0:14

Welcome to theories

0:16

of the third

0:17

kind. My

0:34

name is Aaron and I am one of your hosts today.

0:39

There's another host that is joining me, Daniel

0:42

Sun. Yo what's up? Now

0:45

real quick before we start today's episode,

0:47

I just want to state no AI

0:49

programs were used or harmed

0:52

in the creation of this episode. The

0:55

research for this show and all of its

0:57

work was created solely by

1:00

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1:02

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2:00

Kind of how the CIA first started,

2:02

then we go into the timeline of the CIA

2:05

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2:07

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2:09

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2:12

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or whatever you are to enjoy the show.

2:41

And that is the end of the announcements.

2:43

So today's episode is

2:45

over. Marijuana. So

2:48

how this episode will go today is that

2:51

we're going to talk about what is marijuana

2:53

and then we'll go into the history of it and

2:55

then we'll go into strange facts and findings, theories,

2:58

and of course wrap it all up with our own personal

3:00

thoughts and theories.

3:03

So with that being said, let's

3:05

get into today's episode.

3:14

In the United States during the

3:17

1930s, the media ran wild

3:19

with propaganda. It's

3:22

that young Americans were falling

3:25

prey to a dangerous substance.

3:29

This drug would consume its user,

3:31

having them lose their sanity and commit

3:34

violent crimes. For

3:38

the next

3:38

century, this false information decimated

3:41

families.

3:42

Turning

3:52

America into the country with

3:55

the highest incarceration rate

3:57

in the entire world.

4:02

This is... Marijuana.

4:10

So to start this episode off today,

4:12

we have to briefly talk about what

4:16

marijuana is,

4:17

and then we will get into the history of

4:19

it. And discuss the key players and

4:21

their corruption in using propaganda to

4:24

push certain agendas

4:25

regarding this topic.

4:28

So Dan, can you start this off for us? So

4:32

marijuana is the informal name for a plant

4:34

known as cannabis

4:36

sativa. Which, by the way, I know some consider

4:38

the name marijuana a derogatory term due

4:40

to the history of the name itself and why it was

4:43

called that.

4:44

We are aware of this and we'll go in more

4:46

depth about that here in a bit. But anyway,

4:48

back to the plant itself.

4:51

So this plant has been cultivated for at least 5,000

4:53

years.

4:55

It is one of the oldest agricultural

4:58

commodities not grown for food.

5:01

The stalks of the plant contains fibers

5:04

that have been woven for millennia to

5:06

make rope, canvas, and even

5:08

paper. Now most

5:11

plants require birds and the bees to help them

5:13

pollinate, and most flowers have pollen

5:15

and ovules within a single flower that

5:17

take some outside force to help put the two

5:20

sexual parts together.

5:21

Not cannabis though.

5:24

Cannabis is anemophilus,

5:26

which means that it is wind pollinated.

5:28

This is why the flower of cannabis is green and not

5:30

colorful since it does not require creatures to

5:32

be attracted to it.

5:34

In fact, cannabis actually creates a

5:36

smell to repel insects and animals

5:38

from it.

5:39

So the flowering buds of the female

5:41

cannabis plant

5:42

secrete a sticky yellow

5:44

resin

5:45

that is rich with cannabinoids,

5:47

which contain more than 60 compounds

5:50

unique to marijuana.

5:52

Now several of these compounds are

5:54

psychoactive, with the majority

5:56

of them being Delta-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol.

6:00

AKA THC, which

6:03

is the stuff that makes you high when

6:05

you smoke cannabis. Now

6:07

like we mentioned earlier,

6:08

this plant has been cultivated for at least 5,000

6:11

years. However,

6:12

we are not going to go back

6:14

that far when talking about the history of it. Instead,

6:17

we are going to start off in the early 1600s. So

6:21

around this time, the British government started encouraging

6:24

colonial farmers to produce hemp,

6:26

which is a form of cannabis with low levels

6:28

of the psychoactive ingredient THC.

6:31

The farmers began planting cannabis and

6:34

the fast growing plant was used for

6:36

production of rope, clothing, and

6:38

paper, which this fiber at the

6:40

time was critical to the British and Spanish

6:42

empires. So we fast

6:45

forward a few years later and in 1619, the Virginia

6:49

assembly passed a law that

6:51

flat out required farmers to grow it. They said,

6:53

hey, you're going to grow it whether you

6:55

like it or not. Also,

6:57

Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland

7:00

eventually allowed hemp to be exchanged

7:03

as legal tender

7:04

in order to stimulate its production

7:06

and relieve the colonial money

7:09

shortages.

7:11

The domestic production of hemp flourished,

7:13

especially in Kentucky

7:15

until after the Civil War

7:16

when it was replaced by imports from Russia and

7:18

by other domestic materials.

7:21

Oh, and just a little knowledge nuggy here,

7:23

but

7:23

it is known that a number of founding fathers

7:25

in the United States,

7:26

such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson,

7:29

did grow hemp on their estates.

7:31

However, no one is really sure if they

7:33

were aware that if you smoked it, the

7:35

plant psychoactive properties got high. Oh,

7:38

I guarantee they smoked it. George

7:40

Washington, Thomas Jefferson. Hell

7:42

yeah, you know George Washington did. Anyways,

7:46

so towards the end of the 19th century,

7:48

cannabis became a popular ingredient

7:51

in medicines

7:52

and was sold openly at pharmacies

7:55

in one ounce herbal packages

7:58

and in alcohol-based tinctures.

7:59

as a cure for migraines, insomnia,

8:02

and various other things.

8:05

Alright so we fast forward to the early

8:07

1900s. Around this time Mexico

8:10

was going through some shit. The president

8:12

of Mexico was a guy named Pafirio Diaz

8:15

and he had been the president for over 30 years serving

8:17

over 7 terms.

8:19

Now Diaz was a dictator

8:22

and with this power

8:23

he didn't help the people that much. Instead

8:26

he made economic policies

8:28

that only benefited a small circle

8:30

of allies and foreign investors.

8:34

Of course this pissed off a lot of citizens

8:36

and they wanted Mexico to become a democracy.

8:40

So in 1908 Diaz was like, hey

8:43

I think Mexico should return to being a democracy

8:45

and since my ass is so old I'm

8:47

not going to run for office again. Everybody

8:50

was like, hell yeah we finally can

8:52

become a democracy and we'll get the support

8:54

we need.

8:55

I wish that would happen to our government.

8:57

Jesus Christ.

9:00

Well two years later in 1910

9:02

Diaz was like, you know what

9:04

I said earlier? Psych and

9:07

decided to run in the election that year. He

9:10

pulled a sneaky, damn it he got me

9:12

on that one. Yeah and he was 80 years old at this time.

9:15

Damn he's old. Yeah so this pissed

9:17

off a lot of citizens in Mexico.

9:20

However they were somewhat still hopeful

9:23

that Diaz would be voted out of office.

9:26

I mean he didn't say they weren't

9:28

going to have an election. He was going to have one against

9:31

somebody.

9:32

So the person running against Diaz was an individual

9:35

named Francisco Madero and it was pretty

9:37

much well known that Madero would win the election

9:40

and become the new president due to how popular

9:42

he was and how unpopular Diaz was.

9:45

Well it didn't turn out that way.

9:48

So before the election was held Diaz

9:50

had Madero arrested and

9:53

imprisoned. The election

9:55

was then held and it was announced that

9:57

Diaz was the winner getting all almost 99%

10:00

of the votes. So

10:05

needless to say, this pissed off

10:07

the people in Mexico and it triggered

10:09

the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Now,

10:13

why do we mention this revolution? What does

10:15

it have to do with marijuana?

10:17

Well, that Mexican Revolution led to a large

10:19

number of individuals leaving the country

10:22

and immigrating into the United States and dispersing

10:24

throughout the Southwest.

10:26

Now, at the time, the traditional

10:29

means of intoxication for

10:31

individuals in Mexico was smoking

10:34

cannabis. I mean, it was normal

10:36

for them, which of course they continued

10:38

doing while living in the United

10:41

States. Also, during

10:43

this time, Americans did not

10:45

have much knowledge about cannabis and

10:48

its effects, so they relied on the news

10:50

to form their opinions on this

10:52

stuff

10:54

and then used that information to

10:56

judge the immigrants. For

10:58

example, police officers in Texas

11:00

started claiming that marijuana incited

11:03

violent crimes, aroused

11:05

a lust for blood and

11:07

gave its users superhuman strength,

11:10

which of course we know is not true.

11:12

However,

11:13

rumors continued to circulate, like how

11:15

Mexicans were distributing this and we quote,

11:17

killer weed

11:18

to unsuspecting American school children.

11:21

Around this same time, sailors

11:24

and Indian immigrants brought the practice

11:26

of smoking cannabis to the port

11:28

cities along the Gulf of Mexico.

11:32

In newspaper articles in New Orleans,

11:34

they started associating marijuana

11:36

with African Americans, jazz players,

11:39

sex workers, and underworld

11:42

whites.

