A Friend Stopped By | 11/03/2009 4:00 am
Legalize It, by Allegra Huston

Editor’s Note: Allegra Huston’s new book, Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found, hit bookstores last spring. Allegra is the youngest daughter of film director John Huston and sister of Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston. She was born in London, raised in Ireland and Los Angeles, and now lives in Taos, NM. She was a publisher in London for nine years and has been a freelance writer and editor since 1994.
It’s dark. You’re walking to your car, the subway or just home. You spot a gang of youths out for a night of fun. Your heart races. Then you see what they’re doing: smoking dope. Oh, no! You might trip over one of them. Maybe they’ll philosophize you to death.
Good thing they’re not doing something legal, like drinking, which might get you a broken bottle in the face.
| Reefer madness was a fantasy; if everyone took up pot, we’d have a nation of chilled-out people committing way less violent crime. |
I’m not such a libertarian that I’m arguing for the legalization of all drugs — I’ve seen what hard drugs can do. But let’s be sensible. Why do we criminalize more than a quarter of the population for enjoying a substance whose primary effects are relaxation, the munchies and an overuse of the word "dude"? I don’t use cannabis, but I also don’t jump out of airplanes, go on ten-day fasts, eat peanut butter or engage in masochistic sex; and as people who enjoy those things aren’t hurting anybody but themselves, I don’t see the point of banning them. In fact, I think we should mandate cannabis use for politicians; then they might actually tell the truth, as Al Capone’s henchman did when the FBI gave him a joint to loosen him up for interrogation.
But it’s a Drug — that dreaded word. OK, what’s a drug? "A substance other than food intended to affect the structure or function of the body." Too broad. "Something and often an illegal substance that causes addiction, habituation or a marked change in consciousness." That covers coffee, video games and iPhones, not to mention alcohol and tobacco. OK, I’m queen for a day, and I say they’re bad for people. Now they’re illegal. You’ll call them drugs.
Full disclosure: I have tried, twice, to smoke a joint. I couldn’t; my throat burned, it hurt. I tried hash brownies too, but uttering a sentence was like hauling on ropes to put my brain back together. I ate too many. I couldn’t resist: I’m addicted to chocolate.
That’s my point: A drug would be a medicine, or just a vice, or merely an indulgence, if it weren’t illegal. So why is cannabis illegal?
It’s virtually impossible to figure out why some drugs and not others were made illegal in the first place. The history of criminalization is piecemeal and murky. The first ban on cannabis was a specifically anti-Muslim act, propagated by those guardians of all that is right and good, the Spanish Inquisition — who, when they came to the New World, instantly concluded that the hallucinogenic drugs used in native religion must be tools of the devil. It’s hard not to see racism and power politics at work in all this, especially when you look at old propaganda images of black men high on cocaine raping white women, and sinister Chinese luring the flower of white youth into their opium dens.























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It’s too late to legalize. If that ever had a chance. I’d settle for less stringent penalties on being caught with it. Mr. Wow has never been much of a pot-smoker at all. Mostly because he is not any kind of smoker. (The one vice he avoided) The inhaling of vapors into his lungs is an unpleasant sensation. But I have had a puff here and there over the years, and attained a nice high. But always very worried about what exactly might be laced into this batch of pot? So, never a truly mellow fellow passing the joint.
Liquor? Now, that’s the devil’s potion. I know because I have struggled with the love to lush for many years. It’s under control now, but always ready to become unruly. When Mr. Wow thinks of the damage he has caused himself and the hurt he has inflicted on others with the use of the easily attainable, legal substance known as booze….I’d call for Prohibition again, if I didn’t still enjoy a lethal margarita now and then.
Hemp and Marijuana are the same thing. Many people do not realize that, but it is true.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers GREW HEMP; Jefferson smuggled hemp seeds from China to France then to America.
* Benjamin Franklin owned one of the first paper mills in America and it processed hemp. Also, the War of 1812 was fought over hemp. Napoleon wanted to cut off Moscow’s export to England; Emperor Wears No Clothes, Jack Herer.
