Why was hemp made illegal in 1937?
Why was hemp made illegal in 1937?
Share
Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link and will create a new password via email.
wordsmith
The government made all addictive substances illegal to diminish abuse cases because of addiction to drugs, which makes them high. In 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed by congress. This includes individual use, sale, and even medicinal use of marijuana is illegal. While on the process, hemp also became illegal and banned since these plants look similar, and there’s no research about their difference before.
Hempmaster3000
It was an early version of the war on drugs. The banned marijuana and in the process banned hemp and growing hemp.
Moogdummy
What you’re referring to is the “Marihuana Tax Act of 1937”. The short-form story is that two North Carolina senators drafted up a tax reform bill aimed at crippling the vastly expanding hemp production industry.
It posed a threat to the business of goods and materials producers like the Du Ponts and the Hearsts, and it’s argued that their business interests influenced the creation of this bill. 1937 was the first year that prosecutions for the violation of the tax act happened in America.
amanda.tolar
So this kind of broaches into conspiracy theory territory, but there’s no other explanation. Mostly, it was due to lobbying from the giants within the industries to which hemp posed a threat–paper, textiles, petroleum. It could replace the usual modes of production and be more readily attainable in terms of personal output. There’s an exciting Stuff You Should Know (podcast) episode on it, called “Reefer Madness.” It tends to focus more on the marijuana side of it, but hemp is brought into it. Nothing aside from sheer greed and corruption could explain the prohibition, as it was used so widely before that, and is so efficient and environmentally-friendly.
CrayM
It was made illegal for several reasons, the most influential being that hemp and cannabis come from similar plants. If you are looking for conspiracy theory alignment of the ban, many higher class people and people with influence had stakes in the paper industry and synthetic fibers industry, hemp being a direct competitor with these, became banned as well in the marijuana tax act of 1937.