Marijuana banned in the first place for business reasons?

Stark

http://www.theagitator.com/archives/002065.php

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.

The interesting part is that when the case was originally brought before congress the prosecutor (Anslinger) claimed that it caused violence, attacks, delerium, death and was only used by poor black people (jazz musicians I believe). When the topic came back up in the 50's the same guy (Anslinger) told congress a totally different story. Now his tale said that it should be illegal because it caused mellowness and apathy. He said the communists would try to use it against our youth in a bid to corrupt America.

Reading down the comments, some say it was due to greed, some say it was due to racism, Hearst hated people of colour, and these were the main smokers of pot at the time.

Capt'n Midnight

as an aside in this country in the 1930's a law was passed stating all exports had to be wrapped. since big stuff was already packaged it was Smurfitts who benefitted from sales of cardboard boxes. nice one
:rolleyes:

rubadub

hemp was in direct competition with duponts new found nylon so it was brownenveloped out of the way. dupont did the same thing when there patents ran out on "ozone creating gases"

Kone

hmmmm.....

projectmayhem

interesting, but i think the law here has it banned because it's a drug as opposed to it's competition with other natural resources used to make paper...

Ivan

As far as I know, after america made it illegal in their country they pressured most other 1st world countries to make it illegal also.

Check out the documentary "Grass", its absolutely excellent.

It goes through each decade stating how much money was used, showing the progress of "The War on Drugs" and some major incidents of importance in the US.

Its incredibly funny when your stoned

Kone

I totally agree Ivan, it's a great DVD.

and only £4.99 on play.com!

bonkey

Originally posted by project-mayhem
interesting, but i think the law here has it banned because it's a drug as opposed to it's competition with other natural resources used to make paper...

Yes, but it was allegedly the paper-industry lobbyists who pushed so hard to get it banned as a dangerous drug because it threatened their industry.

AS for the whole "reefer madness" and so on...that was just typical lobbyist scare-mongering. You can see how the pattern changed over time as the scare-mongering method of choice also changed.

Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser (of "Fast Food Nation" fame) is an interesting read on this subject.

jc

sovtek

Originally posted by Ivan
As far as I know, after america made it illegal in their country they pressured most other 1st world countries to make it illegal also.

I think it went something like this...

America: Marijuana's bad mmkay very bad mmkay
World: Really wow
America: make it illegal
World: mmkay
Studies are made, years go by
World: Ummmm we found that you weren't correct on that so can we make it legal again
America: NO!

LFCFan

you'd wonder, if Prohibition worked in the States would they have pressured the rest of the world the make alcohol illegal? As it is I'd say Alcohol is a lot more dangerous and damaging then Hash is.

bonkey

Lets not turn this into another tired old "should MJ be legalised" argument. The topic concerns the reasons why it was originally banned...not whether or not it should still be banned today and/or why.

Incidentally, wasn't Mary Jane the name (and MJ the nickname) of Spiderman's girlfriend? Gasp - Marvel Comics have a druggie sub-culture!!!

bdiddy

Originally posted by bonkey
Lets not turn this into another tired old "should MJ be legalised" argument. The topic concerns the reasons why it was originally banned...not whether or not it should still be banned today and/or why.

Incidentally, wasn't Mary Jane the name (and MJ the nickname) of Spiderman's girlfriend? Gasp - Marvel Comics have a druggie sub-culture!!!

Micheal Jackson shouldnt be legalised anywhere!!!!
I think the reasons have changed but that doesnt make them less valid, just cos they're different + it's the coolest, safest way for teenagers and young people to break the law and rebel on a regular basis:D

rcunning03

as an aside in this country in the 1930's a law was passed stating all exports had to be wrapped. since big stuff was already packaged it was Smurfitts who benefitted from sales of cardboard boxes. nice one

We are so corrupt, it's sickening. Did people really fight against the British just so we could line the pockets of a few individuals ? Maybe one day when I'm living in a foreign country, I'll think it's cute and as oirish as can be, that politicians have pissed all over the common pleb since the foundation of the state, but I seriously doubt I'll ever see things that way.

In relation to the banning of hash, I read an article by David McWilliams and he gave a very convincing argument that marijuana was banned so American conservative christian whites could feel superior over the dumb nig-nogs (though he may not of used those exact words) and as far as I'm aware opium was banned by european countries in return for America's help in the first world war.

God bless the United States Of Christendom