In the early days of our “republic”, in many situations it was illegal not to farm hemp. Then in the early 1930s, machinery to greatly reduce the labor-intensity of hemp farming was developed. Popular Mechanics magazine, in February of 1938, ran a cover story praising the new machinery to make hemp so competitive, hailing hemp as “The New Billion-Dollar Crop”. Alas…it was already looking black for hemp; in 1937, congress had passed an illegal tax law that essentially outlawed hemp farming in the United States. Surprise! “Reefer Madness” was being hammered into the heads of Americans by William Randolph Hearst’s national chain of newspapers, with help from other media. Then came WWII, and the feds’ new film “Hemp For Victory!” They glorified hemp as an indispensable ally, doing all they could to entice farmers into growing hemp for the war effort. They actually told the truth…. Hemp helped us win the Big War…then the feds resumed their mantra about marijuana being the “Assassin of Youth”. Any hard evidence of “Hemp for Victory” went down the memory hole, they hoped…. The true reason our farmers face prison and fines for growing hemp is much the same as it was 73 years ago: Hemp’s threat to profits from cotton, timber and paper—and especially, oil—for starters. Shifting of vast profits of entrenched industrialists toward The People would be involved, and there lies the pinch. If hemp were legal to farm, certain nefarious Elite schemes since the Industrial Revolution would be jeopardized. So now, over seventy years since farming of the most valuable crop in history was domestically banned, look around at the death and decay. Big Oil has prevailed to the point that one of the most admired countries in the world has become the most dangerous, an Imperial Thanatos trampling the globe, killing people for control of the last great reserves and supply routes to Western markets of the black gold that is killing our biosphere. Oceans are dying. The atmosphere is heating up. And Imperial Thanatos is threatening anyone who might stand in the way of its “Benign Global Hegemony” with preemptive annihilation from the greatest killing power ever amassed, including “tactical” nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, back in the homeland, “The continuous consolidation of wealth and power into higher, tighter and righter hands” has so concentrated the nation’s wealth that for the vast majority of Americans, their standard of living is plummeting while the American Dream becomes a nightmare, and the Elite laugh it up. http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1-/6825-the-coming-american-hempire.html added by: JackHerer
