Marihuana Conference
HELD DECEMBER 5, 1938
in the UNITED STATES Bureau of Internal Revenue Building (Room 3003)
Washington D. C.

CALLED BY THE BUREAU OF NARCOTICS OF THE
UNITED STATES TREASURY DEPARTMENT
PRESIDED OVER BY MR. H. J. ANSLINGER, COMMISSIONER OF NARCOTICS,
AND MR. H. J. WOLLNER, CONSULTING CHEMIST,
TREASURY DEPARTMENT MARIHUANA CONFERENCE INDEX Page
Conferees Present: 2 - 3

OPENING STATEMENT OF H.J. ANSLINGER,
COMMISSIONER OF NARCOTICS,
containing Review of Proceedings
of Sub-Committee on Cannabis of
Advisory Committee on Traffic in
Opium, League of Nations: 4-16

STATEMENT OF DR. A. H .WRIGHT,
PROFESSOR OF AGRONOMY, UNIVERSITY
OF WISCONSIN, relating to growth
of Hemp, where seeds are produced,
and Hemp is grown in United States: 16 - 27

STATEMENT OF MR. FRANKLIN,
CHIEF OF DRUG CONTROL, STATE OF
NEW YORK, as to growth of Marihuana
in that state. 27 - 29

STATEMENT OF DR. B. B. ROBINSON,
BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY,
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, relative
to experiments as to World Production
of Hemp, and quantity of Production in
United States and Growth and Production
of Cannabis, and Comparative Results
obtained from Seed obtained from various
Countries: 29 - 49

STATEMENT OF DR. JOHN R. MATCHETT,
CHIEF CHEMIST, BUREAU OF NARCOTICS,
as to Tests made from Seeds of Hemp in
various Countries: 42- 43

STATEMENT OF MR. HENRY FULLER,
CONSULTING CHEMIST, as to his Experience
in Growth of Cannabis: 49 - 55


MARIHUANA CONFERENCE
INDEX -(Continued)

Page
STATEMENT OF DR. JAMES C. MUNCH,
PROFESSOR OF PHARMACOLOGY,
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, relating to
Effects of Marihuana on Organs
of Body: 55- 60

STATEMENT OF DR. S. LOEWE, PHARMACOLOGIST,
CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE,
as to Bio-Assay of Marihuana 60 - 65

STATEMENT OF DR. WALTER BROMBERG,
SENIOR PSYCHIATRIST, DEPARTMENT
OF HOSPITALS, NEW YORK CITY,
relating to varying Effects of
Marihuana in various Classes of
Individuals: 65 - 88

Discussion on Pharmacological Phases
of Marihuana Problem: 89 -133

STATEMENT OF H. J. WOLLNER,
CONSULTING CHEMIST, TREASURY
DEPARTMENT: 133 -137

STATEMENT OF DR. A. H. BLATT,
HOWARD UNIVERSITY, Relative to
Survey of Chemical Constituents of
Cannabis Sativa: 137-143

STATEMENT OF DR. JOHN R. MATCHETT,
TREEASURY DEPARTMENT, containing
Report of Department of Attacks on
Marihuana Problems: 143 -151

STATEMENT OF DR. JOSEPH LEVINE,
CHEMIST, BUREAU OF NARCOTICS, as to
Tests for Identification of Marihuana 152 -160

STATEMENT OF MR. LOUIS BENJAMIN,
CHEMIST, TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
as to Tests: 160-164


3


MARIHUANA CONFERENCE
..... INDEX -(Continued)

Page
STATEMENT OF DR. JAMES C. MUNCH,
as to Tests: 162-164

STATEMENT OF DR. H. M. LANCASTER,
CHIEF DOMINION ANALYST,
CANADIAN GOVERMENT,
in relation to Tests: 165 -l70

STATEMENT OF DR. JAMES COUCH,
PATHOLOGICAL DIVISION,
BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY,
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE: 170 -173

General Discussion: 173-178

2

BY COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: I want to express to you the
appreciation of the Treasury Department for giving your valuable time in
an effort to assist the Government in this important work.

I will now introduce the conferees in attendance:

DR. JOHN R. MATCHETT, Chief Chemist, Bureau of Narcotics

DR. JOSEPH LEVINE, Chemist, Bureau of Narcotics

LOUIS BENJAMIN, Chemist, Treasury Department

DR. B. B. ROBINSON, Bureau of Plant Industry,
Department of Agriculture

DR. HERBERT O. CALVERY, Chief, Division of Pharmacology,
Food & Drug Administration, Department of Agriculture

DR. ROBERT P. HERWICK, Food & Drug Administration,
Department of Agriculture

DR. LAWRENCE KOLB, Division of Mental Hygiene,
Public Health Service

DR. JAMES COUCH, Pathological Division,
Bureau of Anlmal Industry,
Department of Agriculture

DR. A.H. BLATT, Professor of Chemistry, Howard
University

DR. S. LOEWE, Pharmacologist, Cornell University
Medical College

DR. A.H. WRIGHT, Professor of Agronomy, University
of Wisconsin

DR. WALTER BROMBERG, Senior Psychiatrist, Department of
Hospitals, City of New York

3

DR. JAMES C. MUNCH, Professor of Pharmacology, Temple University

MR. H. M. LANCASTER, Chief Dominion Analyst, Canadian Government,
Ottawa, Canada

MR. HENRY FULLER, Consulting Chemist, Washington, D. C.

MR. FRANK SMITH, Chief of Drug Control, State of New York.

DR. JAMES HIBBEN, Geophysical Laboratory Carnegie Institute of
Washington

MR. FRED T. MERRILL, Foreign Policy Association Washington, D. C.

MR. PETER VALAER, Chemist, Alcohol Tax Unit Laboratory, U. S.
Treasury Department, Washington, D. C.

DR. W. V. LINDER, Chief, Alcohol Tax Unit Laboratory, U. S. Treasury
Department, Washington, D. C.

MR. PAUL W. SIMONDS, Assn. Chief, Alcohol Tax Unit Laboratory, U. S.
Treasury Department, Washington, D. C.

MR. MORRIS KAPLAN, Office of the Chief, Division of Laboratories, U.
S. Bureau of Customs

DR. S. T. SCHICKTANZ, Chemist, Alcohol Tax Unit Laboratory, U. S.
Treasury Department


4
Commissioner Anslinger:
I assume the press will be after us. The Treasury Department has not
as yet publicly announced this meeting. The Department will do this
subsequently. I hope therefore, that none of you will be drawn into
discussions with reporters until the meeting is concluded. The Treasury
Department will issue a statement on the meeting.
I want all of you to freely express your opinions on every phase of
the subject under discussion; and if you differ on any point, we hope you
will not hesitate to present your side of the picture.
I want to give you a brief review of what took place at Geneva,
Switzerland, last spring at a meeting of the Sub-Committee on Cannabis, of
the Advisory Committee on traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs of
the League of Nations. I think this a fitting way to open the Conference. It
will illustrate the international significance of the Cannabis problem and
show the current status of some of the excellent work that is being done
by other nations on the question.
This work I think was very important, and I want to give you the
reports of the experts of the various countries which will give you an idea
as to the points on which the authorities still remain in doubt.

5

The Secretariat of the League referred to various points submitted
to the Experts in a questionnaire drawn up for their use in January, l936,
and used as a basis for the Sub-Committees work. He described the
research work being undertaken.
The Sub-Committee endeavored to indicate on what phases of the
Marihuana problem agreement exists, and on what points there is a
divergence of views which has formed the subject of exchange of
information between the Experts whether on chemical and agricultural
questions, or on the medical and pathological questions.
Since the Advisory Committee's last session, Mr. J. V. Collins,
Government Analyst, Ceylon, on January 12, l938, notified the Committee
of his acceptance of the Advisory Committee's invitation to act as an
Expert on Cannabis in place of the late Dr. Symons.
The Committee received important documents from two of its
Experts, Dr. Bouquet and Dr. de Myttenaere.
Dr. Bouquet has for many years done a vast amount of work on
Cannabis. He is the Inspector of Pharmacies in Tunis.

Dr. Bouquet submitted reports on the following points:

I Vegetable products wrongly designated as hemp.
II Microscopic examination of samples of Cannabis.
III Physiologically active resin in the staminate Cannabis
plant.
6

IV New variety of Cannabis.
V Influence of drought on the growth of Cannabis.
VI Medical uses of Cannabis and drugs with a Cannabis base.
VII Use of animal charcoal.
VIII Dr. James C. Munch's Reaction.
IX Is light petroleum the only solvent of the active element
of Cannabis and its preparations?
X Addiction by certain solanaceae.

Then the report is supplemented by Dr. Bouquet regarding the following
points:

I Are the light petroleum extracts of Cannabis the only
ones that are physiologically active?
II Observations on document O.C.1542 (z) (Report on the
research conducted by the Treasury Department of the United
States of America, in cooperation with the Department of
Agriculture, in connection with studies on the chemical
identification of Cannabis Indica (Cannabis Sativa).
III Identification test for Cannabis resin, proposed by Dr. de
Myttenaere.
IV Method of identifying resin, proposed by Dr. H. J. Wollner.
V Procedure for experiments.
VI Observations on the causes of Cannabis addiction in
North Africa.
Dr. de Myttenaere submitted to the Secretariat a supplement to the
third note on Indian hemp, and a fourth note on Indian hemp, including a
study of the published work which has appeared since May, 1937, giving
observations of Mr. Wollner's experiments in the United States.
Apart from these contributions from Experts of the Sub-Committee
on Cannabis, the Secretariat received a "Study of the Chemical
Identification of Marihuana (Cannabis Indica)" by Dr. Rafael Plasencia,
Government Chemist of Cuba, and a reply concerning the same subject
from the United Kingdon Representative. It also received information
regarding experiments on the chemical identification of Cannabis indica
communicated by the United States Government. This is the report
covering the investigation conducted by the Treasury Department in
cooperation with the Department's Agriculture.
The United Kingdom also submitted to the Secretariat a
communication concerning the question as to whether Cannabis stalks
used commercially for the production of fibre still contained resin. That
point was also discussed.
As to the American documents, we usually summarize all work that
has been done on Cannabis, incorporate it into one document and submit it
to the League of Nations.
As to Dr. Plasencia's experiment; he has followed up Beam's
experiments and elaborated a new method which he

8

states is absolutely and specifically suitable for Cannabis and constant
for all the varieties tested, even Merck's extract of Cannabis indica with
which Beam's reaction gave no result.
Our Government has submitted observations on this paper.
The United Kingdom Representative also transmitted an opinion by
the Government Chemist who suggests certain modifications in this
method. These modifications consist of an attempt to separate the
substances responsible for the characteristic color in Beam's test on the
assumption that it is a phenol.
All of these documents are available in the United States Treasury
Department for anyone who would like to study them.
It would seem that Dr. de Myttenaere and Mr. Wollner have different
opinions on the point as to whether light petroleum is the best solvent for
Cannabis. Dr. de Myttenaere considers that so far as is known at present,
light petroleum is the best solvent for the extraction of the active
principles of Cannabis, and hence the only one suitable for Beam's test;
and he has carried out experiments as to whether ethyl acetate should be
substituted, or is preferable as a solvent for petroleum ether.

