# Korean War/50's NFL Marijuana Use?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-war-50s-nfl-marijuana-use/391093>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 6, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-war-50s-nfl-marijuana-use/391093 "2007-02-06T16:59:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-war-50s-nfl-marijuana-use/391093/1 "2007-02-06T16:59:34Z")

</div>

So, I was watching the original movie version of M_A_S_H_, and in the climactic football game scene, a bunch of players are sitting on the bench passing a joint. These players are mostly generic Army personnel, but there are also some ‘ringers’ who played pro ball before being drafted.

So, is this realistic or a we-made-this-movie-in-the-70s anachronism? Was marijuana in much use in either the Korean War Army or the Korean War-era NFL?  
(I suppose, if we knew anything about its use in college football programs, that would be useful too).  
Cites are useful, but anecdotes and allegations are not completely useless, either.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-war-50s-nfl-marijuana-use/391093/2 "2007-02-06T17:28:36Z")

</div>

Marijuana has been around a long time, and drug use in the military didn’t start in Vietnam. The folks in the ficticious M_A_S\*H were portrayed as rebellious rule-breakers, so it’s not unrealistic to show them smoking up.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-war-50s-nfl-marijuana-use/391093/3 "2007-02-06T19:05:52Z")

</div>

Cannibus was unregulated by the Federal government until [the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937_Marihuana_Tax_Act) and wasn’t considered a Schedule 1 drug (mere possession punishable as a felony) until [The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_Drug_Abuse_Prevention_and_Control_Act_of_1970). It’s not improbable that they would either have or be using marijuana. Furthermore, Altman deliberately intended to make the place and time of the film somewhat ambiguous, as he wanted it to be a political statement about the (then current) conflict in Viet Nam; specific references to Korea were enforced by the studio, which didn’t want to be embroiled in a political hot button topic. Marijuana use was, of course, rampant in the military in and during the Viet Nam Conflict.

Stranger