"Hemp: The Outlawed Plant"

Jack Herer, Emperor of Hemp:

Grown worldwide for millenia as a source of food, medicine, fiber and paper, hemp was banned for the first time in human history in 1938 by the United States.

The original impetus for outlawing the hemp plant came from the DuPont and Mellon families with an important assist from William Randolf Hearst.

Hearst owned timber rights for millions of acres of forest land, the raw material for newsprint. DuPont had patents for numerous synthetic products that hemp is competitive with.

Harry Anslinger, the virulent racist who headed the Bureau of Narcotics and spear-headed the campaign against "demon marijuana" was married to the niece of Richard Mellon of the Mellon banking family.

For those who believe that the world is run by and for the benefit of a few interlocking families, this episode provides evidence for that position.

Enforcing marijuana laws and jailing offenders is a multi-billion dollar a year business that employs tens of thousands of people.

Federal Court Rules U.S. Government May Not Deliberately Subvert California’s Medical Marijuana Laws:

SAN JOSE, CA - In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a federal court today held that the U.S. Constitution bars deliberate subversion by the federal government of state medical marijuana laws.

"Utilizing selective arrests and prosecutions, the federal government has sought to sabotage California’s reasoned approach to medical marijuana use," said Graham Boyd, Director of the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project. "For the first time, a court has recognized that a calculated plan by the federal government to undercut state medical marijuana laws is patently unconstitutional. Today’s decision forecasts an end to any organized federal effort to sabotage state medical marijuana laws."

While previous high-profile cases affirmed the federal government’s power to enforce federal drug laws against individual medical marijuana patients and providers on a case-by-case basis, today’s ruling clearly recognizes that a calculated pattern of federal enforcement can render state medical marijuana laws effectively inoperable, which would violate the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

"It is obvious to anyone paying attention that federal officials have gone to great lengths to sabotage state efforts to allow for appropriate medical marijuana use," said Boyd. "The court made clear that this deliberate interference - once proved - would be unequivocally unconstitutional."

The case, County of Santa Cruz v. Mukasey, originated in 2003 when Bingham McCutchen LLP and the Drug Policy Alliance, along with private attorneys Gerald F. Uelmen and Benjamin Rice, sued the federal government for raiding a Santa Cruz-area medical marijuana cooperative, the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana.

The ACLU and others argued, and the court agreed, that the U.S. Constitution permits states to determine for themselves what is legal and what is illegal under state law, and that the federal government may not deliberately undermine this process. (link)

a natural plant put here on this earth for whatever reason should never be outlawed in the first place.what next outlaw air?Dirt?

See also:

Hemp has played a prominent role in the development of the religions and civilizations of Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. The insights gained from the marijuana high by the ancient worshippers were considered to be of divine origin and the plant itself an "angel" or messenger of the gods. The sacramental use of marijuana predates written history and this tradition continues with diverse tribes in Africa, certain Hindu sects, Moslem fakirs and Rastafarians, as well as modern Occultists and Pagans. Indeed, marijuana has been employed for insights and ecstasy by members of virtually every major religion in history. (p. 4)


Knowledge and use of the sacred cannabis Tree of Life predates the oldest deciphered written records. The Hindus of India took this knowledge with them when they left the Hindu Kush mountains. The traditions continued with the ancient Egyptians, the Zoroastrians (Persia revered cannabis), the white Haoma, along with the Tree of All Seed. The Scythians, enigmatic Magi of the North, and their trading partners the Thracians, spread this information throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. (p. 422)


Perhaps, as Dr. Aldrich seems to suggest, our quest to partake in the cannabis Tree of Life unmolested, is the same story that has been told since Gilgamesh found and lost the flower of eternity over five thousand years ago. Perhaps it is the same story depicted on the Scythian carpet found with two censers containing burnt cannabis residues, which has the repeated design of a horseman approaching the Great goddess who holds the Tree of Life in one hand. Perhaps it is the same story as that of Parzifal's Quest for the Holy Grail.

The collective desire to obtain the Tree of Life is an expression of our deepest yearnings to know the Great Mystery beyond beginnings and endings, compounded with the desire to escape the endless cycle of titillations and antagonisms of the senses teasing us in the Great Mysterious Cosmos of Existence. (pp. 422-423)