The Kent State Massacre & How It Was Used as Anti-Cannabis Propaganda

This 1970 Shooting Is Connected to Nixon’s Agenda to Pass The Controlled Substances Act— Here’s How…

May 4th was the anniversary of the Kent State Massacre. How does cannabis play a role in this?

At the time, Kent State University, in Ohio, was known for its student protests.

Think back to the 70s, America had just experienced the Civil Rights Movement, and the students of Kent State were all about that protesting life.

This particular May 4th, protest was organized by Kent State students in protest of the Vietnam War.

Nixon had just announced days earlier that he planned to expand the war into Cambodia.

This lead to days of protesting & rioting in Kent, which lead the Governor to declare a state of emergency and call in the National Guard.

Although university officials attempted to ban the May 4th protest, two thousand people gathered that day.

And what did the National Guard do? They came in with their M-1s and they fired into the crowd—killing 4 students and injuring 9 others.

How did they justify this shooting in the media?

They showed the ZigZag papers, bongs & weed that they found in those student’s rooms.

And of course, they condemned the students for using dope.

Meanwhile, Nixon saw an opportunity to use this incident as a means of passing The Controlled Substances Act of 1970, just 6 months later.

He used this anti-cannabis propaganda to fuel support for this legislation….why?

Because Nixon didn’t like Black people, gay people, or those that were anti-war.

And while he couldn’t arrest people for those reasons, he could demonize the activities they engaged in—cannabis use being one of them—and that is why cannabis is listed as a Schedule 1 substance.

It’s STILL Schedule 1, sitting right up there next to heroine!!

All thanks to Nixon capitalizing on the Kent State Massacre in order to push his anti-cananbis, racist & warmongering agendas.

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