The Secret History Of  Jazz And The War on Drugs

close up of saxophone
Via picryl
Adé Hennis
September 2, 2024

Jazz musicians are known for their riffs and improvisations, but when they were interrogated by narcotics agents they were dead silent. In 1930, the newly appointed commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) made it a priority to crack down on illegal drug use.

Prosecuting people for heroin and cocaine use wasn’t enough to keep FBN agents busy. So they began enforcing laws against marijuana use, and started arresting jazz singers and musicians. But why them?

Jazz musicians are known for their loyalty almost as much as they’re known for their riffs and improvisations. So when the FBN tried to get them to flip, they refused. Instead they posted bail for their friends who had been arrested. Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, and Thelonious Monk were some of the agency’s main targets.

Louis Armstrong said that marijuana “relaxes you, makes you forget all the bad things that happen to a Negro.” He and other Black musicians relied on cannabis to help dull the pain and stress caused by racism, and they weren’t about to apologize for protecting their peace.

Every “war on drugs” has been a war on Black people. These wars have come after our music, our freedom, and our happiness. What will they come after next?

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