Eric Schlosser

And whereas alcohol was seen as an all American form of intoxication. Marijuana was something alien and dangerous, and was linked to violence and homicide. It was called the killer weed. And really since the early years of this century, the war on marijuana has been much more a war on the sort of people who smoke it, be they Mexicans or blacks or jazz musicians or beatniks or hippies or hip-hop artists. It's really been a war on nonconformists and the laws against marijuana have been used as a way of reasserting what are seen as traditional American values.

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Last modified: Wed Nov 19 00:02:25 CST 2003