Arizona Medical Marijuana Blog Racism Marijuana Nixon Quotes

In 1970, President Nixon appointed Raymond P. Shafer as chairman of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, also known as the Shafer Commission.

While the Controlled Substances Act was being drafted in a House committee in 1970, Assistant Secretary of Health Roger O. Egeberg had recommended that marijuana “temporarily ” be placed in Schedule I, the most restrictive category of drugs, pending the Shafer Commission’s report.

On March 22, 1972, Mr. Shafer presented a report to Congress and the public entitled “Marijuana, A Signal of Misunderstanding”. The Commission concluded that marijuana users “are essentially indistinguishable from their non-marijuana using peers by any fundamental criterion other than their marijuana use.” They found that, “Neither the marijuana user nor the drug itself can be said to constitute a danger to public safety.” The Commission recommended “Decriminalization of possession of marijuana for personal use on both the state and federal levels.”

You left out 2 vital details in the conclusion of this story,  Nixon’s reply to these finding were” don’t try to confuse me with the facts, I’ve made up my mind about marijuana”.   Shafer was then fired and the position he was promised in the Nixon administration was given to someone else.

More Nixon Quotes: 

“I want a Goddamn strong statement about marijuana. Can I get that out of this sonofabitching, uh, Domestic Council? I mean one on marijuana that just tears the ass out of them.”

“At least with liquor I don’t lose motivation.”

“I see another thing in the news summary this morning about it. That’s a funny thing, every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish. What the Christ is the matter with the Jews, Bob, what is the matter with them? I suppose it’s because most of them are psychiatrists.”

“By God we are going to hit the marijuana thing, and I want to hit it right square in the puss, I want to find a way of putting more on that.”

“You see, homosexuality, dope, immorality in general. These are the enemies of strong societies. That’s why the Communists and the left-wingers are pushing the stuff, they’re trying to destroy us.”

“You have to face the fact that the whole problem is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this all while not appearing to.”

“Soft-headed psychiatrists who work in places like NIMH (National Institute for Mental Health) favor marijuana because they’re probably all on the stuff themselves.”