Show —ITHE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE SUNDAY MORNING FEBRUARY 23 1938 Utah Peace Officers Wage War on Marihuana Almost Impossible to Stamp Out Drug Here as Seeds of Original Plants Now Cover Entire State — Small Amourits Known to Be' Grown in Salt Lake City Editor’s Note: Cities throughout the United States will observe the tenth annual “Narcotic Education week” from February 22 to 29 The purpose of the week which has been officially proclaimed for Salt Lake City by Mayor E B Erwin is to educate the public on the dangers of narcotics One of the most common narcotics and for that reason one of the most dangerous is marihuana The Salt Lake Tribune therefore publishes the following article as a contribution to public enlightenment on a very serious problem) By DON BROOKS the police of a nation JOINING peace officers are making a determined effort to stamp out what is generally recognized as one of America’s greatest narcotic menaces marihuana With its aromatic fumes listed down through the centuries as an accessory to crime and violence marihuana or “Mexican" dope” is known to have existed in Utah for many years Only last year members of the Salt Lake county sheriff’s office discovered where a half-acfield had been planted with the drugbearing weed Acting on information from the Salt Lake City office of the federal bureau of narcotics Sheriff Joseph Holbrook of Davis county three years ago destroyed a large quantity of the plant growing in a Davis county field Similar action was taken by Sheriff J H Zundell of Box Elder county who four years ago found a large field planted with marihuana re The largest seizure of the narcotic In Salt Lake City is believed to have been made In 1920 when police raided a tumble-dow- n house on the city’s west side and found a half-to-n of the Weed baled like hay It is Impossible to determine the amount of marihuana in Utah today Traffic in the drug haa not noticeably decreased In the last 10 years Vigilant work by peace officers however has resulted in more and more arrests Marihuana can never be entirely g stamped out of Utah The seeds of the original plants now cover the state £mall amounts are known to be grdwn in Salt Lake City Window flower boxes and backyard gardens conceal marihuana beneath the protective coloring of other plants These sources are not particularly harmful unless the grower deliberately raises the plant for sale It is the roving transient and the wholesale grower that must be contended with Arrest records show the most persistent purveyors of the drug are transients With tobacco tins filled with marhuana obtained here or in other parts of the country the transient quickly sells his supply of "doped” cigarets and leaves before lie Is appre far-flun- But b'eyond any question of ‘doubt for the adult marihuana is easy to obtain in Salt Lake City and other cities in Utah Fortunately in the last several years state legislators have become aware Utah has joined of the drug’s dangers 17 other progressive states in combating the marihuana menace Laws have been passed listing marihuana or as it is medically known cannibis sativa 1 in the category of narcotic drugs Tha same penalties are attached for its illegal sale and possession as are meted out to those dealing in opium morphine cocaine and kindred drugs Oddly enough this new law nowhere refers to the weed under its common name of marihuana Always it is referred to as “cannibis” which is defined to mean: (a) The flowering or fruiting tops of the pistillate plant cannibis sativa 1 from which the resin has not been extracted (b) Thet resin extracted from such tops c) Every compound manufactured derivative mixture or preparation of such resin or of such tops from which the resin has not been extracted Unfortunately however Utah failed to follow the example set by other states in establishing penalties for the law’s violation Peace officers and authorities acquainted with the deadly effects of marihuana claim the present penalties are not stringent The Utah Peace Officers’ asenough sociation will In the near future request more adequate laws and penalties according to former Chief of Police W L Payne of Salt Lake City The present penalties provide that for a first offense the offender upon conviction shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $299 or by a term in the county jail For a subsequent offense the fine is $1000 and a year’s imprisonment When One understands that marihuana a roadside weed in almost every state in the union brings $10 a pound "wholesale” one can see why combating the drug Is a herculean task “ th y fast I'ilSB JSssife: -k ? Chief Deputy George stead Salt Lake MmM A Young left and Beck drug f- S Sheriff hended His best market is among the foreign element of the state Periodically assertions are made that youths of high school age are being sold marihuana in wholesale quantities but these assertions are exaggerated officers claim Only' a few cases are on record where high school youths have been duped into smoking the drug This perhaps is largely due to the seller Young boys and girls are a poor market They are too likely tb reveal to parents or authorities where they obtained the x Grant Sheriff It of coun- ty confer over a quantity of marihuana seized in a recent Note raid the pre- pared cigarets in the cardboard box arets These cig- sold are for from 15 to 25 cents apiece at practically no cost to the man- ufacturer With nothing more to fear than a term in jail if apprehended the purveyor of marihuana is strongly tempted to keep up his illicit trade officers claim Contrast the Utah law with one recently passed in Ohio where indignant complaints of parents that marihuana cigarets were being sold their children resulted in the speedy passage of a uniform narcotic code It was provided that for a first offense a prison term of five years could be imposed Again Ohio placed a powerful weapon in the hands of its officers by providing that a warrant was not needed while engaged in a search for the drug In Utah a search warrant must first be obtained allowing the escape of many a suspect while the warrant is being sworn out If marihuana is truly the insidious menace it has been pictured some people ask why doesn't the 'federal government with its present stringent laws against other narcotics assist in its control? It is true that to the United States government the peril of Mexican hemp twin sister to hashish for that is what marihuana is declared to be does not exist For federal law governing the sale and use of narcotics makes no mention of marihuana under any of its many names For years however federal narcotio operatives have given assistance