Can you make sense of the war on marijuana and hemp?

Marijuana has been illegal for less than one hundred years. Prior to the vicious smear campaigns that began in the 1930's, hemp was world renowned and revered. Although the blatant lies and absurd propaganda used to discredit this miraculous plant have been extremely successful, people are rediscovering the potential of cannabis. Greed and racism caused the initial criminalization of marijuana; ignorance and stupidity impede the repeal. The Federal government not only has no authority to ban a plant merely for having mild intoxicating effects. Even if the government did have this right it would have absolutely no basis for the ban of the non psychoactive hemp strain that could virtually erase our nation’s carbon footprint and lower the prices of many items. Marihuana was a slang term used by Mexican immigrants. The majority of US citizens still knew cannabis purely as hemp. Not realizing that marihuana and hemp were actually one in the same, few offered objections. If not for the fierce efforts, outright lies, and confusing terminology used hemp would have never been outlawed. Marijuana prohibition has had much worse and more far reaching consequences than even the prohibition of alcohol did. Alcohol prohibition led to the rise of organized crime in the United States of America, and the criminalization of marijuana has had similar though far worse repercussions. The violence and crime perpetrated by drug cartels far surpass that of prohibition era gangsters.  Fear and racism toward Mexicans led to the prohibition that has allowed Mexican drug cartels to rise to power. The propagandist initially proclaimed Marijuana to cause uncontrollable rage and violence in users. Later, the problem was extreme pacifism and laziness. No anti-marijuana supporters have any valid argument against any of the many uses of the cannabis plant. Anything that has killed even one person is more dangerous than marijuana. Doctors and patients alike would overwhelmingly agree that marijuana is a wonderful alternative to prescription medicines. Medicine is not the only value of cannabis. Fuel is easily made from hemp seed, as well as a plastic far superior to petroleum and hemp produces around four times the amount of paper as trees. Marijuana would cause a significant loss in profits for the pharmaceutical, oil, lumber and several other industries. Politicians refuse to review the information, and corporations continue their propaganda. Until the government and our nations businesses decide to put the populations’ interest ahead of their own, Marijuana will remain illegal. Corporations as well as an ever growing federal government severely limit the effectiveness of our country, and completely undermine the power of the people. Remember, aside from water, cannabis can supply every human need.

You probably didn’t know that your hemp shoes, backpack, shirt, or purse raised a crime issue. Haven’t heard of any Hemp Cartels? Maybe that your hemp shower curtain reflected a terrorist threat? Behind the hemp curtain, evil lurks? What about your breakfast cereal being a threat to Homeland Security? Well apparently hemp raises security issues because, back on May 26, 2009, H.R. 1866, which would remove federal laws against hemp farming, was assigned to the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security (A Subcom of the House Judiciary Comm.) Hemp in its distant cousinship to marijuana has been illegal under federal law for American farmers to grow, even if it’s legal under their state law, like in North Dakota. So, the hemp for oil, fiber, and foodstuffs available in U.S. comes from Canada and 30-odd other countries. Make sense? Not so much