9

In the report there is also given the list of vegetable products
wrongfully designated as hemp,
We have a little trouble with that in this country, as it is frequently
designated as Cannabis, New Zealand hemp, hemp of the Americas, Bombay
hemp, African hemp, etc.
It has been found that these were all wrong designators used by
various persons interested in the problem.
NOTE.--Until very recently. the definition of Cannabis sativa
(marihuana) was based upon the traditional conception that the active
principle of the drug, technically known as cannabinol or cannabinone, is
present only in the female or pistillate plant and present there only in the
flowering tops. Since the development of more refined chemical tests, it
has been discovered that the active principle is contained in the leaves of
the pistillate plant as well as the leaves of the staminate plant. This
brought about the advisability of makihg the definition all inclusive in
laws for control of the drug found in the male as well as the female plant.
It will therefore be necessary to change the definition in the League of
Nations Treaty of 1925.
Dr. Bouquet, while investigating this question, found that it always
has been acknowledged that intoxicating resin could be obtained from
male Cannabis plants but in

10

such small quantities that for practical purposes this source of
production is not utilized at present. He realized, however, that it might
become worthwhile for traffickers to turn their attention to it, and
recommended that the free handling of the vegetative parts of both male
and female Cannabis plants should be prohibited.
That work was started in America by the laboratory of Parke-Davis
some years ago.
Then the question of the production of the fibre, the condition of
development, depending on the meterological factors of the crop area was
discussed. In this respect differences have been noted between the height
of the plant, and the length, consistency and toughness of the textile
fibres.
The growing conditions of the plant also affect the output of its
resin, which depends directly on the degree of temperature; on the dryness
of the soil; and probably on the amount of sunshine encountered.
In the annual report for Turkey for 1937, there is brought to the
attention of the Committee data concerning a variety of Cannabis sativa
having long stalks. It is grown for industrial purposes in various parts of
Anatolia; the fibre is used for manufacturing ropes and sacks; and its
resin content is so slight it could not be used for

11

the extraction of a narcotic drug.
That seems to be the answer to our prayers, if true. As to the
psychical and psychopathic effects of Cannabis, the literature on this
phase of the subject tends to confirm the analysis as to the psychic
effects of hashish made as long ago as 1845 by Dr. Moreau de Tours in his
book, which incidentally is still the standard work on the subject.
Also, Dr. Brottaux in his book on Hashish published in 1934, which I
think is considered a veritable "bible" on the subject today, has followed
up and in the main confirmed Dr. Moreau's analysis.
Then there was discussed the relation between Cannabis and
insanity. There was reference to the work of Dhunsiboy, the Director of
one of the Hospitals for Insane in India-in which he points out that the
prolonged use of Indian hemp leads to insanity.
The work of Dr. Bouquet was discussed; and also the work of the
British Indian hemp Commission which carried out an inquiry in 1893 and
1894 into the relationship of Indian hemp and lunacy.
Colonel Chopra did some work in India which was discussed. He found that
in India a special form of mental disease classed as toxic insanity had
direct relation to the excessive use of hemp drugs.

12

All of these experts laid stress on "excessive use."
Then there was a proposal discussed to authorize the sale of ganja
to the Indian population in Burma.
As you probably know, in India. the Government maintains a
Monopoly, and various narcotic products are sold across the counter tax-
paid.
The League of Nations wanted to point out to the Committee the
various points that were raised in connection with the proposal to sell
hemp.
To meet the allegation concerning the increase in insanity due to the
use of ganja, a table prepared by the Inspector General of Civil Hospitals
in Burma has been added showing that as far as the mental hospital at
Tagadale was concerned, the percentage of mental cases attributable to
the use of ganja and its derivatives varied during the years between 1928
and 1937 from 0.87 to 4.35; and that in 1936, out of a total of 296
admissions there were ten such cases, the corresponding figures for 1937
being 356 and ten respectively.
The Sub-Committee was urged to examine the still-controversial
question of the relationship between addiction to hemp drugs and the
spread of insanity.
The work of Dr. Stringaris on Hashish was discussed. He is an
authority on insanity due to the use of Hashish

13

in Russia. He maintains that a further increase can be expected in the
ravages caused by Hashish in Asiatic Russia.
Then the question of the relationship between the abuse of narcotic
drugs and alcoholism arose. It is still a mixed question, and considerable
recommendations were furnished.
In Algeria, Dr. Bouquet has noted that Heroin addicts were recruited
from the Hashish addicts, and Dr. Stringaris in Asiatic Russia has found
that to be the case there also.
In conclusion the Secretariat pointed out that, as a result of
concurrent investigations, progress has been made on chemical studies
and research, while fresh information has been gathered in other spheres;
at the same time, certain points still require clarification, especially in
connection with the physiological, psychological, and psychopathic effects
of Cannabis and with the relationships between Hashish-addiction and
insanity, and between Cannabis-addiction and crime.
After considering all of the recommendations furnished by the
League of Nations, the Sub-Committee then made the following report,
which is very pertinent in the light of the points we want to discuss here.

"In discussion of the matter before it, the Sub-Committee divided
consideration of the subject as follows:

14

(l) Commercial uses of Cannabis
(2) Medical uses of Cannabis
(3) Effects of the abuse of Cannabis
(4) Methods of detecting the presence of Cannabis
(5) Legal definition of the term "Cannabis."

The discussions developed the fact that the Committee still lacks
complete information concerning the commercial uses of Cannabis. The
Sub-Committee would welcome further information concerning the
physiological, psychological and psychopathic effects of abusive use of
Cannabis and the relation between Cannabis-addiction and crime.
Dr. Bouquet pointed out that percentages of resin content in the
hemp plant raised in different countries should be ascertained with a view
to deciding whether it is necessary to prohibit or merely to control the
cultivation of Cannabis for industrial purposes.
The value of the Beam test for detecting the presence of Cannabis
appears to have been confirmed by a further series of experiments, the
results of which are before the Committee, including those attained by the
employment of several different modifications of that text.
Dr. de Myttenaere said that his experience enabled him to state that
the Beam alkaline reaction and its modifications indicated the chief
element in the various

15

components of Cannabis resin which was the cause of Hashish addiction,
i.e.the alcoholic group.
Dr. Bouquet informed the Sub-Committee that a test based upon new
principles had recently been devised which will form the subject of a
thesis to be presented by Messrs. Duquenois and Hassan Negm Mustapha at
the University of Strasbourg in July, 1938, a brief description of which
will be circulated to the Opium Advisory Committee.
The question of modifying the incomplete definition of Indian hemp
in the Geneva Convention of 1925 was discussed, but no definite
conclusion was arrived at. It appeared upon examination that such
modification would affect not only Article 1 of the Convention, but also
Articles 4 and 11 and would necessarily involve complicated adjustments
in the Convention itself. It was therefore decided to postpone further
consideration of this matter until the next session of this Sub-Committee
when it is hoped that more time will be available for the work.
Up to the present time, the work of the Sub-Committee has
consisted almost entirely of collecting information in regard to the
various phases of the Cannabis problem, and, until the Sub-Committee has
before it more data than it has at present, it would scarcely be considered
advisable to undertake definite recommendations."

16

We would like to take inventory of our research and see what is
needed.
The Federal Government did not get into this picture until after all
48 states had adopted legislation controlling Marihuana in greater or less
degree. The Marihuana Tax Act went into effect a little over a year ago,
and since that time we have destroyed some 16,000 acres of the plant
throughout the various States; most of it in the Middle West. About l,000
violators have been arrested by the Federal Government.
I am not trying to sell this book, but I want to call your attention to
the work on "Marihuana'a written by Dr. Robert P. Walton, Professor of
Chemistry, University of Mississippi, with a foreword by Dr. Geller who is
a distinguished pharmacologist connected with the University of Chicago.
I would like to start with the agricultural phases of this problem,
which will also include the industrial and economic phases.
I am therefore going to call on Dr. Wright of the University of
Wisconsin and ask him to discuss some of the questions that seem to be
troubling us.

STATEMENT OF DR. A. H. WRIGHT
Professor of Agronomy University of Wisconsin

17

DR. WRIGHT: Gentlemen, let me say to you in the first place that
while I am connected with the University of Wisconsin, so far as the hemp
work is concerned, the hemp being Marihuana, I am working as an agent and
in cooperation with the Bureau of Plant Industry here in Washington.
I had better assume that you are about the agricultural side like I am
about chemistry, that you do not know very much about it. Therefore,
suppose I sketch briefly the practical every day procedure by which hemp
is handled in the United States and Canada, not mentioning anything about
the European situation, and as Dr. Robinson is going to review something
about the history of hemp, I will leave that out entirely.
In the United States hemp is an annual crop produced from seed
planted each year, planted in the Spring the same as small grains are
planted, the same as corn is planted.
It has been grown during recent years almost exclusively in very few
sections; Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
It is planted en masse thickly as small grain, in other words, it is
drilled in.
It is planted on very good soil in order to be a profitable production.
It is a crop limited to good soil

18

for profitable production most every where in the world, and it is seeded
about a bushel to the acre on soil, prepared as for small grain.
After it is planted, there is nothing left to be done except to wait
for it to be harvested, and it is harvested in the latter part of August,
throughout September, and sometimes extending into October depending on
the section of the United States or Canada.
The seed is usually produced in Kentucky, and in the North American
Continent, very rarely any other place. In the sections where it is grown
for fibre or industrial uses, seed is not produced.
The usual, or arbitrary way of determining when to harvest a crop is
when it is well in blossom, we will say rather late blossom when the
pollen is being fairly cleared, depending from that time on how
circumstances work out, but that is when it is begun.
It is generally harvested now by special machinery which has been
developed during the last few years. It is cut and spread in swaths of even
length. It is left in the stuble, spread out for retting.
Now, the exact procedure varies in different sections of the country.
This retting period, that is the period when the so-called fibre portion of
the stem is released

19

from the woody portion, varies from two weeks to, in certain cases, two
months.
After it has reached that stage where the fibre can be removed from
the straw by being dressed, it is gathered and bound in bundles and
shocked. Then it is put in stacks, usually in hemp mills or processing
plants.
From these stacks it is sent to the dryer, and dried to what is
commonly called in the trade bone-dry condition and which would mean 8
or 9 or 10% moisture.
Then it is crushed by the breaking process, that is the fiber is
separated by the usual process called scutching, and it is divided into two
kinds of fibre, one the long stretch, and the other tangled, and then it is
inserted in bales.
That, I believe, is the agricultural procedure of the handling of the
hemp.
There is a little variation in Kentucky because of the weather
conditions. It is not retted immediately, but shocked until later in the
season when the retting conditioning can be done.
In the northern part of the country, it is spread on the ground and the
retting is done immediately.
Now, I want to avoid going into the acreage and that phase of the
work for Dr. Robinson is going to cover that.

20

I would like to inject this thought here for I am sure it will do no
harm, and that is that hemp has been an American industry ever since
Colonial times It is not a large industry. It has had its ups and downs, but
it has been an American industry since Colonial times, and it is one of the
oldest crops that we have in the United States.
It is used, as you know, from an industrial stand-point for textile
purposes, and to a minor extent for other purposes and Dr. Robinson will
develop that.
Now, there might be perhaps some questions right now. One or two
other items I want to take up before I am through.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: Go right ahead.

