The Rise and Fall and Rise of Hemp

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L. ) is one of the oldest, and most versatile, plants known to humankind. According to The Columbia History of the World (1971), hemp fiber weaving had already begun in 8000 B.C., and we know that for seafaring—rigging, sails, cords, sealants, and anchor cables—hemp was critically important.

Industrial hemp and marijuana are two different varieties of the same species, with hemp containing less than 0.3 percent psychoactive THC compounds and with marijuana typically containing 3 to 15 percent.

So how did hemp, one of the most beneficial plants known to man, become the scourge of U.S. regulators?

Enter Harry J. Anslinger, a former railroad cop and Prohibition agent who was named as the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) in August of 1930.

According to the group, Common Sense for Drug Policy, “[In] the budget squeeze of the Great Depression [Anslinger] decided...

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