Like many other fibrous plant materials, hemp can be used to make cloth and paper. Like any other plant matter, it can be converted to alcohol, and its seeds provide both oil and protein. The cannabis strains used for hemp tend to be relatively low in THC, and are not encouraged to flower, but rather to bolt and produce long, strong stalks. Historically speaking, hemp was a critically important fiber.

Today, hemp paper and cloth made with modern technology is very durable and of high quality. However, once nylon was invented everyone quickly switched from hemp ropes to nylon ropes, which were stronger and longer-lasting.

All told, cannabis has been used for pleasure, medicine, fiber, food, paper, clothing and fuel for thousands of years - quite an impressive resume for a single domesticated plant.

The fact that this simple plant is criminal, when it has such a long record in human history, has to be one of the more bizarre features of modern human society.

The criminalization of drugs in the 20th century can't be ascribed to any single cause - economic cartels, racism, puritanical attitudes, public health crusaders, the prison-industrial complex, or anything else. It arose out of politics and fear, and is now used to keep domestic populations in line by dictatorial governments.

For example, another leading feature in the War on Drugs is the power of fear in politics - politicians can whip up public fears about drugs corrupting the youth and drug-related crime very easily, and use that as a basis for political power. That's a common theme from Anslinger and McCarthy (heroin addict) through Nixon to Bush: "We are Threatened by Great Evils - Commies, Druggies, and Terrists".

Regarding this article, it's unwise to dismiss private economic rationales for government action There are many examples of government decisions made in the 20th century that served private interests.

For example, alcohol prohibition had the added effect of securing the tranportation fuel market for J.D. Rockefeller's petroleum business (before the auto engine came along, the business had been all about selling kerosene for lamps). The original internal combustion engines ran on farm alcohol - 96% pure ethanol produced on farms in small stills. Oddly enough, Rockefeller gave millions to the Women's Christian Temperance Movement. Anti-German sentiment at the outbreak of WWI was used to push Prohibition (there were many German brewers).

This kind of thing was going on all the time in the late 19th and early 20th century. Rockefeller's Standard Oil was using every trick ever invented to undercut and buy out the competition. Likewise, the electricity combines were struggling to gain monopolies everywhere that power lines were being put in, and often owned entire city councils. People worked without breaks or vacations in sweatshop conditions, and attempts at unionizing led to brutal clashes with security guards and soldiers.

In such an environment, it's not implausible that established business interests in the paper and cloth industries would actively support Anslinger's efforts in order to shut out a new competitor, even if his motivations were racism and securing political power.

Oddly enough, there was a brief hiatus in Cannabis Prohibition during WWII, when farmers were urged to grow hemp by the U.S. government. The promotional film made during that time, Hemp for Victory (1942) is available at that link.

Despite all that, Schwarzenegger persists in vetoing The Industrial Hemp Bill every time it comes up.

What's his motivation?

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Thank you for this well-written, well-researched article about the demonizing of hemp/marijuana and the usual machinations of history's corporate/political elite doing what they do best - propaganda and manipulation. I am not at all surprised to see DuPont's + Rockefeller's + "The Emperor...", et al's role in this nor am I surprised to see the cultural smears that have so defined our history. For years, I have been amazed that the US can so blatantly fool so many of its citizens about so many things. It just takes lies by the liars that tell them and pretty soon they become urban myths.

You have exposed the underbelly of the beast, and for that we should all be grateful. I keep hoping in my lifetime that the egregious and disingenious deeds done by a previous generation of greedy liars will be reversed but I'm not holding my breath. Our Congress and elected officials have too much money invested in "the drug war" to separate out hemp, which would be a fantastic energy source, not to mention all its other beneficial uses. I would also rather be around someone smoking pot any day of the week rather than an alcoholic. There's also no comparison between pot and the other harder drugs. Outstanding article!

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The Governor of CA is a political animal so he won't back the Industrial Hemp resolution. Here's the problem:

The minute any politician backs legalizing hemp or marijuana, the right-wing ratbastards in media would report that the politician is "a commie," "pinko," basically trying to destroy the swell values of pure America. Can't you just hear O'Reilly and Limbaugh blasting that politician big-time. It is actually fear of the media's reporting that almost paralyzes people from acting their consciences. By now we know how repressed our society is and how this leads to horrific consequences, but nothing is ever done with our holier-than-thou evangelical folks, the neoconservatives, and the media monitoring so-called morals. America = the Puritanical atmosphere of the 17th century!

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Plant your seeds.


Direct Primaries!

Direct Elections!

Direct Democracy!

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Plant your seeds.


Direct Primaries!

Direct Elections!

Direct Democracy!

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Woops, heh heh...one too many.

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I have read some articles from chemical companies , from the 1920s that state the threat from hemp to the synthetic chemical indutry.
I have been researching the insanity of the drug war since I was nine and I find many reasons for Drug Prohibition.
One thing is true. All Drugs must be freely available as they were for all but the last 100 years or so of human history.
Drug Prohibition causes 99% of the societal problems with drugs and 90% of the individual problems.
Drugs are as available as ever but they are expensive. If drug Prohibition ends drugs will be just as available but they will be cheap.
$5000 gets $58,000,000 with illegal opiates. That is why the War On Some Drugs will NEVER work and wastes money and time and punishes people for brain chemistry.
Hearst, Mellon, DuPont had a BIG part to play in making Hemp illegal.
Nice try though.

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While I'm against Draconian drug laws because they destroy people's lives, I think the bubble that a little grass is good for everyone should be popped.

One reason people of color use drugs is that the reality of living in this culture is too painful, but the idea that taking drugs is a show of solidarity is a bunch of romanticism.

"Pot Studies" seem a waste of time when our economy is tottering on bankruptcy and fear is wielded as a weapon against our Constitutional rights. If all those potheads who light up and tune out would engage with the forces that oppress us all, the progressive movement would be a lot stronger.

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This article didn't miss a beat, throwing 9/11truth into the myth mix. Would FEMA/NIST debate AEtruth.org. people; or better yet would a rush of courageous architects/engineers come out of the closet and resolve this?

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You could make a stronger case for Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone assassin of John F. Kennedy; Oswald at least left a not-quite-smoking gun at the scene.

This comment shows how much faith one can put in the rest of the article.

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Thanks for an article that isn't into whining about not being allowed to smoke dope and how unfair it is to be busted when you do. The key is in the phrase "he financial self-interest of the prison-industrial complex has been a more recent development." In my view that is the biggest impediment to any mass movement toward relaxing the laws now. There is too much money in the prison business. As to why there is prejudice against dope now, I should think you would need to try it to make up your own mind for yourself. I may have smoked shoe boxes full of the stuff myself, but I stopped in 1972. I certainly don't qualify to have an opinion about this now, based on my own experience. I can tell you that pure sobriety: no dope, no alcohol, no drugs except caffeine far surpasses any other form of consciousness I have experienced.