DR. WRIGHT: You know I might not have another chance to say
anything

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: You will be given a chance. Go right
ahead, Dr. Wright.

DR. WRIGHT: I was just wanted to throw this into the pot, and that
is, of course, that we who work with the commercial producers, and the
industry naturally collectively, and I suppose we are justifiable in that,
our prejudices are on that side. I do not think we would be human if we
were not, and I do not claim to be other than human. We have a small
industry in the United States that

21

has had its ups and downs over a long period of time. We still produce
commercial hemp and fibre. Those in the industry are naturally concerned.
They have a stake in that they have what little they have invested in the
business.
They are not concerned about this last law because I believe they
were given a very square deal in the national legislation on the matter.
What they are concerned about is the public position, that indefinite
intangible thing, public feeling about growing hemp at all.
They have already been subjected to some rather embarrassing
situations.
Now, just suppose that as a result of the agitation, warranted or
not, and there are probably two views on that, and I am open to both
views, the extensive publicity that has been given in the hemp states,
particularly Wisconsin where there is much agitation, that some kind of a
legislation will come up to put out or eradicate the production of hemp
under the Weed Control Department or the Legislature appropriating money
to do it.
I will not bother you long on that, but I just want to mention that
and show what problem we will be called on to face. Those men have
managed to keep their mouths

22
shut and have expressed no views concerning Marihuana in public, for we
feel we are not in a position to do so, and we would like to be sure of our
ground before doing it.
Of course, having worked with eradication procedures and
eradication programs, unless you would convince us otherwise we would
oppose the eradication program in Wisconsin as we see it now with the
immense cost and the things of that sort.
Now comes the other phase of it. We have been trying, in cooperation
with the Bureau of Plant Industry, and Dr. Robinson and the Division of
Pharmacy of the University of Wisconsin and Dr. Link who is head of the
Bio-Chemistry Department of the University of Wisconsin to begin a study
of Cannabis in relation to hemp as a crop.
Without going into details, I think I have told you my story for the
present.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: We thank you very much, Doctor. Before
we go on to Dr. Robinson, I think there were various points brought up that
our conferees would like to discuss.
There is one point about commercial hemp. We did not make a survey
in your State, but we did make a survey in the State of Minnesota, and
some of the hemp that was harvested in 1934 is still on the ground.

23

DR. WRIGHT: That is right.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: It is giving us a great deal of difficulty.
The farmers up in Minnesota in some of the sections have been subjected
to various promotion schemes. Due to the existence of stacks of the old
1934 and 1935 crop of harvested hemp in Southern Minnesota, which is a
menace to society in that it has been used by traffickers, we have
arrested a gang who took a truck load of this Marihuana into New York.
I will say that the farmers up there have been cooperating with us
100%. If they see anybody around that section who looks like a trafficker,
they bring out their old shot guns, and he is soon disposed of. We have very
little trouble from the farmers up there.
It is said that every stack contains a plentiful supply for smoking
purposes.
Allegations have been made that if it was on the ground three years
there would not be any resin left. Mr. Wollner can tell you how much resin
some of the experts reported after Marihuana had been lying on the ground
three years. It seems that the traffickers can find it. Our own chemists
have found it.
We feel that the farmer is entitled to a reasonable return for these
old crops. He planted the crop in goodfaith; he has no desire to violate the
law, and we have

24

been assured that the removal of the harvested crops is very desirable. It
is a very difficult situation.
Have you any observations to make, or any discussion on the
question?

DR. ROBINSON: As to the commercial procedure, the plant is spread
out on the land, and left there until the stalks are retted, and some of the
leaves are gone. It is shocked and taken into the hemp mill. The grower is
uncertain as to where he stands, and whether the leaves that are
associated with the straw are in the legal sense Marihuana, referring, of
course, to that particular clause in the law which refers to dry stalks.
Now this is done as follows: the straw is left on the land in the
stubble for varying times, as I say, from two weeks or longer during this
retting process. It is subject to the action of rains and bleaching and
decomposition with the various effects of bacteria and fungi, but when it
is taken in, it still retains a trace of the leaves. That is what affects the
folks up there in Minnesota.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: I notice the term "hurds" referred to.

DR. WRIGHT: That is the non-fibrous material crushed and taken away
from the fibrous. It is the residue. It

25

would be the same as shives in flax.

MR. WOLLNER: I am afraid to say that the experiment with Minnesota
hemp is rather inconclusive. As I understand it the hemp was bundled
before it had been permitted to ret for an extended period of time.
It may be we will find that if the hemp is permitted to ret before it
is stacked, a further decomposition of the drug will ensue. However, we do
know that the Minnesota hemp of 1934 is active.

DR. WRIGHT: It would be active.

MR. WOLLNER. It is active but whether the activity was retained by
improper handling of the hemp, I don't know. As I understand it they were
advised to bunch their hemp before it was retted.

DR. WRIGHT: It was never rotted or retted. The plan of handling in
Minnesota was unauthorized. In other words, it was contrary to the usual
procedure. They put the green hemp or the semi-green hemp in a bundle,
and at a later stage it would be known in the trade as green hemp. That
was never used for textile purposes. It was not suitable for textile
purposes.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: Then, Dr. Wright, your opinion is that if
harvested properly most of the leaves avould remain on the ground and not
adhere to the stalks?

26

DR. WRIGHT: I will be perfectly frank in telling you that will vary in
seasonal conditions, and so we are much concerned about that. There are
leaves left. As to the condition of those leaves, we don't know. They are
left, and there is no use in denying that. There are considerable left on the
straw. There are not a great deal, but there are leaves left.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: Then prompt harvesting would reduce this
danger we are now confronted with?

DR. WRIGHT: It would.

DR. MATCHETT: What about the hemp stacked green in Kentucky;
doesn't that mold more than that left on the ground?

DR. WRIGHT: Hemp is left in the shock in Kentucky. You will correct
me Dr. Robinson, if I'm wrong, because it has been fifteen years since I
was down there, but it is my impression that it is shocked. It is first
spread and allowed to wilt on the ground.

DR. MATCHETT: Then there is no molding?

DR. WRIGHT: If properly handled there will be no molding.

MR. WOLLNER: From our point of view that would be improper
handling; there would be no decomposition of the resin.

27

DR. WRIGHT: The general weathering we would get would be during
the curing stage.

MR. WOLLNER: How long, about, does that take?

DR. WRIGHT: Now, after it is shocked, cured and stacked, later it is
spread on the land again and retted.

DR. MATCHETT: But, during this period, of course, it would be in
excellent condition for smoking, - that is, relatively dry in the stack.

DR. WRIGHT: From the time it is cut until it is rotted, whatever
leaves there are should be suitable for Marihuana.

MR. SMITH: While we have not found in New York State a large
agricultural growth, we do find that the largest part of our growth,
instead of being on good soil, is on poor soil.
For the past two years when I have been looking for wild growth, I
have found it in dumps or soil that has a high content of ashes or cinders,
and I have found it trying to grow it in my own garden but the growth does
not begin to compare with that of the cinder growth, and as a matter of
fact we have found that most recently the wild growth seeks that kind of
soil.
That does not prove anything, of course, except we have probably
most of our wild growth coming from ashes

28

and cinders and public dumps. This did strike me very forcibly, and what
struck me more forcibly was that we had some of the biggest growths in
Brooklyn where it was almost a clear cinder dump.
Our experience in New York State so far has not produced anyone who
desired to be licensed as a cultivator.
I think some of that might be offset if the public was assured that
the cultivator would have to be licensed, after proper investigation, and
that definite qualifications exist to establish control.

DR. WRIGHT: As to your first statement about hemp growing on
cinder beds, wild hemp, - it is not a fibrous hemp. As all of you who are
familMWith the middle west know, you will find blocks that were
formerly even cinder beds, but fibrous hemp will not grow there.

MR. SMITH: The point I was chiefly interested in was the public
interest, where it was grown, whether being produced by chance or design.

DR. WRIGHT: We are hopeful we can clarify this situation. Since
legislation may be introduced to eradicate or to bring pressure upon the
legitimate producer, I appreciate your suggestion. I think it is a good one.

MR. SMITH: We have also in New York State given some consideration
to definite measures for removal, but so far we have operated under
difficulties acting under nuisance laws. Under the Public Health laws in
New York, we can fix a penalty for maintaining a public nuisance. We have
in a few instances removed Marihuana from private property where the
owner wouldn't undertake it himself, and then assessed a lien against the
property within the Public Health law on the ground that we have removed
a public nuisance.

DR. WRIGHT: It might be construed to apply to Marihuana under our
Public Health regulations in Wisconsin. I do not know whether it has been
discussed or not.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: Dr. Robinson, we would like to hear from
you.

STATEMENT OF DR. B. B. ROBINSON
BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

DR. ROBINSON: If fibres produced from plants were ranked in
accordance with their world production in tonnage, hemp would occupy a
position of probably third or fourth. It would be surpassed by cotton and
jute produced in India, and in some years by flax. That gives you some idea
of where it stands in relative importance.
Dr. Wright mentioned a mattor that many of you are familMWith, the
fact of the importance that hemp played in our earlier Colonial days
before the introduction of

30

the cotton gin.
The culture of hemp in the United States, I might ay has decreased
because of the cheap competitive fibres which are produced by cheap labor
in foreign countries, and it is because of this cheapness that they are
substituted for hemp in many cases, and not because of the fact that they
have characteristics that are better than hemp for cordage or textile
purposes.
The average world production between the years 1930 and 1954 for
hemp was about 750,000 tons. And now, during that same period in the
United States in this small industry we have produced about 500 tons. The
world production was produced mainly by Russia where I think 56% of the
fibre is produced, followed by Italy, Yugoslavia, Rumania as other
producing countries, During the past year or two we imported for domestic
consumption about 700 to 800 tons a year, so our total consumption,
including domestically produced fibre, and imported fibre runs about from
1500 to 2000 tons.
Now, many of you here may wonder why such a small industry as that
should be favored to continue on, particularly in the light of the
detrimental character of certain parts of the plant used illegally.
In the first place the United States is dependent


31

upon the foreign production of fibres other than cotton. The United States
imports annually about 300,000 tons of fibre used for cordage and textile
purposes. The estimated value last year was about $35,000,000. That does
not include some importations of India twine.
I do not mean to infer that if hemp were grown in this country, it
could substitute for all of this 300,000 tons imported, but it is the
principal fibre which we can get in the United atates, which could be
substituted in many cases if conditions arose to make it necessary.
The United States, is very thoroughly taken care of at present in
reference to supplying our own needs on this cordage fibre.
Another argument for the hemp industry is the adaptability of the
hemp plant to various regions of the country and because of suitability for
mechanical handling, and these are some of the reasons why the office
with which I am connected in the Department of Agriculture is interested
in seeing this small nucleus of hemp industry continued each year until it
is capable of supporting itself under economic conditions. I am speaking
more of the industry in Wisconsin rather than the promotional attempts to
grow hemp in Minnesota which one might speak of an unorthodox
processing. But this industry we have is capable at the