11:43

Have no idea what that means, but

11:45

there's some white people who live in a

11:47

hollow earth. There's something that come out and smoke cannabis? I

11:50

don't know, I've never heard of that term. So

11:53

this news article called it the

11:56

Marijuana Minnes and

11:58

claimed that social... As

12:03

the drug grew more popular, it was

12:05

more and more negatively associated with Mexican

12:07

immigrants. Anti-drug campaigners

12:09

began to warn against the encroaching drug, describing

12:12

the terrible crimes attributed to the drug

12:14

and the Mexicans who used it.

12:16

And just a little knowledge nugget here,

12:19

cannabis was only referred to

12:21

as marijuana

12:23

by anti-cannabis groups

12:25

that wanted to kind of like play off an anti-immigrant

12:28

sentiment and decided to call it something

12:30

that sounded and we quote

12:32

Mexican-ish. So they called

12:34

it marijuana instead

12:36

of cannabis. And of course this

12:39

word

12:40

began to spread

12:41

and to this day, everyone pretty

12:44

much uses it. You know? So

12:46

there you go. That's a little bit of history

12:49

about that and some people, I mean, associate

12:51

it with it as like a derogatory term. I

12:54

mean, you kind of think about it, it kind of is now?

12:56

Yeah. Anyway, back to

12:58

the timeline. Alright, so in 1911,

13:01

there was this dude named Henry Finger. Yes,

13:04

that's his name. Now Henry Finger was a chemist

13:06

that went to the California College of Pharmacy

13:09

and was on the California State Board of Pharmacy.

13:11

So this California State Board was starting up

13:13

an anti-narcotics campaign

13:16

and their first target, marijuana.

13:18

Yep, and Mr. Finger was leading

13:20

this charge and he decided

13:23

to write a letter to propose a law change.

13:26

In this letter, Mr. Finger

13:28

stated, and we quote, Within

13:31

the last year, we in California have been

13:33

getting a large influx of Hindus and they

13:35

have, in turn, started quite a demand

13:37

for cannabis indica.

13:39

They are a very undesirable lot

13:41

and the habit is growing in California very

13:43

fast.

13:44

The fear is now that it is not being confined

13:47

to the Hindus alone, but that they are initiating

13:49

our whites into this habit.

13:51

I felt so racist reading that. Mr.

13:54

White was racist. Mr. White,

13:56

Jesus. His name should have been Mr. White.

13:58

It's Mr. Finger. Mr. White. Mr. Finger was racist.

14:03

And by the way, the Hindu was not

14:05

spelled H-I-N-D-U. It

14:07

was spelled H-I-N-D-O-O. And

14:10

it's pretty much the archaic spelling

14:13

of Hindu. And some people consider

14:15

it a derogatory term used to describe the

14:18

people who practice Hinduism.

14:19

And just in FYI,

14:21

we are not racist. We're just reading off

14:23

this letter.

14:24

Dan is Asian.

14:27

He's the one who read the letter. Yellow, yellow.

14:30

He gets the pass for it. Anyway,

14:33

back to the story.

14:34

So two years later in 1913,

14:37

California passed the first state cannabis prohibition

14:39

law.

14:40

Now, we're going to fast forward to the late 1920s.

14:43

Around this time in 1929, the Great Depression officially

14:45

started. This

14:47

created widespread unemployment and poverty

14:50

in the United States. This

14:52

further created resentment and fear

14:54

of immigrants and minorities.

14:57

Alright, before we get into the 1930s, we

14:59

need to talk about an individual named Harry

15:01

J. Anslinger. And this guy

15:03

is a big piece of shit, by the way. He is.

15:06

So from 1917 to 1928,

15:09

Harry worked for various military

15:11

and police organizations on stopping

15:14

international drug trafficking.

15:16

In 1929, Harry

15:17

returned from his international

15:20

work

15:20

and became an assistant commissioner in

15:22

the United States Treasury Department's

15:25

Bureau of Prohibition.

15:26

So one year later in 1930, at

15:29

the age of 38, Harry was appointed the

15:31

first commissioner of the brand new Federal Bureau

15:33

of Narcotics. At this time,

15:35

public officials from the Southwest and from Louisiana

15:38

petitioned the Treasury Department to outlaw marijuana.

15:42

Now, at first, Harry,

15:44

who was the commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics,

15:47

doubted the seriousness of the problem and

15:49

the need for federal legislation.

15:51

However, that quickly changed. with

16:00

all of his might. He started

16:02

a large propaganda campaign and

16:04

ran various headlines around the

16:06

country saying and we quote,

16:09

murder weed found up and

16:12

down the coast. As

16:14

well as, and this one is my favorite,

16:17

deadly marijuana, dope plant

16:19

ready for harvest. That means

16:21

enslavement of California children.

16:25

Damn. Well, all right. Took it to

16:27

the extreme, Harry.

16:28

Now Harry also made public appearances

16:31

and radio broadcasts where he asserted that

16:33

the use of this evil weed led

16:35

to killing, sex crimes, and even insanity.

16:39

He even wrote sensational magazine articles

16:41

with the titles like,

16:42

marijuana, assassin of the youth.

16:44

Now due to this propaganda,

16:47

by 1931, 29 states had outlawed marijuana.

16:54

Usually with no debates at all. They would bring

16:56

it up. Nobody would appeal it. The

16:59

law would get passed.

17:00

Now even with that many states outlawing

17:02

marijuana, it still did not stop the

17:05

propaganda from being spread.

17:06

In 1936,

17:08

a film that was originally titled,

17:11

tell your children, but

17:13

ultimately was changed to reefer

17:16

madness. Well that film was

17:18

released.

17:19

This movie was an anti marijuana propaganda

17:21

film that helped fuel the hysteria about the

17:24

drug.

17:25

Its plot was about innocent high school students

17:27

that were lured into trying marijuana and

17:29

end up getting into a hit and run accident,

17:31

killed someone, and another person committed

17:34

suicide by jumping out of a window and

17:36

showed that kids having hallucinations rapidly

17:39

descending into the madness all due to

17:41

smoking marijuana.

17:43

And that's pretty much what the film's about. And

17:46

I do want you to keep it in the back of your mind because

17:48

we go back over this film during

17:51

Strange Facts and Findings because me and

17:53

Dan sat down

17:55

and we watched this entire film

17:57

from start to finish.

17:59

And we have a lot to say about

18:01

it, okay? So

18:02

we'll

18:04

talk about that and strange facts and findings, but let's

18:07

continue on with the timeline. So

18:10

due to all this propaganda, in 1937,

18:13

the United States Congress passed the Marijuana Tax

18:15

Act,

18:16

effectively criminalizing the possession

18:18

of marijuana throughout the United States.

18:20

A week after it went into effect, 58-year-old

18:22

Samuel R. Caldwell

18:25

was arrested and became the first person convicted

18:27

under this new federal law.

18:29

Now even though marijuana offenders had

18:32

been treated with leniency under

18:34

state and local laws

18:36

where marijuana had already been illegal

18:38

at, Samuel was not given

18:40

any slack. Like previously, people,

18:43

you know, they were caught with marijuana in a state where it was

18:45

illegal, they were like, eh, you know, it's not that big of a deal, kind

18:47

of a slap on the wrist.

18:49

Federally, they had to make an example out of

18:51

him.

18:52

Now Judge J. Foster Symes

18:54

lectured Samuel on the

18:57

viciousness of marijuana

18:59

and then sentenced him to four

19:01

years at Leavenworth Penitentiary.

19:04

For the next few decades between

19:06

the 1950s to late 1960s,

19:08

there was a widespread adoption of marijuana

19:10

by young hippies that were part of the anti-war

19:13

movement at the time.

19:14

Also, Presidents John F. Kennedy

19:17

and Lyndon B. Johnson commissioned reports on

19:19

marijuana. These reports concluded

19:21

the use of it did not induce violence or

19:24

lead to the use of heavier drugs.

19:26

Which is a complete contradiction of what we

19:28

were told in school. I don't know how many

19:30

times in elementary school I had that big ass

19:32

red dog. Dare, it's a gateway

19:35

drug, marijuana is.

19:36

Anyway, at this point individuals

19:39

started to get hopeful. You know, since JFK

19:41

and Lyndon Johnson commissioned these reports and

19:43

the reports stated, hey, marijuana doesn't induce

19:46

violence, doesn't lead to heavier drugs,

19:49

individuals started to get hopeful

19:51

that the stigma that was attached

19:53

to the use of cannabis,

19:55

you know, hey, maybe it's going away.

19:57

However, that all changed.

20:00

In 1969, Richard Nixon became

20:02

president,

20:03

so Nixon hated the counterculture

20:05

that was associated with marijuana. Due

20:07

to this, he ignored all scientific,

20:10

medical, or legal opinion on the matter.

20:13

In 1970, the

20:14

United States Congress passed the

20:16

Controlled Substance Act,

20:19

which created various legal categories

20:22

or schedules for different types

20:24

of drugs depending on their perceived

20:26

public threat. Cannabis was

20:29

placed along with heroin in the

20:31

Schedule I category, which

20:33

is the most restrictive one, and

20:36

reserved for drugs that are deemed

20:38

to have no medical benefit and the highest

20:40

potential for abuse.

