La Guardia Committee

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The LaGuardia Committee ( German  LaGuardia Committee ) investigated the dangers of cannabis on behalf of New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia from 1938 to 1944 and systematically refuted the claims of the US Treasury Department that smoking marijuana leads to madness , which is worsening physical and mental health, fuels criminal behavior and juvenile delinquency, makes physically dependent, and is a "gateway drug" for more dangerous drugs.

history

Mayor LaGuardia

When Fiorello H. LaGuardia was a member of the House of Representatives , he heard of the use of marijuana by US soldiers stationed in Panama . He was impressed by the report from an Army investigative committee describing the drug's relative safety and the fact that it played a very small, if any, role in crime problems.

During the 1930s, when LaGuardia was New York City Mayor, Harry J. Anslinger , chairman of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), had started a nationwide campaign of newspaper articles (particularly the Hearst press ) against the hemp he despised .

Since the fear of marijuana spread among large parts of the New York population and also among school children, LaGuardia sought the help of the New York Academy of Medicine on September 13, 1938 , which recommended that a special committee be set up to conduct a thorough sociological and scientific / to conduct a clinical examination of the hemp.

In response to the committee's report published in 1944, which stated that marijuana use does not lead to madness, cause crime, or make you physically dependent, Harry J. Anslinger threatened to severely punish any further research on hemp.

The report

The following conclusions were drawn from the two studies in the final report:

Sociological aspects :

  1. Marijuana is widely used in the Manhattan borough , but the problem is not as acute as reported in other parts of the United States in New York.
  2. The introduction of marijuana to this area has been recent compared to other places.
  3. The price of marijuana is low and therefore compatible with most people's purchasing power.
  4. The proliferation and use of marijuana are centered in Harlem .
  5. The majority of marijuana smokers are black and Latin American.
  6. The consensus among marijuana smokers is that using the drug creates a sense of personal completeness.
  7. The practice of smoking marijuana does not lead to addiction in the medical sense of the word.
  8. The sale and distribution of marijuana is not under the control of any single organized group.
  9. The use of marijuana does not lead to addiction to morphine , heroin , or cocaine, and no effort is being made to market these drugs by stimulating the practice of marijuana smoking.
  10. Marijuana is not the determining factor in serious crimes.
  11. Marijuana smoking is not widespread among school children.
  12. Juvenile delinquency is not linked to the practice of smoking marijuana.
  13. Public coverage of the disastrous effects of marijuana smoking in New York City is unfounded.

Medical aspects :

  1. Under the influence of marijuana, the basic personality structure of the individual does not change, but some of the superficial aspects of behavior do show changes.
  2. There are increased feelings of relaxation, disinhibition, and self-confidence associated with the use of marijuana.
  3. The new feeling of self-confidence induced by the drug is expressed primarily through verbal rather than physical activity. There are some signs of a decrease in physical activity.
  4. The disinhibition that results from the use of marijuana reveals latent individual thoughts and emotions, but not such reactions that would be completely alien to the individual in the sober state.
  5. Not only does marijuana make reactions pleasant, it can also induce feelings of fear.
  6. People with limited capacity for an effective experience and those who have difficulty socializing are more likely to resort to marijuana than those who are more sociable.

Personal details

The committee was made up of George B. Wallace, EHL Corwin, McKeen Cattell, Leon H. Cornwall, Robert F. Loeb, Currier McEwen, BS Oppenheimer, Charles Diller Ryan and Dudley D. Shoenfeld, among others.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The LaGuardia Report Foreword by Fiorello LaGuardia (PDF), as of December 2015.
  2. ↑ Reefer Madness Teaching Museum: Harry Anslinger's Personal Gore Files # 1 of 2, Newspaper Reports On The Reefer Madness Lies That He Used ( Memento of the original from November 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.reefermadnessteachingmuseum.org
  3. ↑ Reefer Madness Teaching Museum: Gore Files # 2 ( Memento of the original from January 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.reefermadnessteachingmuseum.org
  4. ↑ a b The LaGuardia Report Introduction by EHL Corwin, PhD, Secretary (PDF), as of December 2015.
  5. ↑ HARRY J. ANSLINGER, WILL OURSLER: Hemp Around Their Necks , 1961.
  6. ↑ The LaGuardia Report - Sociological Study Conclusions (PDF), as of December 2015.
  7. ↑ The LaGuardia Report - Summary and Discussion (PDF), as of December 2015.