According to the accounts from the Congressional Record I've read, when the original bill to prohibit marijuana came up for debate, the Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn was asked what it was about. He replied ""I don't know. It has something to do with a thing called marijuana. I think it is a narcotic of some kind." Does this sound like marijuana prohibition was the result of some great public demand? Most of the information about marijuana that was available to the media came from Harry Anslinger's Bureau of Narcotics. You seem absolutely sure there was no attempt by the government to influence public opinion on the subject by misinformation. Do you think the material and Congressional testimony by Mr. Anslinger that can be found on the web will support that assertion?
I never actually said that and I don't believe the government is in the habit of spreading misinformation to its citizens. Eventually people find out they've been lied to and then things get real ugly. Law enforcement and the criminal justice system had significant input in making marijuana an illegal and controlled substance. But it sprung out of the growth of the 1960`s drug culture, which finally opened the eyes of society and subsequently lead to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. You want everyone to believe that marijuana was made illegal, as an artificial creation of the government. It wasn't!