* For thousands of years, 90% of all ships’ sails and rope were made from hemp. The word ‘canvas’ is Dutch for cannabis; Webster’s New World Dictionary.
* 80% of all textiles, fabrics, clothes, linen, drapes, bed sheets, etc. were made from hemp until the 1820s with the introduction of the cotton gin.
* The first Bibles, maps, charts, Betsy Ross’s flag, the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were made from hemp; U.S. Government Archives.
* The first crop grown in many states was hemp. 1850 was a peak year for Kentucky producing 40,000 tons. Hemp was the largest cash crop until the 20th Century; State Archives.
* Oldest known records of hemp farming go back 5000 years in China, although hemp industrialization probably goes back to ancient Egypt.
* Rembrants, Gainsboroughs, Van Goghs as well as most early canvas paintings were principally painted on hemp linen.
* In 1916, the U.S. Government predicted that by the 1940s all paper would come from hemp and that no more trees need to be cut down. Government studies report that 1 acre of hemp equals 4.1 acres of trees. Plans were in the works to implement such programs; Department of Agriculture
* Quality paints and varnishes were made from hemp seed oil until 1937. 58,000 tons of hemp seeds were used in America for paint products in 1935; Sherman Williams Paint Co. testimony before Congress against the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act.
* Henry Ford’s first Model-T was built to run on hemp gasoline and the CAR ITSELF WAS CONTRUCTED FROM HEMP! On his large estate, Ford was photographed among his hemp fields. The car, ‘grown from the soil,’ had hemp plastic panels whose impact strength was 10 times stronger than steel; Popular Mechanics, 1941.
* Hemp called ‘Billion Dollar Crop.’ It was the first time a cash crop had a business potential to exceed a billion dollars; Popular Mechanics, Feb., 1938.
* Mechanical Engineering Magazine (Feb. 1938) published an article entitled ‘The Most Profitable and Desirable Crop that Can be Grown.’ It stated that if hemp was cultivated using 20th Century technology, it would be the single largest agricultural crop in the U.S. and the rest of the world.
The following information comes directly from the United States Department of Agriculture’s 1942 14-minute film encouraging and instructing ‘patriotic American farmers’ to grow 350,000 acres of hemp each year for the war effort:
‘…(When) Grecian temples were new, hemp was already old in the service of mankind. For thousands of years, even then, this plant had been grown for cordage and cloth in China and elsewhere in the East. For centuries prior to about 1850, all the ships that sailed the western seas were rigged with hempen rope and sails. For the sailor, no less than the hangman, hemp was indispensable…
…Now with Philippine and East Indian sources of hemp in the hands of the Japanese…American hemp must meet the needs of our Army and Navy as well as of our industries…
…the Navy’s rapidly dwindling reserves. When that is gone, American hemp will go on duty again; hemp for mooring ships; hemp for tow lines; hemp for tackle and gear; hemp for countless naval uses both on ship and shore. Just as in the days when Old Ironsides sailed the seas victorious with her hempen shrouds and hempen sails. Hemp for victory!’
Certified proof from the Library of Congress; found by the research of Jack Herer, refuting claims of other government agencies that the 1942 USDA film ‘Hemp for Victory’ did not exist.
Hemp cultivation and production do not harm the environment. The USDA Bulletin #404 concluded that hemp produces 4 times as much pulp with at least 4 to 7 times less pollution. From Popular Mechanics, Feb. 1938:
‘It has a short growing season…It can be grown in any state…The long roots penetrate and break the soil to leave it in perfect condition for the next year’s crop. The dense shock of leaves, 8 to 12 feet above the ground, chokes out weeds.
…hemp, this new crop can add immeasurably to American agriculture and industry.’
In the 1930s, innovations in farm machinery would have caused an industrial revolution when applied to hemp. This single resource could have created millions of new jobs generating thousands of quality products. Hemp, if not made illegal, would have brought America out of the Great Depression.
