Why is Marijuana Illegal? Reefer Madness!: Harry J. Anslinger Essay. Harry J.
Anslinger headed the Federal Bureau of Narcotics for 31 years. His biggest contribution to the so-called "reefer madness" propaganda movement was the 1937 Marijuana Transfer Tax Act, which imposed strictures on the growing and use of the plant which rendered hemp effectively worthless by taxing it out of existence.
Anslinger passed this bill through rather dubious means. His testimony in favor of the Act, for example, consisted largely of selections from Hearst newspaper articles read aloud into the Congressional record. Hemp Around Their Necks by Harry Anslinger. From The Murderers By HARRY J.
ANSLINGER U. Harry Anslinger Vault. Father of the Drug War.