How marijuana was prohibited Twentieth-century cannabis prohibition first reared its head in countries where white minorities ruled black majorities: South Africa, where its known as dagga, banned it in 1911, and Jamaica, then a British colony, outlawed ganja in 1913. The usual claim, most often repeated, is that four conspirators cooperated to kill the hemp industry with something called the Marihuana Tax Act (spelled with an H) of 1937. These conspirators are identified as newspaperman William Randolph Hearst, whom the legend describes as being heavily invested in the timber industry to support his papers; the DuPont family, whose chemical company had just invented nylon and was allegedly afraid of competition from hemp fiber; Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury and the nations richest man, who had significant investments in DuPont; and Harry Anslinger, commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, who drafted the legislation. To protect their industrial interests, these parties are said to have conspired to make hemp illegal. DuPonts involvment in the anti-hemp campaign can also be explained with great ease. At this time, DuPont was patenting a new sulfuric acid process for producing wood-pulp paper. According to the companys own records, wood-pulp products ultimately accounted for more than 80% of all DuPonts railroad car loadings for the next 50 years (ibid). Indeed it should be noted that two years before the prohibitive hemp tax in 1937, DuPont developed a new synthetic fiber, nylon, which was an ideal substitute for hemp rope (Hartsell). The year after the tax was passed DuPont came out with rayon, which would have been unable to compete with the strength of hemp fiber or its economical process of manufacturing. DuPonts point man was none other than Harry Anslinger...who was appointed to the FBN by Treasury Secretary Andrew MEllon, who was also chairman of the Mellon Bank, DuPonts chief financial backer. Anslingers relationship to Mellon wasnt just political, he was also married to Mellons niece (Hartsell). It doesnt take much to draw a connection between DuPont, Anslinger, and Mellon, and its obvious that all of these groups, including Hearst, had strong motivation to prevent the growth of the hemp industry.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 19:36:13 +0000
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