Leopoldo Salazar Viniegra
Leopoldo Salazar Viniegra | |
|---|---|
Salazar, c. 1930 | |
| Born | December 17, 1898 Pánuco de Coronado Municipality or San Juan del Río Municipality, Durango, Mexico |
| Died | September 23, 1957 (aged 58) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Alma mater | National Autonomous University of Mexico |
| Known for | Scientific investigations on cannabis and other psychoactive substances, promoting legalization of psychoactive substances in Mexico |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Psychiatry |
| Institutions | La Castañeda |
Leopoldo Salazar Viniegra (December 17, 1898 – September 23, 1957) was a Mexican doctor, psychiatrist, writer and professor whose scientific investigations influenced the legalization of drugs during the Lázaro Cárdenas administration in 1940.
It was at La Castañeda, the institution where Salazar worked for more than twenty years, where he led many scientific investigations into the effects of marijuana. These investigations, detailed in his report "El mito de la marihuana" (English: The Myth About Marijuana), helped Salazar launch into the national public discourse the de-stigmatization of drug addiction and its treatment as a disease, not a crime. Due to increasing political and economic pressure from the United States government and a U.S. campaign to discredit Salazar, the law was repealed on July 3, 1940. Salazar dedicated his final years to studying mental health illnesses until his death in 1957 in Mexico City.