20:43

Placing cannabis in this category

20:46

also made it extremely difficult

20:48

for researchers and scientists

20:50

to be able to study it.

20:52

So, yeah, it just took cannabis

20:55

to maybe, you know, being legalized to pushing

20:57

it all the way back to the 1930s.

20:59

So one year later in 1971, Nixon

21:02

declared his War on Drugs campaign

21:04

and created an investigation committee called the Shafer

21:07

Commission.

21:08

This Shafer Commission's role was to study

21:10

drug abuse in America and report

21:12

back to Nixon. The following year,

21:14

in 1972, the Shafer Commission

21:17

presented its findings to Congress in

21:19

a report titled Marijuana,

21:22

a signal of misunderstanding.

21:24

The report noted that most

21:27

marijuana users were not dangerous

21:29

at all, but rather more timid,

21:33

drowsy, and passive,

21:35

which I agree is accurate.

21:38

Yeah.

21:38

It also stated that cannabis does

21:41

not pose any widespread danger

21:43

to society and recommended using

21:45

social measures other than criminalization

21:49

to discourage its use. So

21:52

I gotta say,

21:53

before I continue, how they spelled marijuana

21:56

back in the day,

21:57

today they use the J in it for

21:59

marijuana.

21:59

Back then, in their reports and

22:02

shit, they spell it with an H. So

22:04

when he's going to say it, it's like marijuana.

22:06

Yeah, they want you to emphasize the marijuana. Marijuana.

22:11

But

22:11

yeah, that's how they spelled it back in the day. And it bothers

22:13

me.

22:15

Anyway, moving forward. President Nixon

22:17

ignored the Commission's findings and went

22:19

ahead with this anti-drug agenda.

22:22

In the following years, Congress created the United

22:24

States Drug Enforcement Agency,

22:26

aka the shitty DEA.

22:28

Now, even though Nixon ignored the Commission's

22:30

findings,

22:31

some state officials did not.

22:34

In 1973,

22:36

Oregon ended up passing the first

22:38

decriminalization statue.

22:41

Over the next five years, 10 other

22:43

states did the exact same thing. From

22:46

California all the way to Mississippi.

22:50

So just like before, things were starting to look up

22:52

and individuals were hopeful that the stigma attached

22:54

to the use of cannabis

22:55

might be going away.

22:57

However, another roadblock was hit and

22:59

this one would be one of the biggest setbacks.

23:03

Absolutely. So

23:05

in 1981, Ronald Reagan became

23:07

the United States president. In 1986,

23:11

President Reagan signed the Anti-Drug

23:14

Abuse Act,

23:15

which made mandatory sentences

23:18

for drug-related crimes.

23:21

This law drastically

23:23

increased federal penalties for

23:25

the sale and possession

23:27

of an array of drugs, including

23:31

marijuana.

23:32

Under this law, if you possessed 100

23:35

marijuana plants, you would receive the same

23:37

penalty as if you possessed 100 grams

23:40

of heroin.

23:41

This law was then amended to establish what

23:43

was called the Three Strikes in Your

23:45

Out policy. This new policy

23:47

made it so that if you had three drug-related offenses,

23:50

that you were sentenced to life in prison.

23:59

massive increase in state

24:02

and federal prison populations.

24:04

For an example, in 1986,

24:08

when this law was enacted, there were

24:10

roughly 400,000 total inmates in

24:13

America's prison system.

24:16

By 2015, the total number of inmates

24:18

nearly quadrupled to almost 1.5

24:20

million individuals,

24:22

which in turn made the United States have the highest

24:24

prison and jail population as well

24:26

as the highest incarceration rate in the entire

24:29

world.

24:30

When looking deeper into the statistics, you will find

24:32

that marijuana possession arrests account for

24:34

more than half of all drug arrests.

24:36

So as of 2023, 20 states

24:39

and the District of Columbia have legalized

24:41

the recreational adult use of marijuana, and 20

24:44

other states have decriminalized marijuana-related

24:46

offenses such as small quantity

24:48

marijuana possession, cultivation, and

24:50

transfer.

24:51

Now despite the majority of the population wanting

24:54

it to be legalized,

24:55

under federal law marijuana aka

24:57

cannabis remains a Schedule 1 drug,

25:00

making it so that even non-violent

25:02

first time offenders convicted of selling it face

25:05

the possibility of life in prison.

25:07

And there you have it, the history of

25:09

marijuana aka cannabis spanning

25:12

from the early 1900s to 2023.

25:17

Now just like every week, we are going to dive

25:19

into the strange facts and findings that we

25:21

uncovered

25:22

while researching this topic.

25:24

So Dan, do you want to start us off with this first

25:26

one we have?

25:28

Our first strange fact and finding revolves around

25:30

an individual named Mark Young and

25:32

the state of Indiana.

25:34

So back in the early 1980s, there

25:36

was a 59 year old man named Claude Atkinson.

25:40

Now Claude was highly skilled at cultivating

25:42

marijuana.

25:43

He was very good at it.

25:45

He had previously organized a huge marijuana

25:47

farm in Illinois

25:49

and Kentucky, so he had the

25:51

knowledge of how it all worked. One

26:00

year in 1985, he was called Growing

26:02

Marijuana in a warehouse. During

26:04

this arrest, Claude had cut a series

26:06

of deals with the government snitching on others

26:09

and only served a brief prison term.

26:11

In 1988, Claude got out of prison

26:14

and was ready to get back into

26:16

the growing marijuana business.

26:18

Around this time, he had met a

26:21

40-year-old unemployed truck driver named

26:23

Ernest Montgomery, and Ernest

26:25

wanted to make some money.

26:27

So they agreed to form a partnership,

26:30

with Ernest providing the capital, aka

26:32

money, and Claude providing his growing

26:35

expertise. They were like,

26:37

let's start a marijuana business. By

26:40

the spring of 1989, the group had approximately 12,500

26:42

seedlings of marijuana.

26:45

What they needed next

26:47

was a farm to plant them on.

26:49

In May of 1989, Martha

26:52

Brummet, an elderly woman in Morgan

26:54

County, agreed to lease her farm to

26:56

Claude and Ernest. The

26:58

farm contained 40 acres of growing

27:01

land,

27:01

and the group started up their operation.

27:04

And by the way, I want to say, Martha had no

27:06

idea that they were growing marijuana on it. I

27:09

was about to ask, did she know what they were going to grow? She's

27:11

like, can I have some of that? No, they

27:13

just said they were farmers and they were planting corn.

27:16

And you'll see why here in a minute.

27:18

Their operation was extremely smart

27:20

with what they did. I'm sorry, I just see Martha

27:22

walking out there. That was some weird corn. That's

27:25

some weird corn you got out there. Oh

27:27

man. They each plowed until

27:30

the field fertilized it and planted

27:32

corn. Once the corn had reached a good

27:34

height, they planted marijuana, hiding it

27:36

amid the stalks. See what I say, smart.

27:39

Ah, that is smart.

27:41

Over the summer, they walked the fields, sexing

27:44

the marijuana, eliminating all the males.

27:46

The females left unpollinated would

27:48

produce a much higher level of Delta 9 THC

27:51

in their buds and would thus become a much

27:53

more valuable crop.

27:55

and

28:00

then you eliminate the mills. I

28:02

did not know that. Yep.

28:03

So in late September, before the corn

28:06

leaves turned golden,

28:07

the group harvested the marijuana

28:10

and then cured it in the barn for two

28:12

weeks

28:13

and then cut it into books about

28:15

a foot wide and three feet long.

28:18

The books were then hauled into the farmhouse

28:20

and then driven to the cabin for

28:23

manicuring,

28:24

which is where the stems, the orphan leaves,

28:26

and the fan leaves were separated from

28:28

the precious buds. So of

28:30

course, you throw away the stems, the orphan

28:33

leaves, and the fan leaves, and you just keep the buds, those

28:35

little round nuggets of goodness.

28:38

So far, the operation had gone smoothly.

28:41

Soon there will be about 900 pounds of high quality

28:43

marijuana to sell.

28:45

Now the group needed buyers.

28:47

Ernest Montgomery thought that Mark Young, a

28:49

man whom he had met a few times, might

28:51

know the right people to call.

28:53

Mark Young was 36 years old

28:56

and grew up in Christian Park Heights, which

28:58

was a middle class neighborhood on the

29:00

east side of Indianapolis.

29:03

When Ernest Montgomery called Mark Young,

29:05

he was rebuilding motorcycles, selling

29:08

used cars wholesale, and pretty much

29:10

looking for a new income.

29:13

Mark had held a financial interest

29:15

in a number of massage parlors, which

29:18

at that time were closed down.

29:20

He was like, I need another income, because his dream

29:22

was to get some money, move to Florida,

29:25

build custom Harleys, and work

29:27

part time as a fishing guide on

29:29

a lake.

29:30

That sounds nice. That does sound nice.

29:33

Be a fishing guide for myself, not for others.

29:35

Yeah.

