cannabisnews.com: Drug War Trivia





Drug War Trivia
Posted by FoM on December 19, 2000 at 07:50:50 PT
By Daniel Butterworth 
Source: Themestream 
Many hear about America's so-called "war on drugs," but few know of its roots and its effects today. The following quiz* is designed not only to test your knowledge, but to provide you with knowledge that is basic to the understanding of America's policies and practices concerning the drug war. There are 10 questions in this quiz, and the answers are provided at the bottom of the article (no fair cheating!). 
You will also find a short commentary and a scale by which you can assess your knowledge. Good luck!1. Why were opium and (later) cocaine first banned in America?A. To reduce the number of hard-core drug usersB. To reduce the huge profits associated with hard-core drug use C. To counter the influences of what were called "heathen Chinese" and "cocainized Negroes"D. To provide a moral example to children2. The 1914 act that regulated and taxed importation and distribution of opium and coca products, thus paving the way for the current "war on drugs" is known as which of the following:A. The Opium-Cocaine Tax ActB. The Harrison ActC. The Pure Food and Drug ActD. The Anslinger Act3. After the U. S. government realized that underground drug trafficking increased when regulations were placed on importation and distribution of opium and cocaine, they passed stricter laws and formed what new oversight group in 1922?A. The Federal Narcotics Control BoardB. The Drug Enforcement AgencyC. The Narcotics Observation CommitteeD. The Federal Bureau of Narcotics4. What prominent leader of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was the main driving force behind the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937?A. William Jennings BryanB. J. Edgar HooverC. William Randolph HearstD. Harry Anslinger 5. How many medical doctors were present at the congressional hearings for the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937?A. NoneB. OneC. SixD. A panel of twelve members of the AMA6. What did Harry Anslinger do in 1944 when New York "Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and the New York Academy of Medicine released the La Guardia Marijuana Report," which "claimed that marijuana caused no violence and had certain positive medical benefits"?A. Quit his post as head of the FBNB. Banned all marijuana research and verbally attacked La GuardiaC. Convinced the U. S. Congress to spend $1 billion on a major anti-drug propaganda campaignD. Smoked some marijuana7. What 1970 act shifted the federal government's reasoning for jailing drug users and traffickers from taxation (the 1914 act and the Marijuana Tax act used taxation as a way into such treatment of drug users) to "the federal government's obligation to regulate interstate traffic"?A. Substance Abuse and Trafficking ActB. Narcotics Control ActC. Federal Narcotics ActD. Controlled Substances Act8. What prominent American was provided morphine by Harry Anslinger for years?A. Senator Joseph McCarthyB. Author, Dean LatimerC. Publisher, William Randolph HearstD. Poet, Dylan Thomas9. Approximately how many arrests for drug possession or trafficking are made in America in any given year?A. 100,000B. 500,000C. 1,000,000D. 1,500,00010. Approximately how much money has the U. S. spent on the drug war in the past year?A. $1 billionB. $ 10 billionC. $40 billionD. $100 billionOkay, that's the quiz. Check your answers at the bottom of this article. How did you do? Here's the breakdown of scores:10............Wow! Drug war expert!9.............You know your stuff8.............Better than average7.............Average--keep reading6 and below...Well, now you know. Keep reading.Here are the answers and commentary:1. C. Opium and cocaine were banned largely for prejudicial reasons. In fact, many agree that drug laws, as enforced today, continue to be largely based on biases against certain minorities.2. B. The Harrison Act was preceded by the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which required labeling of patent medicines that contained drugs. But, it was the Harrison Act of 1914, hastened by the prohibitionist Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan, that paved the way for today's current drug prohibition.3. A. That's right, drug trafficking increased after laws were created to control it. The U. S. government formed the Federal Narcotics Control Board in 1922, and in 1924 the FNCB banned the importation or manufacture of heroin. Heroin, then, was the first drug to be officially banned for all purposes in the United States.4. D. Harry Anslinger was the Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (created in 1930) from 1930-1962, and he was the main driving force behind the Marijuana Tax Act. William Randolph Hearst was a major player in demonizing marijuana, often writing inflationary stories about crazed people who