Marijuana, Alcohol, and Disinformation in America

In the same way Anslinger used disinformation for his purposes, Trump uses it for his. Since 2015, he's made 329 false statements . And of course there was his claim that Obama wasn't born in America, one of the biggest uses of political disinformation in recent history.

After Anslinger began the early war on marijuana, Nixon picked up the ball and ran with it. The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 designated marijuana as a Schedule 1 while Nixon had a commission examines the issue. The Schafer Commission told Nixon weed wasn't worthy of the designation, but he ignored the recommendation and left it on the list. "The Drug War gave Nixon the key to his 'Southern Strategy,'" says Wasserman. "Many southern states had substantial black constituencies. He needed to make sure they could not vote. Slapping them in jail for pot was a powerful way to do that."

It's not hard to see the parallels between Nixon and Trump. Just watch this video:

Nixon's call for law and order is Trump's call for law and order. Nixon's evocation of the "silent majority" is Trump's evocation.

When it comes to renewing the war on marijuana, no matter if you support legalization or not, you could take a step back and ask whether the drug does have some negative effects on society. Does driving while high cause accidents? Public health officials are uncertain about the answer to that question. While the University of Nevada, Reno does cite growing concern over drugged driving, "The NHTSA [National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] stated they were unable to find causality between legal marijuana and fatal traffic accidents--a finding echoed in the aforementioned Washington Drug Policy Alliance report, which showed that traffic accident fatalities remain flat in states with recreational marijuana."

Studies have a hard time pinning the type of problems to marijuana that would justify its inclusion in the Federal drug Schedule list. Sessions is making a feeble attempt to revive Anslinger and Nixon's original war on pot. Make no mistake, this is Trump's war. Disinformation is part of the strategy. In this case, Trump and Sessions are capitalizing on the disinformation behind the Federal drug Schedule. A friend of mine recently said, "Right now is a good time to invest in private prison stocks." Federal prosecution of people in possession of marijuana is supposed to fill prison cells. Is it any wonder private prison execs held their conference at a Trump resort?

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