29:35

Well, you. I'm talking about not

29:38

strangers. I could take you fishing, but not

29:40

no strangers. Anyway, let's continue

29:42

with the story. All right. In

29:44

early October, Claude and Ernest went over to Mark's

29:46

house to discuss the operation and sale. The

29:49

two guys told Mark that the price of the marijuana was

29:51

set at $1,200 a pound. Now,

29:54

if Mark found buyers, he would receive

29:56

a commission of $100 for every pound sold,

29:59

and they. had around 900 pounds of sell.

30:02

Now Mark agreed and stated that he had potential

30:04

buyers already lined up.

30:06

A short time later, Mark called Claude

30:08

and Ernest and said, hey,

30:10

come over to my house. I have an individual flying

30:13

down from New York who's interested in buying

30:15

the marijuana, but

30:16

he wants to meet you too.

30:18

So Claude and Ernest came over to Mark's

30:20

house and then the man from New York showed

30:22

up to Mark's house with $120,000 in a cardboard

30:24

box

30:27

and agreed to purchase a large amount.

30:30

This buyer eventually returned

30:32

and purchased 600 more pounds. By

30:35

Christmas, all the high quality

30:37

marijuana was gone

30:39

and the last 300 pounds was

30:41

distributed to workers who had helped

30:44

with various tasks.

30:45

And some of those workers

30:47

who had helped were family members,

30:50

such as Jerry Montgomery,

30:53

who was related to Ernest Montgomery.

30:55

On March 18th, 1990, a pair

30:58

of deputy sheriffs in Johnson County, Indiana,

31:00

spotted a red Jeep being driven erratically in

31:02

signal for his driver to pull off the road.

31:05

Behind the wheel, they found Jerry Montgomery

31:07

intoxicated. Littering the truck were three

31:09

empty vodka bottles, a five gallon bucket

31:11

full of marijuana, and a gray box containing

31:14

more than $13,000 in cash.

31:16

After obtaining a warrant, sheriffs searched Montgomery's

31:18

house, finding more marijuana and a locked

31:21

pre-case hidden under his bed.

31:23

An investigation was started into Montgomery's

31:25

relatives,

31:26

which included Ernest, who was the

31:28

grower.

31:29

On August 22nd,

31:31

federal, state, and local law enforcement

31:33

agents arrested Claude,

31:35

raided the farm,

31:37

and with the help of volunteers from the

31:39

Indiana National Guard,

31:41

destroyed 10,000 marijuana plants

31:44

because they already had restarted their grow

31:46

again. Dang. Yeah.

31:48

In May of 1991, Ernest Montgomery

31:51

was arrested at his cabin where 7,000 marijuana

31:53

seedlings sat in little pots ready for planting.

31:56

Early that same morning, Mark Young was awakened

31:58

by someone at the front door. It was

32:01

the DEA.

32:02

Mark was arrested for the sale of 700 pounds

32:04

of marijuana and was convicted under federal

32:07

law.

32:08

Something to keep in mind

32:10

is that Mark had never been

32:12

charged with any drug related crimes

32:14

and he had no history of violent crimes.

32:17

Also, Mark's role in the

32:19

illegal transaction

32:21

had been that of a middle man.

32:23

He had never actually distributed

32:26

the drugs or

32:28

passed them off or anything like that. He simply

32:30

introduced two people together hoping

32:33

to sell a large amount of marijuana.

32:36

So during Mark's trial, no marijuana,

32:39

money, or physical evidence of any kind linked

32:41

him to the crime.

32:43

He was convicted solely on the testimony of Ernest

32:45

and Claude, who are now cooperating with

32:47

the government.

32:49

On February 8, 1992, Judge Sarah

32:51

Evans Barker sentenced Mark Young to life

32:53

in prison without the possibility of parole.

32:57

They screwed him over big time. They did. And

32:59

as crazy as that sounds,

33:01

charges like this are happening all over

33:03

the United States. And we figured that

33:06

this story right here

33:08

is a great example of how

33:10

ridiculous the justice system

33:12

is. The average person who

33:14

murders someone gets eight years and eight months

33:16

in prison.

33:18

You have Mark Young

33:20

who's serving life without the possibility

33:22

of parole for selling marijuana.

33:25

Well, not even technically selling it for introducing

33:28

two people. So being a part of a cell,

33:30

I guess. Yeah, that's like a accessory to

33:32

selling or some shit like that. I don't know the charges.

33:35

It's ridiculous. Anyways, let's

33:37

get into our next one. Alright, so this

33:39

next strange fact and finding is actually about the

33:41

term for 20.

33:43

Now before we get into that, we're going to take a quick

33:45

break. So don't go nowhere. Here's

33:48

news from the fans view the Rich

33:50

Eisen Show podcast dealing with

33:52

the serious Rob Manford baseball commissioner.

33:55

Why do you think that the pitch clock will be

33:57

one that fans won't want to see them on?

33:59

the game the single biggest

34:02

issue that fans have is delays

34:05

lack of action in the game with the pitch

34:07

clock that I'm concerned about is a game is

34:09

going to end on a pitch clock violation

34:11

and the not so serious by the way

34:13

I love the new spots you know we were thinking of

34:16

airing some of these spots on this program

34:18

but my crew is pushing back saying we don't have

34:20

the rights if you need it in writing we'll get it

34:22

for you in writing you want to show the spots rich we're

34:24

good I heard them say rich use whatever

34:26

you want you want to take advantage

34:28

of my relationship

34:29

with the Commissioner Major League Baseball how dare

34:32

you the rich Eisen show

34:33

podcast wherever you listen

34:35

all right

34:37

welcome back so this one is not really

34:40

much of a strange fact of finding it's more of a long-ass

34:42

knowledge nuggy but I thought it was fascinating

34:45

the story behind 420 all started

34:47

back in 1971 hold on do we need to explain 420 to

34:49

the people that don't

34:52

really know about it

34:53

I mean I'm sure everybody does right somebody

34:55

says oh yeah 420 bro and

34:57

then he's like oh they associate 420 was

34:59

smoking weed smoking marijuana the story

35:02

kinda

35:03

oh it tells it yeah it kind of tells it okay

35:05

all right

35:06

so when these five friends from San Rafael California

35:09

gathered together for weeks after school

35:11

they were actually in search of a patch

35:13

of cannabis the only

35:15

clue that they had to go on was that

35:17

it was growing somewhere near the Coast

35:20

Guard station on Point Reyes Peninsula

35:23

after school each day they would all

35:26

meet up at this statue on

35:28

the campus of San Rafael High School

35:31

the five friends were all athletes so after

35:33

school they would all have practice and

35:35

not all of them got done at the same time

35:38

so they needed to find a time that will work for all of them

35:40

after their practice

35:42

so they decided on the time for 20 p.m.

35:45

so all throughout the school day when they saw

35:48

each other in the hallway they

35:49

would remind each other hey 420

35:51

Lewis hey 420 after a while they

35:56

drop the Lewis part and they would just say 420 to sort

35:58

of like remind each

36:00

other of the time that they would be meeting. One

36:03

of the friends who gave an interview to the Huffington Post

36:05

years later said, and we

36:08

quote,

36:08

We'd meet at 4.20 and get in my

36:11

old 66 Chevy Impala.

36:13

We did it week after week.

36:15

We never actually found the patch though.

36:17

Now, even though they never found the patch of

36:19

cannabis by the Coast Guard station, they

36:22

created a new word or term

36:24

for marijuana that they could say. And

36:27

you're probably sitting there like, okay, so

36:29

how did this 4.20 catch on if it was just,

36:31

you know, a couple friends back in 1971 that started it?

36:35

Looking into it more,

36:37

one of the guys in that friend group actually

36:39

ended up managing a band that was associated with the Grateful

36:41

Dead who had moved into Marin County, which

36:43

is where San Rafael is.

36:45

Now the Grateful Dead and their fans, they

36:48

were all cannabis advocates.

36:50

They liked to smoke. Nice. So

36:52

the friend that managed the band

36:55

would still go around saying 4.20 referencing

36:57

cannabis.

36:59

It caught on and the term began

37:01

to circulate around Marin County.

37:04

Then a reporter from the magazine

37:06

called High Times

37:07

heard the term while at a Grateful Dead

37:10

show.

37:10

The reporter then wrote about it in the magazine.

37:13

One of the former editors for High Times

37:15

said that once it appeared in High Times,

37:18

the expression spread farther and faster

37:20

than ever. And sure enough, that

37:22

is exactly what it did. It spread

37:25

all along the West Coast. And

37:27

the next thing you know, it spread all across

37:29

the United States. And there you

37:31

have it. The meaning and

37:33

the start of the term 4.20 and

37:36

how it was created

37:38

and where it is now. Boom.

37:40

And you put something down here, Dan,

37:42

this link. What is this?

37:44

I did a little bit more research on it.

37:46

And supposedly there are two

37:48

stories of two different

37:51

groups of friends at the same high school and

37:54

they actually have like a beefing war with each

37:56

other. Now, before we get into that, we're going

37:58

to take a quick break. It's our last one.

37:59

So don't go nowhere.

38:01

All right, welcome back. Now, this

38:04

other group said that one of their friends actually

38:06

created the term 420.

