OLD TIME RADIO
The Voices of Evil
These OTR's recordings, of and by themselves, have little or nothing to do with the reefer madness campaign. They are listed here solely as a reference source for scholars and historians who desire to hear the actual voices of those who played an instrumental part in the campaign.
Unfortunately many listeners will be disappointed, most historians somehow expect to hear a Joseph Goebbel's (Hitler's minister of propaganda) like sinister voices. Voices that can take on a warm fatherly tone yet also have a forceful purpose about them. Voices that given the absence of opposing voices could easily inspire one to join the crusade against the "Killer Drug." Instead (with the exception of Jean Shepherd) they all sound like people, in fact very boring people at that. Again, the listener will be somewhat disappointed, but one must never underestimate the forces of evil. For the most part, these were individuals that actually knew the truth about the campaign and chose to be a part of it.
[Joe O'Ferrall (the narc)]
Calling All Cars:- "The Skid Row Dope Ring" Oct. 2, 1934. Program #45
[William G. Walker-Head of Narcotics State of California]
Calling All Cars Aug 11, 1937 "The Manila Envelopes"
[Paul Maddens-Head of Narcotics State of California]
Calling All Cars Plague of the Black Locust.mp3 (June 1, 1939)
[Joseph Taylor - Chief of L.A. Detectives]
Calling All Cars 340502 e023 Murder at Southgate.mp3
[Warden Louis E. Lawes]
Behind Prison Bars - [Program Wanted]-- April 11, 1938 - 9 O'clock over WENR - The Story of how a young man committed murder while under the influence of marijuana will be told" - infor taken from the April 11, 1938 "Appleton (Wisconsin) Post Crescent," Nothing else if known about the program
[Warden Louis E. Lawes]
Information Please -- Nov. 22, 1940- (133) Louis E Lawes
[Warden Louis E. Lawes]
Information Please - Jan. 24, 1941 - (142) Boris Karloff Louis E LaWes
[E.J. Rollings]
The Fighting Parson -- Mutual net, WGN A pilot program featuring adventures of the reverend (against the narcotics evil) himself.
[Harry J. Anslinger]
Martha Dean Program - Jan 26, 1962 - from WOR in New York City. [PennState University has a copy of the program]
[Harry J. Anslinger]
Monitor - Television Program - July 1959 NBC, Anslinger and Rufus King speak on drug enforcement issues. [PennState University has a copy of the program]
[Harry J. Anslinger]
Night Beat on WABD - Sept. 24, 1957 - as mentioned in the Harry J. Anslinger papers [PennState University has a copy of the program]
[Harry J. Anslinger]
Viewpoint - Dec. 26, 1959 - Sponsored by an Episcopal Church. Anslinger speaks of church involvement in drug problem issues while being interviewed by Dana Kennedy.[PennState University has a copy of the program]
[Harry J. Anslinger]
Mrs. Roosevelt meets the public [Library of Congress has a copy] Item RWC 5844 A1-2. July 1, 1951 -30 min - From an NBC Television audio recording. Eleanor Roosevelt talks with Harry J. Anslinger, Kenneth W. Chapman, and Max G. Rubinstein about narcotics abuse
[Richmond P. Hobson]
Narcotics defense program --[Program Wanted]-[Library of Congress has a copy] Date Broadcast : Feb. 24, 1937; 7:45 p.m.-8:00 p.m. - Medium Radio broadcast - Source NBC Blue network - Performer(s) Charles H. Tuttle; Admiral Richmond P. Hobson. The World Narcotics Defense Association sponsors this program describing the dangers and horrors of drug addiction. LWO 15778 80B3. NBC Radio Collection.
[Jean Shepherd]
The Jean Shepherd Show - Dec. 1963 (approximate date) 45 min long. WOR, New York. Talks a little about some mice in Los Angeles that are addicted to Marijuana, -- He is very negative about it. Not worth listening to. Note, the late date.
[Jean Shepherd]
The Jean Shepherd Show [Program Wanted] August 1963. 45 min long. WOR, New York. Jean Shepherd talks very negatively about those who have to use marihuana.
