Michael Regilio
speaker
2,071 appearances
9 recordings
1 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard 12 Jul
Michael Regilio’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 3 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.
Appearances
And it probably works about as well as Irish whiskey, maybe lasts a little longer. Yeah, which probably worked better than what I tried smoking in high school because back then cannabis was illegal, which gets me to the first person to outlaw cannabis. It was actually Napoleon Bonaparte.
When the little French general learned his soldiers had brought cannabis back from Egypt and were getting high, he outlawed it. So no cannabis for the French. That's correct. Napoleon was on to something, though. He may have been a little harsh on hashish, so to speak, but people in his time realized that drugs and alcohol use was problematic.
In 1868, the British passed the first drug laws banning some drugs. Around this time, people thought that cannabis use caused mental illness. This actually, as we'll see later, that's still debatable. So are we still debating reefer madness? You remember that whole thing? Yeah, well, not so much debating it as looking at the data. That's a better framing of it right now.
In 1894, the British were concerned about cannabis use in India. In lieu of keeping those they colonized in line, the British established the Indian Hemp Drug Commission. The thing is, They found that moderate cannabis consumption was not detrimental and found no link to mental illness. So no reeve for madness.
Yeah, excellent point. But it does indicate that the tide was turning. In fact, the smoke was starting to blow in the other direction as far as cannabis's reputation went. So much so that in 1906, the U.S. government passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, which said cannabis was dangerous and must be labeled before being sold.
And because history loves irony, in 1913, California became the first state to ban growing cannabis. Wow. Well, I guess California was super conservative back then. Maybe that has to be it. Maybe. But look, the whole country was going that way because in 1914, the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act passed and Congress tightened restrictions on drugs in America.
During that period, there was also the Mexican Revolution, which brought many Mexicans north to the United States. And just like any group entering America, they were met with racism and xenophobia.
Yeah, I guess that fine print is on the back of the statue.
Yeah. Well, speaks to the tribalism that is inherent in human beings, I think. And how arbitrary it all is as well. Yeah, for sure. People aimed their ire at Mexicans. One of the things that people attacked was that many Mexicans smoked their cannabis and they didn't call it cannabis. They had their own word for it. A scary, foreign-sounding word. They called it marijuana.
The racists seized on this and demonized both the Mexicans and their marijuana. And by 1925, 26 states had outlawed the evil marijuana.
Branding is everything. And that might well have worked. Certainly worked with Freedom Fries. The next blow for cannabis came with Harry Anslinger. OK, he was the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and a racist piece of garbage. And he had cannabis directly in his crosshairs.
Oh no, Anslinger was an equal opportunity racist. But don't take my word for it. Take his. Now this is a little rough, but here is a quote I found from him. Quote, There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their satanic music, jazz, and swing result from marijuana use.
This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.
Oh, by the way, Anslinger was not finished. There's also this little gem. Quote, Wow. Maybe we stop quoting this guy. This guy is terrible. Holy smokes. Yeah, no more Anslinger quotes. Okay, mind you, cannabis was still legal in some places. But it was on its way out. Anslinger famously collected wild and exaggerated stories about cannabis use and then placed them in the press.
And in 1936, the film you've already referenced came out, Reefer Madness. Now it's time for sponsor madness, madness, madness. We'll be right back.
Yeah, that propaganda worked. And not surprisingly, the following year, Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act. which was written in part by Anslinger himself. The other force behind the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act was the petrochemical industry, the DuPont Chemical Corporation in particular.
Yes, that DuPont. In the 1930s, DuPont invented cellophane made from petroleum, as well as nylon made from petroleum. Cellophane was set to become the standard packaging for most American goods and nylon standard for most American fabrics. Around the same time, Henry Ford was promoting chemergy, which fuses industrialization with raw materials, the best being cannabis.
Oh, no. Tons of things are made out of cannabis. Hemp is what they refer to as the fibers the cannabis plant produces. And the outer fibers of the cannabis plant can be used to make clothes, fabrics, ropes and packaging. All better than nylon, by the way. The inner fibers of the cannabis plant can be used to make wood for construction.
Cannabis was suddenly a huge threat to the DuPonts and other business moguls like William Randolph Hearst. The printer? Yeah, the guy that owns the Hearst Castle, which is... Don't get me started. I hate the Hearst Castle. Really? Who hates the Hearst Castle? Me! Because... You go on the tour and they're just talking about how like he took these ancient pylons out of Egypt.
He basically robbed ancient treasures and shoved them into a castle that he just hoarded to show off to his rich and famous friends. And then when they couldn't pay the bill on this, they dumped it on the California taxpayers. Now we own Egypt.
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