In July 1938, influential medical journalist and JAMA editor Dr. Morris Fishbein devoted two issues of his syndicated column, The Family Doctor, to cannabis. The articles contain a fascinating mix of insights (“no two human beings are affected in exactly the same way”; “not believed to be habit forming in the same manner that opium and cocaine are habit-forming”) and outrageous claims (“marihuana-smoking orgies“; “in a frenzy he seized an ax, killed his father and his mother, two brothers and a sister.”).
The series also highlights the ubiquitousness of the plant back in the day:
“The plant grows so widely that in many places it is found along the roadsides and in vacant lots. Actually, it is reported that in two state penitentiaries the hemp was found growing inside the walls.”
While acknowledging the plant’s long history as a medicinal and recreational drug, Fishbein concluded that “marihuana has no really useful purpose in our civilization. Its use should be prohibited and condemned.”
The Family Doctor – Marihuana, Part 1
By Dr. Morris Fishbein
Editor, Journal of the American Medical Association, and of Hygeia, the Health Magazine
Ironwood Daily Globe (Ironwood, Michigan), July 1, 1938
This is the first of two articles by Dr. Fishbein on marihuana. In the next he will discuss the drug’s effects on its users.
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Marihuana has recently become a problem of exceeding importance throughout the United States. In various places all sorts of queer names are used to describe this drug. In some places marihuana cigarets are called reefers. Other names are greefas, muggles, miggles, mooters, Indian hay, joy smoke, love weed, loco weed and also Mary Wanner.
Most of these terms were introduced in the United States; but for years marihuana, or the commercial hemp plant, has been used in foreign countries and in Mexico as a material for drug addiction.
The plant is known scientifically as cannabis indica; a drug derived from cannabis indica is called hashish. In ancient times hashish was used as an anesthetic. It is described in the “Arabian Nights” by the name of bhang.
For many years bhang has been smoked in cigarets and occasionally in a material swallowed in the form of tablets. In some foreign countries this drug is mixed with sugar and eaten exactly as candy is eaten.
Since, however, the drug has been introduced into the United States, it is used primarily in the form of cigarets, and considerable numbers of addicts assemble in selected places to indulge in marihuana-smoking orgies.
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During the last 10 years the excessive use of marihuana has become so prevalent that all states except North Carolina and Tennessee have passed legislation against its distribution.
The national government has put a special tax on the use of this product and on the growth of the plant. However, the plant grows so widely that in many places it is found along the roadsides and in vacant lots.
Actually, it is reported that in two state penitentiaries the hemp was found growing inside the walls, and that inmates who were familiar with the plant had harvested it and made cigarets which were being smoked by the convicts.
In a previous generation cannabis indica was frequently prescribed for migraine headaches, and also to produce a sense of well-being in people who were inclined to be melancholy or nervous. More recently the drug has fallen into disuse and it is not included in the list of “Useful Drugs” which is published by the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association.
The Family Doctor – Marihuana, Part 2
By Dr. Morris Fishbein
Editor, Journal of the American Medical Association, and of Hygeia, the Health Magazine
Ironwood Daily Globe (Ironwood, Michigan), July 2, 1938
This is the second and concluding article by Dr. Fishbein on marihuana-smoking.
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The first effects of marihuana, or cannabis indica, on the human being are a lessening of the ability to control thoughts and action.
People who have smoked marihuana are easily distracted. Later there comes a feeling of exaltation and of well-being, so that the smoker feels that he is much stronger and has much greater power than he really has. From time to time he has dreams and illusions.
The imagination of the smoker is sometimes stimulated to the point of delirium. For this reason some writers have indulged in the smoking of cannabis indica as a help to their literary efforts. The results are compositions which are actually ludicrous, and in other instances sensational or sensual.
While no two human beings are affected in exactly the same way, it has sometimes been found that the smoking of marihuana tends to intensify certain characteristics. For example, the person who is kind and genial will become even more kind, the quarrelsome person goes around looking for fights; the timid one indulges in all sorts of abnormal fears; and the criminal is given a false courage which has led in some instances to the development of serious crimes, including murder.
Records have been made public in the courts of suicides and particularly sex crimes related to the smoking of cannabis indica. One young man in Florida while under the influence of marihuana cigarets thought that somebody was going to cut off his arms and legs. In a frenzy he seized an ax, killed his father and his mother, two brothers and a sister.
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Cannabis indica is not believed to be habit forming in the same manner that opium and cocaine are habit-forming. Many of the people who try the drug get over it, and are not thereafter addicted.
But in the person of weakened mentality or in the criminal the drug almost inevitably leads to extraordinary actions which are fatal to the user, if not productive of crime.
Moderate use of this drug is not without danger. The fact that it can break down the ability of the individual to recognize intervals of time and space, the fact that it makes it impossible for the user to perceive accurately what is going on, indicate that the combination of marihuana smoking and motor car driving is likely to be more than serious not only for the smoker but also for the community in which he lives. These are times particularly when sane actions and control are demanded.
Marihuana has no really useful purpose in our civilization. Its use should be prohibited and condemned.