[Jean Shepherd]
The Jean Shepherd Show [Program Wanted] July 1, 1964 45 min long. WOR, New York. Marihuana is suppose to be mentioned only a few times, something about Marijuana in the Wheaties.
Chief F. J. O'Ferrall, State Narcotics Bureau
We are indebted to F. J. A. O'Ferrall, inspector in charge, Division of Narcotic Enforcement, State of California, for the facts contained in the next few paragraphs. Inasmuch as marijuana addiction in California is as bad as, or worse than in any other part of the country, and because Inspector O'Ferrall has been one of the outstanding leaders in the fight against the weed, he is eminently qualified to discuss the subject. . . "There appear to be three stages through which the user passes . . . "The third stage is the most progressed and dangerous: He really becomes a fiend with savage and tigerish tendencies; his sex desires are aroused, and some of the most horrible crimes result; he hears light and sees sound; to get away from it, he suddenly becomes violent and may kill. In fact, he has gone completely mad and may never recover. No crime known may escape him,-and while he is running amuck, he may kill his loved ones, his dearest friends, or total strangers." From Science Speaks to Young Men on Liquor, Tobacco, Narcotics and Marijuana," by George Thomason, M.D. (1938): - Editorial Note; in 1948 O'Ferrall was fired from his job for insubordination and incompetence, but that is another story.
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Who was Warden Louis E. Lawes
There are numerous web sites that deal with Warden (of Sing Sing Prison) Lawes, and in all fairness it should be noted that no evidence that he directly took part in the campaign has been found. However as can be seen by the "Behind Prison Bars" program he did allow his good name to be use.
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Who was E.J. Rollings
E.J. Rollings was the author of at least two well know Reefer Madness pamphlets, "Marihuana the Weed of Wow" and "The Silent Horror," part of which reads as following:
" An eighteen-year-old boy in a Midwestern city smoked two "reefers" and an hour later choked his sweetheart to death because she refused his shocking, lustful advances, born in a marijuana-crazed brain. He later testified that he loved her and had intended to marry her and when normal would never have dreamed of an improper suggestion, let alone the horrible murder. A sixteen-year-old boy shot his mother and father to death with his father's shotgun after smoking several "Mary Anns" given to him by a new friend whose acquaintance he made by chance. He could neither explain nor remember the killing when the effects of the drug had worn off and sobbed himself into hysterical grief when told of his crime. And so, on and on, runs the record of thievery, forgery, banditry, kidnapping, brutal murder, degeneracy, and rape, all chargeable to this paralyzer of conscience and inflamer of depravity --- Marijuana! "
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Who was Joseph Taylor
"Joseph F. Taylor, the Chief of Detectives of the Los Angeles Police Department, says: "In the past we have had officers of this department shot and killed by Marihuana addicts and have traced the act of murder directly to the influence of Marihuana, with no other motive. Numerous assaults have been made upon officers and citizens with intent to kill by Marihuana addicts which were directly traceable to the influence of Marihuana". Fraternal Order of Police Journal - Jan 1933
Mr. Joseph F. Taylor, Chief of Detectives of the Department of Police in the City of Los Angeles, states: "We have found from long experience and dealing with this type of criminal that Marihuana is probably the most dangerous of all our narcotic drugs. Our Los Angeles Police Narcotic Squad makes an average of about 50 arrests a month of peddlers and users of Marihuana". Journal of the American Institue of Crimal Law and Criminology- May-June 1932/Mar.-Apr/1933
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Who was Paul Madden
"Marihuana has no therapeutic or medicinal value that can not better be replaced by other drugs. It serves no legitimate purposes whatever.. . .
