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The Controversy Over Marijuana Smoking

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Anslinger also tried to confront the public relations nightmare that resulted from many popular entertainers, such as musicians and Hollywood actors, who were known marijuana smokers. Anslinger warned that there were “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 use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.” Some jazz musicians even celebrated their marijuana use with songs such as “That Funny Reefer Man” by Cab Calloway, “Gimme a Reefer” by Bessie Smith, and “Muggles” by Louis Armstrong. Accordingly, he kept personal files or “gore files” on many celebrities. Consequently, various celebrities were arrested, including Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, and Robert Mitchum. In fact, Hollywood directors had been coerced by Anslinger to such an extent that many of them simply submitted their scripts to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics for approval even though the Bureau didn 't have the right to censor films. In 1955 Frank Sinatra’s The Man with the Golden Arm became the first film to defy movie censors by depicting a man who overcame drug addiction. Anslinger was also a very effective lobbyist. For example, he showed pictures to Congressmen of murder victims and claimed it was the result of marijuana use. One Senator asked, “Was there in this case a blood or skin

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