38:08

It was pretty much they were all sitting down in the

38:10

basement of this guy's house and they

38:12

were all supposedly smoking out of bamboo bongs,

38:15

which at the time, there were no bongs

38:17

ever created.

38:18

So he's guessing he's trying to take up

38:21

saying that he created the first bong too.

38:23

But they were all smoking downstairs and

38:25

someone asked them

38:26

what time it was.

38:28

And he said, oh, it's 420. And

38:30

that's how the term started. I believe

38:33

the Grateful Dead one.

38:35

I believe that one, because he's like, oh,

38:37

he just asked what time it was and said 420 and

38:39

it just kind of caught on and then everyone started using

38:42

it.

38:42

And not believable. Yeah, and then in fact

38:44

that bongs weren't created and he's down there, oh,

38:47

we use the bamboo bong. Like

38:49

get out of here.

38:50

Yeah. But yeah, they supposedly have a beefing war with the

38:52

other. They always trying to

38:54

disprove and-

38:55

What, at high school reunions, they like fight each other?

38:58

Probably. I created the term, no, I created

39:00

the term. I mean, they fight over it and like

39:02

the Grateful Dead story,

39:05

they actually hired a private investigator to search

39:08

and hunt down the Coast Guard. Are you

39:10

kidding me? No, they

39:11

hired them to find the Coast Guard that gave them

39:14

the map

39:15

of where the patch of cannabis was. That's

39:17

why they were searching for it.

39:18

This is a beefing war that has gone on

39:20

for so long. Over the

39:23

term 420. Yeah, it's not like they're

39:25

getting paid or anything for it. They just, I guess, want the- Publicity?

39:28

Publicity for it. The stardom, the fame. Yeah.

39:31

Okay. I thought that was just fascinating and

39:33

it kind of made me laugh.

39:34

It was, I enjoyed it, thank you. You're welcome.

39:37

All right, so let's get into our next strange fact and

39:39

finding, which is about a man named

39:41

James Munch.

39:44

So during the Reefer Madness

39:46

era, Henry Anslinger was

39:49

publishing for the banning of marijuana.

39:52

And one of the guys that consulted

39:54

him was Dr.

39:55

James Munch.

39:58

Now, Dr. Munch.

39:59

Munch was a doctor of philosophy and a

40:02

graduate of Temple University

40:03

and according to his testimony he majored in toxicology

40:06

which was the actions of poisons and

40:08

pharmacology which was the action

40:10

of drugs on animals and on man.

40:13

Now Dr. Munch's part was to help Anslinger

40:15

with connecting marijuana to as many crimes

40:17

as possible

40:19

to help ban it. The two notable

40:21

cases that Dr. Munch testified in

40:23

were the Ethel Soule trial and the

40:25

author Friedman testimony.

40:27

During the Ethel Soule trial, Ethel aka

40:30

Bunny and a friend were

40:32

on trial for murdering a bus driver.

40:36

The two had robbed the bus driver of $2.10.

40:40

This was during the Great Depression. That

40:43

was like a chunk of change there for them.

40:45

Wasn't it just like $2.10 now where

40:47

you pretty much can't buy anything? No.

40:50

I can't even think of anything that you could buy for $2.10.

40:54

You can't even buy

40:56

a soda pop anymore for that. Unless

40:59

you use the soda machines out front but then those sodas probably

41:01

been there forever. Yeah. Anyway,

41:03

sorry. Continue. So the

41:05

defense of Bunny, aka Ethel, made the claim that she

41:08

was a victim of marijuana madness.

41:10

The defense team called Dr. Munch who was

41:12

supposed to be helping Anslinger and the FBN,

41:15

Federal Bureau of Narcotics,

41:16

but his testimony was a little

41:18

odd. This was his testimony,

41:21

the exact words from Dr. Munch that they

41:23

had written down in trial.

41:26

I smoked the cigarette while

41:28

sitting in a chair. I had a

41:30

dream. I had dreamed that I

41:32

had lived in an ink bottle for 200

41:34

years. Then

41:37

I climbed to the neck of the bottle and

41:39

I wrote a book. Then I

41:41

flew out of the bottle and I flew around

41:44

the world twice. Then I awakened.

41:47

I had been asleep in the chair for only 16 minutes.

41:57

God,

42:00

what the hell is he smoking?

42:02

So a little off topic, this reminded

42:05

me of the movie Grandma's Boy, the boss.

42:07

He's like, I was sitting there meditating, like

42:09

I flew out of a bird or some shit like

42:11

that. I'm like,

42:12

this guy is tripping balls.

42:14

Yeah, that's not what happens

42:16

when you smoke marijuana. He just made

42:19

that shit up. Yeah, so as he told this story,

42:21

everyone in the room was like, no shit,

42:23

marijuana is crazy. Dr.

42:26

Munch also stated that the reaction by dogs

42:28

is similar to that of humans. Wait,

42:30

he was getting dog's eye?

42:32

He was getting dog's eye.

42:33

Oh my God. Yeah, so the judge,

42:35

Daniel Brennan, would have none of this nonsense,

42:38

and he was quoted saying, he's

42:40

going to testify about marijuana's effects

42:43

on dogs, and then say it's the same

42:45

as humans? What kind of testimony

42:48

is that?

42:49

I mean, you think about it.

42:50

They say that smoking marijuana, you become violent

42:53

and all that stuff. So that means that dogs and stuff

42:55

were having the same reaction. Yeah.

42:57

The judge was like, no, that can't be right.

43:00

Which I've never seen anyone smoke marijuana

43:02

and get super violent. But

43:04

I'll say that for our personal thoughts

43:06

and theories at the end, sorry. Yeah, continue with

43:08

the story.

43:09

All right, so even the prosecutor started to question if

43:12

Dr. Munch was actually an expert,

43:13

since he was not a physician, and he was only

43:16

telling us about his own experiences

43:18

with smoking marijuana once.

43:21

So that testimony was a bust, but

43:23

that didn't stop him from giving his expert testimony

43:25

in the next trial.

43:27

Oh, good Lord. So in

43:29

April of 1938, Dr. Munch again was called to

43:32

be an expert witness on marijuana,

43:35

this time in New York City.

43:37

He was called by the defense team for Mr.

43:39

Friedman,

43:40

one of the five youths that were charged

43:43

with shooting and killing Detective Michael

43:45

J. Foley.

43:47

On April 7th, Dr. Munch appeared

43:49

in court to testify.

43:51

Again, he spoke about being trapped

43:53

in an ink jar, word for word

43:55

like he had just said in his last trial. And

43:58

Slinger and Munch realized that the more

44:00

Munch testified, the more it helped the propaganda

44:03

against marijuana,

44:04

but it had a negative impact on the legal

44:06

side of things.

44:08

It was actually helping criminals say,

44:10

I smoked marijuana before the crime, so

44:13

I am a victim of the side effects of marijuana.

44:15

It made me do it. So with some criminals

44:17

using this tactic,

44:19

it actually got them off of a death sentence.

44:21

So Anslinger had Munch stop testifying,

44:24

but not before he was quoted saying in

44:27

another trial, and we quote,

44:29

after two puffs on a marijuana cigarette,

44:32

I turned into a bat. Oh

44:35

yeah.

44:40

He then goes on to claim that he flew

44:42

around the room and down a 200 foot

44:45

deep inkwell. His testimony

44:47

only made things worse and illegal since.

44:50

And just an FYI, Anslinger,

44:53

that Henry Anslinger,

44:54

he was appointed the head

44:56

in 1930, and he stayed there

44:58

till the sixties. And he

45:00

ended up going to different doctors, trying

45:02

to get their opinions

45:04

on marijuana, but he wanted

45:06

the bad opinions.

45:08

And nine out of 10 doctors that he visited

45:11

all was like, it doesn't make you violent.

45:13

All these claims are false. It just makes the person

45:16

drowsy,

45:17

maybe hungry, relaxed,

45:19

except for one doctor who backed

45:22

up his claims, and that is the one he

45:24

cherry picked. And that was him right

45:26

there who did the testimony. Took two puffs

45:29

and I turned into a bat. Oh

45:31

man.

45:32

Thank you for that strange fact and finding.

45:34

You're

45:34

welcome. All right, so let's get

45:36

on to the next one.

45:37

So this strange fact and finding is about the movie,

45:40

Refer Madness.

45:41

We were wondering who actually funded this movie.

45:44

So looking into it,

45:46

the movie was never actually funded by the US government,

45:48

but actually funded by a church group under

45:50

the title, Tell Your Children.

45:53

Which that title right there was the

45:55

original name for the movie until it was bought

45:57

out by Dwayne Esper,

45:59

who wreaked the cut the film for production.

46:02

So this church group was supposedly searching

46:04

for an easy sin to

46:07

blame for society's struggles.

46:09

And you have to remember that it was like

46:11

during the Great Depression and everyone was struggling

46:14

really bad. And they thought hey cannabis

46:16

use? That's a perfect issue at the time.

46:20

Not much is known about it. It'd be easy

46:22

to get a religious following against it in the

46:24

early 1930s.

46:26

So that's what they kind of used

46:29

was cannabis. So

46:31

Louis J. Gassner was asked by the church

46:33

group to put together a film on the terrible effects

46:35

of cannabis use

46:36

and how it impacted American society.

