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Harry Anslinger (1892-1975) was the first US drug czar. Anslinger was appointed to the newly created position of Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics on August 12, 1930 and he served in the position until 1962. He had perviously served as Assistant Prohibition Commissioner in the Bureau of Prohibition. He was responsible for the introduction of the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act which criminalized cannabis in the United States.
He is notorious among the American proponents of de-criminalization of marijuana for his manipulation of misinformation masquerading as science behind the criminalization process, the earliest form of a " War on Drugs"
Anslinger, was made Commissioner of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Narcotics a year after he made the public remark "Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men." Anslinger is reported to have retired in 1962, but he was actually fired by U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Anslinger was canned for insubordination for refusing to desist from attempting to halt all publications by Professor Alfred Lindsmith of Indiana University who wrote, among other works, The Addict and the Law (Washington Post, 1961), a book critical in detail of the "War on Drugs" that was initiated with the war on marijuana in the run-up to the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937.
Even at the time, reputable experts had already deemed much of the alarmist anti-cannabis propaganda that was being disseminated in Hearst publications and quoted by Harry J. Anslinger in congressional testimony was inaccurate. Anslinger took pains to ensure that news of upcoming meetings was not circulated where any groups that might counter the proposed legislation (which taxed marijuana out of existence, in an end-run around the medical issues) would be alerted. The American Medical Association, which would likely have argued the medicinal benefits of marijuana, was notified only two days before the hearing. Their representative, Dr. William Woodward, denounced the hearings as being rooted in tabloid sensationalism, and demanded an explanation for the secrecy involved. Anslinger ignored Woodward's vociferous objections -- when before the vote he was asked by Congress if the AMA agreed that the bill should be passed, a member of Anslinger's committee replied, "Yes, they are in complete agreement."
As Commissioner, Harry J. Anslinger was a mediocre writer, though a dramatic publicist not above inventing a few vivid "human interest" details. If he had been a professional journalist, his paper would have had to let him go:
In 1961, Harry J. Anslinger published The Murderers with an as-told-to co-writer. His assessment of the 1945 La Guardia Committee Report:
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