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- the writer must have been smoking something here, or else just trying to blow smoke up well you know. The ONLY reason for the whole 'war on drugs' is to provide a huge amount of more-or-less unaccountable cash for organised crime, both without and within organised governments (which in these days is just another branch of organised crime itself). Sorry, I guess there's at least one secondary reason, to justify a huge cops-courts-jail system to help control people who are likely to be thinking outside the box. It's part of a deep rabbit hole - you can read more here - They're Building a Box - and You're In It - http://www.rudemacedon.ca/dlp/box/box-intro.html

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Good article. It touches on lots and lots but it never marries the conspiracy with the existing racism of the late nineteenth early twentieth centuries. They are not separate issues. The conspiracy theory, an interesting urban legend, can't stand on its own unless the racist propaganda of Hearst publications prop it up. Racism, sexism, homophobia, they are always in the ready to be exploited, hemps history is not so unique…Hearst and others understood a good opportunity and Herer wrote a good story, the truth is most likely in the middle.

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but what catchy phrase can incorporate "The War on Privacy and Right to Your Own Consciousness"? or, huh? If we ever make it that far, one day we'll look back on this chapter as one of the most ignorant things humanity has ever forced on itself, perpetuated by shitty little people who can only say no, scrunching up their sphincters to squeeze power out of society, at the cost of a million incarcerated stoners and weed dealers. It's always so much easier to outlaw the symptom than address anything like the underlying causes for chemical escape. If we do not have the right to determine our own interior state then ALL other freedoms are meaningless; it is the ONLY right that nature truly grants us.

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I suggest the author talk to those in recovery. That alone should justify dismissing the absurdities he perspetuates here.

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not only well researched and clear conclusions, but what this article shows is that the Left can be as guilty as the Right when it comes to inane "conspiracy theories" i.e Hearst and Hemp, the WTC was bombed by the CIA, etc.

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what about the fact that native people have been using some form of cannabis for various illnesses for hundreds of years? and it works! i have a disease that immuno-suppressants have NO proven track record for but the docs want me to have them. medicinal marijuana has shown some pretty dramatic improvement in symptoms but i'm not allowed it, i'm in Texas and will likely NEVER be allowed to have the one drug that takes the pain away.

hell my disease didn't even have a name until about 15 years ago and it is terminal, but before it kills me it will deform my face hands and feet, while at the same time destroying my lungs, esophagus and gut. that and the hand deformation has already begun. wow, what a fun few years i have to look forward to!

someone at kos said it best "only a cruel and tyrannical government would deny you the medication you need for your pain because it so fears demon weed". for me that said it all.

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The same groups (Whiggish, Puritan-descended) that pushed for prohibition in the antebellum period often supported the Know-Nothing movement, associating drink with Catholic immigrants (mainly Irish). I remember seeing a rather nasty editorial cartoon of the period depicted a stereotypical set of Irish parents smiling as their baby crawled toward a jug of whisky.

A Republican supporter of Blaine's Presidential campaign in 1884 characterized the Democrats as the party of "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion", suggeting that such a tie continued, at least among some people, after the Civil War.

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Although the author of this article has some very good points, it seems that attributing the entire War on Drugs to racism is a bit simplistic. There are a number of reasons marijuana is illegal, but hemp is not marijuana. Racism, classism, religiosity, and ignorance are some of the factors in making marijuana into a demon-producing substance. Power, economics, and control are undoubtedly others.

However, unless one maintains that growing hemp is prohibited along with the more THC infused marijuana just because they may be confused with each other or that people might try to grow pot in with the hemp plants, there is no reason not to allow people to cultivate hemp. It is a highly renewable resource and can be used for clothing, plastic substitutes, rope (even if nylon is more durable, it's made from petroleum!) and other products.

This is far too complex to pin it down to one factor, racism, and ignore all the other possible reasons for keeping illegal not only growing, using or possessing pot, but also growing hemp (which is not illegal in clothing, rope, or other products).

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Individuals should be able to do whatever they want with their body and property as long as they don't physically harm anyone else's body or property without their consent.


How many people do you know favor legalizing Crystal Meth? Crack? Heroin? Prostitution? Physician Assisted Suicide?

How many people do you know favor making strip clubs illegal? Alcohol? Tobacco Smoking and Tobacco Products? Abortion?

Why? Because these people think these things are bad for people to engage in, just like a majority of people think pot is bad.

The only difference between the former group and the latter group is that a majority of people favor banning the former where a minority of people favor banning the latter.


These people seek to legislate their tastes and make those choices for the rest of us.

They don't value individual liberty, until that changes, if it ever changes, there will always be consensual crime laws.

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Roadside ditches in my state are full of fiber quality "hemp" plants. Why? Because Midwestern farmers were encouraged to grow "hemp" for fiber in both world wars.

Why does marijuana continue to be illegal?

Too many people making too much money off it remaining illegal, period.

To the list of organizations, police narcotic squads, drug rehab counselors etc., making money from the continued illegitimacy of pot let add another: young, white, libertarian-leaning professionals.

A friend told me that during the course of a conversation with a thirty-somethingish couple awhile back the topic of marijuana legalization came up. The young couple, my friend said, were vehemently opposed to legalization because dealing pot to their friends is a highly profitable, and most importantly, non-taxable source of income. Legalization would fuck-up their sweet deal, they told my friend.

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I think the article (among other things) shows how long fascism has been creeping into government. It may have started with a Bush, but not George W. Bush,his Grandfather, Prescott bush was the U.S. banker for Nazi Germany. He funneled money and instructions to the Feurer on behalf of some of the "moneyed interests" in this country (Some of them mentioned in the above article) And I think that BOTH arguments may hold some truth.

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What is the cannabis reality…? From the study I have done, it appears to me a foundational tenet for decisions to “outlaw” the use of cannabis in any form is closely tied to the need for those in power to find ways to make damn sure John Q Public is not in any fashion able to “think” for themselves. Using the rising power of the medical profession (AMA) coupled with the rising economic clout of the emerging pharmaceutical industry, American “power-brokers” were, in my opinion, fearful the use of cannabis would negatively impact the significance of AMA doctors as well as potentially undermine the need for the newly emerging corporate for-profit “miracle-drugs.” And as they say, the rest is history.

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Excellent article,and I greatly appreciate it. I'll recommend it to others.

And I can take some time to really consider if I have been guilty of falling for what this author is labeling "a conspiracy".

"Conspiracy" has become a major slam in this post 9/11 world. The mere mention of a person being a "conspiracy theorist" can obliterate any useful thing they might have to say, not that we aren't inundated with ridiculous CT. It can be sort of irresponsible to toss that word around.

I can also be responsible to accept that I am pretty much tilted against corporate power. see corporations as able to exist way above enforceable laws and in "cahoots" with the GOP and our lovable Blue Dog Dems. Gotta have the appearance of "bipartisan cooperation".

We know that Big Corp and the GOP are nearly Siamese twins. The revolving door between the 2 entities certainly isn't a theory. It's real. And its a problem.