46:39

After the movie was produced, it

46:41

seemed that the Tell Your Children group decided to change

46:43

their name to

46:44

Motion Picture Health Association aka

46:46

MPHA.

46:49

So this MPHA would go on

46:51

to produce some other films

46:53

that would so-called and we quote, educate

46:56

the public about health and social

46:59

issues.

47:00

They created the films which were called

47:02

Sex Madness which was published in 1938 which

47:05

was a film that aimed to educate

47:07

the public

47:08

about the supposed dangers of sexually

47:10

transmitted diseases. Sex

47:13

Madness. Come see it now. Everybody's

47:16

f***ing and sucking. Another film that they

47:18

created was the 1933 one called Damaged Lives. It

47:22

was a film that depicted the dangers

47:24

of illegal abortions. Come and

47:26

see it. Damaged lives. Abort your baby

47:29

fetuses and go to hell.

47:30

That's what they were saying.

47:32

The other film that they produced was the 1935

47:36

film titled

47:37

The Pace That Kills

47:39

and it was a film that aimed

47:41

to warn the public about the dangers

47:44

of drug addiction. Come and see

47:46

your loved ones get taken over and held

47:48

hostage by evil drugs and

47:50

then you go to hell.

47:59

consider artifacts of the propaganda of the time.

48:03

But in the 1950s, the film company finally

48:05

dissolved with the decline of the film industry

48:07

during that time.

48:09

But yeah, I thought that was kind of interesting. Yeah,

48:12

we're gonna have to watch those three films

48:14

that we didn't watch. We watched Free For Madness,

48:17

but we didn't watch these other ones.

48:18

Thought it was kind of weird that it was actually a church

48:21

group that funded this.

48:22

Well, you gotta have more money into the church, you know? What

48:24

way to do that rather than to scare the public, keep

48:26

them scared, have them come to church, have them tithe.

48:29

That's true. All right, so our next strange

48:31

fact and finding is about DuPont.

48:34

So as we were digging deeper into

48:36

the connection of why the

48:39

United States government would want to ban marijuana,

48:42

we tried to look at different

48:44

connections of various companies, various

48:47

organizations, and other individuals,

48:49

and we ended up stumbling upon the

48:52

DuPont company and how

48:54

they provided some level of support

48:56

to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics

48:59

and its efforts to criminalize

49:02

marijuana.

49:03

So DuPont had an interest in preventing

49:05

the commercialization of hemp-based products.

49:07

Hemp fiber was seen as a potential competitor

49:10

to synthetic fibers like nylon.

49:12

Now, DuPont had developed nylon,

49:15

and they were marketing this product aggressively.

49:17

Then, of course, hemp fiber was also

49:20

used in the production of paper, which would threaten

49:22

DuPont's paper production interests.

49:25

Granted, it wasn't only DuPont. There were

49:27

probably other petrochemical industries involved

49:29

with the support as well. Also, Henry

49:31

Anselinger, he held

49:33

company interests in paper companies,

49:36

so

49:37

he didn't want hemp going out there ruining that.

49:39

It's all about money, man. They don't care about

49:41

public opinion. All it is is about

49:43

making as much money as they can.

49:45

And that's it.

49:46

All right, so our last strange fact and finding is

49:48

actually about the marijuana tax act stamp

49:51

that was needed to grow, sell, or distribute

49:53

marijuana legally in the 1930s,

49:56

even though they had a process for you to get approval

49:58

from the government to work with marijuana.

49:59

marijuana, it was still very difficult

50:02

to actually get approved.

50:03

It was also an expensive process that they had to go through.

50:06

Not only did they have to fill out lengthy paperwork,

50:08

but they had to pay a fee of $1 per

50:11

ounce of marijuana.

50:12

They had to also provide detailed information

50:15

about their business practices and the quantities

50:17

of marijuana they intended to sell.

50:19

But guess what though, this entire thing

50:22

was used as a trap.

50:24

You needed the stamp to grow, sell,

50:26

and distribute. But it was also

50:29

illegal without the stamp to possess

50:32

or transfer marijuana without

50:34

it. So anyone that tried

50:36

to obtain a stamp would have

50:38

to admit to possessing marijuana and

50:41

more than likely would face criminal

50:43

charges for it.

50:44

So it was a honey pot. The

50:47

corruption! They set that up

50:49

perfectly and no one realized it really. That

50:52

if you have marijuana, you have to file

50:55

to get approval to sell it and

50:57

all that stuff with this stamp

50:59

and you had to pay a fee of $1

51:01

per ounce of marijuana.

51:02

Depending on how much you had to pay and fees,

51:05

they would know how much marijuana you had.

51:07

Then of course they had you fill out information about

51:09

your business,

51:10

where you had it all at and everything.

51:13

So they pretty much had you confess

51:15

to having marijuana and then they would just come, rest

51:17

you, take your marijuana, and charge you.

51:20

Corruption. Sneaky shit right

51:22

there. It is. It's a trap.

51:24

So now we're going to get into the theories section

51:27

of the show where we discuss the possible theories

51:30

revolving marijuana and

51:32

why it was banned.

51:34

So Dan, do you want to tell us about the first

51:36

theory we got?

51:37

So the first theory is called racism.

51:39

This theory states the reason marijuana

51:41

was banned in the United States in the 1930s was due

51:44

to racism and xenophobia.

51:46

At that time marijuana use was associated with

51:48

Mexican immigrants and African Americans

51:51

and politicians and law enforcement officials used

51:53

racist and fear-monging rhetoric to help promote

51:55

the anti-marijuana laws.

51:59

the bait and ran with it because

52:02

the politicians and

52:04

law enforcement and everyone back

52:06

then knew that hey great

52:09

depression was going on and you had

52:11

a lot of Americans at the time

52:13

were having trouble even just feeding their families

52:16

and then you have immigrants coming up from the south

52:18

and you got some coming over from boats

52:20

and the government wants to put

52:23

the blame on somebody else rather than hey

52:25

we messed up so put the blame on

52:27

these immigrants coming up smoking cannabis they're

52:29

the cause of all your problems. Yep honestly

52:32

this ain't really a theory this is factual

52:34

they did do that.

52:35

Yeah I'd say that's one of the reasons but

52:38

I think it's more than that

52:39

which we're going to get into this next theory which is called

52:41

political pressure.

52:43

So this theory states that some believe

52:45

that marijuana was banned

52:47

due to political pressure from international

52:49

organizations or domestic organizations.

52:53

Now politicians may be hesitant to support

52:55

marijuana legalization fearing backlash

52:58

from those who are strongly against drug

53:00

use

53:01

thus jeopardizing their chances of reelection.

53:03

I can kind of see this but

53:06

I don't think it's so much the organizations

53:09

more so the voter base. If

53:11

you look at who votes it's

53:14

the elderly majority

53:16

of the time okay.

53:19

The elderly still have the views

53:21

carried over from 30 40s 50s 60s maybe even 70s of this

53:24

cannabis

53:27

being bad and all the fake stuff they

53:29

were taught about reefer madness. So if

53:32

they see that this politician

53:35

is supporting legalization of cannabis

53:37

they'd be like oh no we can't support him

53:39

he supports the devil's weed you know

53:41

Satan's spinach the devil's lettuce.

53:44

Yeah so that theory you know is called

53:46

political pressure but it kind of

53:48

it rolls into the next one kind of perfectly.

53:50

You want to tell us about it Dan? Yeah

53:52

so this next theory is called big pharma and

53:55

medical professionals.

53:56

In this theory it is believed that big pharma and medical

53:59

professionals had a hand

53:59

in banning or regulating cannabis

54:02

because of the health benefits that it could have with

54:04

certain conditions.

54:05

It would cut into their profits of prescribing

54:07

their medication

54:09

and would be no reason to keep going and

54:11

see the doctors to be prescribed them.

54:13

In a study done by the Journal of Health Economics,

54:16

researchers found that the use of prescription drugs

54:18

for a number of conditions

54:20

decreased in states where medical marijuana

54:22

is legal.

54:23

It found that people that take anxiety medicine

54:25

decreased by 13.5 percent,

54:28

the use of prescription drugs for depression decreased

54:30

by 12.5 percent, and the use

54:32

for pain medication decreased by 11.8

54:34

percent. And just an FYI, this doesn't

54:36

mean that they 100% stopped

54:39

taking the medicine,

54:40

they just didn't use it as much.

54:43

Ah, but still it cut into the profits of

54:45

the big pharma. It did. And

54:47

you know what they're all about? Profits. Profits.

54:49

Profits over people. What they use those

54:51

profits for? To pay politicians. That's

54:54

right. Line the pockets of the congressmen

54:57

who are supposed to work for you, but instead they

54:59

work for the big pharma.

55:01

Big pharma, you know, all them.

55:04

And they pass laws or bills and

55:06

shit that work in their favor. Yep, in the

55:08

corporation's favor.

55:09

All right, so let's get into this next theory, which is called government

55:12

control.

55:13

So in this theory, the government wanted

55:16

to ban marijuana, thinking that it would

55:18

cause the people to become too independent.

