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Marijuana will kill your baby! Or, at least that’s what this horribly scary article in the January 19, 1911 Montezuma Journal implies.
Actually, a cannabis-infused product mentioned in the piece really does sound dangerous — but any baby poisoning going on had nothing to do with pot.
See also: “Recreational Marijuana Dispensary Review: Chronic Therapy in Wheat Ridge“
Actually, the list here is pretty sobering and scary. We’re concerned about things like GMO food indirectly “poisoning” our kids these days, but 114 years ago (nearly to the day) parents were literally poisoning their children. It prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture (the U.S. Food Department) to put out a warning to parents on which drugs to avoid – though the government didn’t have the power then to repeal any of them and wouldn’t until 1914 with the passage of the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act. Reading through this list, it’s amazing that anyone made it past a few months of life. “Soothing syrup” made with morphine, teething syrup dosed with chloroform and powdered opium. And then there’s this gem: Yup. “Infant relief” made from cannabis indica and chloroform. You know, chloroform? Yeah, that poisonous stuff that people use to knock out and kill one another.
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Sadly, cannabis got mixed up in there as well — only furthering the paranoia over pot in this country that has lasted for more than 100 years.
Bonus: AntiqueCannabisBook.com has a photo of the stuff:
