Ep. 0184: DHP Villains: Harry Anslinger (CJ’s presentation from the 2019 Midwest Peace & Liberty Fest)
At the 2019 Midwest Peace & Liberty Fest in Delton, Mich., CJ took the occasion of Michigan’s recent legalization of marijuana to do a DHP Villains feature on the man who is arguably the most important of the Founding Fathers of the US government’s war on drugs.
Join CJ as he discusses the career of Harry J. Anslinger, from his early life to working for the State Department, then the Treasury Department, culminating in his tenure as first Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics from 1930-62, during which time (among other things) he presided over the beginning of the federal government’s criminalization of marijuana and the continuous amping-up of the drug war and its penalties; along the way we’ll also cover Anslinger’s racism & xenophobia, as well as his connections to the OSS and CIA, including lending those agencies some of his top agents for shady purposes, including some of the MK-Ultra experiments.
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