55:21

So the government saw what was going on in

55:23

Mexico with the revolution. And

55:26

it was well known that the individuals

55:28

down there, you know, they smoked marijuana to get intoxicated.

55:30

It was normal. The US government

55:32

thought, Oh, you know, maybe the reason for

55:34

the revolution and the people of Mexico becoming

55:37

violent was because you know, they smoked marijuana.

55:40

So the government said, we need

55:42

to ban it in the United States to stop

55:44

that from happening here.

55:47

So they started spreading

55:49

propaganda that marijuana made you go crazy

55:51

and caused you to become violent.

55:53

Pretty much they were afraid.

55:55

They looked at what was going on in Mexico, didn't

55:58

want the people.

55:59

here to become too independent and violent

56:02

and they associated the violence in the Mexican

56:04

Revolution to cannabis and that's why they banned it.

56:07

Yeah.

56:08

I can kind of see all these, but I'm going to hold my

56:10

tongue till the end. All right,

56:12

so we'll move on to the next theory, which is called

56:14

law enforcement funding. The

56:16

theory goes that the ongoing war on drugs

56:18

provides significant funding to many law enforcement

56:21

agencies. If marijuana

56:23

becomes fully legal, this will reduce the

56:25

funding to these agencies, so many believe

56:27

that they oppose legalizing it so the law

56:29

enforcement agencies can maintain their funding

56:31

and resources. According to

56:34

a report by the American Civil Liberties Union

56:36

in 2020, there were over 6.1

56:39

million arrests for drug offenses in the United

56:41

States between 2010 and 2018. Marijuana offenses account for

56:43

over 40% of those

56:44

arrests.

56:48

That is over 2.4 million arrests

56:50

for marijuana alone. Good

56:52

Lord. That's a lot. That is a lot and

56:55

I can see that one as a theory.

56:57

I can see that. So let's get on to the next one,

57:00

which is called stigma and misinformation.

57:03

So for decades, the image that was

57:05

painted for marijuana was that it

57:07

was a dangerous drug. It had no medical

57:09

benefits whatsoever and this

57:12

image, you know, of that ended up

57:14

creating a lasting stigma. So

57:16

this sort of misinformation may have caused

57:19

some policymakers to resist legalizing

57:21

marijuana, which it did. They

57:23

believe that they are doing the right thing and

57:25

protecting society from causing harm to itself.

57:28

I think that goes along with what you said earlier about the

57:31

older voters mindset. This

57:33

could be with the older politicians. Yeah,

57:36

I agree. All right. So get into this last

57:38

theory, Dan, and tell us about it. And then we'll go into our

57:41

personal theories.

57:42

All right. So this last theory is called private prison

57:45

industry.

57:46

This I thought connected with the law enforcement

57:48

theory. And it's that private prison industry

57:50

benefits from the high incarceration rates related

57:52

to drug offenses.

57:54

If they legalize marijuana,

57:56

this would reduce the number of drug related arrests

57:58

and decrease the

57:59

of private prisons, which would lead

58:02

to a decrease in the demand for private prisons,

58:04

this would cause the private prisons to lobby against

58:07

legalizing marijuana.

58:08

So take CoreCivic for example,

58:10

it is one of the largest private prison

58:12

companies in the United States.

58:14

In 2020, they made around 1.8

58:17

billion dollars for the year. That includes

58:20

all of their operations, which include prisons,

58:22

detention centers, community re-entry programs,

58:25

and electronic monitoring.

58:26

All of these operations are focused on confinement

58:29

and supposedly rehabilitation services for inmates

58:31

and detainees.

58:32

There is no rehabilitation that's done

58:34

there.

58:35

No. They just stick them in a cage.

58:37

And private prisons is modern day

58:39

slavery and it should be outlawed.

58:41

There

58:41

should be no reason why private

58:44

prisons exist. No there shouldn't

58:46

be that many people in prison in the first place. Yeah there

58:48

shouldn't be. I mean what, you said 40%

58:51

of them are there for minor marijuana

58:53

offenses? Over 40%. It's

58:56

ridiculous. So now we're

58:58

going to get into our own personal thoughts and theories

59:00

surrounding all this. In my personal

59:02

opinion, all the theories that we talked about

59:05

were not theories. I think all of

59:07

those are true and they all play

59:09

a part into why marijuana

59:11

is still federally illegal

59:14

today.

59:16

It's a combination of the private prison,

59:18

law enforcement, the misinformation

59:20

in the older voters, the misinformation

59:23

in the older politicians,

59:25

kind of government control, you

59:27

know political pressures, big pharma,

59:29

all of that. All of that rolled

59:32

up into one, plays a part. And

59:34

I don't think it's going to change until 20 years

59:37

from now. As sad as that is, but that's

59:40

my prediction. By 2040

59:42

marijuana will be federally legal. I

59:45

think it'll be sooner than that. Because like

59:47

you said, all of these theories, they're

59:49

not really theories. They all play a role in this.

59:51

I think it's government control with it, but not

59:54

in the sense that the theory goes along,

59:56

but

59:56

more as in how much money they can

59:58

make from it.

59:59

the CIA you know

1:00:01

trafficked drugs they were doing dealings behind

1:00:03

the scenes and we talk about it today in our

1:00:05

patreon episode that's true i

1:00:08

suggest go sign up to it's five bucks a month you can

1:00:10

listen to our our cia drug running

1:00:12

episode that we published today extremely good episode

1:00:15

sorry continue dan

1:00:16

let us traffic knowledge to you oh shit

1:00:19

now we know that they

1:00:21

trafficked drugs to fund other

1:00:23

projects i think it would legalize

1:00:26

sooner knowing the fact that many

1:00:28

states are legalizing it they're selling

1:00:30

it they got what marijuana dispensaries

1:00:32

everywhere nowadays in those states that are legal

1:00:35

the government's profit that they're making off of the taxes

1:00:37

off of that is actually pretty damn good

1:00:39

it's enormous soon it's going to be

1:00:41

like say back in virginia the sale

1:00:44

of liquor like here it's not state

1:00:46

controlled in virginia we have

1:00:48

abc stores they're state controlled

1:00:51

the state sells the liquor there so they

1:00:53

make profit off of that soon i think it's going

1:00:55

to be like the government's going to have dispensaries

1:00:58

only the government

1:00:59

selling marijuana and it's going to make a huge

1:01:02

profit off of that i think right

1:01:04

now it's like in the testing period to

1:01:06

see how well that these other dispensaries

1:01:08

and stuff

1:01:09

are selling so have you ever been

1:01:11

to a

1:01:12

dispensary before i have

1:01:15

i've been to a couple of them i went up to

1:01:18

a couple in maine and talk

1:01:20

about professional do they were very

1:01:22

professional yeah you walk in there's

1:01:24

a guy there he's like a security guard he takes

1:01:27

your id checks it scans

1:01:29

it gets you in on like a little ipad

1:01:32

thing person walks around the corner escorts

1:01:34

you over to this

1:01:36

array of glorious

1:01:39

bud bud and pretty

1:01:41

much anything you would ever want all

1:01:43

these different uh strains

1:01:46

that you could have and it was absolutely

1:01:48

amazing i just said i want that that that

1:01:50

and that and they clicked it on the ipad

1:01:53

and they say okay go over to the checkout counter i went over the checkout

1:01:55

counter they had my bag already prepped ready to go

1:01:57

i paid and bada bing bada boom i was out of there

1:01:59

When I went I had no clue what I was looking

1:02:02

at. I saw pipes, bongs, no

1:02:04

idea about strains. I have no clue. I have no knowledge

1:02:06

of any of that. Hey, but they talked you through it, didn't they?

1:02:08

They would explain everything about it. They

1:02:11

wouldn't tell you what years made

1:02:13

when they started it. It even has like

1:02:15

the percentage of THC inside of

1:02:17

it

1:02:18

and what the effects you would get from this

1:02:20

strain. Very, very professional

1:02:23

and controlled and safe

1:02:25

in my opinion.

1:02:27

It was very safe. Like

1:02:28

when you go in, they looked at your ID, made

1:02:30

sure you were of age to smoke

1:02:32

and everything like that. But that's

1:02:34

how I think it was go. How well controlled

1:02:37

that is. The government's just using

1:02:39

that as a testing phase to

1:02:41

assume when they'll take over selling

1:02:44

it. I mean, they already, uh, what medical

1:02:46

professionals already provide medical marijuana. Yeah.

1:02:49

So sooner or later, this is just going to be the government having

1:02:51

control over it, which is that's what's going to cause

1:02:53

a war. No, it's not. Yeah.

1:02:55

It's going to be a war on government. Free our weed.

1:02:59

Oh my God. All

1:03:00

right. Well, do you have anything else you want to add

1:03:02

to this episode today about

1:03:04

marijuana? By the way, happy for 20.

1:03:07

That's right. Happy for 20. We figured marijuana

1:03:09

on for 20. Yeah. What a great

1:03:11

date to publish this episode on.

