the structure of racism and chaos within the United States at the time. People in America were still segregated, and many white Americans were extremely racist. Anslinger gave these racists a way to express their racism in an indirect way. Anslinger sent the message that by attacking Marijuana, you were also attacking these Negroes, Hispanics, and Filipinos, and the racist people of America absolutely ate it up. Anslinger had successfully created a moral panic that would persist for many years to come.
As the baby boomers grew up, Marijuana usage skyrocketed. Young adults were experimenting with drugs, and the times allowed free spirits to flourish. As the usage rates of Marijuana increased, the policies surrounding the drug remained untouched. People were using Marijuana in private, while in public looking down upon pot usage. This hypocrisy of the generation is a main cause of why the baby boomers are considered the folk-devils of the panic. People looking in on the situation see a group of people doing nothing to influence policy change. I feel however that there are a lot of interpretations of the panic, and each differentiates placement of blame within the generation. If we take a closer look at the social and political makeup of the baby boomer generation, we can see that blaming them for the lack of policy change is almost ridiculous.
The Baby Boomers are innocent, and are blamed for something out of their control. To begin, we must first look at the setting of the time period. The Baby Boomers were surrounded by chaos throughout their adulthood. The Vietnam War centered around this chaos. During their adulthood, citizens were being sent of to a foreign country to fight (and most likely die) for their country. Presidents such as JFK and activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot in the light of day for all to see. As a onlooker, I see this time period as one of extreme fear. People were fearful in all walks of life. Politically, they had no control over their country, and I believe this is one reason why they cannot be blamed for the moral panic over Marijuana.
The Vietnam War claimed the lives of approximately two million civilians on both sides. Any male adult could be randomly drafted through the lottery, and forced to go and fight in Vietnam. As a citizen viewing these actions from your government, it would feel almost as if you had no say in the matter. As protests against the war ramped up, and people at these protests were constantly shut down by government officials, a sense of helplessness washed through these protestors. Baby Boomers endured a great deal as citizens of a country that was out of control. For these reasons, blaming baby boomers for a lack of policy change during a time period such as their own seems almost inhumane.
Looking back at history, the amount of energy it took to protest Vietnam seems unbelievable. In Washington D.C., nearly one hundred thousand people gathered to prevent fellow citizens from being sent off to their probable death. As an onlooker one might be amazed at the numbers that showed up, but even then, the US was in Vietnam for nearly twenty years. A protester seeing these results might give up on the cause. Protesting for years and years to see absolutely no change is discouraging beyond measure. Taking this view into account, it would seem for these Baby Boomers that no matter what they did, regardless of how many people were showing up to protests, nothing could be done. The government wasn’t listening to its citizens so there was no point. Thus protesting against something as trivial as Marijuana during a time when millions of people were being killed would seem almost humorous. To fully understand the situation, you must look at the context, and observing everything we have on the Baby Boomers we see that they simply placed their attention to something more pressing at the time. This chaos and helplessness cause by the Vietnam War is possible reason why the Baby Boomers turned to Marijuana as a source of relief from their daily lives.
The hypocrisy associated with the Baby Boomers may have been a misinterpretation of their Marijuana use. People blame the generation for their failure to implement policy change in public while using it in private, but the argument hinges on the assumption that these Baby Boomers were actively aware of the problem, and turned their back on the issue on purpose. I believe however this assumption has been overlooked in the eyes of the accusers, and may not have necessarily been the case.
Marijuana is a drug at its essence, but in recent years, doctors have acknowledged the possible medical benefits relating to use of the drug. In addition to helping treat depression and other mental health issues, Marijuana also helps people to deal with stress and relax. Looking at the Baby Boomer generation from a birds-eye view, there has arguably never been a more stressful time period. It would be reasonable for people living in a time of domestic and foreign conflict to seek out help for getting them through such a time. Many of these people may have turned to Marijuana which is an explanation of why the drug’s usage during the time period increased greatly. This group of people never stopped to think of how to induce policy change within government, but rather looked at weed as an outlet from the chaos already consuming their lives. Some may say that Marijuana is a poor solution to the problem, but alternatives at the time consisted of counseling, which was costly and hard to come by, and alternative drugs, which were costly and commonly ineffective. Marijuana was the simplest and most cost-effective solution to the problem.
