Last night I was watching the Perry Mason episode “The Case of the Jaded Joker”. At one point, while LAPD Homicide is paying a visit to the prime suspect’s home, Lt. Tragg discovers that a man there is smoking pot.
Tragg’s displeasure at what the guy is smoking is obvious. But he doesn’t even hint at it actually being illegal.
So, what was the deal? Was pot legal in 1959 Los Angeles? Or was it a matter of it not being Tragg’s department? If you know Perry Mason, you know that Tragg’s not a loose-and-easy kind of guy, so it really is kind of shocking to see this scene.*
*Not nearly as shocking as hearing him belt out the beat-generation line he closes the show with, though. It’s high-larious.
From what I’ve been able to tell, it was a rather serious crime on the federal level at the time. The 1956 Narcotics Control Act imposed a mandatory sentence of two years for possession, five years for a first sale, and ten years for a second sale. (See, for example, this page.) That said, it wouldn’t have been Tragg’s job to enforce federal law, and it’s possible that California law was different at the time.
Well, I think LAPD could have theoretically busted him, but maybe Tragg doesn’t bother because he’s Homicide. After all, the LAPD busted Robert Mitchum for pot in 1948 and Lenny Bruce twice for pot, I believe, in 1962-63.
Interesting. In March, 1960, William Talman (Hamilton Burger) was arrested in a raid on a Beverly Hills house where police suspected pot smoking (and also found “wild nude partying”, as reported by the media). Charges against him were later dropped. I remember the arrest because I brought this news item up during current events in my seventh grade class, which was not well received by my teacher.
I have an amusing book by W.C. Fields published in 1940 when he ran a mock campaign for president. Some of the book is set in LA. I was surprised to read Fields casually mention the anniversary of “the first marihuana (sic) cigarette I ever smoked.” Fields was obviously a comedian, but he was considered more respectable than, say, Cheech and Chong. Beat them by a good thirty years, too.