went on rampages as a result of the drug. These stories were never corroborated and are all believed to be false. Hearst made the paper for his newspapers from wood, so he had a vested interest in making hemp illegal because paper made from hemp would make his paper-making machinery obsolete and the acres of forests he used for creating his paper less useful.5. B. Only one medical doctor, a representative from the American Medical Association, was present at the congressional hearing, and he was against the Marijuana Tax Act because "drugs containing marijuana were manufactured and distributed by the leading pharmaceutical firms; and marijuana was recognized as a medicine in good standing by the AMA." 6. B. It was our current drug czar, Barry McCaffrey, who convinced the U. S. Congress to spend over $1 billion on an anti-drug propaganda campaign.7. D. The Controlled Substances Act effectively began the new 30-years-and-counting "war on drugs." In 1972, the Consumer's Union, the research organization behind Consumer Reports, made these six recommendations: 1. Stop emphasizing measures designed to keep drugs away from people. 2. Stop publicizing the horrors of the "drug menace." 3. Stop increasing the damage done by drugs. (Current drug laws and policies make drugs more rather than less damaging in many ways). 4. Stop misclassifying drugs. (Most official and unofficial classifications of drugs are illogical and capricious; they, therefore, make a mockery of drug law enforcement and bring drug education into disrepute...). 5. Stop viewing the drug problem as primarily a national problem to be solved on a national scale...6. Stop pursuing the goal of stamping out illicit drug use.from Licit and Illicit Drugs, Consumers Union, 19728. A. That's right, Harry Anslinger, the man who brought us into the modern anti-drug era, supplied morphine to the addicted Senator Joseph McCarthy, the same guy who brought us the communism scare.9. D. In fact, America has now surpassed Russia as the country with the largest prison population. And you thought America was the "Land of the Free."10. C. Forty billion dollars each year and counting. And the drug war is still a failure. Is this really what Americans want from their government?* Much of the above information, and all of the quotations, are taken from the late Peter McWilliams's book, Aint Nobody's Business If You Do.Daniel ButterworthAbout this author: Daniel Butterworth will finish his Ph. D. in Creative Writing in May of 2001. He teaches poetry at a Texas university. Source: ThemeStreamAuthor: Daniel ButterworthPublished: December 18, 2000Copyright: 2000 Themestream Inc., Website: http://www.themestream.com/gspd_browse/home.gspCannabisNews Articles - Peter McWilliamshttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=Peter+McWilliams
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Comment #10 posted by dddd on December 19, 2000 at 17:30:36 PT
speaking of trivia
 I heard some interesting news today.Evidently,the IRS,has decided that overweight people will be able to deduct the cost of Jenny Craig,and Weight Watchers,from their income tax. Why is this significant?,,Well in my opinion,a severe over-eating habit,falls within the category of an addiction.A person continues to eat mass quanities of food,in spite of the fact that they know it is bad for their health.How far away is this from the cigarette smoker?Will we be able to take a deduction for Nicoderm too?And the next logical question would be about other addictions.Would it not make sense that Alcohol and other drug "treatment" programs,should also be tax deductable? Perhaps the only argument one could make,would be to say that one must eat to stay alive,regardless of the amount,but drugs are not necessarily necessary to stay alive. A bit of contraversial trivia,submitted for your perusal......dddd
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Comment #9 posted by Dan B on December 19, 2000 at 16:57:13 PT:
Thanks, again!
I appreciate the nice comments, folks. Freedom fighter, you can find a link to one of my poems (the only one I have on the Internet right now, and it is a sonnet--not typical for me) at the bottom of this message (yes, it's another Themestream article). Thanks for asking about the poetry.By the way, I placed a link to "Drug War Trivia: Part II" on a comment to a later story about the new medical marijuana regulations in California (which sound okay to me, but certainly not ideal. I do think they closed an argument the federal government has been foisting upon them for some time now, and that, I think, will ultimately bode well for the rest of us). Peace out.(I've never said that before, but, hey, I wanted to be cool like the kids on MTV.)Dan B
Sonnet Ending With a Moment of Silence
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Comment #8 posted by freedom fighter on December 19, 2000 at 16:40:14 PT
Thanks Dan! Speaking of the devil!