William Randolph Hearst (Citizen Kane) and the Hearst Paper Manufacturing Division of Kimberly Clark owned vast acreage of timberlands. The Hearst Company supplied most paper products. Patty Hearst’s grandfather, a destroyer of nature for his own personal profit, stood to lose billions because of hemp.
In 1937, Dupont patented the processes to make plastics from oil and coal. Dupont’s Annual Report urged stockholders to invest in its new petrochemical division. Synthetics such as plastics, cellophane, celluloid, methanol, nylon, rayon, Dacron, etc., could now be made from oil. Natural hemp industrialization would have ruined over 80% of Dupont’s business.
Andrew Mellon became Hoover’s Secretary of the Treasury and Dupont’s primary investor. He appointed his future nephew-in-law, Harry J. Anslinger, to head the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
Secret meetings were held by these financial tycoons. Hemp was declared dangerous and a threat to their billion dollar enterprises. For their dynasties to remain intact, hemp had to go. These men took an obscure Mexican slang word: ‘marihuana’ and pushed it into the consciousness of America.
A media blitz of ‘yellow journalism’ raged in the late 1920s and 1930s. Hearst’s newspapers ran stories emphasizing the horrors of ‘marihuana.’ The menace of marihuana made headlines. Readers learned that it was responsible for everything from car accidents to loose morality.
Films like ‘Reefer Madness’ (1936), ‘Marihuana: Assassin of Youth’ (1935) and ‘Marihuana: The Devil’s Weed’ (1936) were propaganda designed by these industrialists to create an enemy. Their purpose was to gain public support so that anti-marihuana laws could be passed.
Examine the following quotes from ‘The Burning Question’ aka REEFER MADNESS:
a violent narcotic.
acts of shocking violence.
incurable insanity.
soul-destroying effects.
under the influence of the drug he killed his entire family with an ax.
more vicious, more deadly even than these soul-destroying drugs (heroin, cocaine) is the menace of marihuana!
Reefer Madness did not end with the usual ‘the end.’ The film concluded with these words plastered on the screen: TELL YOUR CHILDREN.
In the 1930s, people were very naive; even to the point of ignorance. The masses were like sheep waiting to be led by the few in power. They did not challenge authority. If the news was in print or on the radio, they believed it had to be true. They told their children and their children grew up to be the parents of the baby-boomers.
On April 14, 1937, the Prohibitive Marihuana Tax Law or the bill that outlawed hemp was directly brought to the House Ways and Means Committee. This committee is the only one that can introduce a bill to the House floor without it being debated by other committees. The Chairman of the Ways and Means, Robert Doughton, was a Dupont supporter. He insured that the bill would pass Congress.
Dr. James Woodward, a physician and attorney, testified too late on behalf of the American Medical Association. He told the committee that the reason the AMA had not denounced the Marihuana Tax Law sooner was that the Association had just discovered that marihuana was hemp.
Few people, at the time, realized that the deadly menace they had been reading about on Hearst’s front pages was in fact passive hemp. The AMA understood cannabis to be a MEDICINE found in numerous healing products sold over the last hundred years.
In September of 1937, hemp became illegal. The most useful crop known became a drug and our planet has been suffering ever since.
Congress banned hemp because it was said to be the most violence-causing drug known. Anslinger, head of the Drug Commission for 31 years, promoted the idea that marihuana made users act extremely violent. In the 1950s, under the Communist threat of McCarthyism, Anslinger now said the exact opposite. Marijuana will pacify you so much that soldiers would not want to fight.
Today, our planet is in desperate trouble. Earth is suffocating as large tracts of rain forests disappear. Pollution, poisons and chemicals are killing people. These great problems could be reversed if we industrialized hemp. Natural biomass could provide all of the planet’s energy needs that are currently supplied by fossil fuels. We have consumed 80% of our oil and gas reserves. We need a renewable resource. Hemp could be the solution to soaring gas prices.