to state peace forces in controlling the traffic They have compiled long lists of ax murders and other revolting crimes which they say addicts of this In truth feddope have committed eral men have long called marihuana the "inspirer” of crimes of brutality A promoter of lawlessness the drug For the is even lawless in name very spelling of marihuana is unrecognized It is spelled in the following forms: marahuana Marijuana marijuna marajuana merihuaha and merijuana Addicts call a drugged cigaret a “mooter” or "reefer” Both in the south and southwest marihuana is known as "mugglcs” But in the 'vernacular of Salt Lake City’s underworld marihuana goes by another name In plant form before the smoking part has been removed the weed is known as “hay" In smoking form most commonly seized it goes by the name of "griefo” A few weeks ago two Mexicans were arrested in a local railroad yard by police officers In the possession of one was found a tin filled vith "griefo” Examination of the can’s contents by N E McLachian city chemist found it to contain 158 percent of the resin known as cannibin which possesses the narcotic properties of marihuana By weight the can contained 18 grams which sold 'in cigaret form would bring about claimed Enough marihuana to warp the brains of 40 men A city judge sentenced the Mexican to a month in jail In Ohio he could have been sentenced up to five years In prison Of the effects of marihuana on the human system everyone is not agreed fantastic One hears exaggerated stones of what happened when “I was hopped'up on a reefer” One youth told police his mind worked 20 times as fast as it normally did “It seemed I didn’t have any legs The curbs on the street looked six feet high” Perhaps Mr McLachian who has studied the drug for many years is the best local authority In a report drawn up for city police he says: "The cannibindon contained in It is the flowering tops of fhe weed that A dried marihuana plant Authorities claim marihuana is indiare rolled in cigarets and smoked with and the Utah to amount of cultivation tha plant slightest genous tleurishes and grows to several feet in height the extract taken from marihuana acts as a sedative and hypnotic The use of deluthe herb produces excitement sions hallucinations and a rapid flow of ideas a high state of ecstasy sometimes humorous tendencies and an toward wilful damage and with a temporary amnesia of all that has transpired In cases of long addiction the somnolent action of marihuana is replaced with complete loss of judgment and restraint There is no question but what the use of marihuana makes criminals more desperate” Yet unresponsive legislative todies would let criminals sell this weed to the youth of the nation and escape punishment Local officers say underworld heads have not been slow to utilize the narcotic for subjugating the will of htf- man derelicts That will normally feeble becomes almost superhuman in the commission of some “order’’ when under the influence of mariviolence and was lauded In the Odyssey as a drug to lull all pain and anger and to bring forgetfulness of sorrow When the Assassins were founded in Persia by Hassan Ben Sabbat young men whom this shoik wished to place under his power were given this drug and when under its influence were taken blindfolded into his gardens where every pleasure which appealed to the senses awaited them So completely were they dominated by this treatment that they gladly followed his will even to the extent of sacrificing their lives in order to further experience the pleasures to which they had been initiated Authorities agree that the use of the drug today in Egypt is widespread In used fact it is probably as widely among Egyptians as opium is used by the Chinese and alcohol by Americans and Europeans Natives of the Malayan peninsula have been known while under its influence to rush out and engage in violent deeds with complete disregard for personal safety or the odds against them To run "amok" in the Malayan peninsula is synonymous with saying one is under the influence of this drug The marihuana plant varies in color from- - light- - green to greenish- - brown and consists of the stems foliage flowered leaves and fruit The flowering tops of the female plant are the source from which the drug is obtained and In America these flowering tops are huana Tlie origin of the drug is very an- cient In the year 1090 A D the religious and military order or sect of the Assassins was founded in Persia and the numerous acts of cruelty attributed to this order were known not only in Asia but in Europe The branih of the Shiite sect known as Ishmaelites was called Hashishan derived from hashish or the product of hemp leaves cannibis indica- - From- -- the Arabic “Hashishan’twe have the English word assassin if is’ mentioned in the Arabian Nights and was known at the time of the Crusades The drug was known to the Greeks as "nepenthe” - rolled into cigarets and the smoke being inhaled A favorite method is for the user toi draw the smoke into the mouth and then blow it out against the cupped hands whence it is Inhaled For centuries it was thought that cannibis indica as the plant grown in InJia became known was the only potent member of the hemp family There the smoking of hashish also called gathered smoked ganga charras bhang and siddi became such a scourge (hat the most stringent laws were enacted to curb the evil often termed by persons familiar with Indian life as “deadlier than opium” Only in comparatively recent times has it been determined that hemp is hemp whether it is cannibis Amerir cana imported by our colonists cannibis Mexicans supposedly introduced into our sister republic by the Spanish conquistadors or the plant which the Chinese reputedly began to cultivate before the dawn of the Christian era Twin test tubes in the office of Mr McLachian one filled with the product of the Asiatic ganga trader and the other filled with the product of a Salt Lake countyfarm show that" the two products are essentially the same evil cannibis sativa Gathered at random from the official files of the local bureau of narcotics the following cases explain why marl super-cultivat- (Coctinued en Following Page) tfo-r- ' - ! " HlhH’ s - ' A' ' a " ' ’' m t "1 y v v '"w!'-- ed ' -ArAr ” V' Y Vt ! ' I ’ vt ’ s' e ' - I ' W notify ' A ' ' '"'i J x 'v A 1 a ?' - vA : ' Domestic marihuana under the microscope revealed as a twin plant to Indian hemp or hashish N E Asiatic narcotic scourge McLachian Salt Lake City chemist analyzes a quantity of the drug taken from two men arrested in a local railroad yard by city police ir V1 T W Y ' - A A v ' i i( - A - i A ' 'A : r A- 2'Cf A gfg"g W - - - -- - — 7? V |