I read an interesting article today that I feel I need to share.The article is called "Hemp for victory: history of hemp and paper industries" by Alan E. Mason.It was published in the Fall 1993 issue of Whole Earth Review.

It's about the influence that the paper industries have had on the laws regarding hemp in the United States.

Here's an excerpt:

"If you don't readily recognize the word "hemp," you can thank William Randolph Hearst. Up until the 1920s most Americans knew marijuana as hemp or cannabis, and the plant was an accepted part of everyday life in the US. Hearst started using the Mexican slang term "marijuana" in his racist campaign against Mexicans that began around the time of the Spanish-American War in 1898. This campaign, which later expanded to include blacks, Chinese, and other minorities, began when Pancho Villa seized thousands of acres of Hearst's paper-producing timberland in Mexico. By referring to the well-known and accepted hemp plant as marijuana, portraying it as a drug that causes minorities to rob, rape, murder, and generally disrespect their betters, Hearst created a climate of fear that laid the groundwork for the plans of Harry Anslinger, head of the newly formed Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, and others."

"Anslinger pushed the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 through Congress almost unnoticed. Although this law did not actually make hemp illegal, it taxed it at a rate equal to its selling price - a dollar an ounce at the time - and required growers to register with the government. Although representatives of the seed and lubricating-oil industries, as well as the American Medical Association (!), protested the law, their protests went unheard in the face of Anslinger's testimony - which consisted primarily of reading baseless articles from Hearst's newspapers. In October of 1937 the new Prohibition went into effect disguised as a tax law."

I strongly encourage you to read the entire article. It can be found here>>

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Just remember, knowledge is freedom.

Peace, Brenda