In 1932, Harry Anslinger was named head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. The position was not much more than a figurehead because all the bureau was involved in was the amount of morphine etc that were in medicine like cough syrup.<br /><br />Well Anslinger wanted more power and the best way to get power was to put more "narcotics" under his control. So he set his sights on marijuana. He met and became friends with Charles Randolph Hearst (of Citizan Kane Fame) and they talked about their shared dislike of cannabis. Now during this time, there was a real movement to make paper out of hemp. Hearst didn't like this notion because he owned so many timber yards and such, so he and Anslinger agreed to work together to get hemp criminalized.<br /><br />First Hearst started publishing false and sensational stories about the effects of marijuana.<br /><br />Then Anslinger hooked up with a film producer and the end result was Reefer Madness....<br /><br />crazy as it sounds, the scheme worked. The year after Reefer Madness was released, Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act which made possession and/or use of marijuana a criminal offense.