Hemp has a higher quality fiber than wood fiber. Far fewer caustic chemicals are required to make paper from hemp than from trees. Hemp paper does not turn yellow and is very durable. The plant grows quickly to maturity in a season where trees take a lifetime.
ALL PLASTIC PRODUCTS SHOULD BE MADE FROM HEMP SEED OIL. Hempen plastics are biodegradable! Over time, they would break down and not harm the environment. Oil-based plastics, the ones we are very familiar with, help ruin nature; they do not break down and will do great harm in the future. The process to produce the vast array of natural (hempen) plastics will not ruin the rivers as Dupont and other petrochemical companies have done. Ecology does not fit in with the plans of the Oil Industry and the political machine. Hemp products are safe and natural.
MEDICINES SHOULD BE MADE FROM HEMP. We should go back to the days when the AMA supported cannabis cures. ‘Medical Marijuana’ is given out legally to only a handful of people while the rest of us are forced into a system that relies on chemicals. Pot is only healthy for the human body.
WORLD HUNGER COULD END. A large variety of food products can be generated from hemp. The seeds contain one of the highest sources of protein in nature. ALSO: They have two essential fatty acids that clean your body of cholesterol. These essential fatty acids are not found anywhere else in nature! Consuming pot seeds is the best thing you could do for your body. Eat uncooked hemp seeds.
CLOTHES SHOULD BE MADE FROM HEMP. Hemp clothing is extremely strong and durable over time. You could hand clothing, made from pot, down to your grandchildren. Today, there are American companies that make hemp clothing; usually 50% hemp. Hemp fabrics should be everywhere. Instead, they are almost underground. Superior hemp products are not allowed to advertise on fascist television. Kentucky, once the top hemp producing state, made it ILLEGAL TO WEAR hemp clothing! Can you imagine being thrown into jail for wearing quality jeans?
The world is crazy…but that does not mean you have to join the insanity. Get together. Spread the news. Tell people, and that includes your children, the truth. Use hemp products. Eliminate the word ‘marijuana.’ Realize the history that created it. Make it politically incorrect to say or print the M-word. Fight against the propaganda (designed to favor the agenda of the super rich) and the bullshit. Hemp must be utilized in the future. We need a clean energy source to save our planet. INDUSTRIALIZE HEMP!
The liquor, tobacco and oil companies fund more than a million dollars a day to Partnership for a Drug-Free America and other similar agencies. We have all seen their commercials. Now, their motto is: ‘It’s more dangerous than we thought.’ Lies from the powerful corporations, that began with Hearst, are still alive and well today.
The brainwashing continues. Now, the commercials say: If you buy a joint, you contribute to murders and gang wars. The latest anti-pot commercials say: If you buy a joint…you are promoting TERRORISM! The new enemy (terrorism) has paved the road to brainwash you any way THEY see fit.
There is only one enemy; the friendly people you pay your taxes to; the war-makers and nature destroyers. With your funding, they are killing the world right in front of your eyes. HALF A MILLION DEATHS EACH YEAR ARE CAUSED BY TOBACCO. HALF A MILLION DEATHS EACH YEAR ARE CAUSED BY ALCOHOL. NO ONE HAS EVER, EVER DIED FROM SMOKING POT!! In the entire history of the human race, not one death can be attributed to cannabis. Our society has outlawed grass but condones the use of the KILLERS: TOBACCO and ALCOHOL. Hemp should be declassified and placed in DRUG stores to relieve stress. Hardening and constriction of the arteries are bad; but hemp usage actually enlarges the arteries…which is a healthy condition. We have been so conditioned to think that: Smoking is harmful. That is NOT the case for passive pot.
Ingesting THC, hemp’s active agent, has a positive effect; relieving asthma and glaucoma. A joint tends to alleviate the nausea caused by chemotherapy. You are able to eat on hemp. This is a healthy state of being.
The stereotype for a pothead is similar to a drunk, bubble-brain. Yet, the truth is one’s creative abilities can be enhanced under its influence. The perception of time slightly slows and one can become more sensitive. You can more appreciate all arts; be closer to nature and generally FEEL more under the influence of cannabis. It is, in fact, the exact opposite state of mind and body as the drunken state. You can be more aware with pot.