The GOP has cannabis prohibition as a central feature of their political religion. Your local GOP folks may talk like Ron Paul about pot, but if they are going to rise above state-level and aspire to the Federal Big-Time, they will spout reefer madness. How Ron Paul has existed as a repub for all these years without them getting rid of him is hard to grasp.

Until you bring up racism. The GOP is the party of racism. It's bleached-white. The racist angle is doubtlessly at the core of the GOP's valuing of this prohibition.

Then there's the prison industry, also GOP-connected that is thriving off this being illegal. Private Prisons are big business. Privte prisons run by racists who are ok with incarcerating so many non-white men for no good reason.

It is true that racism has a huge and central role in this ridiculous and stupid state of affairs but the utter usefulness of hemp, historically, the way it can just be grown by anybody with the room to do so, the way it can be had for free - cannot be overlooked or discounted.

All of this is anathema to Capitalism. There will be NOTHING FREE unless you already have more money than God.

I am, in the end, unsure of what is to be gained from trying to minimize the role of corporations in the evolution of Reefer Madness, but there can be no denying that Big Pharma and Big Oil have huge stakes in keeping it illegal, even though I think it is irrational.

It didn't start out this way, perhaps, but it's this way now.

But I totally agree it is ridiculous to posit that relegalized cannabis is going "shut down" any particular corporation. That's stupid too. Won't happen.

If you have a monopoly on this and that comes along and can be used as an altenative, this just became less valuable because of increased supply. The same basic free market stuff spewed endlessly by the Right.

Corporations exist to maximize profit by any means available. Sharing that wealth isn't part of the the plan.

Cannabis prohibition is built on lies and racism and other Puritan bullshit and it has never had the first remotely defensible reason for existence.

So why is it still illegal?

The Democratic party has to be the party to take this on, if for no other reason than to hurt the GOP by taking away this central part of their political muscle. Rightwingers who think the GOP is going to help them relegalize need to be pitied.

Dems will do this by talking about cannabis and relegalization like sane adults (asking a lot, I know) but all they have to do is talk.

When we can talk about this like sane adults, free of propaganda bullshit, we'll "Move America Forward". (heh)

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You, as progressives, may want to talk about "safety" of hemp products. But you need to check out Daniel Amen's work at BrainPlace.com. Pot use affects the brain permanently just as alcohol does. Do you want teenagers to know that when they can do something about it? Or do you want teenagers to use pot throughout high school and young adulthood only to find out later they have destroyed irretrievable brain cells.

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The writer should have stated that he was against drug use! For to tie pot use with racism and culture wars is to perpetuate the dogma. Those who are racist will continue to accept the laws "because that way we can keep them in check;" all the while, continuing their own use of illegal drugs because: "the police wont target us."

If you are against stupid drug laws, as I am, you should have left it as "Hearst's fault," instead of arming the novice bigots and racists .

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"Twentieth-century cannabis prohibition first reared its head in countries where white minorities ruled black majorities: South Africa, where it's known as dagga, banned it in 1911, and Jamaica, then a British colony, outlawed ganja in 1913."

I hate to pop your little bubble, but the first anti-marijuana law passed in the US was a disorderly conduct-type statute passed in Texas in 1902 and expressly directed at Mexicans. It was thought to be necessary for control, because they were not doing anything wrong.

If you are really interested in this, I suggest you get a copy of the 1972 U. of W. Va. Law Review, fall edition (I think-it's been awhile), and look for an article entitled "The Forbidden Fruit and the Tree of Knowledge" by Prof. Charles Whitebread. It has the real story, well-documented, and Hearst had plenty to do with it.

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America will never legalize a substance that has so many positive health effects that its usage could conceivably bring down big Pharma--and that can also be grown in your backyard with almost no maintenance or care. Won't happen.

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the white man goes about proclaiming how much more intelligent,,civilized,, and pious he be
but deep inside in his most primal self he knows he is NOT
so he FEARS,, and what the white man FEARS must be either CAGED,EXTERMINATED, OR CRIMINALIZED,, since it doesnt fit into his teeny little sick twisted mold of reality
and you might as well face it your penis will never be as big as the black guys next to you
so accept it, get over it,,
admit it was WRONG to ever CIMINALIZE CANNABIS& HEMP IN THE FIRST PLACE
stop the lies
release the medicine
LEGALIZE ALL THINGS HEMP
the white man would destroy the very thing that gives life,then cry when his children are starving

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the white man goes about proclaiming how much more intelligent,,civilized,, and pious he be
but deep inside in his most primal self he knows he is NOT
so he FEARS,, and what the white man FEARS must be either CAGED,EXTERMINATED, OR CRIMINALIZED,, since it doesnt fit into his teeny little sick twisted mold of reality
and you might as well face it your penis will never be as big as the black guys next to you
so accept it, get over it,,
admit it was WRONG to ever CIMINALIZE CANNABIS& HEMP IN THE FIRST PLACE
stop the lies
release the medicine
LEGALIZE ALL THINGS HEMP
the white man would destroy the very thing that gives life,then cry when his children are starving

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...make you want to kill cops. It makes you want to kill a hot fudge sundae.

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Dagga is NOT Cannabis of ANY FORM or GUISE.Kanna(Leonotus leonurus) is a plant in the Lamiaceae Family, Leonotis Family. It is classified as an inebriant somewhat similar in effect to cannibis, but nowhere near as potent. It doesn't even contain cannabinoids whatsoever. IT IS NOT SCHEDULED ANTWHERE ASIDE FROM AUSTRALIA. It is curreently acompletely legal herb everywhere else. Please get all of your facts straight before going and posting erroneous facts.

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The remainder of your article is as true as anything though, just please try to be atad more knowledgeable regarding the less well-known entheogens.Now, idf you wanted to talk about the plants that ARE legal that are similar to thegood herb, try discussing Kratom(Mitrgyna speciosa(, and why it's being watched by the DEA, when it can be used foe opiate Detox, or even Iboga(Tabernanthe iboga), a tree from the congo that treats Heroin, cocaine and just about anyother substance addiction from usually one therapy session. Perhaps, we should be considering abroader scope imstead of only focusing upon on one magical, medicinal plant? But, of course this is only my opinion, please feel free to slam my views, for that's all they are. Still, it's fucked that the very medicines that help most are the most illegal. sad, sad indeed.

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To be quite honest, this is the first I have ever heard of the "hemp conspiracy." As to why pot remains illegal, my money is on the pharmaceutical / liquor lobbies. Why get stoned, and risk getting arrested for possession when alcohol and prescription opiates are perfectly legal and generally easy to come by?

As far as the racist factor is concerned, most drug dealers being African-American is roughly the reverse of the truism that rich people don't steal groceries. I.e., most crimes committed by young black men are a manifestation of a virulent phenomenon: this country offers precious few alternatives for inner-city young blacks to make the kind of money our consumer society demands. If they're exceedingly lucky, they can become sports stars or rap stars. Failing that, they can deal drugs, or work two shifts a day flipping burgers at Mickey D's. This, after all, is the Land Of Opportunity.

