Citizen Kane

In the 1920's and 1930's Cannabis hemp was transformed into Marijuana like Jekyll into Hyde. Newspaper owner/publisher Willian Randolph Hearst was one of the leaders in the drive to make cannibis illegal. Hearst, through his newspaper's articles, brought the word 'Marijuana' into the English language, associating it sensationally with crime and violence.

Coincidentally, Hearst owned the Hearst Paper Manufacturing Division and millions of acres of prime timber land that would have lost their value had the 'hemp decorticating machine' that had just been invented been allowed to be widely distributed. This new invention greatly simplified the hemp-to-paper process.

COVER THE EARTH

Another player in this bit of history is Pierre DuPont, the paint maker. DuPont held patent rights to the sulphuric- acid wood-pulp paper process. And DuPont's synthetic petrochemicals had replaced hemp seed oil and hemp cordage. (With nylon rope, Patented in 1937.)

Of course these extremely rich men had connections in government, and had the Marijuana Tax Act passed in 1937. To this day, cigarette, pharmaceutical and petroleum industries attempt to control the debate. It's not just the fact that people smoke marijuana that bothers them, it's the economic threat.

It is easier to corner the market on something artificial than on something that grows like a weed.

It is a battle between the synthetic and the organic.

The Natural World:
The Organic - Synthetic Battle
The Mushroom Goddess & Ganja
Medical Marijuana
Psychedelics
Rye-Ergotism
Dreams and Morphogenesis

Citing Sources from Borndigital