LBJ Signs Anti-pot Treaty

The movement to re-legalize marijuana was dealt a severe blow several weeks ago according to an article in the Village Voice of June 22, 1967.

On May 25 President Johnson, a reputed speed freak, signed a treaty known as the Single Convention after it was ratified by the Senate. There was virtually no opposition to the treaty during hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and no publicity was given to the treaty’ s progress.

The danger to marijuana reform lies in the fact that treaties are enforced as the law of the land. So, apparently even if Michigan was to abolish its archaic narcotics laws the feds could still bust you under the strength of the Single Convention. The convention provides for extradition for crimes involving marijuana.

The treaty has been ratified by all nations except China, North Vietnam, East Germany, and North Korea. India and Pakistan, where marijuana is now legal, have agreed to outlaw it within 25 years.

The prime force behind ratification in the U.S. was anti-dope fanatic Harry Anslinger, the U.S. representative to the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs, who was commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics from 1936 to 1962. Anslinger, who has dedicated much of his life to a crusade against marijuana, considers the treaty his crowning achievement.