Pot was outlawed because it came from hemp. In the early 1900s, paper--along with tons of other cloth materials--were made from hemp, which is durable and easy to grow.
Enter William Randolph Hearst, newspaper mogul. While hemp was very durable and plentiful, it was labor-intensive to harvest. Hearst and I believe Dow chemical came up with the wood-pulp process which, while much cheaper and less labor-intensive, produced enormous pollution and, obviously, de-forestation. But it was quick and cheap, and cheap always wins when you're a US corporation.
Lo and behold, somebody invented a machine to harvest hemp quickly and cheaply, which put him potentially out of the wood pulp paper business, not to mention his chemical corp. buddies. So what did he do? Relentlessly ran editorials in all his newspapers about the "evils" of pot--which came from hemp obviously--and forced congressional hearings into the dangers of this new "evil" drug.
A few circus hearings later, a few biased "witnesses" and experts, a few key placements (appointments) in the U.S. government and a BIG
PR campaign and next thing you know: pot is outlawed, as it is today. Never mind that a NYC report refuted the findings that pot was this monster drug. Never mind that a star "witness" recanted his testimony and then said that pot was a danger because instead of making users violent monsters, it would now make them "passive and unable to fight a war," a complete reversal and STILL not plausible. Never mind that booze was legal. Out went pot.
Not for ethical reasons, not for medical reasons, not for the "well being" of your children, but for one of the oldest reasons of all: it threatened the profits of a mighty big tycoon. Think about that when you see deforestation, paper factories belching toxic pollution and some guy caught with an ounce being sent to prison...
And you guys always thought it was a "just say no" type deal! Had nothing to do with it...
[Edited by Tony10 on 11-08-2000 at 01:02 PM]