32

present time of supporting itself if public opinion does not force it to be
shut doan, or additional restrictions hamper it.
So, this industry could be benefited we naturally think, if this
Marihuana stigma could be removed. However, the Wisconsin operators are
not opposed to adjust themselves to the conditions and are very much
interested in trying to overcome this drug problem.
A couple of years ago when this problem was brought to the front
more vividly than in the past, the Department of Agriculture was naturally
interested in it, and the main way we could see to combat it was as to
how to get around it [sic]. Naturally there might be less restriction on the
production of hemp in this country if we could prove that in certain
sections of the country, because of climatic conditions, the drug was not
active, or if we could possibly get plants of varieties that lack the drug,
which is probably an Utopian view, or that had it in low concentration.
As a result we cooperated with the Bureau of Narcotics, in setting
up some experiments. The Bureau of Narcotics has conducted all of the
chemical work, and Dr. Marchett later on will speak of these tests. I do not
want to go too much into his field. But, we have attempted under

33

this cooperative work to remove or reduce the resinous substance from
commercial hemp.
You gentlemen who are chemists and pharmacologists can assist the
Agricultural program by furnishing the Agriculture Department some
working tools or some tests by which we can tell the presence or absence
of this drug, or its activity. It may be said that I am throwing it all on the
chemists. I am not trying to do that, but we do need something to work
with.
So far we naturally have resorted to the Beam tests, the
significance of which we do not know with certainty, but in the work we
undertook last year, it was the only simple tool which we could work
with.
Now last summer out at Arlington farm close by, we planted a field
in which there were 98 small plots of hemp that were set up in
conformity with the statistical method of analysis of variances by a man
named Fisher.
We obtained statistically significant differences between the
varieties using the alkaline but did not obtain it using the acid test. The
question may arise, then, as to which is the most accurate of the tests in
measuring the presence or absence of the drug.
In reference to that, the question of the region of the hemp may play
some importance. The native home of

34

hemp is supposedly in central Asia, -and the hemp of Chinese origin which
has been distributed throughout the world has practically always been
used for fibre purposes.
The hemp that has come from India has been of the narcotic type and
has not been cultivated generally for fibre. It has been cultivated for the
drug. I wish I knew the history of this a little better, but from what I have
been able to learn from others, hemp does not appear to constitute a
narcotic problem in China. That is of a fibrous variety, and there is a great
difference between that hemp and the hemp that came from India.
With reference to our test at Arlington, the narcotic chemists
selected samples at three different periods for the acid and alkaline test.
We got a difference, mathematically significant between those tests. That
is, the first sampling which I think was in the early part of June, was
different from the later two samplings in that it was lower in that
characteristic of activity, the numbers they gave on the Beam test.
Actually, the last test was a little lower than the middle test, but it
was not significantly lower.
We arranged 8 different fertilizer treatments for the various plots
and found that the fertilizer used had no effect on the strength or
incidence either the

35

acid or alkaline test.
Because of the fertilizer result it would appear that soil vs. variations
that occurred probably did not produce any differences or that the soil does
not play a part.
With reference to climate, so far we have not made a test for we have
only had the work at Arlington. But we plan next summer, if things go well at
Arlington, to conduct a test in Wisconsin. We have some cooperative agents in
Mississippi and we thought we could get a test farm there. It has been
suggested that we try to get one other region, Arizona or New Mexico, or out
in that section. So far, we have not made arrangements, but, if we could get
these various locations in the United States, then we could have a set-up
whereby we could evolute [sic] climatic conditions in reference to certain
tests, the Beam test or some other one if you can furnish it. These are the
results which we have obtained so far in the agricultural program to get away
from this drug.
There have been several reasons I have not brought out as to why we
thought we could get somewhere. We know by handling the plants that some
of them are very resinous, and some are not.
So, we are receptive to the work you men will do to give us some means
of testing our plants so as to allow

36

us to produce agriculturally some results which we hope will help the
industry.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: Thank you very muck, Dr. Robinson. You
recall what I said about the Turkish annual report for the year 1937 in
which it is said that Cannabis sativa with long stalks is grown for
industrial purposes in various parts of Anatolia; that the fibre is used for
the manufacture of ropes and sacks, and its resin content is so slight that
it could not be used for the extraction of a narcotic drug. It might be
interesting to get some Turkish seed.

MR. WOLLNER: We have not had a great deal of success as regards
those statements. We obtained some seed submitted by Dr. Bouquet and I
believe Dr. Robinson planted some of them, without any success.

DR. ROBINSON: We planted them under favorable conditions last
spring. Roughly we may have gotten in the field 200 or 300 plants, and
after our first Beam test it was estimated we had about 100 left. About
the first of August, I came back from a trip to the west, and we el-
iminated about two-thirds of the remainder leaving only about 40. I have
harvested about 20 of these one-half were males, and we sent 10 from
that collection over to Dr. Matchett to run an alkaline Beam test on. I was

37

able to obtain out of that .about one-third negative and the rest positive.

MR. WOLLNER: Was the amount of resin in these plants comparable to
that in other plants?

DR. ROBINSON: In harvesting these plants, we merely stripped the
seed in the field to keep the birds from getting it and I would say that the
African plant was more resinous than the Manchurian plant. It may be that
the African plant was later in maturing, but still, by comparison with the
Manchurian plant, it had more resin. My hand was simply caked with resin
in stripping the plant for the seed.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: The Indian Government report for 1934
shows that where they did not have this type of hemp all of the resin was
imported from Central Asia.
It is stated that the hemp cultivated in Europe does not carry the
intoxicating properties of Indian hemp. While it is believed that the
European hemp does not contain as much resin as is to be found in hemp
usually produced in Asia, the production of the active resin is particularly
variable, and there are some times great differences in quantity depending
on the altitude of the place of cultivation.
Are there any questions that you care to ask, Dr.

38

Robinson?

DR. HIBBEN: I would like to ask if you made any experiments
artificially in the new varieties by radiation?

DR. ROBINSON: We had a program for a number of years on hemp, and
my predecessor, Mr. Dewey, who unfortunately could not be here this
morning, reached retirement age three years ago, and our hemp program
was interrupted.
So far we have not gone into that, but to some extent we have
considered it. These other methods we have approached seemed to have
possibilities of results if the tests mean anything.
I think this next spring, we should be able to plant these negative
seeds we have, and those which have tested negative three different times
and have been pollinated by plants in three different tests, and we should
be able to give the chemists something definite to test.

DR. MUNCH: It is my recollection, when Mr. Dewey made a test of the
original plants growing in Arlington back in 1922, we found different
physiological portents in the male and the female but, at that time, Mr.
Dewey had seed he had obtained from various parts of the world, and it is
my impression that after about three years of cultivation at Arlington, the
growth characteristics of all of these plants tended to the same type. In
other

39

words, they all tended to hemp of a certain height, -as I say that occurred
after three years of cultivation.

DR. ROBINSON: I think that more or less that result is obtained.
Professor Wright who may have had a little closer touch with the problem
could answer you better. Wouldn't that be your opinion, Professor Wright?

DR. WRIGHT: Yes, under the method used of applying open pollinating,
that was the tendency as far as our observation went,-that they were
more or less alike.

DR. ROBINSON: In reference to that, these stalks of hemp we obtained
last year from these various sources, have all been isolated, so they have
not been cross pollinated.

DR. MUNCH I do not know where Mr. Young of Florence, South Carolina,
got his idea for the raising of Cannabis for a medicinal purpose -

DR. ROBINSON: He got it from Mr. Dewey.

DR. MUNCH: There was a material decrease in the material before he
finally abandoned that project.

DR. ROBINSON: I do not know how he obtained it all, or that he
obtained it all from Mr. Dewey, but as I recall, he did.

DR. MUNCH: There is one other question, and that is as to the method
by which the seeds themselves were ob-

40

tained,-is that of any interest to you?

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: Yes, Dr. Wright, can you give us something
on the that?

DR. WRIGHT: Commercial seed used for commercial planting?

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: Yes.

DR. WRIGHT: I do not have any notes on that. The seed are grown from
plants cultivated principally for seed; I mean the ordinary hemp which has
been planted for seed similar to corn. It is planted in rows, all harvested
by hand, and put in large shocks like those in Kentucky. It is harvested in
the latter part of September or the first of October in the section in
which it is grown. Then the shocks are dumped over on large canvasses,
smoothed out on the ground, and the stubble removed and beat out with
sticks in the old fashioned method. This is the only place in the United
States producing this commercially.

DR. MATCHETT: Isn't most of the seed planted here produced in
foreign countries?

DR. WRIGHT: I do not get the question.

DR. MATCHETT: Aren't most of the seeds produced in foreign
countries?

DR. WRIGHT: Most of the seed produced for Commercial purposes
originated in China, central China or towards

41

the south part of China and was carried here for cultivation.

MR. WOLLNER: I believe what Dr. Matchett means is the commercial
crop that is grown for instance in Wisconsin, does that originate from
seed grown in Kentucky, or the Far East?

DR. WRIGHT: All of the hemp planted in the United States for
commercial purposes comes from Kentucky. That is, all of the legitimate
hemp comes from seed grown in Kentucky. Does that answer the question?
DR. MATCHETT: Yes.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: Dr. Matchett, you have been collaborating
with Dr. Robinson in these experiments at Arlington. Can you tell us what
results you obtained? Dr. Robinson has told us quite a lot about the
results, but I think you can probably elaborate upon them.

DR. MATCHETT: First of all I might state we made these tests in the
manner that was published by us last year, and in the treatment we
divided the tests into six categories, according to the depth of color that
we obtained, beginning with zero for negative plants. These plants which,
gave us only traces of color, which we felt should not be overlooked, but
which we also felt would not constitute wholly satisfactory
identification of the

42

plant, were designated number one.

Those plants characterized as 2, gave strong responses, definitely
positive, and those as 3, 4, and 5 responded with increasing intensity in
that order.

Briefly we found on variety No. 1, a Rumanian variety 97.5% of the
plants tested would have been satisfactorily identified by the Beam test.
That is assuming for the moment the single test would be sufficient,
which I believe is generally understood not to be so.

Variety No. 2, another Rumanian variety, gave us 100%.

Variety No. 3, the third Rumanian variety, 87% of satisfactory
response.

Variety No. 5, Manchuria, 22.9% satisfactory response.

Variety No. 6, Chinese, 13.8% satisfactory.

Variety No. 9, Italian, 98.1%

There is a very decided difference between the Chinese, and
Manchurian varieties on the one hand and the Rumanian and Italian
varieties on the other.

Now there were some very interesting things in reference to the
differences between the three test periods.

It is true that there was one rather decided change, particularly in
the second test, but there was not as significant difference between the
number of negative plants, nor was the difference worked with reference
to

43

category No. l.

The interesting thing was where we had many in category 2 in the
first testing, in the next testing a considerable increase appeared in
category 4, with a corresponding decrease in category 2.

The actual number of negative plants was not significantly
different. I believe the first test gave us 36, the second test 32, and the
third test 40.

During the course of our activities we found that molding had no
apparent effect on one alkaline test response of either negative or
positive plants. We permitted them to mold in a. very moist place for a
period of five weeks. There was no change in the Beam test.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: I want to ask Dr. Wright a question. In
harvesting the plant, Doctor, we understand that the farmer usually
harvests it before the resin reaches its highest stage. Is that true?

