New York tribune,
April 11, 1909
Article: Goats that feed on “Dope”
The men who stare at goats
The Mexican Herald is responsible for so much early misinformation in their own quest to criminalize cannabis in Mexico. Spewing crazy tales and spreading complete lies on both sides of the border, these articles usually printed, reprinted, then reprinted again in multiple newspapers until the source was muddy at best. This article from the New York Tribune even gives credit to El Paso Morning Times, when in fact the source of the tale was The Mexican Herald…
“Some time ago” he said, “I acquired a piece of land adjoining my ranch, near Celaya, upon which the former owners had been raising Mexican Indian hemp for illicit traffic. Their business had been stopped by the law, and I was able to lease the land cheap.
Some days after turning my goats into the new pasture I noticed that they had begun to act queerly. Their eyes assumed an unnatural, vacant stare, and their terpsichorean antics across the level ground would last for hours on a stretch. My shepherd began to report to me that the goats had ceased to lie down to rest even at night, and would stalk around the pasture on their hind feet, like the satyrs in Greek mythology. It was impossible for them to feed in this position, for the pasture contains little shrubbery or low trees, the vegetation being entirely grass, with scraggy bits of marihuana weed. I have tried to drive the goats back into their old pasture, but they won’t go, and a doctor tells me that it might kill them to stop their marihuana feed too suddenly. How in the world I shall ever save my goats is a problem beyond my solving.”
New York tribune, April 11, 1909
