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DRUG_CRAZY

                                             October 16, 2008

                                                    NITS_OF_TOMORROW

  "Men of Tomorrow" (2004) by Gerard Jones
  Chapter 5, "New Fun", p. 106 (hardback)

  "The pulp-paper industry had been trying
  for years to use marijuana as an excuse
  to destroy its biggest rival, the hemp
  business, but the public didn't have much
  interest.  The sudden national fear of
  narcotics tipped the balance, and in 1937
  public support, aided by William Randolph
  Hearst and others with huge lumber
  holdings, sent anti-cannabis laws
  sweeping through state legislatures."


Now that's an interesting take on history, isn't it?
He just presents it as fact -- I was wondering about
his sources, and so I went through the rigamorle of
finding this, buried in the Chapter 5 notes, p.347:

   "The role of the lumber
   industry and William Randolph
   Hearst in the illegalization
   of marijuana is a subject
   tangled in the politics of
   hemp, and much overstatement        Great, thanks for the heads up --
   surrounds it; no doubt this         hidden away in the back of the book.
   telling is too simple, as
   well. However, to this
   author's mind, the evidence
   remains compelling and              Cool... so why do you feel
   reasonable even when one works      the need to hedge like this?
   to tease it free of political
   screed.  It stands as one of
   many illuminating examples of
   the ways in which Hearst, like
   so many newspaper and magazine
   publishers of his time, used
   his position to advance the
   most venal private schemes.          It certainly sounds plausible
   See Mike Gray, _Drug Crazy_          to someone like me -- but is
   (New York: Random House, 2001),"     the proof good enough to show
                                        someone who isn't like me?

                                                         Mike Gray:
           And for that, I suppose I need                his claim to
           to trace the reference to figure              fame is "The
           out what this is supposed to mean.            China Syndrome"
           It sounds a lot like:                         script.

           "The evidence is *totally*                    Objective and
            convincing! Sort of. To me."                 unbiased, no doubt.




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