In addition, if the government would only tell the lobbyists to go to hell, legalize marijuana, and tax it the way it currently taxes cigarettes, the revenue could buy cradle-to-grave health care for every one of us.

Oh, but then, of course, you have the insurance lobby. . .

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The vested business interests of Big Oil, Coal, Cotton, Paper, Chemical, Insurance, Banks, Religion, etc ... planted the first seeds of business fascism when they worked to get hemp banned. When peak oil started hitting all of us since the 1970s, the vested business interests have been desperate to cover up the truth. It's no coincidence that this country fights wars for oil and begs terror harbouring nations such as Saudi Arabia for more oil even as its citizens have nothing to gain from all that BLACK GOLD. The Progressive Movement must include the fight to make Industrial Hemp legal if it is to DEFEAT the longstanding social rightwing if it is to win for the better of this country and this planet. Go on the offensive and bring out the 26000 uses of Industrial Hemp and STOP allowing the social cons to frame it as "pot" only. Yes, we can ERADICATE our dependence on foreign oil and put global warming to rest.

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It's good to find out that I'm a '9/11 Truther' because I also smoke pot. And for months I've been thinking it was due to the 'facts' that #7 and the Towers were demolished by set explosives, no airliner crashed into the Pentagon, and a vast majority of the other unexplained incidents, outright lies, and clumsy cover-up that made me grudgingly come around to the horrible truth that we have leaders so sick for power and greed that they coordinated a murderous attack on their own citizens.

But I'm certainly not going to try to convince anyone else here; not now (too mellowed out from my smoking porch).

I enjoyed reading the article and assume most of it is accurate historically. However, in addition to your assumption that potheads are, ipso facto, conspiracy buffs, I found some of your statements rather oddly phrased:

Anslinger's other theme was that white girls would be ruined once they'd experienced the lurid pleasures of having a black man's joint in their mouth.

That bastard had a lot of anti-drug themes but I'll bet he never expressed one in quite that manner. It's a shame we don't have our own country somewhere...

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You cannot compare the hemp conspiracy to the 9/11 conspiracy. The real 9/11 conspiracy is the physically and strategically impossible events of that day recounted in the incomplete 9/11 Commission Report. I know this article is about weed but I must digress.

The 9/11 truth movement is exactly that: about truth. The media has helped the government and corporations cover their tracks by promulgating the idea that conspiracists are loons with no evidence behind what they say. There are some wacky theories out there but the main point is that the official story is complete and utter bullshit. We don't have to prove what actually did happen as long as we know what didn't.

The Twin Towers and WTC7 were imploded beyond any reasonable doubt. We don't know by whom yet and that is precisely why we need a true open and independent investigation into the tragic events of that day. There are over a hundred unanswered questions and the governments has done nothing but stonewall since that day and use fear to justify its illegal preemptive wars. 9/11 was a false flag just like Pearl Harbor and just like the Gulf of Tonkin.

The evidence is out there for people willing to open their minds and realize that our government will do anything to preserve its, not our, way of life, which is global control and ultimately complete depletion of Earth's natural resources. I'm assuming they have a backup plan while they stall for time using global depopulation techniques.

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Hemp being illegal has as much to do with the oil companies as well as the socialites. Hemp used to be one of those things that wealthy get-a-bouts of the twenties did a their little 'socials'. Cocaine wine and powdwers were readily available too. So why has'nt the stuff been made legal? It's almost too Hollywood to say but, 'Thar's money to be made keepin' it illegal!!".
See we have a revolving door with drugs and money. It really does'nt matter what drug it is,hemp or herion, the game is the same.
Firstly it's got to be grown,in the case of hemp,or imported,for heroin. Then you get it into the streets. There with the help of counterfiet cash,it gets spread out. The cops keeping tabs on all this booty,single out the busts. They use the 'funny money' to create buys,make the deal,get the bust, and recycle the whole deal over and over again. The trick is the cops take out the real money and put back the 'funny money' so it all looks good in the courts,skimming the real money all the time.
How come oil hates hemp?
Hemp makes #2 Diesel,
a fuel that could change our concept of fuel economy. Hemp makes bio-diesel,a fuel that can get 150mpg and be a very economical home heating fuel,greatly reducing carbon produced by home heating, hemp oil could even cost less.
The MPG of bio-diesel makes up for the cost. Far better than E-85 fuels which get greatly reduced gas mileage and cost the same. As a 'value' E-85 is bunk!!
Also Hemp smoking,eating and tea servings caise people to become more peaceful. Peaceful is something you can't be in 'War-Time America'
I'm sorry but 'Peaceful' is exactally how we're supposed to live.
Maybe it's time we 'Rolled One for Freedom'
Draft Jeffrey7 for Prez '08

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Please, do not give me that CRAP about 'gateway' drug.

The government makes it a 'gateway' drug because they have drove it onto the black market.

It's a joke and the politicians are the punch line.

END PROHIBITION NOW!

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This is the weakest article on any subject I've every read on AlterNet. What was it's purpose. Rarely is there ever just a single cause for a organized event. To discount the Dupont/Hearst connection while promoting other social reasons isn't necessary. That was then this is now. I don't think any of us were there and we only slap our keyboards in self promotion. Why were Ron Paul supporters mentioned? Oh that's right they are here and now and he's the only one to brave enough to risk political suicide, by speaking honestly about this or any other subject. If this was just a over key stroked article to back Dr. Paul and his common sense approach to problems and there solutions they just say it.

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This article is 90% Intellectual rubbish!! And he found some one to publish books?? Below is the final Paragraph of some reality.

The Rockefeller Report echoed the Committee of Fifty's conclusion that the ..... In the 1930s, guided by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and its chief, ...
www.cedro-uva.org/lib/levine.alcohol.html
The 1960s

As a result, in coming years there will be even more public discussion and debate about the varieties of drug prohibition and about the alternatives to it. As part of that conversation, many more people will discover that they have lived for decades within a regime of world-wide drug prohibition. That growing understanding will help push global drug prohibition closer to its end.

We are convinced that someday, as Edward Brecher predicted, most Americans will look back on drug prohibition and judge it to have been (like alcohol prohibition) repressive, unjust, expensive and ineffective -- a failure. In the twentieth century, a dozen major scientific commissions in Britain, Canada, and the United States have recommended alternatives to punitive drug policies. The United States is the only nation where these recommendations have been so consistently ignored (Levine, 1994; Trebach and Zeese, 1990). For starters, these recommendations should be more widely discussed and better understood in the United States. The experiences of other nations, regions and cities also provide living examples of decriminalization and harm reduction programs within global drug prohibition. The full range of alternatives to current U.S. drug policy should be studied and debated -- from futuristic visions to pragmatic reforms that could be implemented immediately. For drug policy, as was the case with alcohol policy, discussion of alternatives is an essential part of the transition from prohibition to regulation.

