Your Great-Grandma Was Hopped Up on Stuff
June 12th, 2009 by Russ
For those of us caught up in the day to day world of drug politics, it can be easy to forget just how new the concept of ‘illegal drugs’ really is. Pharmacy blog, Pill Talk, provided a big dose of historical perspective this week in releasing a collection of old posters and billboards hocking all manner of substances that no upstanding company would affiliate itself with in today’s whitewashed corporate culture.
Most stemming from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the ads feature some truly amazing concoctions.
Miss Winslow’s Soothing Syrup was designed to quiet restless babies especially at the time of teething. Little did babies and their mothers know that the syrup’s secret ingredient was morphine. Those babies were soothed alright. There’s even a terrific vintage testimonial in the New York Times archive lauding the syrup’s ability to quiet entire households of screaming rugrats.
Bayer, the long-time drug manufacturer, experimented with several substances before focusing on wonder drug, aspirin. One such substance was heroin, which, not surprisingly, turned out to be a terrific cough suppressant. As it happens, it also tended to suppress just about everything else, except for the desire to buy more Bayer Heroin, of course.
And finally, there’s the soft drink of lore, Coca Cola. As urban legend (and PillTalk) tells us, the name came from the fact that the drink used to be a simple mix of wine and cocaine. I fail to see how corn syrup and phosphoric acid could ever hope to compete with their far more stimulating predecessors.
Joe Rogan Obliterates Weed Opponents
June 2nd, 2009 by RussUsually relegated to giggling while a Fear Factor contestant attempts to down a glass of bird turd and tonic, Joe Rogan happens to be an eloquent advocate of marijuana. While many weed historians seek to blame the villainous Harry J Anslinger for stoking the fires of early 20th century drug crusades, Rogan targets more pragmatic opponents of marijuana in his LA local radio rant.
According to Rogan, potential large-scale industrialization of hemp threatened to unseat the logging and tree paper industries as a cheaper, more environmentally viable source of textiles and paper. This caused newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst to begin a propaganda campaign against this ’strange Mexican weed,’ to protect his financial interests. Once Hearst had created the necessary fear and political will to eradicate the plant, Anslinger was appointed to the task.
The history lesson is only a warm up for Rogan, however. He goes on to implicate alcohol companies, the US government, and modern forces of civilization as all being party to a species-wide conspiracy to prevent humans from truly knowing themselves by experimenting with psychedelics.
The eleven minute rant is worth infinitely more than you can absorb from countless hours of his UFC commentary. As with many professionals, you need to catch this guy on his off-hours to hear something genuinely insightful.
Andean Cocaine: By Paul Gootenberg
May 27th, 2009 by Rick
Cocaine… it’s origins derive from South America, particularly in the foothills of the Andes in Peru. In the 19th century, the drug was used medicinally. In the 20th century, it was repressed. After World War II cocaine moved to the “illicit goods” list and was declared an illegal substance worldwide.
Paul Gootenberg, professor of history at Stony Brook University in New York and author or editor of four other books, chronicles the global influence of cocaine in his new book, Andean Cocaine.
Not only does Gootenberg include people and organizations (Sigmund Freud, Coca-Cola, and Pablo Escobar) within the book that historically have been connected to cocaine but he also researches the obscured history. From the Peruvian pharmacist who created techniques for refining cocaine on an industrial scale to the creators of the original drug networks, Gootenberg shows how it gave birth to the 1980’s American cocaine epidemic and the never ending U.S. drug war in the Andes.
Excerpt from the book:
Pharmacist Alfredo Bignon was burning the midnight oil in the backroom laboratory of his Drogueria y Botica Francesa, just around the corner from Lima’s main Plaza de Armas. Once more, he went over in his head his hard-won new formula for making cocaine. Tomorrow, the thirteenth of March 1885, he would present his findings at the Academia Libre de Medicina de Lima, where a distinguished panel of Peruvian doctors and chemists would judge his innovation in a ten-page official informe.
William O. Walker III, University of Toronto, author of Drug Trafficking in the Americas said:
There is simply no other work comparable to Andean Cocaine. The methodology, the evidence, and the interpretations come together in mutually reinforcing ways that make this arresting study an outstanding example of what scholars in history and anthropology should aspire to in their own work.
Andean Cocaine is comprised of 446 pages and 16 illustrations and is available in a cloth or paperback cover.
A Brief History of Weed
May 26th, 2009 by RussIf only more television promos were this instructional. This mini-eduction on the history of herb is brought to you by the Showtime series Weeds.
A beautifully animated piece, it takes the viewer through the last few millennia of human interaction with the cannabis plant. The soundtrack is a joint called ‘You Lit Up for Me’ by psychedelic/pop band Emeen Z.
For a more thorough run through of the history of weed prohibition (specifically in the United States), check out the Woody Harrelson narrated, full-length feature, Grass.
Happy Birthday 21st Amendment
September 23rd, 2008 by Perry
The good people of the Marijuana Policy Project point out some interesting irony on the 75th anniversary of the end of prohibition. While they passed an amendment to commemorate the successful regulation of alcohol since its decriminalization, no such motion was ever suggested for marijuana.
Additionally, even though many representatives don’t have strong opinions against weed, they are forced to push for criminalizing offenses because they do not want to be labeled soft on crime or advocating illegal drug use. Hopefully it won’t be 75 years before we’re laughing about a time where you used to be thrown in the slammer for some ganja.
Antique Cannabis Cough Medicine
December 5th, 2006 by Alex
Here is an old-school image from the Antique Cannabis Book. Way back, cannabis was used for things that you’d never imagine in this day and age. One of the more interesting applications was as a cough medicine ingredient.
Above, is one of many different cough medicines which had cannabis as a major component. Made by Columbus Pharmacal Co., this medicine contained some highly questionable substances such as: opium, chloroform and aromatics. Aromatics? That must be like seeing ‘natural flavorings’ as an ingredient on today’s products but still having absolutely no clue what that actually means.
The company behind it, which later became known as Roxanne Labs, now makes a popular synthetic form of marijuana called Marinol.
Man am I glad science has come a long way since the 1920s. And the irony of it is that weed is responsible for way more coughs these days than cures.
Popular Mechanics – Hemp the Super Crop
November 30th, 2006 by Alex
Here’s a really cool set of pictures from Jack Herer. It’s an article from a February 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics.
Hailed as the new cash crop of the millenium, it looks like things didn’t quite turn out as they predicted.
Still illegal under federal law, California (as usual) took the first step towards the legalization of hemp, just to see Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger screw it all up.
Now, honest farmers who could be earning hundreds of thousands for an environmentally sound crop have to search for other ways to support their families.
More images after the jump…
