Harry Anslinger & the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937

"...For Anslinger, the moral entrepreneur, 1936 should have been a year of victory. In EVERY state the marihuana menace was subjected to statutory control. But for Anslinger, the bureaucrat, 1936 seems to have been another year of defeat. His budgetary appropriation remained near a low point that had not been seen in over a decade, which to some extent reflected the general economic conditions of the time....

"Again in 1937 Anslinger, the moralist, would be expected first to convince the general public that marihuana use was evil and immoral, while Anslinger, the bureaucrat, would be more concerned with attaining passage of legislation which would increase the Bureau's powers and then proceed to generate environmental support for these powers. In fact, the latter occured. The great bulk of Bureau-inspired publicity came after the Act, not before.

"Faced with a steadilly decreasing budget, the Bureau responded as any organization might react: it tried to appear more necessary, and it tried to increase its scope of operations. As a result of this response, the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed." The FBN and marihuana -- Dickson, Bureaucracy and morality, "Social Problems" (1968), pp. 152-155.

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