My co-worker who used to be a cop said rather smugly that the Govt. did the research and said pot made people stupid!He actually said that today. I think I am gonna pop him a PopQuiz! Just to show how dumb he is.. LOLOL me a meanie eheh!Tomorrow he will ask me what I scored on it, it is a 10! Dan, since you teach poetry, and I do love poetry, show us some work.. I love your work!Thanks Dan!\/
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Comment #7 posted by observer on December 19, 2000 at 14:13:52 PT
great job!
Excellent, Dan! Super way to take action! You done good.
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Comment #6 posted by kaptinemo on December 19, 2000 at 13:47:14 PT:
Nothing 'trivial' about it, Dan
Pitching my two cents in, I'd just like to say that we *need the exposure* the links would provide, here. This 'place' is a veritable font of knowledge; I've learned more here in the last 8-9 months from reading the comments and following the links than I have in 20 years of my own admittedly fitfull studying of the matter. And I have something of a background in it; imagine what someone coming here for the first time, looking for even-handed discussions, information they can't get from an anti site (and much-needed acerbic ripostes to DrugWarrior bilge!) as well as honest debate, would think.In this case, the more the merrier. The more open-minded people who can be attracted to this site, the more our ranks swell, the louder our voice gets...and the more the antis sweat bullets at the prospect of real change derailing their gravy train. Just the very last time is enough to make even the most hard-bitten reformer smile.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on December 19, 2000 at 13:32:51 PT
Sure Dan!
Your welcome Dan, You have talent and please do put a link in your comments. We're a nice group of people here all with different talents and I hope this site helps everyone to advance in the area that they desire too. Until doing news I did other things that were challenging. It's always aiming towards a goal that keeps us going. Trying to achieve our dreams. For now my dreams are exactly what I am doing. I'm so fortunate to be supported by so many people that it has become much easier for me. I have people I can talk to about what I don't understand and people to help me with decisions that I don't want to make by myself. I'm very greatful. Peace, FoM!
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Comment #4 posted by Dan B on December 19, 2000 at 12:41:54 PT:
Thanks, everyone.
Thanks, FoM, for putting this article here. Themestream is a place where people can self-publish their writing, so I figured it might be a good place to start developing some semblance of an audience. I published three other things there, but the Drug War Trivia one has been the most popular, by far. I owe that popularity to this site.I plan to do a series of these articles (Drug Trivia) on Themestream and, if nobody objects, I'd like to place a link to each article (as they are published) at the end of a comment I'd post here on Cannabis News. The reason I ask about it is that I get $.02 for each visit to an article I've written, so a link here works like advertising for me (although my chief goal really is to get the word out; I've made a grand total of 78 cents so far). If you decide against letting me do that, it's okay with me, and sorry for linking up before I asked in the first place.At any rate, I'm glad you liked the article. It was fun to write it, and I can't wait to write more (in the midst of growing demands on my time for the dissertation).Take care,Dan B
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on December 19, 2000 at 12:22:29 PT:
Way to go, Mr. Butterworth!
One of the greatest allies the antis have is plain ol' garden-variety ignorance. An ignorance that they've gone to great lengths to maintain; in nearly every single public utterance they make, you can find at *least* one false statement which has been disputed already by real experts. They hope that they will not have to face such an expert, because they know they'll be called out on those inconvenient little lies and shown up for the liars they are. They know that the average American is too caught up with the rat-race treadmill that they are on to take the time to verify those statements, and that only an reformer would care enough to set the record straight. But the average reader of any newspaper that contains this little quiz would find themselves as amazed as any reader of the old Ripley's Believe It or Not would. Such an 'enlightenment' might cause a sufficient number of people to begin questioning all the other aspects of the DrugWar that they've taken as being incontrovertible. Questions the antis do their level best, with bluff, blarney and bluster, to deflect...often by casting aspersions against the questioners' parental fitness, moral fiber or patriotism.We need more of this kind of writing. Outstanding!
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Comment #2 posted by dddd on December 19, 2000 at 11:47:59 PT
well done
Thank you Dan.....An excellent article...............dddd
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Comment #1 posted by Robbie on December 19, 2000 at 11:32:38 PT:
I got a 9!
It amazes me that so few people are aware of these facts and truths. Kudos to this writer for showing people some real facts and evidence on the Wo(s)D. Maybe this article will spread across as many newspapers as the "Monkeys say Marijuana Addictive" article got last month.
I'll take Stoned Senators for $1000, Alex
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