Quotes

from the U.S. National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse:

“The experience of the 1960’s might lead one to surmise that marihuana use spreads explosively. The chronicle of its 3,000 year history, however, shows that this explosion has been characteristic only of the contemporary scene. The events surrounding the introduction of cannabis use to the New World are entirely unclear. Some historians say that the Spaniards brought the plant with them in the 16th century, others say marihuana smoking came in earlier with the slave trade, or with the Asian migration of the late 18th century. Intoxicant use in the United States is also traced to the large influx of Mexican laborers in the 1910’s and 1920’s.”

from The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs:

“George Washington was growing hemp at Mount Vernon presumably for its fiber, though it has been argued that Washington was also concerned to increase the medicinal or intoxicating potency of his marijuana plants. Two entries in his diary supply the evidence: May 12-13,1765: 'Sowed hemp at muddy hole by swamp.' August 7,1765: 'Began to separate the male from the female hemp at Do- rather too late.' The phrase 'rather too late' suggests that he wanted to complete the separation before the females were fertilized, and this is a practice related to drug potency rather than to fiber culture.”

from The Scientific American 1869:

“The drug hashish, the cannabis indica of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, the resinous product of hemp, grown in the East Indies and other parts of Asia, is used in those countries to a large extent for its intoxicating properties and is doubtless used in this country for the same purpose.”

from the book Marijuana by Dr. Walton, 1869:

“Hemp grown for fiber in Kentucky has been shown to contain a substantial degree of potency. Houghton and Hamilton concluded from animal experiments that the Kentucky hemp was fully as active as the best imported Indian product. It is clear that the potentiality of hashish abuse has always existed with this type of hemp production.”

from 1917 Yearbook of the USDA (Production of Drug-Plant crops in the US, Cannabis):

“Considerable technical skill is required to produce cannabis of a quality that will meet the standard requirements for this drug. Cannabis grown in some localities is deficient in the active principles upon which its value depends, and preliminary tests to determine the quality of the product are therefore always advisable before planting this crop on a commercial scale.”

from The 1933 Panama Canal Zone Report of the Military Surgeon (regarding marihuana use among U.S. soldiers):

“Marihuana as grown on the Isthmus of Panama is a mild stimulant and intoxicant. It is not a 'habit forming' drug in the sense that the derivatives of opium, cocaine, and such drugs are, as there are no symptoms of deprivation following withdrawal. Delinquencies due to marihuana smoking which result in trial by military court are negligible in number when compared with delinquencies resulting from the use of alcohol drinks, which is also classed as a stimulant and intoxicant. Marihuana presents no threat to military discipline, and no recommendations to prevent the sale or use of marihuana are deemed advisable.”

from Harry J. Anslinger, Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, at the Hearings before the Ways and Means Committee on H.R.6385 (which led to marijuana’s prohibition), 1937:

“This drug is as old as civilization itself. Marihuana is the same as Indian hemp, hashish. It is known in various countries by a variety of names. We have adopted the Mexican terminology, and we call it marihuana, which means good feeling.” (Committee member Dingle asks,"I am just wondering whether the marihuana addict graduates into a heroin, an opium, or a cocaine user.") "No sir," Anslinger responds. "I have not heard of a case of that kind. I think it is an entirely different class. The marihuana addict does not go in that direction."

from the 1944 New York City Mayor Laguardia’s Committee on Marihuana:

“The practice of smoking marihuana does not lead to addiction in the medical sense of the word. The sale and distribution of marihuana is not under the control of any single organized group. The use of marihuana does not lead to morphine or heroin or cocaine addiction and no effort is made to create a market for these narcotics by stimulating the practice of marihuana smoking. Marihuana is not the determining factor in the commission of major crimes. Marihuana is not widespread among school children. Juvenile delinquency is not associated with the practice of smoking marihuana. The publicity concerning the catastrophic effects of marihuana smoking is unfounded.”

from The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs:

“The 'weed' that in the United States and Mexico is commonly called marijuana, hemp, or cannabis is in fact a highly useful plant cultivated throughout recorded history and perhaps much earlier as well. Marijuana and hashish are commonly smoked in the United States; they can also be taken orally in foods or beverages. They are not addicting. Neither tolerance nor withdrawal symptoms have been reliably reported. The lethal dose is not known; no human fatalities have been documented. Marijuana was readily available in the United States through much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, its effects were known, and it was occasionally used for recreational purposes.”

from National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse:

“There is no systematic empirical evidence, at least that drawn from the American experience, to support the thesis that the use of marihuana either inevitably or generally causes, leads to or precipitates criminal, violent, aggressive or delinquent behavior of a sexual or nonsexual nature. If anything, the effects suggest that marihuana may be more likely to neutralize criminal behavior and to militate against the commission of aggressive acts.”

from Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland, 1865:

“She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large blue caterpillar, that was sitting on the top, with his arms folded, quietly smoking a long hookah, and taking not the smallest notice of her or of anything else.”