In 1953 I was nearly thrown out of High School because Rockfeller concluded that not to leagalize drugs, particularily M.J. would "lead to a trail of crime unprecedented in Western World history." which I reported in a paper in 11th grade.

This is a must read if anyone wants to get a grip on what the hell is really been tried and conclusions that start at Prohibition in the 20's and 30's to today. Same ole shit. Crazy Carlos

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This story is rather far fetched. If hemp can be used economically to make paper, even the paper mills would use it. The time this supposedly happened, 'hemp smoking' was not popular yet, or nobody saw a danger in it.
Unfortunately, too many people are out trying to make a name for theselves, or money, with outrageous claims. I'd be a dead man had I followed all the sensational health claims that have appeared.

Erik Wassenich

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Hearst and his merry band of fuck-sticks certainly DID have plenty to do with getting the "Marijuana Tax Act" shoved through the hallowed halls of Congress, and Mellon and Anslinger most definitely WERE the racists Jack Herrer proclaimed them to be!

I've done PLENTY of research on the subject, and Herrer is right! He stated that racism and Big Money Interests were at the core of marijuana prohibition, and a lot of the same points he made are parroted here!

As to the old sad saw about the stereotypical marijuana user stumbling along forgetting who, or where he is, and what it was that he was supposed to do, that's a bunch of bullshit!

I've been smoking weed since 1973! Do I come across as some kind of lame-brained lunatic? When marijuana is portrayed in the press, or the movie theater, the pot-heads are always portrayed as either lovable fools, or raving lunatics! Get this! Marijuana actually stimulates the brain! It actually causes the brain to regenerate itself! In fact, it's actually being studied as a treatment for Alzheimer's Disease!

It's way past time to legalise marijuana! it doesn't matter who is doing it, why it's being done, or what will be done after the fact! Just do it!!!!

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Will somebody tell the Drug Enforcement Agency that hemp is back in fashion and NO one can smoke hemp clothing. I've heard tell they are worried about that dreaded THC content of the fabric.

China is where it is all happening. I think they are the largest exporter of hemp, certainly not a "democracy" but...farmers and factory workers make a living from HEMP...unlike many of our USA farmer/ entrepreneurs.

Info from a 1997 article about Dongping in China. Western investors spent $12 Million to refit a textile factory which became the leading supplier of hemp at that time. It employed 2000 happy workers and the Dongping citizens held a parade and stretched banners across streets, one ...."Welcome to our partners in cannabis production."

http://www.gluckman.com/hemp.html

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"Witness the multitudes who zealously argue that because George W. Bush gained a political advantage from the 9/11 attacks and told a thousand lies to justify the war in Iraq, it's proof that his operatives planted explosives in the World Trade Center and set them off an hour or so after the planes hit."

That's NOT the only evidence that the administration had prior knowledge and/or some role in the events of 9/11. I know your statement is much more specific than that, and therefore may specifically be true, however, I cannot dismiss that your intent was to suggest that our government had absolutely no role in the events of 9/11. Making this unnecessary and unrelated accusation at the end of your article undermines your credibility and that of your article.

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It was well before my time of course but I've read Emily Murphy's book the Black Candle and can attest to the Edmonton magistrate being a bigot. Not many copies of the book remain -- interestingly one is preserved in the Alberta Legislature's library in Edmonton -- but some kind soul has digitized it here: http://www.freeworldnews.com/frontmatter.html

A loyal contingent of right-wing bigots still reside in Alberta who use any excuse to imprison those they don't like. Our national Conservative government is currently following the neo-con agenda, parroting tough-on-crime, minimum sentences that have made America the leader worldwide in incarcerating its citizens.

Given the statistics of those in prisons in America for marijuana "crimes", I would say prohibition has evolved more for racial than economical reasons.

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Hemp and the cannabis plant commonly known as marijuana or pot are two different things. Hemp has been used for a very long time for rope, clothing, and other items. It is related to the pot plant, but has very little THC.

I think the author's conflating these two different plants is the basis for some of the arguments made by posters. And it's certainly possible that each is illegal for different reasons.

It's a bit surprising that no one here has brought up the Canadian study that was done several years ago. I found it on the internet and printed it out when I first heard of it, but have been unable to locate it recently. It's been awhile since I read it, but as I recall, it starts out stating the assumption of those who instigated the study that they would prove once and for all how dangerous using marijuana is. However, it is also stated in the introduction that the original assumption was rather conclusively overturned by the evidence.

The report, which is quite long, concludes that marijuana is most definitly not a "gateway" drug and does not lead to violence or crime of any kind. It stated that there are no reported deaths whatsoever from overdoses and that there is not even any documented evidence that driving while high results in more accidents since people tend to be more, not less, cautious. Unlike alcohol. (This last assertion was qualified by the fact that there had really not been any definitive studies done on driving while high on pot without the additional influence of alcohol.)

The final summary of the Canadian government's findings included recommendations for decriminalizing pot. Of course, I read that the US government was very upset about this, which is probably why the report is now so hard to find online.

Marijuana is not like drinking, and it's also not hemp. At the age of 60, I have known dozens, if not hundreds, of people who smoke or ingest pot and also hundreds who drink. I'd rather be around a pot user than a drunk any day. No matter how high a person gets from cannibis, it is unlikely that he or she will be mean. Drinkers tend to get unreasonable pretty quickly. Even the most mild mannered people can be horrid and belligerent when drunk.

Oh - for the record: "it's" is NOT A POSSESSIVE! "It's" is the contraction for "it is."

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Why would you have to "scratch a pothead" in order to ask a question, about pot prohibiton or anything else?

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"By the time Prohibition was repealed in 1933, 30 states had some form of pot law."
I do not deny the author's assertion that racism and social engineering played a large role in creating and perpetuating the myths surrounding cannibis. But I am also convinced that the liquor industry, fearing people would find a replacement for there product, lobbied hard and successfully to promote the "killer weed" myth.
Lately, I think Big Pharma has joined in. Legal pot could put a major dent in the sales of the very profitable drugs currently foisted on the public.

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This article describes the situation I pretty much had accepted, though in more detail .. but I do think there is more to it.

In 2003, when I was in radiation treatment for cancer, one of my fellow patients who was being treated for pancreatic cancer was having some issues with vomiting, a natural and pervasive side effect of radiation applied to the digestive system. Actually, of course his problem was health coverage, because money was the primary bottleneck. His physician prescribed (medical grade) marijuana as his first choice of anti-emetics, and the bill was $12,000/mo. That's right, TWELVE THOUSAND DOLLARS for ONE MONTH'S TREATMENT.

The chemical anti-emetics I was taking for chemo were cheap at $2,000/mo, but were no doubt hard on my system which has yet to recover, though that is another tirade.

However, I think it is highly probable that Big Pharma would fight to their last ill-gotten patent to prevent grass from being legalized.