A person tinder the influence of marihuana may believe himself so small that he is afraid to step off the curbstone into the street, or he may feel himself of enormous size and of superhuman strength and passion and in that condition commit crimes altogether foreign to his nature. … The marihuana addict, commonly known as a 'reefer,' becomes a grave menace to community and state. The drug disrupts and destroys the brain, and so distorts the victim's mind that his visions of grandeur and ruthless power usually result in crime and degeneracy. --- From the Pamphlet--Marihuana - Our Newest Narcotic Menace (1939) - Division of narcotic Enforcement - State of California Paul E. Madden, Chief
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Who was William G. Walker
Wm. G. Walker (Chief of the California State Bureau of Narcotics) in the early 1930's is credited with being the originator of the much widely credited Eureka decapitation Myth:
"Here is a case of a man who actually decapitated his friend with an axe recently up in Eureka, and then, coming out of the effects of the drug, was as horrified as anyone else over what he had done. S.F. Examiner Nov. 7, 1933 pp4.
In California a young man who indulged in these convivial cigarettes went berserk, grabbed an ax, and decapitated his best friend. Narcotics: America's Peril by Will Oursler (1952)
In Eureka, California, an addict under the influence of marihuana decapitated his best friend. Coming out of his drugged condition, he was horrified at what he had done. Inside detective (Magazine) Nov 1937
"...the unfortunate boy at Eureka, Ca. who, insane from the drug, seized a butcher's cleaver and cut off the head of his best friend. They found him--or rather he found himself--when he regained his senses, with the decapitated face staring up at him from the floor of his blood-smeared room! -- Real Detective (Magazine) April 1935
A California, frantic with the stuff, actually decapitated his best friend. -- The Eagle Magazine Nov 1941
The weed acts as a powerful aphrodisiac and renders users capable of various acts of violence; a California man decapitated his best friend while under the violent spell of the smoke, -- Newsweek Magazine Aug 14, 1937
The Chief of the Narcotic Enforcement Bureau of California in a report to the Federal Bureau gave an interesting example of this "Marijuana", he wrote, "has a worse effect than heroin. It gives men the lust to kill, unreasonably, without motive - for the sheer sake of murder itself. In Eureka, California, a man under the influence of marijuana actually decapitated his best friend; and then, coming out of the effects of the drug, was as horrified as anyone else over what he had done." --Health Officer - Dec. 1936
It happened in California. A man under the influence of marijuana actually decapitated his best friend. Then, coming out from the effects of the drug, he was as horrified as anyone could be at what he had done. -- Health magazine Oct 1938
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Jean Shepherd - Victims Victimizing Other Victims --- A Museum Opinion
Obviously Jean Shepherd is/was a very articulate and thus very popular radio personality. Listening to his voice and manner of delivery, one can't help but take note of his sincerity; he seems to really believe what he is saying about the medical marihuana plant to be true. Also note how he makes it sound as if "EVERYONE ELSE" (which the exception of a few evil doers) share his views on the subject. A pity if only he had been on our side, maybe we wouldn't have the anti-medical marihuana laws today.
But one should not simply dismiss him outright. Instead we must remember that he, and for that matter all of us, are nothing more than the sum total of all our experiences. Somewhere, someone told him that medical marihuana was evil, and he believed it. Also note the late date (for the reefer madness era) of this episode. [Note: Harry Anslinger himself was fired in 1962]
I suppose that in today's language he could be considered a "victim who victimizes other victims." From earlier radio programs (as well as newspapers, magazines etc.) he heard nothing but dis-information -- how can he be blamed for believing the big lie?
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Admiral Richmond Pearson Hobson (1870-1937)
Richmond Hobson (a hero of the Spanish-American War) was noted for two things, racial intolerance and his hatred of narcotics (which included medical marihuana). In the 1920's he helped organized the "International Narcotic Education League," "the Narcotics Defense League" (and the World Conference on Narcotics Education), and the "World Narcotics Defense Association."
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Who was Harry J. Anslinger
Harry J. Anslinger became Americans first Drugged Czar in 1930 and would hold that position until 1962. While he was not the first to campaign against the use of medical marihuana, it was under his direction that the full force and power of the federal government would come into play. He is in fact given credit for orchestrating the reefer madness campaign.
We need your help, if you know of any other programs that feature the voices of Evil, please let us know.