Reefer Madness a/k/a The Man on the Grassy Knoll

Reefer Madness
a/k/a
“The Man on the Grassy Knoll”

It took only one toke off of this movie to have me laughing my ass off and reaching for the bag of Doritos! The egregious propaganda of this movie is astonishingly amusing. At turns preachy, self-righteous, and xenophobic, the acting is so wooden and comically over-the-top that this surely had to be either a Nazi or Soviet propaganda film.

But alas, it appears as though Reefer Madness is the tip of the iceberg of a classic American governmental/industrial conspiracy. Raise your ganja toting right hand if you've ever heard of Harry J. Anslinger. Harry served as the first director of the U.S. Treasury's Bureau of Narcotics. He was appointed to that position in the 1930's by his father-in-law, Andrew Mellon, who was then the Secretary of the Treasury.

Anslinger is the Man on the Grassy Knoll behind the demonization of Grass in the 1930's. The Dupont Company had recently invented a process for producing raw cellulose for use in the production of paper. At the same time the hemp industry came up with its own cheaper, more efficient process for cellulose. Dupont’s future millions of profits were very much threatened by the hemp industry.

Enter Harry Anslinger as the lap dog for Andrew Mellon and Mellon Bank (one of only two banks to handle Dupont’s accounts). Anslinger led the way in demonizing marijuana thru a concerted public relations campaign predicated upon the notion that America was under imminent threat of invasion by the demon weed which was a weapon of mass destruction (stop me if you've heard that recently!). Not to mention America’s racist and xenophobic attitudes towards Blacks and Mexicans (hence the derivative Spanish name for grass “marijuana”) who were portrayed as drug addled barbarians intent on overthrowing the white power structure (and, even worse, seducing the White Woman!).

Reefer Madness helped to stop the hemp industry in its tracks and to making weed illegal. Beyond the unintended comedy of Reefer Madness, the film played the role of The Patsy who was set up by the Man on the "Grassy" Knoll, Harry J.Anslinger. As such, Reefer Madness may be considered the Zapruder film in the assassination of the hemp industry. Many are its victims.