Originally posted by stockli
Again its not about whats healthier or less dangerous.
Its all about money.
Booze company owners have a strong lobby of rich folks that help keep it legal.
MJ has old hippies and thats about it.
There was a really good program on PBS not long ago on the criminalization of cannibas in the United States and the forces that drove for it to be criminalized.
The forces that drove for the criminalization of cannibas in the early part of the 20th Century was Hearst and DuPont. Hearst owned huge tracts of timberland in the Pacific Northwest and DuPont had just come up with Nylon. Why is this important and how did it lead to the crimalization of cannibas? How did this result in the name marijauna?
William Randolph Hearst was a newpaper mogul, he needed paper, lots of it. He also wanted to make lots of money from it but how? Around this time, the process of making paper from wood pulp was being ironed out. Remember, Hearst had millions upon millions of acres of timberland with all those trees...
At the time, Hemp was the major component of paper, as it didn't need the highly complicated chemical process that wood pulp needs to be turned into paper.
So we have Protagonist #1, now lets get ready for Protagonist #2...here comes DuPont.
DuPont had just come up with Nylon, which could be used in various things, such as rope but still couldn't find a very large commercial use for it at the time. But they were convinced that it would make great rope and it would be a great way for it's mass introduction into the consumer market. They had one stumbling block...Hemp. Virtually all rope at the time was made with Hemp.
Now, we bring in the last Protagonist. US Congress. Hearst and the DuPont company got together with a US Congressman (I forget the man's name) and used him to lead the drive for criminalization of cannibas. First, they tried the medical argument but the medical associations argued that cannibas did have medicinal value so the Evil Three changed tactics and started use sensationalism and fear in their quest to criminalize cannibas.
How did they do it? They used an easy scapegoat, the illegal alien. The Congressman started to tell tales of illegal aliens smuggling "Marijuana" (a completely contrived name that was used because it sounded "Mexican") and raping and robbing US citizens in stoned induced rages. Once the Evil Three started to see this tactic succeed, they followed up with more sensational tales of the evils that cannibas can do (none though were based on scientific fact or any facts at all). Then came movies like Reefer Madness, and then a turn in public opinion and greater calls from the public to wipe out the scourge of cannibas.
All the while, the US Congressman, William Randolph Hearst, and DuPont got rich. Hearst now had the market for his wood pulp paper, DuPont had a market for their nylon rope and the Congressman got re-elected and his 15 minutes of fame.
ack-ack