DR. WRIGHT: I will say yes, not knowing when the highest stage of
the resin is reached myself, but from what I could gather from talking to
Mr. Wollner and Dr. Link and those most familiar with the subject. It is cut
in the mid-blossom stage, and from what I understand the plants are
usually expected to have a high content of resin at that time.

44

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: In our eradication program, 16,000 acres
have been gone over, and as I understand it we will also have to go over
that same acreage during the coming year, and probably the third year. Do
you know how long that seed will remain dormant in the soil?

DR. WRIGHT: I can only give you some guess on that. It is quite
variable, and how long the seed will remain in the soil is simply my guess.
If it is harvested the first year, before pollination occurs I would expect
that to handle the situation under most circumstances. I am basing that on
practical observation and experience, but if there is a repetition and the
plant does become a volunteer plant, if the same process as followed for
two years we could expect almost complete eradication.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: What seed could replace the hemp seed as
bird food? There is a lot of growth throughout the country due to the
casting about of bird seed. Now, however we require sterilization of hemp
seed. We have not reached the 100% point in sterilization but the seed
people tell us they should sell the seed in 5% mixtures; but even 5%,
mixtures if the seed is not properly sterilized, might produce some wild
growth. Have you any suggestions on that?

45

DR. WRIGHT: I believe that these gentlemen here from the animal
biology department might be better able to judge of that than I am.

DR., COUCH: As a matter of fact, I do not know anything on that point,
and we have not gone into it at all. I am extremely interested however.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: I think there should be some discussion
as to the relative activities between the male and the female plants.

DR. BLATT: May I ask a question of Dr. Robinson? As I understand it,
the average production is about 500 tons a year. Is that 500 tons of fibre?

DR. ROBINSON: Yes. This past summer, we had 1300 acres of hemp
produced commercially in this country, and it has been running about that
acreage with the exception that in 1934 and 1935 this acreage appeared in
Minnesota, and in 1936 and 1937 we had a big acreages in Illinois, but
those were acreages planted, you might say, for other purposes than the
ordinary use, for there was an idea of producing fibre as a substitute for a
wool and various things of that nature. Those industries that attempted to
do that, for one reason or another, have dropped by the wayside, and 1000
to 1500 acres is the normal hemp production each year in the United
States.

46

MR. WOLLNER: Professor Wright, you heard Commissioner Anslinger's
question for information on the relationship between male and female
plants. You are undoubtedly aware of most of the discussions in the past
years on the subject of Marihuana, and that it has centered around the
female plant. As a matter of fact, I believe the United States
Pharmacopoeia refers to the flowering type of the female plant, and it is
stated that Marihuana comes mostly from the female plant. I wonder
whether historically that might not have arisen from the fact that
possibly the male plant flowered at an earlier period than the female
plant in the growth of the plant itself, and at the time of harvesting by
force of circumstance they were limited to harvesting female tops.

DR. WRIGHT: Not actually knowing it, I could not say, of course, but I
am sure that is the answer. In the male plant the leaves drop off long
before, the female plant, and when the traffickers have reached the plant
the leaves have practically all gone from the male, but the females are
luxuriant.

MR. LEVINE: Is there any distinction between the fiber of males and
females?

DR. WRIGHT: You see, in fibre, they are cut at an early stage when the
female plants are just forming the

47

bud, and the male plants just shedding the pollen.

MR. WOLLNER: Then the male plant would grow as tall as the female
plant.

DR. WRIGHT: Yes, they do usually reach the same height.
MR. WOLLNER. When produced for fibre, the plant does not reach the
height we experienced in Arlington.

DR. WRIGHT: It has reached its full height when cut for fibre. You
planted it in rows, too, which would add to the height.

MR. HERWICK: I should like to ask Professor Wright a question as to
whether or not there was any quantity of Cannabis raised in this country
for commercial drug purposes.

DR. WRIGHT: I cannot answer that question.

DR. ROBINSON: Undoubtedly there are others here who could furnish
that information. I do not know of a single case where any of it has been
furnished companies for that purpose, but I think there are companies that
get it for that purpose.

MR. SMITH: There was a concern that grew it in Indianapolis several
years ago for their own purposes.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: Most of the pharmaceutical houses before
enactment of Federal Marihuana Legislation

48

obtained their Cannabis supply from the Middle West. There was relatively
little importation of Cannabis for medical purposes.

DR. COUCH: In the Food and Drug Administration, we occasionally see
a questionnaire sent to the importers more or less of the patent medicine
type, and also some well known pharmaceutical houses where cannabis is
still found in the formula for certain products. Under the Pure Food and
Drug Act, we have some requirements on that, and we are informed what
the source of it is, whether gotten in this country or through importation.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: I think the stocks of some of the larger
houses who are still putting this out are sufficient to carry them over for
a considerable period of time. Some of the firms transferred or sold their
product to other houses, but I know of a number of occasions where raw
material was obtained in this country for the local trade.

DR. WRIGHT: I have been informed by Doctors that they did get a
considerable amount of their prepared processed material from Mexico. I
was wondering if there was any processing plant in Mexico.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: I did not know they imported it for
medical uses from Mexico.

49

DR. MUNCH: Many of the commercial manufacturers have grown it, but
because of the extreme variability of the potency of the material they
were growing themselves, they attempted to import it from Madras or
Bombay. But the material imported was often weaker than that grown in
this country. So the next step was to purchase from Mr. Young at
Charleston, South Carolina, or the general neighborhood of Lexington,
Kentucky, or Nantou, Illinois. But, those sources folded up within the last
ten years and there has not been any substantial production of material in
the United States since then. I tested most of the material grown in this
country that has been offered.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: I suppose that seed came from Kentucky,
which in turn came from China.

DR. MUNCH: That is true, but I have tested material grown in the
United States commercially that was more potent in its physiological
aspects than that imported from India.

MR. FULLER: I think that came about as a result of the interest that
developed in the production of it during the war, or just before we got into
the war, because at that time I was in the field myself and grew it com-
mercially for four or five years in Virginia from that same stock of seed
that Young used in South Carolina, and

50

which was obtained from the Bureau of Plant Industry. I do not know
whether he got it from Dewey or not.

The plan we adopted was to cull out as much as possible the tall
plants for purely commercial reasons. We could not get so much material
from the tall plants. In other words, bushy plants grew up six and seven
feet high, giving much more drug than those that grew up taller but not so
bushy, When we considered it the proper time, you would grab hold of it. It
felt like a sponge. We collected enough material then to produce a drug
very much more potent than any imported material that came into the
country.

It was our experience that it really did not make much difference
where the hemp came from, after it had been grown here and become
acclimated to our conditions you could select bushy plants from it, and it
was just as potent. It did not make any difference where it came from. We
used to cull our plants, particularly the male plants. I used to think it did
not have much effect, but be that as it may, that was what we did. I do not
think we could have ever used the male plants anyway for, in stripping,
the amount of material obtained was so small.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: How did you strip the plant?

MR. FULLER: It was a very easy process. It was done by women, and
they used gloves. In all of the years we

51

were producing that material as far as we knew, there never was a case of
where anybody used it for illegitimate purposes. In fact at that time, I do
not think there was any Marihuana used. But, it did not pay us to go on.

I think a great deal of the Cannabis sold in the drug trade came from
the wild materials that grew in the Middle West and one of the largest
dealers in drugs handled that crop. I knew him very well, and he told me at
the time.

DR. BROMBERG: What further preparation was there after stripping
for medicinal purposes?

MR. FULLER: We just baled it and sold it.

DR. BROMBERG: Any other processing necessary?

MR. FULLER: In the manufacturing of medicinals, it has to be
extracted usually with alcohol end concentrated down to a solid extract.
There was no attempt, and I do not think there has been any attempt made,
to separate for commercial purposes the active principle, for even with
all of the work done, we do not know what it is.

MR. WOLLNER: Did you find, Mr. Fuller, in your growth of the plant
commercially, that arid seasons or drier seasons would increase, or
produce an increased quantity of resin?

52

MR. FULLER: I do not think we noticed any difference. Now, I was in
that portion of Virginia very near to Washington on the first plateau, six
or eight miles out, and some of those summers were very dry. We would
get sometimes six weeks without rain, and it did not seem to affect the
yield at all. One season, I recall particularly, there was a great deal of
rain, and the crop was just about the same.

MR. WOLLNER: I would like to offer this thought to the Department of
Agriculture. The statement is invariably made by people in Europe and the
Far East and Near East that the amount of resin produced by a plant is in a
measure proportionate to the rainfall, and the less rainfall the more resin.
I wonder whether we are actually dealing with the question of the
variation in the amount of resin produced as against the amount of resin
exuded. That is to say, isn't it possible as a result of a condition, all that
happens is the plant structure, so to speak, shrinks to evaporation and
greater amount of resin appears on the surface, but the absolute quantity
contained by the flowering tops and the leaves is the same ?

DR. ROBINSON: I think your point is well taken, and it was my
intention to go into some of those points

53

in those tests throughout the United States. We collected material
over at Arlington Farm last summer at various stages for the purpose of
making a microtome test of these little pockets. So far we have not had
time to do very much on that, and there are gentlemen here who have done
more. We actually found those pockets present in pants two weeks old and
on varying specimens which we have in our office. We want back to plants
that were less [than] three weeks old and we found there hashish material.
Now in older plants in some of the specimens we have of Indian hemp, it
seemed to be exuded from the cells all over the surface, and I imagine in
such plants as that, if it exuded if you touched it, much more would come
off than if it had not exuded. Is that what you mean, certain climatic
conditions would cause cells to erupt, and the viscosity of the exudate
would be such that it would spread.

MR. WOLLNER: I am thinking in terms of opium or the poppy. You can
get opium from the pod without scarifying, and the thought struck me, in
the case of Cannabis, since the leaf is always extracted in this country,
and since in the past the process has been of rubbing it from the outside,
in the East, they get more resin than we do, due to the fact that more has
exuded but not
54

more produced.

DR. HIBBEN: There is another factor involved in the question about
rainfall, and the formation of resin, and that is perhaps the production of
resin would depend upon the amount of sunshine, and the more rainfall, the
less sunshine. In tomato plants for example, the Department of
Agriculture has done a great deal of experimentation as to foliage, and [it]
has been shown that the quantity of foliage depends greatly upon the
duration of sunshine the plant has received.

MR. WOLLNER: I had not thought of that.

DR. HIBBEN: Some plants require a great deal of sunshine.

DR. WRIGHT: May I ask you this question, - I was interested in the
fact that you selected the bushy plant believing it more profitable to do
that.

MR. FULLER: Yes.

DR. WRIGHT: Did you have any observations at all to indicate they
were more potent or more satisfactory to the purchaser than the more
slender plants; have you any reason to believe there is a difference
between the two?

MR. FULLER: No, I do not think there is any difference, for the green
leaf from the male plant yields resin, and as far as we could determine,
the resin was just as

55

potent as the female. You do not get so much per plant. That was
what we were interested in, but, as far as quality is concerned, I do not
think there was any difference.

