What鈥檚 the worst movie ever made?聽Let me put in a plug for the 1936 flick 鈥淩eefer Madness.鈥澛燚isguised as a movie with a plot, this was actually a propaganda film to highlight the evils of marijuana smoking.聽鈥淲omen Cry for It, Men Die for It鈥� screamed the promotional posters.聽Moviegoers would witness 鈥渄rug-crazed abandon and the soul-destroying effects of killer marijuana.鈥澛燭he movie delivers some of the worst acting you鈥檒l ever see, along with exaggerated allegations about the effects of smoking marijuana.聽 The thin plot focuses on a pair of upstanding teenagers who fall into the clutches of a dastardly gang bent on converting them into marijuana addicts.聽It only takes one joint to get the kids hooked, and after that, it鈥檚 a straight descent into hell.聽Along the way, there鈥檚 illicit sex, hallucinations, murder, suicide and ghastly dialogue.聽If marijuana makes people talk like that, it is a dangerous substance indeed.
The 1930鈥檚 featured some of the strongest anti-drug rhetoric in history.聽Government pamphlets warned teenagers about friendly strangers who might put the killer-drug marijuana in their coffee and described how insanity and death lurk in this 鈥渘arcotic.鈥澛燳ou could 鈥済row enough marijuana in a window box to drive the whole population of the United States, stark, staring, raving mad,鈥� declared an article in the widely circulated Hearst newspapers.聽The writer went on to ask the rhetorical question, 鈥渉eroin, cocaine, morphine, marijuana, opium-what does it matter which it is?聽 One horror is no worse than another.鈥澛營t didn鈥檛 seem to matter that there was absolutely no evidence to back up these preposterous claims.聽Marijuana was a perfect scapegoat to explain increasing crime rates.聽The Federal Bureau of Narcotics claimed that marijuana caused ghetto crimes of violence, insanity and led to heroin addiction.
The anti-marijuana movement had strong racial overtones.聽Mexican and black workers in the southern US often took solace in marijuana smoking and suffered severely at the hands of the white narcotics police.聽Even the medical establishment supported the racism.聽A 1931 issue of the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal stated that 鈥淭he dominant race (meaning whites) and most enlightened countries are alcoholic, whilst the races and nations addicted to hemp and opium, some of which once attained great heights of culture and civilization, has deteriorated both mentally and physically.鈥澛燬uch absurd statements totally ignored the scientific evidence that was already available at the time.聽
Thirty years earlier, the British government had established the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission to answer questions about the use of marijuana in India, then of course under British rule.聽The expert committee interviewed almost two thousand witnesses, made field trips to thirty cities and published a thorough seven-volume report.聽It concluded that small doses of hemp were beneficial and that moderate use of cannabis had no significant injurious mental, physical or moral effect.聽Furthermore, even abuse of cannabis was less harmful than the abuse of alcohol.聽The Commission recommended a system of licensing and revenue taxation for the sale of cannabis and suggested that overly restrictive marijuana laws would drive people to more dangerous drugs like alcohol and opium.
The Indian Hemp Commission report was a level-headed and thoroughly researched account about marijuana use.聽It was totally ignored in the US because it did not fit the political ideology of the times.聽It was far more suitable for the Federal Bureau of Narcotics to paint a picture of marijuana as a ghastly and dangerous substance so that it could push for the establishment of 鈥渘arcotics farms for the confinement and treatment of persons addicted to Indian Hemp.鈥�
The vestiges of that era are still with us.聽Some right-wing fringe groups attribute the moral decay of our society to marijuana use.聽 Smoking pot damages the brain they say.聽It leads to harder drugs.聽Pro-marijuana groups have fought back, starting with the beatniks of the fifties and the hippies of the sixties.聽Smoking pot is not only pleasurable and innocuous, but they also claim, it has certain decided health benefits.聽
What do the scientific facts say?聽Marijuana does not destroy the brain but heavy, daily use may lead to slight memory impairment.聽 A well-controlled study carried out at Harvard University examined 65 heavy users and found that when compared to light users, they had a slightly harder time with some card sorting experiments.聽 Marijuana does impair dexterity and visual skills and therefore affects driving, but does not make people drive recklessly, as alcohol does.聽 Neither is there evidence that it leads to the use of harder drugs.聽 In fact, in Holland, where it has been legal to purchase marijuana in coffee shops since 1976, there is an amazingly low rate of heroin addiction.聽 While more Dutch teenagers try marijuana, less go on to be regular users than in the US.
Obviously, marijuana smoking is not good for the lungs.聽These organs were designed to breathe clean air.聽Studies have shown that three to four joints is roughly equivalent to twenty cigarettes in tar content, mostly because of the lack of filters and the tendency of pot smokers to hold the smoke in their lungs for a longer time.聽Unlike tobacco cigarettes, however, marijuana does not lead to blocked airways or emphysema.聽 Chronic bronchitis, though, is a possibility.聽Marijuana has been found to have estrogenic effects and according to some may be playing a role in the reduction of sperm counts.聽There is evidence that constant marijuana use leads to a generalized lack of motivation to pursue studies or a career.聽In some cases, smoking pot can cause anxiety and panic.聽 All good reasons to be extremely wary of marijuana use. Now that cannabis is legal in Canada we will soon have greater insight into its ups and downs.
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