Why is cannabis illegal?
Hemp: The new Billion Dollar Crop
Before 1937 cannabis hemp was one of largest argricultural crops in the United States and the world. It has many uses and is one of the most robust,durable and soft natural fibres on the face of the earth. It was used for rope, twine and clothing. Sails were made of hemp because salt water damages cotton. The pressed oil from hempseeds was used in paints and varnishes. Randolph Diesel assumed his Diesel engine would run off vegetable and seed oils, especially hemp, which is superior to petroleum. Hemp could be used to make more paper per acre, of a higher quality, for less money and requiring less chemical treatment than trees. One could even pay their taxes with hemp.
Popular Mechanics 1938 touted cannabis hemp as the new Billion Dollar Crop stating that “Hemp is the standard fiber of the world” with great tensile strength and durability. Hemp was used to create 5000 textile products and even the waste product, the ‘woody hurds’ left once the fibre was removed, contains 77% cellulose. This cellulose could be used to create over 25,000 products from dynamite to cellophane.
It was even stated to be good for the land, breaking up the ground ready for the next seasons crop, depriving weeds of sunlight, and removing infestations of foreign and domestic pest plants. It could replace many (expensive) foreign imported products keeping work for americans and saving corporations money. Popular mechnics even estimated that the $200,000,000 spent per year on imported foreign fibres and fabrics could instead become income for American workers by growing hemp in the United States.
The government even estimated that 10,000 acres of hemp pulp could produce as much paper as 40,000 acres worth of regular tree pulp. That is a four fold increase in the land to product ratio!
Even the Ford Motor company was making use of cannabis hemp. In the 1930’s it’s engineers were able to extract Creosote (wood protectant), methanol, charcoal fuel, tar and pitch Ethyl Acetate (used in glues, decaffination, nail polish removers, confectionary, perfumes and paints) from hemp. Ford even created a car made of resin stiffened hemp and ran it on the ethanol produced from hemp.
Hemp in direct competition with Foreign Oil
Deviating from the Hemp story for a bit, we are going to talk about a man called Andrew Mellon. Andrew Mellon and his brother Richard Mellon had started an oil company in Texas in 1901 called Gulf Oil and was looking to drill oil in Kuwait. However Britain was in control of Kuwaits foreign affairs in 1932. Gulf Oil appealed to the US Government and directly to Andrew Mellon, Treasury Secretary of the US (1921-1932). It appears he was not able to help however because he then became the US Ambassador to Britain and travelled to britain 3 times, each time bringing up the subject of Gulf Oils interest in Kuwait. Two years later in 1934 British Petroleum and Gulf Oil struck a 50-50 deal and in 1938, struck oil.
How this is significant is that in the 1920’s and 30’s the DuPont Petrochemical company was making similar advances with oil instead of hemp. They had developed the sulfite and sulfate processes for chemically treating paper pulp from trees, as well as gasoline additives, cellophane, nylon and Dacron (or PET used in plastic). DuPont went on to become a leader in the developement of Rayon fibre (synthetic fabrics), paint, synthetic rubber, plastics, insectides, photographic film and other chemicals.
Andrew Mellon had invested heavily in DuPont which probably bought a lot of oil from the Gulf Oil Company. If hemp continued to prove as versatile as oil, it would threaten the companies profits.
Mexicans poke the angry tycoon
Around this time there was a mexican General “Pancho Villa” who was trying to overthrow the Mexican Dictator, Huerta. Pancho Villa’s troops, and mexicans coming to work in the United States would smoke cannabis for enjoyment. Cannabis also passed on to the african americans and became entrenched in the Jazz and Swing music and culture. Pancho Villa was also in the practice taking back illegally occupied land in Mexico and giving it back to the people. One of these haciendas, as they were called was 800,000 acres of forestry taken by the Hearst Corporation.
William Randolph Hearst, owned the Hearst Corporation which in the United States. This corporation was a forestry company which used DuPonts tree-pulp treatment process to create paper for the many newspaper chains owned by the Hearst Corporation. Hearst was known as a racist, and was angered by the reclaimation of his 800,000 acres of forestry. Noticing that hemp could threaten the forestry part of his corporation he decided to take the slang word ‘Marihuana’ from the song ‘La Cucaracha,’ a Panco Villa victory song and use it as propaganda against mexicans, negroes and hemp.
The Federal Bureau of Narcotics
In 1930 Andrew Mellon appointed his nephew in law to the Head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Harry J. Anslinger was America’s first drug czar. In 1934 sympathizing with Andrew Mellow and William Hearst he started waging a war against hemp under the guise of ‘Marijuana’ along with complete lies about how it turned normal men in violent murderers and rapists.
Refer Madness
William Hearst published stories in his newspapers claiming that mexicans and negroes turned into savage beasts after smoking marijuana, murdering and raping white people and “Refer Madness” descended upon the nation. Aided by racism which was rapant at this time in history, the stories started to gain some believers and the population wanted to outlaw this new drug marijuana. Some quotes attributable to Anslinger include:
“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.”
“…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”
“You smoke a joint and you’re likely to kill your brother.”
“Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”
“Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.”
“Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”
And the somewhat contradictory:
“Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing”
The Illegal Crop
No one knew what marijuana was, but everyone knew what cannabis hemp was. By the time people found out that hemp had been lumped in with marijuana it was too late. In 1937 the Marijuana Tax Act was signed into congress, and anyone who wanted to grow cannabis was required by law to purchase a tax stamp. However with Anslinger as the sole overseer of who got the tax stamps, none were being given out. This essentially made all forms of cannabis whether it be cannabis hemp or the phsycotropic version of cannabis, illegal.
And thus the new billion dollar crop of America, the crop that could stifle western dependence on middle eastern oil before it began, the crop that could give millions of Americans jobs, the crop that could decrease the need for imported foreign materials, was rendered unusable. And with it, a non-addictive, non-opiate, non-narcotic, harmless drug superior to alcohol.
All because a few oil tycoons and other money hungry corporations wanted to make a buck.
Sunday, 10 July 2011
Why is cannabis illegal? | Truth About Cannabis
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