  
  COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: And now, Gentlemen, if we have no more
questions on the agricultural phase of the problem we will proceed to a
little more controversial subject. The pharmacological phase. I would like
to have Dr. Munch give us a little history of the pharmacology of
Marihuana.

STATEMENT OF DR. JAMES C. MUNCH
PROFESSOR OF PHARMACOLOGY
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY

DR. MUNCH: So far as the external effects are concerned of the fluid
extract of Cannabis, the effects are hyperesthesia, fomication, and cold
extremities. These cause increase in intensity. It is not local.

So far as the gastro-intestinal tract is concerned, there is no effect upon
the taste. There is a tendency towards an increase in thirst and appetite,
and large doses will cause nausea, emesis, vomiting, and the drugs
produced diarrhea or constipation.
So far as the effect on the brain, I am only going into that to this
extent, to say that in connection with USPVIII which was thirty years ago
we were interested

56

in knowing whether the American grown plant could be used as well as
that which had been imported from India. The study made by the American
Drug Manufacturers Association and by others at that time led the USP
official Committee to the stand that either the Indian or the American
grown material would be comparable for medicinal purposes so long as it
was tested and found to have a certain physiological effect, and from a
number of bio-tests that were made in which the material was
administered to dogs, there were three different effects produced, one
effect being to cause the dog to sway from side to side, and back and
forth, and finally not to be able to stand erect at all. It was then that
satisfactory material was produced which would produce such a response.
When it became necessary to prepare revised standards for world
use of the Cannabis, we standardized the standards. First, we obtained
material from various manufacturers in this country representing the
ordinary strength or potency of the product and then many of these
manufacturers told me of the material of ten or twenty or thirty years
before, and they gave me the products or materials which were of the
same commercial strength as they have always been marketing.

Then through various means, we obtained drugs and

57

standardized those products, that is thirteen different products of this
series of drugs. Those products were then mixed, and constituted the USP
fluid extract of Cannabis, which was officially recognized in USP X.

Then as to the method of bio-assay. Contrary to much of the
published literature we find that dogs vary as greatly in their response as
do humans. On. some 500 dogs I have used, fully one-half were very
insensitive, and were discarded immediately. The nervous type or short-
haired dog is usually a satisfactory animal but not necessarily the best.

Going back to the pharmacological action, so far as the causes, and
effect on circulation, a small dose causes rapid beating of the heart which
may be followed by less than normal. The blood pressure is usually
unchanged, or there is a slight fall.

So far as the blood is concerned, there is a definite increase in the
hypoglycemiacal content. At the same time, there is a definite increase in
the blood sugar. Enormous doses have produced death by cardiac failure,
but the doses were 100 to 200 times doses, which produced a tremendous
physiological effect.

If smoked, there is a tendency to choking or coughing, and all doses
tend to decrease the respiratory needs.

58

So far as the muscles are concerned, the muscles show a definite
confusion, and with very large doses there are shown flexor spasms. But
not with a therapeutic dose.

So far as the pupils of the eyes themselves, there is a very definite
contraction of the conjunctiva, and usually but not always a dilation of
the pupil.

So far as the effect on the glands, there is probably a double
diuretical effect. There is a question, and the production of the diuretic
effect is unsettled.

It has been reported there is a sexually stimulating effect. Some say
it does and some say it does not exist.

So far as antidotes are concerned the thought is, if it has been
swallowed, the administration of an emetic, caffeine or acid drinks in
general.

So far as the habituation is concerned, it has been claimed and
denied, and so far as elimination is concerned, I have not been able to
detect it in the urine. So, I do not believe the active principle is
eliminated by urine.

In the general pharmacopoeia developed by O'Shaunessy in 1843,
which reached its peak ten or fifteen years later, it was clinically
recommended for all sorts of diseases and later found worthless.

There is a definite decrease in the central Indian

59

drug which stimulated further work done by Casparis and others, after
which it appears to have gone into innocuous desuetude until it began to be
criminally exploited, which led to the present burst of study.

Pharmacology is right I think, when it is said it does not have the
same effect, or one effect on the brain, and I may be sticking my head out
when I make a suggested answer that the cause of the awful intoxication
is largely due to the difference in the rate of absorption, whether the
material is smoked or given by solution or in capsules and taken into the
stomach, or given rectally, and also the susceptibility on the brain,
because in many instances we have given the same material to humans or
dogs. Some of the animals it has shown no effect upon, others it has
shown an enormous effect with the same dose. So far as animals are
concerned, we have made a comparative study and find that dogs and
rabbits have proven most suitable for quantitative assays but none can be
relied on for qualitative accuracy, that is 10 to 12%. That is a complete
change from what I said in my book,1 but it is possible, by running from 14
to 20 bio-assay, to obtain results accurate within plus or minus 11 to
20%. But, it never has been done commercially and can only be done in
connection with research.

60

Through what channels does the active principle find its way into
the nerve centers? I should say through the blood.
So far as the effect on the blood pressure, I have attempted to cover
those reflex changes. It has been stated and denied that there are
significant lesions in the brain of humans. Dogs I have used for some
years, in some instances showed certain types of brain changes. Whether
those are connected with Cannabis, I do not know. I am trying to complete
that now and perhaps within the next five years I can answer the question.
Regarding the other questions, I would rather refer those to Dr.
Bromberg.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: Before we enter into a general discussion, I
would like to call on Dr. Loewe of Cornell University to give us a
statement on the bio-assay method.

STATEMENT OF DR. S. LOEWE
PHARMACOLOGIST
CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE

DR. LOEWE: The bio-assay, in my opinion, is the point where the
pharmacologist has to enter this manifold picture at which we arrive in
this conference for a very significant reason.

61

The reason is that all the manifold aspects of Marihuana are focused
around and makes the existence of an active principle in this drug, active
principles which are chemically not known, and as long as an active
principle is not chemically known, it can only be determined from its
action, that is, biologically, which can only be by bio-assay.

Dr. Munch has thoroughly depicted the many aspects of the
pharmacological action of Marihuana. That is what we can call the
pharmacological spectrum of this drug, But it must be emphasized, that
the spectrum of the drug as such and not on one certain active principle
necessarily, for nobody knows the active principle, and nobody ever knows
whether there is only one active principle or more than one active
principle.

It can be assumed from the beginning that there is more than one
active principle but this must not necessarily concern the Marihuana
interests, because the problem is narrowed to that active principle among
possibly many active principles which produces the narcotic or "dope"
action in humans.

Even with respect to this point, of course, we are not one hundred
percent sure that this is the action of one principle or more than one.

62

Quantitative bio-assay of the active principle of Marihuana, of
course, tends or aims to determine that one active principle or a complex
of active principles, which is interesting from the human point of view,
the narcotic principle. May I mention right here that as long as we do not
know how many active principles there are, we have to assume primarily
that every action is carried by a separate active principle, and with this
assumption, may I speak for the definite ataxia principle, which is the
principle which can be bio-assayed in the drug which produces the main
action stored in the dog. There is another action in the drug, which I may
call the depressant action, the cataleptic action, and then there is the
anesthetic principle which can be studied in the rabbit, using the
depression of the corneal reflex. The depressant action in the mouse,
manifested by prolonging the hypnotic action, is an action which I have
observed and used to bio-assay this one active principle.

Now, bio-assay has to start, therefore, with this, which one of these
actions is preferable for the Marihuana problem for studying the narcotic
principle, important for humans?

We have much evidence that the ataxia action is fairly well related
to the narcotic action.

63

In detail, there is not much to say. Walton has elaborated the
previous effects and experiences of the bio-assay of the drug in a fairly
good manner. There are details, and certainly it is necessary to bio-assay
a large number of animals due to the individual natures and non-
susceptibility which complicates the actions, and action can only be
compared in one and the same animal, and only for comparison in a single
animal, and the consequence is that a large group of animals has to be
used.

The mode of administration has been emphasized by Dr. Munch. I
would prefer and do prefer, for bio-assay, intravenous administration
because the Marihuana action has a very long period of latency without the
means of elimination from the system, so that the results seem to be
fairly well comparable.

Now, I am of the opinion, just like Dr. Munch has emphasized, that
the bio-assay method of the drug is not definitely eliminated. I have the
impression that the method will result in fairly good accuracy, but it is an
accuracy of plus or minus 15 or 20%, and which will suffice, I suppose, for
the period in which bio-assay is necessary.

It is the unfortunate situation of the pharmacologist that in certain
periods of development of active princi-

64

ples he is available for the purpose, and in a certain sense he is the man
charged with the entire problem. But, his unfortunate situation is that
just when he has developed this method and applied it, it is always finally
inherent that he is out of the picture for, as soon as the chemist comes
into the picture, and the bio-assay is not any more necessary, the
pharmacologist can be dropped. If I may mention this at random, all of
these points of view are true also as to the chemical test. Before the
chemist has developed the active principle, the chemical method of
identification of much or great importance to the country, and they may be
of much or less importance for identifying the active principles than are
the bio-assay methods, but only after the discovery of the active principle
and its chemical properties, the problem of the chemical test, the
importance of the Beam test can become clear.
I know of another example where a greater activity of a certain drug
was found, and the drug was not white but yellow, and this, of course,
introduced many beliefs that yellow colors and opticals would be an easy
expedient for getting a quantitative activity. So, there was developed a
number of tests for this drug, going into this problem, but finally it turned
out what general color

65

of the narcotic or commodity was and the reason for the high activity of
the drug.

COMMISSIONER ANSLINGER: Well, Doctor, we are going to have the
chemists confer among themselves, and they will then give us some of
their views. I think we can reserve the general discussion for the
afternoon.

We will now hear from Dr. Walter Bromberg, Senior Psychiatrist of
the Department of Hospitals, City of New York.

STATEMENT OF DR. WALTER BROMBERG
SENIOR PSYCHIATRIST
DEPARTMENT OF HOSPITALS, CITY OF NEW YORK.

DR. BROMBERG: To start with, my interest in this Marihuana problem
began in 1933 when I reported at Bellevue Hospital a group of 11 cases of
mental reactions induced by smoking Marihuana and I reviewed the
literature and medical knowledge at that time. Also, the experience which
I obtained was at the Psychiatric Clinic of the Court of General Sessions
over a period of six years. Persons showing overt mental symptoms were
brought to the hospital by interested relatives and occasionally on a
magistrate's order. For that reason, the vast majority of Marihuana
smokers did not reach the hospital. Cases which came before the Clinic
had passed through the Court of General Sessions and had been arraigned,
indicted and

66

convicted of a felony.

There has been considerable literature on the intoxication and
insanity-producing effect of Cannabis, in papers from Asia, Europe, and
the United States. To sum up this material concisely, it can be said that
the several types of syndromes recognized fall into three groups: (a)
intoxication, (b) toxic psychosis with or without admixture of other types
of mental reactions (schizophrenia, manic-depressive) and (c) according
to Eastern European and Asiatic observers, chronic dementia and
deterioration following prolonged use of the drug. Apparently this latter
type of deteriorating process has not been observed in American clinics.

