“Traffic in marijuana is increasing to such an extent that it has come to the be cause for the greatest national concern.
This drug is as old as civilization itself. Homer wrote about, as a drug that made men forget their homes, and that turned them into swine. In Persia, a thousand years before Christ, there was a religious and military order founded which was called the Assassins and they derived their name from the drug called hashish which is now known in this country as marihuana. They were noted for their acts of cruelty, and the word "assassin" very aptly describes the drug.”

—  Harry J. Anslinger

Hearing on H.R. 6385 (April 1937) http://www.druglibrary.org/SCHAFFER/hemp/taxact/anslng1.htm

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Harry J. Anslinger4
1st Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics 1892–1975

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