|
|
Page 21
The committee did not pursue the drug issue further. The conclusion seems inescapable that Hindu cannabis use was of no concern to anyone except Henry Finger and his colleagues on the Board of Pharmacy.Nonetheless, Finger’s concerns were sympathetically received by Wright, who replied:
I anticipated some time ago that in event of our securing Federal control of the sale and distribution of morphine and cocaine, the fiends would turn to Indian hemp, and for that reason incorporated that drug in the proposed act for the control of the interstate traffic in narcotics. In addition to this use by Hindus in this country, I have learned on good authority that it is commonly used by the Syrian element in our population. You certainly should have your legislature do something in regard to the control of Indian hemp. The Conference will deal with it, for the Italian Government has informed us that it will bring the matter up in the Conference.90
It came to pass that the Italians dropped out of the conference, so the discussion of cannabis was deferred to a later date. However, the wheels were set in motion for legislation in California. At the next legislative session (1913), two companion bills to ban "narcotic preparations of hemp" were introduced by Assemblyman W.A. Sutherland of Fresno and Sen. Edward K. Strobridge of Hayward. 91
By this time, another threat had appeared on the horizon: Mexican “marihuana” had begun to penetrate into California. Marijuana (as it is now usually spelled92) was brought by Mexican immigrants, who arrived in mounting numbers during the revolutionary disorders of 1910- 20. 93 An alert inspector of the state board of pharmacy took note and sounded the alarm in the LA Times shortly after Finger and Wright had begun planning to legislate against Indian hemp.94
In view of the increasing use of marihuano [sic] or loco weed as an intoxicant among a large class of Mexican laborers, F.C. Boden, inspector of the State Board of Pharmacy, yesterday formulated an appeal to the State authorities asking that the drug be included in the list of prohibited narcotics.
90 Letter from Wright to Finger, July 11, 1911: National Archives, loc. cit.
91 The bills were A.B. 907 and S.B. 630, respectively. They also included some technical revisions increasing penalties and clarifying the Board’s enforcement powers. S.B. 630 was dropped and A.B. 907 passed into law.
92 The spelling "marijuana" is not found in the earliest sources, but begins to appear in the 1920s: e.g. "Marijuana Seller Jailed," Los Angeles Times, Nov. 15, 1923, p. 17.
93 Marihuana is said to have arrived not only across the border from Mexico but also from the Caribbean into New Orleans around 1910. Frank B. Gomila, "Present Status of the Marihuana Vice in the U.S. " in Robert P Walton, op. cit.
94 "Would Prohibit Sale of Weed: State inspector would make it a penal offense," Los Angeles Times, Oct. 10, 1911 p. II-5.
|
|
|