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Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Father of the Racist Drug War Harry J. Anslinger

Harry J. Anslinger, the Republican founder of the unjust and unfair drug war

Most people today don't recognize this man above.  His name is Harry J. Anslinger, the unofficial drug czar of the 1930s.  His concern about the drug war is more about the supremacy of the conservative capitalist system and white supremacy than it is about doing something about the actual drug problem itself.  His alliances with big business and racists had made it easy for him to carry out those repressive measures.  His legacy lives on to this day with politicians, left and right, playing on racial, ethnic, and cultural fears and the decline of capitalism in the US today.

Here's a bio of Mr. Harry J. Anslinger from Wikipedia:

Harry Jacob Anslinger (May 20, 1892 – November 14, 1975) held office as the assistant prohibition commissioner in the Bureau of Prohibition, before being appointed as the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) on August 12, 1930.
Anslinger held office an unprecedented 32 years in his role as commissioner until 1962. He then held office two years as US Representative to the United Nations Narcotics Commission. The responsibilities once held by Anslinger are now largely under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy. He died at the age of 83 of heart failure in AltoonaPennsylvania.  More Anslinger bio 

I'll have more on him as soon as possible.  Tell me what you think of this father of  America's drug war?


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