Looking back at the political makeup of the time period, it is cruel to blame Baby Boomers for seeking out help when their world began crumbling around them. We always look at the situation from a standpoint that here is a bunch of people using it in private for fun, while choosing to do nothing in the public’s eye. But from another standpoint here is a bunch of people seeking out help in dealing with their reality. Even more eye-opening, these Baby Boomers who sought out Marijuana as a solution were continuously punished and imprisoned by government officials. These Baby Boomers fall victim to the lack of knowledge surrounding Marijuana at the time, and their environment. Looking at the Baby Boomers through this lens, we can eliminate the blame we have commonly placed upon them for the moral panic, however, looking at the generation from a social standpoint, and forgetting the political chaos surrounding Vietnam, we can see that some of the blame placed upon them is warranted.
The Baby Boomers lived during a time of extreme division within the United States. In 1964 segregation ended with the court case of Brown vs. The Board of Education. This case, however, didn’t end segregation, it simply outlawed it. Extreme racism still existed within the United States, and socially the times were as hectic as ever. This racism divided the country in half, as African Americans and anyone who helped them were constantly discriminated. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. lead peaceful movements against racism and segregation, yet during these peaceful movements, black men and women were beaten and imprisoned for simply walking down the street. The bus of the Freedom Riders was attacked with homemade explosives, and riders were violently attacked. And then, in 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, and the entire world changed.
Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the best humans to ever walk the Earth. He was well-spoken and promoted his views through peace and demonstration. Seeing someone as peaceful and good-hearted as MLK, murdered for absolutely no reason, told everyone that in the United States, you could be killed for speaking out. It showed people that America was a place of extreme hatred and cruelty, and anyone could fall victim. The fear of being silenced was spread across the country, and for many, the fear overpowered them. This fear is one of the reasons why the values MLK promoted, took so long to implement, and is the same reason why the Baby Boomers accomplished zero policy change for Marijuana. Their society told them that you could be killed for voicing your opinions, and they listened. Placing blame upon them is up to interpretation, but in my eyes, they are at fault for their inability to overcome this fear. We’ve all heard the saying that if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem, and I find the saying extremely applicable in this situation. If we further examine the Baby Boomer generation, we realize that fear wasn’t the only reason they didn’t accomplish policy change.
The Baby Boomer generations failure to induce policy change regarding Marijuana is a result of racism dating back to the 1930s. While fear kept one side of the country from participating in the protests, racism kept the other.The Baby Boomers were raised during a time of segregation and racism, and as the 1960s rolled around the racism still existed. The beatings and assassinations of Black men and women weren’t done by foreigners. They were done by fellow American citizens consumed by hatred and racism. These Baby Boomers were raised during the time of Anslinger’s campaign, and it is only reasonable to assume they too came to associate Marijuana with the minority groups that Anslinger’s campaign defined. As they grew up, the values they learned as children definitely persisted, and during a time when equality was a huge issue, Marijuana became re-associated with race. This group of Baby Boomers is definitely to blame for the moral panic, as they persisted the values set by the originator, Harry Anslinger, but I do not believe that they represent the generation as a whole, and an onlooker cannot blame an entire population for the actions of a select group.
As we saw within the Baby Boomer generation, the blame we place for lack of policy change regarding Marijuana is up for interpretation. In my opinion, I feel that judging an entire generation as right or wrong is nearly impossible, and the massive amount of people included would require you to make a gross generalization. This being said, I believe that select groups of people within the generation are to blame, and select groups also fall victim to the panic. I do believe that the entire generation falls victim to Harry Anslinger, and the misguided ideals he set forth regarding Marijuana and race in relation to Marijuana. Researching the history of Marijuana in the United States has not only made me appreciate my hometown, but has also made me think of changes we can make within education to help students feel better informed about issues they will encounter in adult life.
At times I feel that growing up in Hawaii puts me at a disadvantage because of the extreme isolation, but after seeing how a moral panic could influence an entire country, I appreciate the isolation a little more. I do, however, wish I was a little more informed in high school about the drug. In high school, there was never any discussion surrounding Marijuana, and as a young teen entering adolescence, I felt that my lack of information regarding weed could have lead to an inability to make good decisions when encountering the drug. Similar to placing blame of the moral panic, someone’s view of Marijuana is up to interpretation, but you can’t interpret something without knowing all the information. As we’ve seen over the past few years, the Marijuana industry is getting bigger each year, and preparing students to deal with the rising industry should be a goal in education reform.
Looking over the history of Marijuana usage in the United States, we see a common correlation of race becoming associated with weed. Nowadays, medical Marijuana is legal in twenty-nine out of fifty states, and recreational weed is legal in only nine. I believe that the reason why the moral panic, that Harry Anslinger created nearly ninety years ago, still exists today is, in part, a result of the perpetuated racism in the United States. Even though it may be hard to believe, I think Marijuana is still labeled a “black drug” in some communities, a testament to the impact a moral panic can have on society.