Quote:Posted this in another thread a while back, but it's relevent here:

 

The one thing they don’t talk about anywhere (at least in government circles) is why pot is illegal in the first place.

The main reason it is illegal is because back in the 30′s William Randolph Hearst owned a lot of newspapers and owned the paper mills that printed the paper. Hemp (which of course is not exactly the same thing as marijuana but is commonly associated and lumped together with it) was competing with his paper production so he rallied his friends in power (government) and finally made it illegal in 1937. I don’t think a lot of people know this.

 

<a class="bbc_url" href='http://www.theagitator.com/2002/09/29/william-randolph-hearst-and-the-criminalization-of-marijuana/' title="External link">http://www.theagitat...n-of-marijuana/</a>

 

 

The demonization of the cannabis plant was an extension of the demonization of the Mexican immigrants. In an effort to control and keep tabs on these new citizens, El Paso, TX borrowed a play from San Francisco’s playbook, which had <a class="bbc_url" href='http://earlydruglaw.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/november-15-1875/' title="External link">outlawed opium</a> decades earlier in an effort to control Chinese immigrants. The idea was to have an excuse to search, detain and deport Mexican immigrants.

That excuse became marijuana.

 

 

<a class="bbc_url" href='http://www.drugpolicy.org/blog/how-did-marijuana-become-illegal-first-place' title="External link">http://www.drugpolic...gal-first-place</a>

 

 

Around the turn of the 20th century companies like DuPont created chemicals that were used in processing of paper; DuPont also created chemicals used for pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, which were used extensively by the cotton industry (cotton is MUCH more chemical and water intensive compared to hemp). While this was going on, William Randolph Hearst invested in timber and mills to produce the paper for his newspaper, which was the largest chain in the U.S. at the time. His investments in the timber industry were backed by Mellon Bank.

 

The U.S. Secretary of the Treasury at that time was Andrew Mellon, who happened to own Mellon Bank (and was one of the backers for DuPont as well). Mellon’s niece was married to Harry Anslinger who, incidentally, was connected to the alcohol prohibition campaign. He was out of a job (as were everyone else in that sector of the federal government) after the alcohol prohibition ended. To keep his family employed, Mellon created a new division of the federal government, the Bureau of Narcotics, and made Harry Anslinger the new head of that program.

 

<a class="bbc_url" href='http://www.wakingtimes.com/2012/06/27/the-hemp-conspiracy-why-u-s-hemp-farming-was-banned/' title="External link">http://www.wakingtim...ing-was-banned/</a>

If something can corrupt you, you're corrupted already.
- Bob Marley