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1914130 and Portland, Oregon in 1915.131 As in California, these early laws were passed not in response to any public outcry, but as preventative initiatives by drug control authorities to deter future use.

On New Year’s Day, 1913, El Paso, Texas became the scene of the nation’s first public marijuana scare when a Mexican desperado, allegedly crazed by habitual marijuana use, ran amok and killed a policeman, generating front-page news in the El Paso Herald. 132 This inspired a grand jury investigation, which prompted the city to ban marijuana in 1915.133 Like California’s 1913 law, the El Paso ordinance accidentally banned medical uses of cannabis as well.134 In response to the El Paso ordinance, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued an order banning importation of cannabis for non-medical purposes in 1915.135 However, this was academic insofar as users had largely relied on pharmaceutical supplies or else grown their own domestically.

The 1920’s saw a widening, though still quite sporadic, interest in marihuana, usage of which may have been encouraged by the lack of alcohol during prohibition. During this period, the press devoted increasing attention to the “dope menace.” In an early installment of the Hearst papers’ decades-long crusade against drugs, the Los Angeles Examiner ran a front-page picture of a “cigaret of poisonous marihuana or Mexican ‘crazy’ weed” along with morphine injection paraphernalia.136 In what would become a classic line, the Examiner quoted a young peddler from Long Beach saying, “Marahuana’s a Mexican weed that many of ‘em begin on. I got my start with marahuana.” 137 The Los Angeles Times followed up with a droll story, “Happy daffodils grow on bird seed plant,” subtitled, “Hemp leaf turned into marihuana causes smoker to become madman and run amuck.”138

131 The Portland law stemmed from an incident in which a group of young boys were observed procuring cannabis unchecked at local pharmacies. The city fathers responded by restricting cannabis sales to prescription only. This appears to be the first instance of a law inspired specifically by youthful cannabis use. Pacific Drug Review, 27(4): 65 (April 1915) and 27(7):26 (July 1915).

132 "Crazed by a Weed, Man Murders," El Paso Herald, Jan 2, 1913 p. 1.

133 The date of the El Paso ordinance is misreported as 1914 by Bonnie & Whitebread (pp. 33-4), evidently based on an erroneous statement in the 1917 Report to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Bureau of Chemistry (“Investigations by R.F. Smith in the State of Texas,” p.9). In reality, the law took effect on June 14, 1915: "Grand Jury Recommends that Steps be Taken to Stop Sale of Marihuana," El Paso Herald, Oct. 4, 1913, p. 2; "Marihuana Sale Now Prohibited," El Paso Herald, June 3, 1915, p.6; “New Anti-Marihuana Ordinance Very Stringent,” El Paso Herald, June 7, 1915, p.9.

134 “While the ordinance is designed to avoid the sale of this drug for smoking purposes, no mention is made in the new law that it may be used legitimately. Nearly all the drug stores in the city have quantities on hand for use in prescriptions, though they say they never sell it to smokers. The published ordinance will make it a felony for drug stores to have this drug on hand.” El Paso Herald, June 7, 1915, p.9.

135 Treasury Decision 35719, Sept. 25, 1915: Bonnie & Whitebread, p. 53.

136 “5,000 Addicts Roam City Begging Dope! Startling Increase of Drug Slaves Greatest Menace to Community,” Los Angeles Examiner, October 13, 1921, p. 1.

137 Los Angeles Examiner, Sep. 19, 1920, p.3.

138 Los Angeles Times, April 30, 1922, II-10.