Why has Cannabis been Illegal?

Now that you’re learning the truth about Cannabis and what a great plant it is, surely you’re
wondering why it’s been illegal since 1937. There is much you should know. Jack Herer
gathered facts about Cannabis and Hemp and wrote “The Emperor Wears No Clothes”, first in
1985, and the last updated edition, the 12th in 2010.
One word answers the question of why it has been illegal, as well as why it will no longer be
illegal soon: Greed. There are many faces to this greed, but when you put some thought to it,
it will make sense. Two people who had a great deal to do with it becoming illegal were William
Randolph Hearst and Harry Anslinger. Hearst, as you may know, was a publishing mogul. He
owned his own forest to grow the trees to make paper and when the US Government said, “We
won’t have to cut down any more trees! One acre of hemp provides as much paper in one
season as four acres of trees that take 50 years go grow” he panicked. He couldn’t have this
hemp competing and causing him problems, so together he and Anslinger campaigned and held
a lie-fest about Cannabis and Hemp, and the people who use it. Except they called it marijuana;
there is no such thing as a marijuana plant. It was ugly, but they achieved their goal.
DuPont is another company who wanted Hemp to go away. DuPont makes the chemicals that
are needed to grow cotton. Hemp doesn’t need any of those chemicals and creates a fiber that
is far superior to cotton. DuPont also had their new nylon rope they wanted to push, even
though the Hemp rope is much stronger and nontoxic.
Then there are the pharmaceutical companies. Herer reports that for at least 3000 years
Cannabis extracts were the most commonly used real medicines for the majority of illnesses.
From 1842 and through the 1890s, Cannabis products were the second and third most-used
medicines for humans, through their entire life. The US Pharmacopeia recommended it for a
number of situations including fatigue, fits of coughing, rheumatism, asthma, DTs, migraines,
and cramps and depressions associated with menstruation.1
The uses of Cannabis and Hemp are coming back into being as the truth is disclosed. The
medicinal discoveries have been very promising, as well as the nutritional uses among many
others. As people continue to become educated, our leaders will have to come out and admit
the truth: Cannabis is medicine and we’ve been hoodwinked for decades all in the name of
greed!