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i have done several years of research on why cannabis is illegal and have found that it is an exceedingly complicated matter (duh!). i have written academically on the subject (nothing published as it was as an undergraduate) since 2001. culture and race played a part (and continue to do so); however so did the emerging chemical industry, the logging industry, and big pharma...especially big pharma.
there has been plenty of good information already posted, so i won't repeat it all here.. just wanted to add my voice as a master's degreed historian who has spent a great deal of time researching the history of medical cannabis & hemp and why they continue to be illegal...oh, and just for the record, i'm 43.

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i did medical billing for many years...this just doesn't sound right...are you sure the bill was JUST for his medical marijuana and did not include the cost of his chemo/radiation? i admit i've been out of that loop for over 10 years, but that sounds awfully fishy...

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Within our country and its political system, those who have economic power hold much sway over what our politicians do, and that is in this age of mass media proliferation. I can do nothing but read stories and imagine the amount of graft and corruption that took place within those smoke-filled rooms of yesteryear.
And yet the fact remains that prohibition has benefited criminals of the paper, petrochemical, textile, health, and political industries. This grave, mis-allocation of resources to fight a mythical scourge only limits the progress of our society, while criminals of industry and politicians benefit from consistently bloating federal funding, leaving us Americans to foot the bill. Drug dealers are empowered by an artificially inflated demand and our most destitute civilians (people like the ones Jesus came to save) eat stray bullets for dessert.
If cannabis really is the demon it is portrayed as, the government would tell us the truth about it because all this useless propaganda is turning your children into cynics who will never again believe what they are told again.
One thing I've learned in my own personal search for the Truth is that the past may as well be a myth. The same goes for the future. How we proceed from the present is the only reality we have left to cling to. If corporations want a say in politics (the same goes for the church) shouldn't they pay taxes like the rest of us freedom loving Americans? Besides, hemp and cannabis have been used for thousands of years, yet for the past 70 years under prohibition we've witnessed a steady decline in our society.
For some reason, alarm bells are ringing.

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I loved your article.

It was perfect.

We need to hear more about this interesting issue: Why potheads are wrong about why their pot is illegal.

You continue to keep them distracted, while I send my new apprentice, Darth Maul, to build more prison camps in which to incarcerate them.

Soon, the queen will sign our treaty, and I shall become Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic!

Mwa! Ha! Ha! Ha! Haaaaaaa!

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come on.
any ONE of these premises does not exclude the others from potentially valid possibility.

OF COURSE RACISM WAS A VALID *EXCUSE*: Mexicans, Chinese railworkers...

I mean, honestly, *this* coming from a nation that still hangs nooses & torches churches... & the prison industry sure generates some nasty race-oriented hate gangs.

...but there is nothing that indicates any ONE ugliness prevents the others from motivating a hate-based legislation.

Does the Author work for a corporation of some involvement or something?

I mean, take a look at the legacy of the Civil War & the later Western Expansion (coyly called "Manifest Destiny" or "Die Injun"): the poisonous economy & corporate culture of the WORLD has been influenced by the American need to rebuild the South:
- sugar
- oil
- tobacco
- cotton
...& the nasty legislation & 'foreign policies' that drive supporting them...