Our experience with mental conditions following Marihuana indicate
to us that there are two categories of mental reaction. The following
classification is suggested:

Acute intoxication (Marihuana Psychosis) Containing sensory, motor
and subjective elements, lasting hours to several days, often with anxiety
or hysterical reactions, and panic states and depressions of transient
nature.
Toxic Psychoses (a) in which there are many admixtures of disturbed
sensorlum, delusional and emotional reactions amounting to psychosis, but
with the common characteristic
67

toxic signs and (b) functional psychoses of a typical variety, initiated by
Marihuana or colored by Marihuana in their symptomatology, but which
continue in the form of the underlying psychosis. In these cases Marihuana
represents an incipient stage in the psychosis, apparently.

There were 14 cases of Acute Intoxication and 17 of Toxic
psychosis.

The point at which the line is drawn between acute intoxicating due
to Marihuana and psychosis due to Marihuana depends on the degree and
severity of the symptoms. Acute intoxications, induced by smoking one to
four cigarettes, bring about after an interval varying from one-half to five
hours in the individual one or all of the following symptoms: an increase
in motor activity, a feeling of excitement, mental confusion,
disorientation, crowding of perception, elementary visual illusions and
hallucinations, euphoria and talkativeness. In addition to these symptoms,
numerous subjective experiences occur, such as increased speed of
thought processes, a feeling of intellectual brilliance, change in time
perception, various somatic feelings, dizziness, hunger, a feeling of
swelling of the head, lightness of the extremities, a sensation of walking
on air, lengthening of the limbs and sexual illusions. More often sex
excitement consists

68

in the fact that the possible sexual objects in his environment
become extraordinarily desirable. There is abundant evidence in our
clinical and experimental material to show that the stimulus for sexual
interest and activity derives from the aesthetic enhancement of objects
in the environment. It is not so much a matter of increased potency on the
part of the user as increased reaction to sexual fantasies and illusions.
One of our patients said: "I saw black and white women lying in bed with
legs separated, as if expecting men . . . some women in the park with
nothing on, doing nasty dances, moving their hips. I chased after them."
Others state women appear amazingly beautiful. Another patient said: "In
the subway I felt very sexy. I wanted to touch every woman that passed."

The speeded-up physical motility has its counterpart in rapid
speech. There is a feeling on the part of the individual that he is witty,
even brilliant; his ideas flow quickly and words come readily to the
tongue. Conclusions and answers seem to come to mind ready-formed and
surprisingly clear, without the effort of thinking. This feelings of clarity
is, of course, spurious. Actually the productions of the intoxicant are hard
to follow, for when he wishes to explain what he has thought there is

69

only confusion. The rapid flow of ideas gives a subjective
impression of brilliance of thought and observation. The sense of
increased speed of thinking apparently has an effect on memory - hence
the confusion that appears on trying to recall what was thought during the
intoxication.

The smoker finds it pleasant to be with others and to impart his
experiences to them. This is reflected in the fact that Marihuana is
ordinarily smoked at parties or in groups. It is felt that this need for a
social setting is a reaction to an inner anxiety arising from the threat of
bodily destruction implied in somatic illusions induced by Marihuana In
the ordinary case of smoking Marihuana, especially with one who is used
to the drug, this threat becomes converted to euphoria which develops to
uncontrollable fits of laughter. Nevertheless inquiry shows that almost
every smoker is aware of definite uneasiness at the outset of the
intoxication. The description from smokers in Harlem and from
experimental subjects agrees on this point. In the words of a user of two
years' standing, initiates "shrink together, feel tight inside and get
frightened." After they smoke it more than once, the reality of these
frightening somatic illusions becomes less. In occasional instances, and
these are the cases

70

which are apt to come to medical attention, the fear of death, of insanity,
of bodily deformity and of bodily dissolution are startling. These patients
are tense, nervous, frightened, they may develop a state of panic. Often
suicide or assaultive acts are the result of these emotional states. The
anxiety state is so common in patients admitted to the hospital for
uncomplicated Marihuana psychosis, that it can be considered part of the
intoxication syndrome.

Notes taken on experimental subjects who were psychologically
trained illustrate these points:

Subject l. Two cigarettes were smoked within 40 minutes.
Immediately after the second a feeling of lightness in vertex of head was
felt. Head was expanding; there was a feeling of mild excitement. Now the
head felt heavy and there was a definite feeling of lengthening in the legs
and a tension in the back muscles of the thigh. Head felt alternately light
and heavy. There was a sensation as though the top of the head were lifted
with about four inch increase in height, accompanied by optic images of
skulls and skeletons. Feeling of the arms rising up in the air.
Subject was aware of a feeling of confusion. Suddenly he saw
images of legs and arms in a dissecting

71

room which were terrifying.
Subject 2. "I felt a little euphoric at first, but with the first draw
my heart feels faster, my eyes a little heavier. I feel myself perspiring all
over, and shaking. I can feel a slight dizziness. I feel weak; the dizziness
has left and I am perspiring (Asked to walk around the room. Refuses to do
so and becomes negativistic).
On looking back I remembered that I had sexual thoughts during the
time of the experiment. Time seems to pass in a peculiar way, there being
a combination of fastness and slowness. I took my first inhalation a few
minutes after 9 and when I looked at the clock and saw it was 10 after 9. I
was very much surprised because it seemed like hours. The whole
experiment seems now as if it lasted much longer than it did. Walking
home I walked slowly in front of oncoming cars and felt a sense of
recklessness connected with not being able to walk faster and not caring."

It is remarkable how much anxiety is developed when one looks for
experimental subjects among laymen. The drug is popularly supposed to
release aggressive and sexual impulses beyond the point of control; it is
also regarded as being habit-forming. The legendary history and social
connotation of hashish smoking may help to de-

72

velop in those who have had no experience with the drug, a series of
anxieties masking sexual fantasies and aggressive impulses. This has
come almost to the point of mass hysteria. Some public officials are
unwilling to allow the use of Marihuana cigarettes for experimentation
purposes, on the ground that it may be "immoral," tending to foster the
development of drug addiction among the public. This frequent anxiety
concerning Cannabis may have as its source the feeling of dissolution and
other somatic changes induced in smokers which is communicated
somehow to the non-smoking public.

In clinical material as indicated, Marihuana effects may range from
mild intoxications to transitory psychoses which require psychiatric aid.
The effects vary and not all the symptoms occur in every case. Illustrative
of the Marihuana psychosis with anxiety reactions, and somatic sensory
distortions:
A 31 year old white man, admitted March 27, 1934, with a history of
having smoked just one cigarette. On admission the patient was depressed,
retarded, apprehensive. He admitted smoking Marihuana. Was oriented and
memory showed no defects. Physical examination was negative. The
patient states, "My hand began to feel blue all of a sudden. I felt like
laughing and I felt

73

funny in my head. it was the queerest feeling I ever had. I felt like I was
kind of fainting away like. I sweat and then I'd get kind of chilly. I got the
scare of my life. I thought I was going to die and everything else. I knew
what was happening all the time. I thought my hands were beginning to get
blue. My throat began to get kind of dry. It was a little better than getting
drunk. I did not want to step down from the curb-it seemed to be so high. I
was sitting down and was afraid to get up." Patient improved and on the
second day was less apprehensive, was pleasant and cheerful. He was
discharged as recovered, after two days.

This case demonstrates visual illusions, which recall the
megalopsia (perceiving objects larger than they are), and more common
micropsia, which has been reported experimentally and clinically. It is
this type of illusion, induced by hashish, that may have been the basis for
the story of Aladdin who saw the tremendous genie emerge from his lamp
spout in the Arabian Nights' tale.

A 32 year old Irish-American, admitted September 17, 1937, with a
history of smoking Marihuana cigarettes two hours prior to admission. He
felt dizzy, wanted to commit suicide by jumping out of windows, bumping
head on the wall, floor, etc. On admission was uneasy, ap-

74

prehensive, impulsive. Said, "I feel sick. I'm going through hell. I saw
trucks coming at me getting larger and I wanted to open the door of the
cab and jump out." He was discharged as improved in his own custody
about 12 hours after admission.

A common type of intoxication is indicated in the following case:

A 38 year old Negro, admitted April 13, 1934, with history that he
had run out of the house poorly clad and that he had smoked "artificial"
cigarettes. He was confused on admission, was dazed in appearance and
disoriented. He described a lightness of the head, dizziness and seeing
star-shaped figures before his eyes after smoking a "doped" cigarette. He
was apprehensive on examination. On the second or third day after
admission, apprehension had disappeared and he was discharged as
recovered, being clear, composed, but unable to account for his earlier
excitement.

It is not uncommon to find the history of admixture of other drugs or
alcohol in Cannabis intoxication. Frequently alcohol intensifies the
Cannabis symptomatology.

A 27 year old man of old American stock, admitted on June 18, 1933,
at his own request. He had been a chronic alcoholic and displayed definite
evidences of psycho-

75

pathic makeup; had marked inferiority because of his eyes and body
structure. On admission he appeared to be apprehensive, a little excited,
spoke coherently and relevantly. His experiences were rather clearly set
forth--"I was down on the water-front. A fellow gave me an Egyptian
cigarette to smoke . . . it was hashish. About an hour afterwards I began to
see things. I'd see things flying in the air. This made me laugh and I'd laugh
at things not worth laughing at. Then I began to see green and other colors
flowing before my eyes. Then things got black. I imagined people were
following me and I screamed in my hotel and got kicked out. I still see red
lines in front of my eyes and other different colors all stuck together.
Then I began to hear bells that would get fainter and fainter and then start
again. Imagined someone was after me all evening. I thought I heard
footsteps and saw people ducking in and out of doorways behind. me. At
the time I said to myself maybe it all affect my eyes. I seen a big splotch
in front of me - it was scarlet- very bright, exceptionally bright. It
contracted, then faded away. I knew all the time it was due to hashish."

The second group comprises cases of toxic psychosis due to or
initiated by Cannabis. There may be other

76

toxic agents present, as alcohol, other drugs, infective or other
endogenous elements. Disordered sensorium, excitement and agitation,
retardation, blocking with emotional rigidity, hallucinations, sensations
of somatic change, delusional experiences may appear in the toxic
psychosis. The psychosis lasts from weeks to months. Often the mental
picture crystallizes out into a schizophrenic or manic depressive
psychosis after several weeks or months (see paradigm). At the onset .of
the illness what can be considered characteristic Cannabis symptom-
atology is discernible. As the underlying functional psychosis develops,
the toxic elements recede.

A boy of 16, admitted February 27, 1934, with statement from the
family that for two months he had been depressed, apprehensive, worried,
scratching his hands in a nervous manner, prayed constantly. He
complained that somebody read his thoughts. On admission was well
developed and showed no physical signs. Patient was agitated, depressed,
talked constantly in a bizarre manner about the devil influencing him, etc.
Said: "I felt lightly when I was walking - as if I weighed only 10 pounds. I
felt like running my whole body was light. I felt like jumping. As if I was
walking on air. I felt happy. Then I saw yellow lights all around me. I saw
blue and green

77

too. The colors were more bright than usual. There are just masses of
colors - sometimes I see a black cross with everything red behind it. That
means there is a God. He is helping me. The devil knows the evil thoughts
in me." This agitated condition improved and patient was discharged about
3 weeks after admission as a psychosis due to drugs; acute hallucinatory
episode.

