Early in the 20th
century, companies began developing chemicals that were used in the processing
of paper. DuPont was a leader in chemical development, not only for processing
paper but also for pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers that were used
extensively by the cotton industry. Cotton uses far more chemicals for farming
than hemp. Dupont’s friend, William Randolph Hearst, invested in timber and mills
to produce that paper for his newspaper, which was the largest chain in the U.S.
His investments in the timber industry were backed by Mellon Bank which also
backed Dupont.
The
owner of Mellon Bank, Andrew Mellon, was also the U.S. Secetary of Treasury at
the time. Andrew Mellon’s niece was married to Harry Anslinger who had been the
commissioner of the Alcohol Prohibition department of the Federal government.
Like everyone else he was out of a job after alcohol prohibition ended. To keep
his nieces ‘husband employed, Mellon created a new division of the Federal
government, the Bureau of Narcotics, and made Harry Anslinger the commissioner.
Needless to say Anslinger was delighted and would find a way to repay Mellon.
During
the same time, machinery was being developed to make hemp processing easier and
more efficient. This was bad news for the chemical, timber, and petroleum industries.
It was bad news for DuPont, Hearst, and Mellon. Pharmaceutical companies that
were creating new profitable synthetic medicines and drugs were also threatened
by the popular and effective natural healing medicine derived from hemp.
Harry Anslinger
heard rumors about Mexican immigrants smoking the flowers of the hemp plant. They had their own name for hemp, “marijuana”.
Anslinger say an opportunity to put the Bureau of Narcotics, and himself in the
spot light, and he had found the way to pay back Mellon. He used the Mexican
slang, marijuana, in place of the work hemp, and spread scary stories about “Negros
and Mexicans” becoming violent while smoking marijuana, labeling it an
extremely dangerous narcotic. Racism was rampant so his scary stories made the
public extra fearful.
Hearst’s newspapers got on board
and printed numerous articles about “evil marijuana” and of people committing
rapes and murder while its influence. The lies sold a lot of papers but that wasn’t
Hearst’s motive. He wanted to get rid of hemp and it worked. Of course the
articles failed to mention the everyday uses of hemp (rope, fuel, textiles,
food and health). Hemp is without a doubt the world’s most diversified and
useful plant. That didn’t matter, fortunes were at state.
In 1937
the Marijuana Tax Act was signed into law, due in large part to the efforts of
Anslinger and Hearst. Soon after, Anslinger ordered the hemp prohibition. He
said his agents wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between hemp and
marijuana, and that the farming of hemp made it too difficult to enforce the marijuana
prohibition. That actually was true. Hemp and marijuana was the same plant just
different expressions. However, the real reason hemp was banned, we just learned
, had nothing to do with its similarity to marijuana.
Dupont,
Mellon , Hearst, and the pharmaceutical companies breathed a collective sigh of
relief. It was illegal to grow hemp in the United States, except for a brief period
during the second world war when farmers were allowed to grow hemp to provide
badly needed fiber to the for the war effort. After the war was over, the
military was orded to destroy all remaining hemp crops. Prohibition was the law
of the land. Cannabis sativa was public enemy number one.
