Hemp

By: Dragon

Marijuana is pretty much illegal everywhere. Ever thought to wonder why?




It's a pretty similar story to the electric car.

Hemp can be used to make:

Plastics - biodegradable too

Paper - 4.1x as efficient as trees

Clothing - durable, the fibers are stronger than that of wood

Fuel

Food - the seeds contain lots of protein and two essential fatty acids that clean out cholesterol and can barely be found elsewhere in nature.

It also has a massive carbon absorbency rate, can be grown nearly anywhere & reaches maturity in a matter of months.


People have argued (and it's very disputable) that hemp could:


Make America energy independent

Solve world hunger

Help curb carbon emissions



So why is it illegal?

Historically:

As has been evident throughout history, many people with power curb the world to best assist themselves.

Harry Anslinger was appointed director of a division of the US Treasury Department called the Bureau of Narcotics in 1930 by his uncle in law named Andrew Mellon. Anslinger was an avid racist, and pot was known to be associated with blacks and hispanics. He built a great deal of his campaign on marijuana's use amongst what he considered the 'degenerate races'. So, personal career advancement was a big motive for him, but wait, there's more..

Andrew Mellon; who appointed him his position, was a primary investor in Dupont, a company that had just patented a method of making various plastics. Making cannabis illegal would rule out the competition for companies like Dupont, because this would mean making hemp illegal as well. The image pot had developed in the media due in part to folks like Anslinger was a facade based on racism and circumstantial evidence with no scientific or medical substantiation that would serve the purposes of corporate greed.

Anslinger's campaign was also supported by William Randolph Hearst, who owned a chain of newspapers that were printed on paper supplied by the hundreds of acres of timber forests he owned. His paper empire was threatened by hemp and its ability to produce as much paper in 1 acre as 4.1 acres of trees are capable of, so his motives are pretty obvious. It is also important to note that the racist, sensationalist articles he published in his newspapers that demonized marijuana helped him sell papers. Tarnishing the name and legal status of marijuana and in turn removing hemp from his competition was an extremely profitable endeavour for this guy.


Right Now:

Arguably hemp is a superior candidate to almost every resource our society runs on, which isn't exactly a favorable quality in the perspective of let's say, oil-tycoons. Not to mention alcohol and tobacco corporations (holding politicians in their pockets) would also lose profits due to the availability of a much cheaper substitute.

The fact that marijuana is illegal really has virtually nothing to do with its psychoactive properties, aside from perhaps the fact that its users feel it has medicinal effects and it would be too cheap and easy (given its adaptive, un-patented & durable nature) an alternative for people to buying pills.

It won't happen. The big wigs have too much money on the line. They allow very few clinical tests and a fear has been incited into the minds of the general public. But maybe.... Maybe hemp could save the world.