“[I]n 1933, marijuana became the target of government control. Sensationalistic stories linked violent acts to cannabis consumption… Many of the most outlandish stories appeared in newspapers published by William Randolph Hearst. Hearst reportedly had financial interests in the lumber and paper industries. He may have sought to eliminate competition from hemp.”
“The first laws against cannabis in the United States were passed in border towns with Mexico… William Randolph Hearst was an up-and-coming newspaper tycoon, owning twenty-eight newspapers by the mid-1920s… Hearst then dropped the words cannabis and hemp from his newspapers and began a propaganda campaign against ‘marijuana,’ (following in Anslinger’s footsteps).”