Hemp cultivation is *freedom* from cancerous American corporate 'do as I say or catch a rubber bullet' culture.


~~~
Spread Love...

BlueBerry Pick'n
can be found @
ThisCanadian
~~~
"We, two, form a Multitude" ~ Ovid.
~~~
"Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced"

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If you read chapter 4 in "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" and can't put together a conspiracy?I don't know what to say.Page 27 for instance.By the way,you must have a copy since your article mainly consists of your cherry picking of Jacks book.Jeees

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The late 1920s and 1930s saw continuing consolidation of power into the hands of a few large steel, oil and chemical (munitions) companies. The U.S. federal government placed much of the textile production for the domestic economy in the hands of its chief munitions maker, DuPont.

The processing of nitrating cellulose into explosives is very similar to the process for nitrating cellulose into synthetic fibers and plastics. Rayon, the first synthetic fiber, is simply stabilized guncotton, or nitrated cloth, the basic explosive of the 19th century.

“Synthetic plastics find application in fabricating a wide variety of articles, many of which in the past were made from natural products,” beamed Lammot DuPont (Popular Mechanics, June 1939).

“Consider our natural resources,” the president of DuPont continued, “The chemist has aided in conserving natural resources by developing synthetic products to supplement or wholly replace natural products.”

DuPont’s scientists were the world’s leading researchers into the processes of nitrating cellulose and were in fact the largest processor of cellulose in the nation in this era.

The February 1938 Popular Mechanics article stated “Thousands of tons of hemp hurds are used every year by one large powder company for the manufacture of dynamite and TNT.” History shows that DuPont had largely cornered the market in explosives by buying up and consolidating the smaller blasting companies in the late 1800s. By 1902 it controlled about two-thirds of industry output.

They were the largest powder company, supplying 40% of the munitions for the allies in WWI. As cellulose and fiber researchers, DuPont’s chemists knew hemp’s true value better than anyone else. The value of hemp goes far beyond line fibers; although recognized for linen, canvas, netting and cordage, these long fibers are only 20% of the hemp stalk’s weight. Eighty percent of the hemp is in the 77% cellulose hurd, and this was the most abundant, cleanest resource of cellulose (fiber) for paper, plastics and even rayon.

The empirical evidence in this book shows that the federal government – through the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act – allowed this munitions maker to supply synthetic fibers for the domestic economy without competition. The proof of a successful conspiracy among these corporate and governing interests is simply this: in 1997 DuPont was still the largest producer of man-made fibers, while no American citizen has legally harvested a single acre of textile grade hemp in over 60 years (except during the period of WWII).

An almost unlimited tonnage of natural fiber and cellulose would have become available to the American farmer in 1937, the year DuPont patented Nylon and the polluting wood-pulp paper sulfide process. All of hemp’s potential value was lost.

Simple plastics of the early 1900s were made of nitrated cellulose, directly related to DuPont’s munitions-making process. Celluloid, acetate and rayon were the simple plastics of that era, and hemp was well known to cellulose researchers as the premier resource for this new industry to use. Worldwide, the raw material of simple plastics, rayon and paper could be best supplied by hemp hurds.

Nylon fibers were developed between 1926-1937 by the noted Harvard chemist Wallace Carothers, working from German patents. These polyamides are long fibers based on observed natural products. Carothers, supplied with an open-ended research grant from DuPont, made a comprehensive study of natural cellulose fibers. He duplicated natural fibers in his labs and polyamides – long fibers of a specific chemical process – were developed. (Curiously, Wallace Carothers committed suicide in April of 1937, one week after the House Ways and Means Committee had the hearings on cannabis. (Read more at www.jackherer.com)

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The history channel had a good series concerning illegal drug use which made the point that the Nixon Administration made marijuana use illegal because it's use was causing an entire generation to dissent against the government. Marijuana causes internalization of analytical thought, and subsequent reaching of conclusion. Nixon faced an entire 60's generation of pot-smoking, thinking and analyzing dissent. His Administration's response was to cull use by changing laws to make use illegal. Anyone who has had a toke (with inhaling) will attest to the internalization of analytical thought brought on by the THC 'high'. This harmless drug has been demonized. If God made it, and it is not a poison, how can it be worse than alcohol or nicotine ?

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There really is no need to resort to some conspiracy of big money interests to explain the banning of pot. All one needs is an understanding of human nature. In every land in every age there are people who lie awake at night terrified that somebody, somewhere, is having a good time. If you can somehow make those having a good time "those other people", you can quite easily get a big crowd of dumbasses to follow you as you make illegal whatever they are using to have a good time.

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Condensing this down to fewer reasons and deriding Jack Herer for his decades of work researching and informing the public on the truth about the wonderful cannabis plant does a great disservice to the legalization movement. Whoever wrote this article should be ashamed of themselves for dismissing all the other reasons cannabis was deemed illegal. It was outlawed for a multitude of reasons, none of them honest, although it does boil down to classic racism, I have a feeling billionaire tycoons care more about $$ than locking up minorities, which is of course why they wanted it outlawed, not specifically so they could lock up minorities, but so their companies weren't forced to fold from the competition of the cannabis plant.

Had cannabis been useful for all it's purposes and *not* been a mild intoxicant brought into the country by minorities, it would still have been outlawed but Uncle Sam would have had to come up with a new reason to discriminate.

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Should have, could have, would have, must have, did, didn't, won't, ... IS

Just keep up the pressure. Debunk this that or the other thing all day long and it does nothing much.. well, other than get you all revved up once in a while. Smoke it, drink it, lick it, sniff it, eat it. You know, like war.

It may be a good time though for some smart tobacco folks to step up to the lobby plate and keep those rolling machines in business.

"Can I have a pack of.. " Yeah.


Oh, yeah, and what about the government apparently telling subsidized farmers to ... ignore hemp then? Can't grow it. Can't ever have grown it. Can't ever plan to grow it and don't talk about it and don't ask questions. Don't even THINK about it.

What's up with that then? Racism? Hm.. must be.

\r

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Needs almost zero processing for sale and is completely consumed by the purchaser. Its already a huge cash crop.
I think that is the core of why hemp and marijuana were made illegal.

I would also bet many countries out there are using hemp in the production of their currencies.
Make hemp impossible to obtain and you've got a ready defense against counterfeiting.

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I don't know what idiot pot smokers this author was hanging out with but most the poeple I know agree that its Big Pharma and the Alcohol Industry stopping the legalization of Marijuana.

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Racism was certainly the prime reason for marijuana prohibition in 1937. That is made quite evident in the now-hilariously funny "Reefer Madness" propaganda film.

But 70 years later, racism is hardly the primary reason to continue the prohibition of cannabis. There's no reason to justify continued prohibittion of marijuana -- except to deny the tobacco industry new competition.

With the jury still out on whether smoking marijuana causes the deadly ailments that tobacco smoking has long been proven to cause, the tobacco companies can ill-afford the competition from legalized cannabis.

The tobacco companies' opposition to cannabis legalization is downright stupid, for they could rake in billions by growing marijuana instead of tobacco. But Corporate America has never been known for looking long-term.

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Why don't you spend your time debunking a real conspiracy theory. I smoke weed and know several others that do so as well. The general consensus i think of most weed smokers is that it is Big Pharma and the alcohol industry that oppose the legalization of marijuana. Maybe you should hang out with smarter people.

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I find it rather hilarious that this author thinks that this "paper industry" cospiracy is actually popular. He really is out of touch with the mainstream. Fire this idiot immediatly.

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According to Herer, hemp has the most cellulose of any plant on Earth. If that is true, cellulosic ethanol would be much easier to make with it than with other plants such like sugar cane or switchgrass...
Steve Selverston

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Ultimately, it doesn't much matter how marijuana prohibition began. After 70 years, it's more of a historical carbuncle than anything else. When it came time to end slavery, did it matter how the practice began? Did they argue about who started it? I never read where they did.

The main point to draw from marijuana prohibition's history is there was never a good reason to persecute innocent consumers.

It's clear the people are ready for this injustice to end. Hopefully, it still matters what the people want.

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Good comments and historical prespective on the Hemp conspiracy. So often, people misunderstand or misrepresent the conspiracies that do take place. With hemp, while at least during the time of the initial Hearst opposition there was some concern over his business and threats to it. And I'm sure he opposed the hemp for that reason. However, as you so well point out, the real conspiracy is how, through racism and cultural wars, hemp was made illegal and more importantly, today, is still criminalized because of the culture war and racism...

Listen to Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott and others of their ilk talk about how they want to stomp out, kill and eliminate the influence of the "60s" on American culture. The war on drugs is their number one weapon. It is, was a culture war.

