18 Now wait, just hold on. You expect me to believe that they wouldn't have thought to pass a better law, one that banned marijuana and allowed commercial hemp, instead of throwing the baby out with the bath water?
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This article is from the Hemp / Cannabis / Marijuana FAQ, by Brian S. Julin verdant@twain.ucs.umass.edu with numerous contributions by others.
18 Now wait, just hold on. You expect me to believe that they wouldn't have thought to pass a better law, one that banned marijuana and allowed commercial hemp, instead of throwing the baby out with the bath water?
There's more. `Chemical pulping' paper was invented at
about this time by Dupont Chemicals, as part of a
multi-million dollar deal with a timber holding company and
newspaper chain owned by William Randolph Hearst. This deal
would provide the Hearst with a source of very cheap paper,
and he would go on to be known as the tycoon of `yellow
journalism' (so named because the new paper would turn
yellow very quickly as it got older.) Hearst knew that he
could drive other papers out of competition with this new
advantage. Hemp paper threatened to ruin this whole plan.
It had to be stopped, and the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was
the way they did it. As a drug law, the Tax Act really was
not a very big step -- it did not really accomplish much at
all and many historians have caught themselves wondering why
the bill was even written. Big business interests took
advantage of the political climate of racism and anti-drug
rhetoric to close the free market to hemp products, and
_that_, my friend, is how hemp became illegal.
(Whew!)
For the 1930's, this business venture was one very large
transaction; it included other timber companies and a few
railroads. Dupont's entire deal was backed by a banker
named Andrew Mellon. Don't look up! That's the same Andrew
Mellon who appointed his nephew-in-law Harry Anslinger to
head up the FBNDD in 1931. The Marijuana Tax Act was passed
in a very unorthodox way, and nobody who would have objected
was informed about the bill. The American Medical
Association found out about the bill only two days before
the hearings, and sent a representative to object to the
banning of cannabis medicines. A hemp bird seed salesman
also showed up and complained. However, the bill was
passed, partially due to the testimony of Harry J.
Anslinger.
Not that Americans would have protested against this bill,
even if they had known it existed most Americans did not
know that cannabis hemp and marijuana is the same thing.
The separate word `marijuana' was one of the reasons for
this. Nobody would associate the evil weed from Mexico with
the stuff they tied their shoes with. Also, this was the
time when synthetic fabrics were the latest fad -- nobody
was interested in natural fibers any more. To top this all
off the word `hemp' was often wrongly used to refer to other
natural fabrics, specifically jute.
The ignorance of hemp continues today, but it is even more
scary. During the 1970's (Reefer Madness II) all mention of
the word `hemp' was removed from high school text books here
in the United States. So much for free speech! When Jack
Herer, the world's most beloved hemp activist, asked a
curator at the Smithsonian Museum why this word had been
removed from all their exhibits, the answer he got was
astounding: ``Children do not need to know about hemp
anymore. It confuses them.'' Jack Herer went on to uncover
a film made by the United States government, a film which
the government did not want to admit existed. The film
``Hemp For Victory'' details how the United States
government bypassed the Tax Act during World War II, when
they needed hemp for the War Effort, and ran a large
hemp-growing project in Kentucky and California. (Bravo,
Jack!)
``Hemp, Life-line to the Future'' by Chris Conrad pub data pending.
``The Emperor Wears No Clothes The Authoritative Historical Record of
the Cannabis Plant, Marijuana Prohibition, & How Hemp Can Still Save
the World'' by Jack Herer pub. Queen of Clubs HEMP Publishing, 1993.
``New Billion-Dollar Crop'' in ``Popular Mechanics'' pub. February,
1938.
``Flax and Hemp From the Seed to the Loom '' by George A. Lower in
``Mechanical Engineering'' February, 1937.
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