Does one-quarter or more of the population of our nation deserve to be incarcerated?
…POT IS ILLEGAL BECAUSE BILLIONAIRES WANT TO REMAIN BILLIONAIRES!
They’re two entirely different cultivars of the same plant. Smoke the hemp that’s grown to make rope and you’ll end up with lung cancer, but not much else.
Just an observation, too, but have you ever noticed that artists who "create" under the influence (of anything) because they think the work is wonderful never manage to actually SELL that work to sober people?
Evil Betty,
Too long. Missed your point.
I almost agree with the Libertarians that to fight drug abuse in America is a waste of needed tax dollars. Almost. Then I think about living in the same apartment building as the drug user, drive along the same highway, sit beside in the park. Then I think about Americans who jobs come under the heading of essential or care-giver. Of course, we want our first responders to arrive at work hungover after an evening of drug relaxation. Of course, we want that teacher to arrive at school coming down from a high from the night before, and most especially we want that teacher to teach grammar school. This is absurd.
Drugs were made illegal in this country for good reasons. Those adults who advocate legalization generally make the comparison with the availability and legal sale of alcohol. Then we should soon expect to see organizations such as MADU Mothers Against Drug Use or someone else will found organizations similar to AA or most likely Al-anon.
Alcohol abusers have created enough harm and sadness in America … we do not need to add to those numbers by legalizing drugs.
Heidi W. - I am fully aware that cannabis (marijuana used medically) is not an invaluable tool for many. I have seen cannabis prescribed in order to keep an alcoholic away from liquor. The effects of damaging one’s brain through marijuana is a slower process than through alcohol. However, both do damage the brain.
http://www.nida.nih.gov/infofacts/marijuana.html
Hi Bonnie,
No offense, but in the link you provided the tests were done on animals, not humans. I have read extensive scientific studies and information that says just the opposite. They are not going to tell you something illegal will not hurt you in some way, come on, they need to keep up the act. I do not agree children should use marijuana and an age limit should be placed on it just like alcohol, there have not been enough studies on the growing brain. Anything in excess is not good for you, we all know this. Whether it is food, caffeine, alcohol, drugs or just plain old age, something is gonna kill us eventually. Moderation in all things is the key.
My oldest kids were adolescents during the "sex. drugs, rock & roll" period. My oldest son started on pot when he was a counselor at Boy Scout camp and it was the start of his love of pot. I never saw him not stoned for over 4 yrs. & he graduated from high school by a slim margin. He went to Hawaii & lived on a commune on Liz Taylor’s brother’s ranch, where they grew their own pot. My daughter was the same way. Only way I could tell was by their dilated eyes most of the time. They were not alone in this, as everybody seemed to be in the same boat during those days. Well, my son got tired of it all as he matured. He went to college - gradualed Summa cum laude, and now is a pastor with his own church. My daughter is married with 2 chldren and 2 grandchildren. All of their "druggie" friends are now college graduates, professional people. I would rather be around people smoking pot than drinking, although I do neither, but they tend to be more mellow. My youngest son’s drug of choice was alcohol as it was the popular "drug" during his adolescence. He ended up in treatment and ultimately kiled himself driving when drunk. I am in favor of legalizing pot, as never saw any terrible consequences from the recrerational use of it, but have seen very bad consequences of alcohol. A school bus driver here recently had an accident while driving the bus intoxicated. If you have lived with it in your home you will. soon learn it is no more terrible than alcohol , and probably less so.
He went to Hawaii & lived on a commune on Liz Taylor’s brother’s ranch, where they grew their own pot.
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Must have been the late 1960s/early 1970s. I think the entire island of Kauai was stoned back then. And you didn’t even have to smoke a joint. It was just "in the air" as they say.
Wonderful post about hemp. People really don’t realize the real story behind marijuana. And why it became illegal. It was a cash crop some weren’t making the cash from. So they made it illegal.