“…marijuana is one of the safest, therapeutically active substances known to man.” ~ Judge Francis Young (DEA)
"I would absolutely never use the federal government to enforce the law of using marijuana"~Ron Paul
"I think that marijuana should not only be legal, I think it should be a cottage industry. It would be wonderful for the state of Maine. There's some pretty good homegrown dope. I'm sure it would be even better if you could grow it with fertilizers and have greenhouses."
~Stephen King
“Why is marijuana against the law? It grows naturally upon our planet. Doesn’t the idea of making nature against the law seem to you a bit . . . unnatural?” ~ Bill Hicks
"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this."
~Albert Einstein "My First Impression of the U.S.A.", 1921
"Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marijuana in private for personal use... Therefore, I support legislation amending Federal law to eliminate all Federal criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce [28g] of marijuana." ~ Jimmy Carter U.S. President Message to congress 1977
"If people let government decide which foods they eat and medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny."
~Thomas Jefferson
"Having reviewed all the material available to us we find ourselves in agreement with the conclusion reached by the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission appointed by the Government of India (1893-94) and the New York Mayor's Committee (1944 - LaGuardia)that the long-term consumption of cannabis in moderate doses has no harmful effects" "the long-asserted dangers of cannabis are exaggerated and that the related law is socially damaging, if not unworkable"
~1968 UK Royal Commission, The Wootton Report
"The use of marijuana 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 marijuana smoking"
~The LaGardia sub-committee of New York 1944
Republican Kirk Pearson claimed that just by lawmakers talking about the bills they were encouraging teens to try marijuana. (“I don’t want to do anything today that would make drug use seem safer to teenagers,” he said, even though by his own logic he was better off keeping his mouth shut.)
~ via NORML Stash Blog
“Casual drug users should be taken out and shot” ~ Darryl Gates (Chief of LAPD & US Senate Judiciary Committee)
“I now have absolute proof that smoking even one marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H-bomb blast” ~ Ronald Reagan
“How many murders, suicides, robberies, criminal assaults, holdups, burglaries and deeds of maniacal insanity it causes each year, especially among the young, can only be conjectured…No one knows, when he places a marijuana cigarette to his lips, whether he will become a joyous reveler in a musical heaven, a mad insensate, a calm philosopher, or a murderer…” ~ Harry Anslinger (Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics 1930-1962)
"...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races."
~Harry J. Anslinger
"Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."
~Harry J. Anslinger
"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men.
~Harry J. Anslinger
"You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother."
~Harry J. Anslinger
"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others."
~Harry J. Anslinger
