GR translation: the great Killer Weed advertising campaign of the thirties

[David Morris]

Killer Weed = Marijuana + propaganda.

On Saturday, February 21, 2015, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Just as the federal government had used fear, prejudice, racism, and
> false stories of violence to 'tax' cocaine and opium products like
> heroin and morphine, in 1914, the newly formed Bureau of Narcotics
> used similar themes of uncontrollable violence and falsities to
> demonize marijuana. Movies and advertisements ran in theaters and
> newspapers around the country warning of the evils and dangers of its
> use: “Beware! Young and Old – People in All Walks of Life! It contains
> the Killer Drug “Marihuana” – a powerful narcotic in which lurks
> Murder! Insanity! Death!” Stories were told of people who became
> insane and uncontrollable criminals as a result of smoking marijuana.
> Marihuana was repeatedly referred to as "The Devil’s Harvest" or
> "Devil's Weed."
>
> http://brucealanblock.com/why-marijuana-became-legal/
>
> On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 9:21 PM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
> > Reefer Madness (1936)
> >
> > Reefer Madness (1937) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azf320JDdqU>
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefer_Madness
> >
> > On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 9:13 PM, Mike Jing
> > <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com <javascript:;>> wrote:
> >> V580.35-581.17   Imagine the fellow’s plight—got so much money he don’t
> know
> >> what to do with it all. Don’t go screaming, “Give it to me!” either.
> He’s
> >> given it to you, though in roundabout ways you might need a good system
> of
> >> search to unsnarl. Oh, has he given it to you. By way of the Bland
> Institute
> >> and the Bland Foundation, the man has had his meathooks well into the
> >> American day-to-day since 1919. Who do you think sat on top of the
> patent
> >> for that 100-miles-per-gallon carburetor, eh? sure you’ve heard that
> >> story—maybe even snickered along with paid anthropologists who called it
> >> Automotive Age Myth or some shit—well, turns out the item was real, all
> >> right, and it was Lyle Bland who sprang for those academic hookers
> doing the
> >> snickering and the credentialed lying. Or how about the great Killer
> Weed
> >> advertising campaign of the thirties, who do you think worked
> hand-in-glove
> >> (or, as grosser individuals have put it, penis-in-mouth) with the FBI on
> >> that one? And remember all those
> guy-goes-to-the-doctor-can’t-get-a-hardon
> >> jokes? Planted by Bland, yup—half a dozen basic variations, after having
> >> done depth studies for the National Research Council that indicated an
> >> unacceptable 36% of the male work force weren’t paying enough attention
> to
> >> their cocks—not enough genital obsession there, and it was undermining
> the
> >> efficiency of the organs doing the real work.
> >>
> >> What does "Killer Weed" refer to here?  Googling points to PCP, but PCP
> >> seems to be introduced in the 50's.  And what would be the purpose of
> the
> >> advertising campaign anyway?
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>
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