My only problem with the article was the references to the "conspiracists" ... as though they are somehow one tribe. One thought. One set of issues. As with any theories, there are always those in the extreme. And the Ron Paul crowd is kind of emblematic of this. They see his finer points but choose to ignore his other faults...like women's rights, his, no government is the cure...libertarian overkill... etc. etc.

The drug war is a big conspiracy. Call it what you like, but it is people conspiring through race and culture war language, and laws that uphold this philosophy that is keeping pot illegal. Today. Not yesterday. But today. It is a conspiracy to silence the 60s culture and its influences of god, forbid, freedom, and the "pusuit of happiness."

But a good article on a topic that needs to be told to the Ron Paul'ers and the Hearst conspiracy tale tellers. Again, the Hearst conspiracy might have been in play in the 30s and 40s, but a larger, more complext attack on Hemp and Pot is based on culture and racist control of our society.

Thanks.

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i am one of the ones he is blasting in this article. watch my 3 min. video and judge for yourself. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1177134371994268544

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It is a complete oversimplification to attribute marijuana prohibition to one singular cause, even if it is one of the major causes. In addition, one singular important fact that is missing from this article, as it does from almost all articles concerning hemp and marijuana, is that it does not try and answer the question of how and why marijuana and industrial hemp have been classified, espoused, and completely accepted as one in the same. It seems that most people, including journalists and politicians, accept the classification system that has been in place since Linnaeus began his classification system. Many improvements and changes have been made since his original system, especially with the breakthroughs coming from the emerging field molecular biology, however few have tried to reexamine or reclassify the multiple varieties of cannabis sativa. This is because it is virtually impossible to do any research on hemp and/or marijuana as it is classified as a Schedule I substance, meaning that no one is even to legally perform any tests or experiments on it, even though that is not true for cocaine and opium. This makes it virtually impossible to try and combat any claims made with hard evidence but there is some research out there. This is just one example of what I am talking about:
Hemp and Marijuana:
Myths & Realities
by David P. West, Ph.D.
for the North American Industrial Hemp Council.
However, as I have already said it is hard to know what is actual fact as no true in-depth scientific research can be done with out legal ramifications with hemp and/or marijuana being classified Schedule I. Though I must refer back to my original point and that is the lack of questioning and utter acceptance of hemp and marijuana being classified as one in the same. It seems that it is at least time to begin to ask these questions and find out the real answers. The only way for that to be done is to reclassify hemp and/or marijuana as a Schedule II to at least begin to get some real honest research.

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Certainly racism and anti immigrant was a big part of passing anti drug laws, but author does not give enough credit for progressive desire to reform society and make life better by controlling drug usage. we may wince an anti German and anti Irish rhetoric today, but many pro pot people point iut folks under the influence of alcohol are more likely to get violent.

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"
For the last 35 years, my friends, the late Captain Ed Adair, Buddy
Duzy, George Clayton Johnson, and I realized that only Hemp could save
the World! We set out to teach the world all the things about Hemp
that had been covered up by our own government!

All the people who have read my book, or read it online, or other Hemp
books, realized that Hemp is the only thing to reverse the Greenhouse
Effect! Only solar, wind, geothermal and Hemp, etc. can save the
world. Fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) will be a thing of
the past.

Virtually all trees will be left in the ground forever. We only have
4% of the trees left, by volume and weight, on Earth as we did 125
years ago." (end part one)

SamFox

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"Other than the oceans, trees are the biggest carbon sinks - to reverse
the Greenhouse effect!! Remember, we have 4% of trees now, and getting
smaller!

Houses and building materials are being made from Hemp, including
fiber board, wallboard, paneling, insulation, wood-like beams
(stronger than wood).

Hemp seeds are the 1 healthiest food on Earth, with complete globular
protein edestins; essential fatty acids, linoleic and linolenic, in
the best form on EARTH!

30% or more of all medicines (125 years ago) were made from Cannabis.
In the near future, 30% or more of medicines will be made from natural
Hemp/Marijuana. In 6,000 years of recorded history, there has never
been one death due to Cannabis Hemp - unless they were shot by a COP!


60% to 80% of everything was made from Cannabis Hemp 6,000 years ago
up until around 100 years ago: for example, clothes, rugs, drapes,
curtains, diapers, canvas, string, rope, sails, houses, cars, etc... I
did not learn one word about Hemp in grade school, high school or
college!

Isn't it strange that the 1 medicine, the 1 fiber, the 1 food, the 1
fuel, the 1 paper and the 1 substitute for wood can be made from Hemp
and it is illegal!! Doesn't it make you mad as hell! You live longer
if you use Cannabis Hemp internally. You live about 2 years longer on
life if you smoke a little in the morning and a little at night. If
you smoke and also eat the seeds you live about 3-4 years longer on
top of that.

It is the healthiest plant for the ground and air. Cannabis Hemp is
the only known plant that can be grown from the Equator to the Arctic
and Antarctic Circles; from the mountains to the valleys, from the
oceans to the plains, including arid lands and everywhere in between.
Cannabis Hemp is the healthiest plant for the ground out of the
300,000 known species, and the millions and millions of subspecies of
plants on Earth, because it has a root system that grows 10 to 12
inches in 30 days compared to one inch for rye, barley grass, etc. The
roots penetrate up to 3, 6 and even 10 feet deep, pulverizing the soil
and making it arable. After harvest it leaves a root system that is
mulched into the ground, revitalizing the land and making it live once
again. It is the KING KONG of the King Kongs of all plant life.

(End part two)

SamFox

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We are circulating petitions to put the California Cannabis Hemp and
Health Initiative on the state's ballot for November 2008. This will
repeal criminal and civil penalties for Cannabis and ban drug testing
for metabolites. It will decriminalize the cultivation, distribution,
and possession of Hemp entirely!


One provision in the petition will order the immediate release from
jail and prison of all non-violent Cannabis Hemp offenders. Including
27,000 or more Californians that violated probation or parole for
positive metabolites from marijuana. The initiative needs 434,000
valid signatures to qualify for the ballot (750,000 all together);
signature gathering continues through April 15, 2008.

This initiative will legalize Cannabis Hemp, within the state of
California, for (a) industrial products, (b) medicinal preparations,
(c) nutritional products, (d) religious and spiritual products, and
(e) recreational and euphoric use 21 and older, with no restrictions,
and no one will ever go to jail again because of it.

It provides for amnesty, immediate release from prison, jail, parole,
and probation, and clearing, expungement, and deletion of all criminal
records for all persons currently charged with, or convicted of any
non-violent Cannabis Hemp marijuana offense.

This initiative protects jobs of medicinal Cannabis patients and other
Cannabis users. It prohibits the testing for inert and/or residual
Cannabis metabolites for the purpose of employment or other impairment.

California Cannabis Hemp and Health Initiative 2008
California Ballot Recipient Committee 1303604

We are looking for 100,000 sponsors and contributors, but will accept
a million, to help us to immediately fund our paid petitioner account.
100% of all funds will be used to buy validated signatures until we
qualify, then we will use the extra money for the November 2008
elections and we will teach the people of California that all the
things I said in this letter, and The Emperor Wears No Clothes was
true. Paid petitioners are currently circulating our petition and we
need to keep them working. Your generous support is needed and very
much appreciated. We don't have the money! We need the money now! We
only have 8 weeks to go.

SamFox

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Please make checks/money orders payable to:
CCHHI08 - P.O. Box 6733 - Westlake Village, CA 91359.

Please make sure that your address and phone number are written or
printed on checks.

Contributions over $100 must also include your employer (campaign
reform disclosure requirements).

Info for Wire Transfers:
Union Bank of California ? Routing 122000496 ? Account 5030038330
Wire Transfer Phone Number ?1-800-922-9473
For International transfers: Swift Number BOFCUS33MPK
Contact us: (bduzy@prodigy.net)

Credit card donors and PayPal account holders please use the PayPal
button at www.calhemp08.org.

Campaign reform disclosure rules and requirements:

? We can accept donations by cash (up to $24.99), check, money order,
wire transfer and PayPal.
? We cannot accept cash donations over $25.00.
? You must include your name and address with any donation over $25.
? You must include your employer's name with any donation over $100.

A few of my friends and I have sponsored 16 initiatives in California,
Oregon, Washington and Alaska. We got 8 of them on the ballot, with 5
of them passing. We have never asked for money in 35 years. We used
our own money entirely. We need your money to get it on the ballot
this time. If you don't, I still have 16 years left. Many of my
friends said to wait until 2012, but most of you will be out of a job
by then because of the Supreme Court of California's new decision
January 24th, 2008, almost a month ago, for all California people,
with doctors note or not, to lose their jobs without any recourse or
compensation. We ask that you donate now, as we are quickly running
out of time. Thank you. Get the money sent now, spread the word to
every one you know to help us out!!! Use your computers and phones!!
EVERYBODY! GET THE WORD OUT!!!

-End quote-

I guess Jack is not so bad after all!!

SamFox

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http://www.jackherer.com
http://www.calhemp08.org
http://www.myspace.com/hempjack
http://profile.to/jackherer/

SamFox

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