Strange Country Ep. 101: Harry Anslinger

Harry Anslinger wanted to save his bureaucratic machine and he needed an enemy fast--enter marijuana. Thanks to policies he put into place, we've been fighting a futile War on Drugs for nearly 80 years. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly try to stave off their reefer madness as they talk about the impact of Anslinger's life work. Theme music: Resting Place by A Cast of Thousands. Cite Your Sources: Adams, Cydney. "The Man behind the Marijuana Ban for All the Wrong Reasons." CBS News, CBS Interactive, 17 Nov. 2016, www.cbsnews.com/news/harry-anslinger-the-man-behind-the-marijuana-ban/. Anslinger, Harry, and Courtney Riley Cooper. "Marijuana: Assassin of Youth." Red House Books, www.redhousebooks.com/galleries/assassin.htm. Blum, Deborah. "The Little-Told Story of How the U.S. Government Poisoned Alcohol during Prohibition." Slate Magazine, Slate, 19 Feb. 2010, slate.com/technology/2010/02/the-little-told-story-of-how-the-u-s-government-poisoned-alcohol-during-prohibition.html. Chasin, Alexandra. Assassin of Youth: a Kaleidoscopic History of Harry J. Anslingers War on Drugs. The University of Chicago Press, 2016. Cottle, Michelle. "Well, At Least Sheriff Joe Isn't Going to Congress." The New York Times, 29 Aug. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/opinion/sheriff-joe-arpaio-congress.html?searchResultPosition=16. Gladstone, Brooke. "The Man Who Declared War On Drugs | On the Media." WNYC Studios, On the Media, 14 Aug. 2017, www.wnycstudios.org/story/man-who-declared-war-drugs. Guzzo, Paul. "Mental Illness or Mob Hit? Questions Arise as Man Moves Into Home Where Family Was Slaughtered." Tampa Bay Times, 18 Apr. 2019, www.tampabay.com/hillsborough/mental-illness-or-mob-hit-questions-arise-as-man-moves-into-home-where-family-was-slaughtered-20190418/. Hari, Johann. Chasing the Scream: The First and the Last Days of the War on Drugs. Bloomsbury, 2016. Harvey, Matt. "Did America's First Drug Czar Secretly Supply Dope to Sen. Joe McCarthy?" Alternet.org, 14 May 2013, www.alternet.org/2013/05/did-americas-first-drug-czar-secretly-supply-dope-sen-joe-mccarthy/. "H.J. Anslinger Papers, 1835-1975 1875." H.J. Anslinger Papers, 1835-1975 1875, www.libraries.psu.edu/findingaids/1875.htm. Lesser, Jeremy. "Today Is the 100th Anniversary of the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act." Drug Policy Alliance, 16 Dec. 2014, www.drugpolicy.org/blog/today-100th-anniversary-harrison-narcotics-tax-act. Schmidlin, Kyle. "Column: 'War On Drugs' Merely Fights The Symptoms Of A Faulty System." CBS News, CBS Interactive, 13 Sept. 2008, www.cbsnews.com/news/column-war-on-drugs-merely-fights-the-symptoms-of-a-faulty-system/. "STATEMENT OF H. J. ANSLINGER." Statement of Harry J. Anslinger, www.druglibrary.org/SCHAFFER/hemp/taxact/anslng1.htm. Weinreb, Michael. "The Complicated Legacy of Harry Anslinger." Penn Stater, Jan./Feb. 2018, pp. 32–41, www.case.org/system/files/media/file/Penn Stater Harry Anslinger.pdf. Weirde, Dr. "Chinatown's Opium Dens." FoundSF, www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Chinatown's_Opium_Dens.