Patient was readmitted August 1st of that year with a picture of a
depression with schizoid features. On this admission there were no
evidences whatever of the sensory illusions and somatic feelings that he
had previously when he smoked Marihuana. He was transferred to the state
hospital, where he remained four years, being diagnosed as Paranoid
Schizophrenia with Catatonic Features. There he was restless and
overactive. He had a marked push of speech, expressed ideas of reference
and religious delusions and was manneristic. Said: "I figured the devil was
trying to pull me away from God so I cut a cross on my arm. Physically I
am the same, but mentally I am another person. ...I feel that people
influence me by touching me - like injecting dope." Later he was
manneristic, grimaced, was untidy, repeated practically all questions
asked, answered briefly and usually vaguely and would say, "I don' know
exactly," or "I don't

78

know." He remained dull, apathetic, indifferent and mute until the present
time.

The personality factor is of undoubted importance in this group of
individuals. After the toxic state passed off in these patients in whom the
intoxication reaches deeply enough into the personality, a basic psy-chotic
state developed. At times, the toxic features are in the background, the
personality reactions being pre-dominant. What the inner relationship is
between Cannabis and the onset of a functional psychotic state is not
always clear. From our observation, the inner reaction to somatic
sensation seems to be vital. Such reactions consisted of panic states
which disappeared as soon as the stimulus (effects of the drug) faded. It
is generally known in psychopathology that when the perception of our
own bodily sensations is disturbed we are liable to be profoundly affected
psychologically. Disturbances in perception of the body-model
(Korperschema), which is built up of kinesthetic, tactile, visual and other
stimuli, and integrated into the core of the personality, elicit some type
of reaction. Such disturbances act as a blow to the ego, invoking defensive
reactions of anxiety, apprehension, projection, etc., which approach or are
schizophrenic in their clinical manifestations. The

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following case illustrates these points:

A 20 year-old colored man admitted February 22, 1936. He is said by
his mother to have been "nervous" for some time, said he wanted to die,
wanted to kill himself. Prior to admission his mother caught him with a
bottle of lysol. He had been depressed and despondent. He was a boy of
superior intelligence as measured by the Army Alpha test. On admission he
stated that he used Marihuana for several months and during this time he
had heard people talking about him They said' "Oh, what an ugly boy. How
mean-looking he is." For four months, August to October, 1935, he smoked
three to four cigarettes a day until he began to feel ill. At first Marihuana
made him happy. Then he felt that he made a peculiar noise in his throat;
ate once a day; was unable to sleep; and experienced auditory
hallucinations. The hallucinations started four months ago and increased
gradually. He thought his face was changing. He looked thin, mean, and
ugly; he became self-conscious. He felt that every-one in the neighborhood
knew it. He stated at times he seemed speeded up, but his mind was keenly
alert with the development of the ideas of reference, he became self-
reproachful, apprehensive and fearful.

He was then transferred to a state hospital on March

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13, 1936, where he stated his hallucinations had disappeared and his
emotional reaction improved. After three months he was discharged to his
home; within five months he was readmitted to Bellevue Hospital, where
he had gone in a state of panic, and from where he was re-committed to a
state hospital. He was tense, uneasy, still retained ideas of reference,
acted oddly at home apparently in response to his delusions. Diagnosis on
second admission to State Hospital was Dementia Praecox Paranoid Type,
which was made about two years after the onset of the original illness.

Some cases showed the manic-depressive reactions, but these were
in the minority. It is perhaps to be expected that schizophrenic-like
psychoses are more common because individuals who take to drugs have
some deep inadequacy to start with. The cyclothymic personality is less
prone to require the drug.

A man of 28 who was brought to the hospital by his mother on
February 13, 1938, with the history that he had been smoking reefers for
some time. A year ago he had an episode, was not hospitalized and
improved from it. On admission patient was confused, restless, apprehen-
sive. He engaged in violent daydreamings. At times he appeared to be
reacting to hallucinations. He said he

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"had a big head." He became talkative, euphoric, elated and overactive
after a day or so. He said: "The best thing for me to do is. . . you look fine.
I've got to look like you . I know what it is . . . when a Buick and a Packard
get together." His speech was distinctly flighty, his behavior panicky; was
constantly restless. Would cry, sing, talk.

He was transferred to a state hospital on February 24, 1938. There
his condition persisted and he became somewhat depressed, but showed
promise of recovery a few months after admission. Diagnosis at State
Hospital was Manic Depressive Psychosis, Manic Type.

Mixed reactions merge with the toxic psychoses. These reactions
vary clinically, some occurring in chronic alcoholics, some in
schizophrenics and some in psychopathic personalities, and in all of them
Marihuana usage was a factor. It can be clearly seen that aside from the
direct toxic effect of the drug, the personality of the patient plays a
tremendous role in psychotic states following Marihuana usage.

A Cuban, age 34, who was admitted on March 6, 1938, to Bellevue
Hospital. He had been taking Marihuana for one and a half years. He had
jumped in front of a south-bound subway train without injury. He was very
depressed, dull, lackadaisical, despondent in attitude.

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He was definitely under productive but still strongly suicidal. He
described taking one cigarette every day of Marihuana for a year and a half
because it took his worries away. For some time he had been conscious
that people were looking at him He feels that his body is heavy all the
time. Sometimes he hears deceased persons talking to him. He sees lights
at times. At times he sees a photograph of a strange person.

His friend corroborated the history, stating that he had been in this
depressed condition for 3-4 years. He had a work-house sentence for 2-3
months for Marihuana. He was transferred to a state hospital March 18,
1938. At that time he was dull, preoccupied, but lost his hallucinatory and
delusional trends. The State Hospital diagnosed him as Schizophrenia,
Hebephrenic Type (?) and he was released after two months.

In some cases the drug makes relatively little difference in the
content of the psychosis. It is for the clinician to determine how much
Marihuana influences the clinical picture. In South Africa, where dagga
(equivalent of Marihuana) smoking is very widespread, a diagnosis of
Marihuana psychosis is made in any "toxic psychosis where there are very
good grounds for assuming addiction to dagga smoking." It is felt that
there should

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be more exact criteria, as we outlined above, for a diagnosis of
Marihuana psychosis, by which we mean the presence of disordered
sensorium, characteristic colored visual hallucinations, time changes,
subjective and somatic feelings. One is apt to over-estimate the place of
Marihuana in the causation of a psychotic picture.

A white man of 28, admitted January 23, 1938, to Bellevue Hospital
with a history that he was in a state hospital in Arizona for 3 months
about two years ago and one in Indiana for 9 months four years ago. "I was
smoking this Marihuana weed (at time of admission to State Hospital in
Arizona). I ran around the desert for a time, ran out nights and one day
knocked on a door and told a woman I was Dillinger. I tried to see how
much water I could walk in. I was just like hypnotized and walking in my
sleep. Sometimes I feel like something's controlling me. Sometimes I feel
just like I'm talking to somebody with my mouth closed. I just ask them a
question with my brain and they answer. Sometimes it's a man, sometimes
it's a woman's voice; it just works in my temple. I think it's imagination.
It's just like a dream. People stare at me. Sometimes I see different
colors. I had that years ago - just like a light coming towards me; it's not
a light, it's an arc.

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His effect was flat and he was dejected and slow-speaking. Showed
blocking and evasiveness on. sex experiences. Had ideas of reference and
persecutory ideas.

He was transferred to a state hospital, where he was noted as being
preoccupied, under productive and somewhat dissociated. He stated that he
had some sort of seizures that were not really fits, but that when he had
them if he had a sword he would not mind cutting everybody's head off. He
also believed if anybody got killed near the place where he worked he
would be blamed for it. Said that when he looks in bright lights he sees
visions like all sorts of different colors, blues, whites, and these seem to
blind him. A diagnosis was made of Dementia Praecox, Paranoid Type, and
he was still in State Hospital after five months.

In psychopathic personalities, those with deep inferiorities, use of
drugs is a method of supporting the ego. In these cases Marihuana does not
always produce the desirable effect. Apparently it is not strong enough to
affect the problems which have involved deeper layers of the personality.
Such individuals adopt heroin or morphine very soon after a short
experience with Marihuana. The experience of drug addicts seen at the
Court of General Sessions confirms this. Persons addicted to

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heroin, morphine, cocaine or opium never return to Cannabis. Such
individuals are admittedly psychopathic in that they need an increment of
drug to make their lives tolerable, In the next case, the use of Cannabis
represented the attempt of the patient to overcome his sexual inadequacy.
In this respect the social psychology of the drug is a factor, since
Marihuana is popularly supposed to free sexual inhibitions.

A white man, age 23, admitted to Bellevue Hospital on March 31,
1938, with a history that he felt unworthy and thought he had a venereal
disease. He held ideas of infidelity against his wife and was assaultive.
Threw a four month old baby across a room. He turned gas jets on. On
admission he was rambling, talkative, evasive, depressed, self-absorbed
and had somatic complaints.

He said: 'I was sentenced to the Workhouse for 4 months for smoking
Marihuana. I knew then I was not satisfying my wife and I thought it might
help. A year ago some friends gave me the weed, I smoked several. I felt
calm and liked to listen to music - very happy - exhilarating feeling -
that's all."

In the hospital he was talkative, discussed his problem in detail and
showed some depression, which improved. The infidelity ideas and his
sexual inadequacies concerned him most. He was transferred to a state
hospital with a

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diagnosis of Psychosis with Psychopathic Personality; Cannabis usage a
factor.

Often Cannabis intoxication represents a stage in the incipiency of a
psychosis. The patient who is developing a functional psychosis strives in
the incipient stage to overcome the unconsciously perceived difficulties.
In this sense Marihuana usage represents a healthy reaction tendency, even
though the mechanism may be unknown to the patient. The next case
illustrated this problem. A boy who had made a successful adjustment on a
moderate level of social attainment began to show schizoid behavior
shortly after the usage of Marihuana. The process continued to a psychotic
state. What role did the drug play? Could the psychosis have begun without
the drug? Was the use of Cannabis the patient's attempt to cure his
developing psychosis? These are problems needing careful judgment and
study and wide clinical experience.

A young Negro, 20, admitted October 2, 1936 to Bellevue Hospital
with a history of having been dull, indifferent for some time. Insisted
upon keeping the windows closed, would not leave the house, but denied he
heard voices. Would masturbate openly and made sign with fingers, and
actions were decidedly peculiar. Mother states she caught him. smoking a
sweet-smelling

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cigarette with a white man and soon after got a history from his
playmates that he had been smoking Marihuana cigarettes for a long time.

Observation in the hospital confirmed his withdrawn, retarded
attitude. Psychometric gave an IQ. of 75 with rating of Borderline to Dull
Normal Intelligence. Was pre-occupied on ward; difficult to obtain his
attention; evasive; offered many excuses for closing window and putting
out lights. About 10 days after admission he appeared a little more alert
and cheerful. He was discharged in custody of mother as Incipient
Schizophrenia (?) or Psychoneurosis, Reactive State, on October 13, 1936.

He was readmitted a year later, October 15, 1937. At that time
mother gave a statement that for past year, since he left hospital, he had
been dull, staying in the house in a "deep study." He seems to listen; does
not say anything'. At on