SINFUL SUBSTANCE?
“A century ago American society was grappling with a social problem – the threat of a substance that the governor of Minnesota said had been created by ‘the ingenuity of depraved human genius.'” Some states punished by fines and imprisonment for the manufacture, sale or possession of the substance. The federal government levied a “sin” tax on it. It wasn’t until after federal and state legislation and congressional hearings in 1950 that the government finally freed this substance from restrictive controls. Do you know what this threatening substance was? Drugs? Alcohol? Tobacco? No. It was margarine. The National Dairy Union’s lobbyists had successfully launched a campaign to prove to the world that margarine was a dangerous substance that needed restrictions. From Martin Marty in Context, September, 1990
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