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HEMP HISTORY
Hemp is among the oldest industries on the planet, going back more than 10,000 years to the beginnings of pottery. The Columbia History of the World states that the oldest relic of human industry is a bit of hemp fabric dating back to approximately 8,000 BC.
Presidents Washington and Jefferson both grew hemp. Americans were legally bound to grow hemp during the Colonial Era and Early Republic.
In 1937 Congress passed the Marihuana Tax Act which effectively began the era of hemp prohibition. The tax and licensing regulations of the act made hemp cultivation unfeasable for American farmers. The chief promoter of the Tax Act, Harry Anslinger, began promoting anti-marijuana legislation around the world. To learn more about hemp prohibition visit http://www.JackHerer.com or check out "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" by Jack Herer
Then came World War II. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor shut off foreign supplies of "manilla hemp" fiber from the Phillipines. The USDA produced a film called Hemp For Victory to encourage US farmers to grow hemp for the war effort. The US government formed War Hemp Industries and subsidized hemp cultivation. During the War and US farmers grew about a million acres of hemp across the midwest as part of that program.
After the war ended, the government quietly shut down all the hemp processing plants and the industry faded away again.
During the period from 1937 to the late 60's the US government understood and acknowledged that Industrial Hemp and marijuana were distinct varieties of the cannabis plant. Hemp is no longer recognized as distinct from marijuana since the passage of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970. This is despite the fact that a specific exemption for hemp was included in the CSA under the definition of marijuana.
The United States government has published numerous reports and other documents on hemp dating back to the beginnings of our country. Below is a list of some of the documents that have been discovered:
1797: SECRETARY OF WAR: U.S.S. CONSTITUTION'S HEMP
1810: JOHN QUINCY ADAMS - RUSSIAN HEMP CULTIVATION
1827: U.S. NAVY COMMISSIONER - WATER-ROTTED HEMP
1873: HEMP CULTURE IN JAPAN
1895: USDA - HEMP SEED
1899: USDA SECRETARY - HEMP
1901: USDA LYSTER DEWEY RE; HEMP & FLAX SEED
1901: USDA LYSTER DEWEY 13 PAGE ARTICLE ON HEMP
1903: USDA LYSTER DEWEY RE; PRINCIPAL COMMERCIAL PLANT FIBERS
1909: USDA SECRETARY - FIBER INVESTIGATIONS: HEMP/FLAX
1913: USDA LYSTER DEWEY - HEMP SOILS, YIELD, ECONOMICS
1913: USDA LYSTER DEWEY - TESTS FOR HEMP, LIST OF PRODUCTS
1916: USDA BULLETIN 404 - HEMP HURDS AS A PAPER MAKING MATERIAL
1917: USDA - HEMP SEED SUPPLY OF THE NATION
1917: USDA - CANNABIS
1927: USDA LYSTER DEWEY RE; HEMP VARIETIES
1931: USDA LYSTER DEWEY RE; HEMP FIBER LOSING GROUND
1943: USDA - HEMP FOR VICTORY - DOCUMENTARY FILM
1947: USDA - HEMP DAY LENGTH & FLOWERING
1956: USDA - MONOECIOUS HEMP BREEDING IN THE U.S.
These documentes and many more are published online by USA hemp historian extraordinaire, John E. Dvorak. His Digital Hemp History Library is the most complete source for historical hemp documents and data anwhere. To visit the Library click here.
You can also check out literary references to Industrial Hemp from Aesop's Fables to the present: http://www.ofields.com/OFIELDS_HEMP_HISTORY.html