Hemp is one of the most versatile plants in the world; hemp fibres can be used for paper and textiles, the seeds are a good source of unsaturated oil, which can be used for cooking and as fuel. Hemp can even be used to make plastics. Hemp requires few pesticides and leaves the soil clean for other plants after cultivation. With all these applications one would think it would be hyped as the 'Emperor of crops'. Yet it has been buried in the annals of history for reasons that would not look out of place in a Le Carrier novel.

A little History

Since the latter half of 1998 the awareness of hemp has been rising. Interest in hemp first came to light in the west in the 1930's when hemp was actually described as a 'billion dollar crop' and a bright future was predicted. However it was not to pass. What follows is story that is fascinating, full of skull-duggery, conspiracy, media manipulation any spin-doctor would be proud of, and ultimately the triumph of self-interest. The biggest reason for this burial was that in the 1930's Dupont obtained patents from making nylon from coal, paper from trees and plastic from oil, and didn't want to see hemp as a potential competitor. Remarkably but not surprisingly, the companies chief financial backer at the time, Andre Mellon, owned large swathes of timber land and oil. Mellon appointed his nephew-in-law Harry Anslinger to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics while other Dupont backers such as the Hearst newspaper group began to influence public opinion towards the perceived evils of marijuana. This also saw the rise of the pulp fiction novels with wonderfully lurid covers and titles such as 'I was a slave to marijuana' and films such as Reefer Madness. Basically this propaganda strategy worked and in 1937 Congress outlawed hemp. The actual science was buried, and the fact industrial hemp has such a low THC content that you would be better off smoking bananas was quietly hushed in order to confuse the public. Not only did the probation of hemp protect Du Pont but also many other corporations such as Dow and Monsanto - all of whom had vested interests in ensuring hemp industries didn't see the light of day. Another twist in the tail and 'would you believe it' factoid: car manufacturer Henry Ford grew hemp on his estate to experiment with methanol production and both he and Rudolph Diesel (diesel inventor) predicted by the end of the millennium cars would be running on hemp. Hemp production briefly re-emerged in 1942 when the federal government encouraged American farmers to grow it for the war effort.

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Basically marijuana being made illegal had nothing to do with smoking it! It had everything to do with big business, DUPONT and MONSANTO and DOW, wanting to makes billions of dollars on clothing made of crappy plastic fibers = POLYESTER as well as other products that hemp would have kept them from making as much money on! (Emphasis in original)