Anslinger was the U.S. Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics commissioner that made drug use illegal . He publicly spoke about the dangers of drug use and even exaggerated their effect. He would chase down drug users, and arrest them for their actions. One person being Billie Holiday. Billie Holiday, was a very famous African American singer that helped regulate drugs, because, according to whites, she was the example of what a dangerous African American on heroin looked like. The white folks made it seem like African Americans were the only ones using drugs, and therefore they were dangerous for it. In Chasing the Scream, it was interesting to see that Harry Anslinger was perpetually committed to arrest Holiday for drug use that …show more content…
First off, Edward Williams, a doctor and brother of scientist Henry Smith Williams, found it astonishing that with Anslinger’s war on drugs, he made more violence prevalent. Drug dealers found new ways to break laws to get drugs in the country, and individuals found new ways to break the same laws to retrieve those illegal drugs. Williams found it less dangerous to prescribe heroin to addicted patients, under his supervision, than to let them get it illegally elsewhere. It was under the patient’s best interest to have it. He didn't think drugs were as dangerous as Anslinger was saying, if used appropriately of course. So they were advocating for the proper use of drugs. They didn't think regulations as powerful as Anslinger’s were needed. They were scholars who knew he wasn’t providing the entire information to the public about the dangers of drugs. Anslinger even said that marijuana was dangerous because it made a teenager kill his entire family; hindering that fact that he had psychiatric health issues as well as having used marijuana. Therefore there was legislation like the Harrison Act, that protected the doctors that wanted to disregard Anslinger’s ideas and use drugs for their addicted patients. Legislation was also made to protect rock artist’s