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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1976)
7 turned into a bat and flew’ ‘Reefer Madness’ sprang from old tax bill (CPS) — "Reefer Madness," the once popular concept of mari juana that misled a generation's beliefs about the drug, began with an obscure tax bill hearing nearly 40 years ago, according to a legal researcher, Charles H. Whitebread of the University of Virginia's law school traced the history of marijuana laws from the passage of the first state prohibition of the drug by Utah in 1915. Whitebread, who began search ing records in 1968 to discover where the idea started of making marijuana usage criminal, said 27 states had made the drug illegal when Congress passed the Mari juana Tax Act in 1937. Congressional hearings on the bill lasted only two hours, White bread said. “Their key witness was Enslinger, the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, who testified that marijuana created in its users “insanity, criminality and death." The Marijuana Tax Act, an ex tensive measure that included prohibition of marijuana and hemp production, passed Congress without debate against protests from the American Medical As sociation “Now no medical bill could pass Congress without the approval of the AMA," Whitebread Howitzer used to settle argument (AP) — Feel edgy? In Ansbach. West Germany, residents of an apartment building were awakened before dawn last Thursday to find a big U S Army cannon aimed straight at their building The landlady and 19 residents promptly fled Not a shot was fired, however, from the 175 mm howitzer. A news paper later reported the gun wasn t loaded A U S Army spokesman said Tuesday that Spec. 4 Jonathon Robin son requisitioned the self-propelled weapon from a guarded motor pool after an argument with the landlady, smashed it through barriers at the post and tore up streets and a park en route to the apartment building Military Police caught up with the soldier by the time he reached the building, where he lived, and took him into custody, the spokesman said Robinson, 24, from Memphis, Tenn., was charged with misappro priating a government vehicle, dnving while intoxicated and destroying government and civilian property worth $2,500. The Army said he was normally assigned as a gunner on the tracked weapon. A German newspaper said Robinson's landlady had confiscated his tape recorder and phonograph because he refused to pay $600 he allegedly owed her. 1 "Our law system has become increasingly secularized." Up until the Luc 19th Century the method of training lawyers was that of apprenticeship rather than tin university law- schools we have today It was during that time tliat Biacksronc'sCommentaries were relied upon heavily by the apprenticing attorney. The significance of Blackstone istlut be echoed t he historic Western view tliat human law is derived from divine law. "This, then, is the general significance of law. a rule of action by some superior being i Blackstone reflected the Judeo-Christian view that. |ust as the Universe is governed by certain natural laws, which are discoverable by man. there " are the eternal, immutable laws of good and evil, to which the creator has enabled human reason to discover, so tar as they arc neces sary tor rite conduct of human actions. The knowledge of God is discoverable in similar man ner. I Romani 1:19) Before the Fall man lived in fellowship with God During this period man s reason was unclouded, and God put it to work \X hen God chose man to name all the animals, 11 is interesting to note that man just named them right then and there He did not have to watch them in their habitats to see what species they were He just named tliem. (Gmail 2:191 Adam did not have to employ the scientific method to realize who Eve was. He knew how Eve had been created even though he had never seen a woman and had been asleep during her creation (Genesis 2:21-21) The fall of man resulted in separation from God Since then, man hasn't been able to totally understand God's natural law through the use of reason but can only perceive glimpses of it. Man's " . reason is corrupt and his understanding is full of ignorance and error, according to Black stone. Man lias continued to re|ect God and His wisdom. (Romans 1:221 Consequently. God has also fatten ns His lau by dm a ret flat ion. such at the ten Commandments, (hxodns 20:1-17) According to Blackstone, The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law', and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures." Since the mid-19th century our law system has become increasingly secularized. It s divine basis is rarely mentioned. Despite the popularity of secular thinking, our present law is closely intertwined with Christian ethic. Throughout Scripture you find tlie seeming paradox of mans insignificance, yci eternal importance. (Psalms 8:3-5) Man is a unique creature and was the subject of a very special creation. (Genesis 1:26 and Genesis 2:7) The value of tlx- individual is an idea which permeates the U S Constitution and the American legal system, yet the foundation of that concept is found in the Bible. P.O. Box 5199 For more information write: said. "Why did it then?" Birdseed manufacturers who were using marijuana seeds in their mixed seed products were exempt from the act because, Whitebread said, "they tried other seeds, but none other made the bird’s coats so shiny or made them sing so much." The 1937 act set the stage for "Reefer Madness,” Whitebread said, but the real origin was the sensationalistic newspaper coverage of five major criminal tri als in the early 1940’s in which murderers were acquitted on crim inal insanity resulting from mari juana use. A prominent physician testified on one of the trials that he had tried smoking marijuana himself, Whitebread said. “After two puffs on a marijuana cigarette,’’ the doc tor said, “I turned into a bat and flew around the room for five mi nutes, landing at the bottom of a 200-foot inkwell.’’ A terrified audi ence believed him. < Whitebread said he holds no high hopes for national legaliza tion of marijuana because the pub lic confuses legalization with promotion. He believes that sup pression of marijuana usage poses graver dangers than legali zation. “We simply have more to lose as a nation from that intrusion than from practice, whether it be smok ing marijuana, reading pornog raphy or using contraceptives," Whitebread said. jim “izzif WHtfSTine fOR flSUO President Somebody has got to be President ujhh noi m£p Paid for bq Grass Roots Political Services. "Find out how you can earn a commission as an Army officer in just two years, with a possibility of serving right here in Oregon.” _ A- o» •— ' ^ Call me. Captain Phil Richey 1761 Alder Street 686-3102 M Amy ■Learn ROTC. Learn what it takes to lead.
