Hemp for Victory: What You Were Never Taught in School

Long before Snoop Dog rolled his way to fame, before President Bill Clinton “never inhaled” and decades before Cheech & Chong went “Up in Smoke”, Cannabis Sativa, also known as Hemp or the Spanish name Marijuana, was a vital part of American culture and has a history of use by mankind dating back thousands of years.

Cannabis is a remarkable plant and one of the most utilitarian biomass on the planet. Historical American documents like the Declaration of Independence were printed on hemp paper. Oil extracts from the seed are used for fuel and lubrication; fiber and cellulose are used to produce paper, plastics and fuel; chemicals, from the leaf and flower, are used as medicine.

American colonists were required to grow hemp and it was used a legal tender for trade. American founders like Thomas Jefferson grew hemp. His slaves were used to harvest the labor intensive crop.

By the turn of the 20th century, hemp once again becomes a major farm commodity. Newly invented harvest machinery was used to replace slave labor, making hemp a more profitable and practical crop to grow.

In the 1920s, pioneering automotive engineer Henry Ford recognized biomass as a renewable fuel resource. "The fuel of the future is going to come from fruit like that sumach out by the road, or from apples, weeds, sawdust -- almost anything," Ford said. "There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter that can be fermented. There's enough alcohol in one year's yield of an acre of potatoes to drive the machinery necessary to cultivate the fields for a hundred years."

Ford put hemp to use and constructed a car of resin stiffened hemp fiber, and even ran the car on ethanol made from hemp. Ford knew that hemp could produce vast economic resources if widely cultivated.

However, another American mogul and newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst found hemp to be a direct competitor to his wood pulp industries and began a campaign of yellow journalism to discredit hemp. Likewise, the DuPont family saw hemp as a competitor to their petrol-chemical business.

The name hemp suddenly became the Spanish name “Marijuana”, playing on the racial tensions of the Jim Crow era. Across American, Hearst newspapers screamed headlines and horror stories of the evils of marijuana. They claimed marijuana was causing white women to pat their feet to jazz music and intoxicated white women were being wooed by black men.

By 1936 the anti-marijuana cult classic film “Reefer Madness” was in movie theaters across America. The film portrayed white middle class partiers puffing the evil weed and becoming murderers as a result of their indulgence. Today we find the film laughable and absurd.

By 1937 these horror stories made their way to Washington, DC.  Congress was offered sensational testimony which resulted in the Marijuana Tax Act that virtually put an end to Cannabis as a cash crop.

By the 1940s American was engaged in World War II. America quickly consumed much of its recourses in the war effort. Recycling was a way of life, the patriotic thing to do. Rubber, newly invented nylon, aluminum, and steal supplies were running out.

The U.S. Military was in dire need of fiber for ropes, parachutes webbing, shoe strings and canvas. Their solution was to call upon American farmers to produce, once again, a seed crop of marijuana. A $1 tax stamp was issued to farmers so they could legally produce marijuana to supply the fiber.

In 1942, the Hollywood produced film “Hemp for Victory” was commissioned by the government as an educational film to introduce farmers to the hemp plant and encourage its production. This classic film documented a little known historical event that may have changed the course war. This is something you were never taught in school.  It’s an eye opening short film worth watching.

By the 1960s another war and an emerging counter culture fostered yet another attempted to cast marijuana in a disparaging light. Marijuana became a major illicit cash crop in many states across America. Georgia became one the top ten marijuana producers in the country. Millions has been arrested and incarcerated. Billions of tax dollars have been squandered in the name of marijuana prohibition with little impact on use or cultivation.

Today, hemp imports have become common and trendy household products. From bird seed to clothing, hemp oil heath products, food, fiber and fuel are just a few of the legal products being produce from the amazing cash crop. Hemp products are sold at retailers like Walmart.

Today, hemp is finding it ways back as a valuable renewable resource. Some claim hemp can save our planet and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Any product that can be made from fossil fuels can be made from hemp. One acre of hemp can yield four times the fiber a tree crop with one to two crops per year.

In spite of prohibition, Cannabis has seen a renaissance across the world. Free market capitalist are growing hemp to satisfy the world’s demand. Research programs are discovering new uses for the plant. Eco-consumers are looking for renewable alternative products to replace those made from petrol-chemicals. Hemp is a growing industry in America and around the world.

Hemp for fiber… hemp for fuel… hemp for food… HEMP FOR VICTORY!