1:03:14

But yeah, no, honestly, just

1:03:16

it just shows how corrupt our government really

1:03:18

is with

1:03:19

being sneaky and shit. Yeah. They talk about misinformation

1:03:22

and they're the ones that are doing

1:03:24

it. They're the ones that are spreading misinformation,

1:03:26

setting people up and shit like that. I mean,

1:03:29

come on, people that are trying to do the right thing, follow

1:03:31

the laws and they still screw them over.

1:03:33

Yeah. If you are a loved one,

1:03:35

have been personally affected by

1:03:37

the marijuana.

1:03:39

Send us an email.

1:03:40

We'd love to hear about your story. With that being

1:03:43

said, I want to thank you for joining our episode

1:03:45

this week.

1:03:46

That is the end of the marijuana

1:03:49

episode.

1:03:50

Now we are going to transition

1:03:52

into our on the scene.

1:03:55

If you don't know what our on the scene is, it's where each

1:03:57

week an individual sends in they're

1:03:59

on the scene. Which is pretty much someone going around interviewing

1:04:02

strangers or family members or

1:04:04

even themselves or themselves

1:04:07

Asking about current conspiracies or

1:04:09

past conspiracies in their take on it.

1:04:11

Yep Now anyone can do this including

1:04:14

you yes you the person

1:04:16

listening to this right now All

1:04:18

you have to do is get your phone out. Okay,

1:04:21

click record record for less

1:04:23

than two minutes No longer, please

1:04:25

than two minutes and make sure there's no music

1:04:27

in the background We can't play it if it has music

1:04:30

and no eating food while

1:04:32

you're recording, please None of that

1:04:34

please for the love of God and then when you're done

1:04:37

You can email us that audio

1:04:39

recording to Aaron a a r o n

1:04:41

at theories of the third kind or you can email

1:04:43

it to Dan Dan at

1:04:45

theories of the third kind and we will play it at

1:04:48

the end of our show each week

1:04:50

So for this week's on the scene we have

1:04:52

page Hey, yeah, so

1:04:54

we're gonna play that right now Hey

1:04:57

guys, it's Paige from Oregon aka

1:05:00

reigning audio champion on the

1:05:02

scene once again here with my girlfriend and

1:05:05

ask her a question and I'm gonna end it by Asking

1:05:07

you guys the same question kind of like last time

1:05:10

So I think that it's easy for

1:05:13

a lot of people to claim that they would

1:05:15

visit certain Spooky

1:05:18

locations either because it's haunted or there's

1:05:20

rumors of cannibals or cryptids or whatever

1:05:23

the reason might be I think it's easy for people to say

1:05:25

that they would go there kind of in

1:05:27

a joking or casual conversation manner but

1:05:31

actually going there is an entirely different

1:05:33

thing but Sitting

1:05:36

here right now. What's one place that

1:05:38

you know that you wouldn't go to without having to go

1:05:40

there to find out that It was a bad idea. I Would

1:05:45

not step foot into the

1:05:47

Zach Bagans Museum Too

1:05:51

many spooky artifacts too many. Yeah

1:05:53

with a lot of history. I Think

1:05:57

for me, it's the Cecil Hotel

1:06:00

because I don't

1:06:02

believe that there's a whole lot of places out there that are

1:06:05

allegedly cursed, that actually are cursed.

1:06:08

I think a lot of it's probably just folklore and rumors

1:06:11

and whatnot, legends. But I

1:06:13

think the Cecil Hotel is actually cursed,

1:06:16

and I wouldn't want to find out the

1:06:18

hard way. So that

1:06:21

same question goes to you guys, Aaron and Dan, what's

1:06:23

one place that you would not step foot

1:06:25

into sitting there right now. Anyway,

1:06:30

see you guys next time. Love you, and I'm proud

1:06:32

of you.

1:06:55

No, I gotta save mine for last.

1:06:56

I don't have a specific one though,

1:06:59

but I will say this. If

1:07:02

it's an outside area

1:07:04

pertaining to werewolves,

1:07:05

just because I have that PTSD of that one.

1:07:08

Okay, that makes sense.

1:07:10

When I worked with your brother in Wisconsin,

1:07:12

there was a

1:07:13

location where supposedly

1:07:15

a werewolf was. It was like on this

1:07:18

road. Like a cryptid? They said it was a werewolf

1:07:20

in that area.

1:07:22

And people that drove through the area, they would

1:07:24

see something running along beside their car.

1:07:26

And some of them had like actual

1:07:28

scratch marks along the side of their vehicles

1:07:31

when it was near them. So one

1:07:33

day after I got out of our

1:07:35

shift, we decided to drive around and

1:07:38

we were trying to find that area because

1:07:40

you know how your brother is. He's all into

1:07:42

that shit.

1:07:43

Me, I'm like, all right, you know,

1:07:45

need to waste some time. So we ended

1:07:47

up driving and this road just

1:07:49

drove through cornfields. We started driving.

1:07:51

It was clear night. Then all of a sudden it just

1:07:54

started to get super, super foggy.

1:07:57

And literally with headlights on and everything, I

1:07:59

could barely see how it was.

1:07:59

far in front of me.

1:08:01

It gave off the creepiest vibe ever.

1:08:03

And me and her brother freaked out for the fact

1:08:05

that we had no idea where we were anymore.

1:08:07

We couldn't see how far ahead of us.

1:08:10

So I just pretty much hit the gas and

1:08:12

just sped through there.

1:08:13

Then all of a sudden a fog disappeared

1:08:15

and we were in the city. We literally

1:08:18

stopped at the stoplight and just looked around. You

1:08:20

time traveled.

1:08:21

We did something. It was weird. A time slip.

1:08:24

Reality slip. Yes, I don't know. I don't

1:08:26

like anything involving werewolves. Okay,

1:08:28

so like no forests or anything like that.

1:08:30

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't mind going on the forest, but if there's

1:08:33

sightings or anything with werewolves, dog

1:08:35

men, no. See, you

1:08:37

know me. You're more cautious.

1:08:40

I am. Me? You throw me in

1:08:42

the mix, baby. I don't care where I'm going. I'll

1:08:44

take a Ouija board out there and I'll sit with the wolves. They'll

1:08:47

probably kill me, but

1:08:48

I'll be out there with them. I'll be out there with

1:08:50

the gun. Trying to survive.

1:08:53

Now there's one place that I would not go.

1:08:55

And it has nothing to do

1:08:58

with any creatures, hauntings

1:09:00

or anything like that. Do not

1:09:02

send me. Do not send me

1:09:05

to an ISIS controlled part of Iraq. I

1:09:08

can't do the mandatory prayers. I would

1:09:10

immediately be beheaded due to my tattoos.

1:09:13

See a skull with sigils on my forearm.

1:09:16

Devil.

1:09:17

Anyway, yeah, I would not go

1:09:19

to any ISIS controlled areas

1:09:21

in Iraq. Count me out. Now

1:09:24

you can send me to North Korea. I think I'd be fine over there.

1:09:26

North Korea? Yeah, send me to North Korea. Go ahead.

1:09:29

We can start a GoFundMe. Aaron's ticket

1:09:31

to North Korea. Are there flights to North Korea?

1:09:33

Yeah, they do tours to North Korea. You could fly

1:09:35

over there. I didn't know that. I think you

1:09:37

got to fly to China and then take a connecting

1:09:39

flight from China to North Korea. Pooyang

1:09:42

or Pooyang or whatever that's called. Capital.

1:09:45

Gotcha. I actually would like to go over there.

1:09:47

North Korea could be fun. Yeah,

1:09:49

so that's where I would not go.

1:09:52

Somewhere in Iraq. That's ISIS

1:09:54

controlled. I agree. I want to go there. Yeah,

1:09:56

but besides that, you can send me anywhere. I don't care.

1:09:58

I'm down for it. He is. Aaron's

1:10:01

one of those guys. You throw him into it, he don't care. Yeah.

1:10:04

And I know some of you may be like, oh he's just saying that,

1:10:06

but no I'm dead serious.

1:10:08

You just wait. You just wait. Anyways,

1:10:11

thank you again Paige for your on the

1:10:13

scene, the reigning reigning reigning audio

1:10:15

world champion of on the scene. We

1:10:19

love you and we're proud of you.

1:10:20

Much love.

1:10:21

Alright, before we roll this episode out,

1:10:23

I just want to state again that

1:10:26

shout outs are now Patreon

1:10:28

exclusive.

1:10:30

They are starting up

1:10:31

at the beginning of May.

1:10:33

So if you want a shout out birthday shout

1:10:35

out anniversary shout out wedding shout out whatever

1:10:38

submit those via Patreon.

1:10:40

They're only for Patreon members only because

1:10:43

we've been

1:10:43

absolutely getting flooded and

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we haven't been able to

1:10:47

keep up with all of them.

1:10:49

Yeah. So we decided

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1:10:54

which if you aren't a member of Patreon,

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you can sign up for five bucks a month, 16 cents

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Okay, no ads.

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the Patreon link and sign up there.

1:11:12

With that being said, I want to thank you for joining

1:11:14

us today and again,

1:11:15

thank you for your support. You are all

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amazing. Every single

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one of you.

1:11:21

So with that being said, Dan, you

1:11:23

want to roll us out? Sure will.

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