SOL Magazine Issue # 5 Fall 2009.
O.K., so I was diligently studying up for you on cover
crops, green manure and cheap, easily grown bio-mass that could be used
for bio-fuels. (Lest anyone play the little dirty trick on the
unquestioning public again claiming that "growing corn for fuel takes
people's food away" - while we have hundreds of millions of acres of
crop land to sustainably grow enough corn to fly to the moon on
vacation. But enough of the limited, boring corn-plant.) Alas I, who
only sniffed a tiny bit of secondary Marihuana smoke once ever and was
cured for life*, explored the hemp plant for other reasons, having heard
about its utter versatility. * I liked the "medicinal" feeling alright -
the food I was eating seemed so much more delicious than it really was -
but it felt as if I wasn't fully connected to myself, my least favorite
feeling ...Ehm, isn't that true for most of our split-off politicians?
At least I didn't have the far-gone "dead-fish-stare" a lot of them
have. As a therapist, I have no sense of humor about anything but full
presence, but at least the little herb makes everyone harmless, pleasant
and relaxed. (Compare THAT to the possible violence, acting out and
driving recklessly seen with some people while alcohol-intoxicated!)
BUT
back to my research: More important than bio-mass, how could I overlook
the fact that there were over 150 items made from the hemp-plant listed
on one website alone and yes, AFTER all those items are fabricated,
locally and sustainably, the "useless" left-overs are the best thing
yet!
However, I thought: First things first. Let's read up on the funny
laws about hemp - how would you like to have gone to jail for NOT
growing hemp, so important for survival was the cultivation of this crop
to our forefathers? Or better yet, who would have wanted to earn British
citizenship for growing this amazingly useful crop? So here, with Jack's
gracious permission, is Chapter One, for a few good laughs. Oh, before
we laugh - can anyone take a good guess (no, it's not the so-called war
on drugs!) why we still jail people and burn their fields for the exact
opposite reasons? And no, even IF the recreational use of the medicinal
parts of this plant caused addiction to more noxious drugs, which it
doesn't, why are we not super-busy growing the version of the plant
which had it's medicinal substances bred out of it? So, read on -
marvel, chuckle and get very annoyed. It's quite clear that "we've been
had once more", but we can't blame anyone but ourselves for being lame
citizens. On to Chapter One of Jack Herer's classic book on the poor,
innocent versatile economy- and man-saving hemp-plant. R.J.
In his introduction, Jack Herer, tongue in cheek, alerts the reader that
the facts cited in his book are "generally verifiable in the
Encyclopaedia Britannica, which was printed primarily on paper
produced with cannabis hemp for over 150 years. However, any
encyclopedia (no matter how old) or good dictionary will do for general
verification purposes."
Chapter One: Overview of the History of Hemp
By Jack Herer
Cannabis Sativa L.: What’s in a Name?
U.S. Geography: HEMPstead, Long Island; HEMPstead County, Arkansas;
HEMPstead, Texas; HEMPhill, North Carolina, HEMPfield, Pennsylvania,
among others, were named after cannabis growing regions, or after family
names derived from hemp growing.
American Historical Notes
In 1619,
America’s first marijuana law was enacted at Jamestown Colony, Virginia,
“ordering” all farmers to “make tryal of “(grow) Indian hempseed. More
mandatory (must-grow) hemp cultivation laws were enacted in
Massachusetts in 1631, in Connecticut in 1632 and in the Chesapeake
Colonies into the mid-1700s.
Even in England, the much-sought-after
prize of full British citizenship was bestowed by a decree of the crown
on foreigners who would grow cannabis, and fines were often levied
against those who refused.
Cannabis hemp was legal tender (money) in
most of the Americas from 1631 until the early 1800s. Why? To encourage
American farmers to grow more.
1. You could pay your taxes with cannabis
hemp throughout America for over 200 years.
2. You could even be jailed
in America for not growing cannabis during several periods of shortage,
e.g., in Virginia between 1763 and 1767. (Herndon, G.M., Hemp in
Colonial Virginia, 1963; The Chesapeake Colonies, 1954;
L.A. Times,
August 12, 1981; et al.)
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew
cannabis on their plantations. Jefferson(3), while envoy to France, went
to great expense, and even considerable risk to himself and his secret
agents, to procure particularly good hempseeds smuggled illegally into
Turkey from China. The Chinese Mandarins (political rulers) so valued
their hemp seed that they made its exportation a capital offense.
The
Chinese character “Ma” was the earliest name for hemp. By the 10th
century A.D., Ma had become the generic term for fibers of all kinds,
including jute and ramie. By then, the word for hemp had become “Tai-ma”
or “Dai-ma” meaning “great hemp.”
The United States Census of 1850
counted 8,327 hemp “plantations”* (minimum 2,000-acre farms) growing
cannabis hemp for cloth, canvas and even the cordage used for baling
cotton. Most of these plantations were located in the South or in the
Border States, primarily because of the cheap slave labor available
prior to 1865 for the labor-intensive hemp industry. (U.S. Census, 1850;
Allen, James Lane, The Reign of Law, A Tale of the Kentucky Hemp Fields,
MacMillan Co., NY, 1900; Roffman, Roger. Ph.D., Marijuana as Medicine, Mendrone Books, WA, 1982.)
*This figure does not include the tens of
thousands of smaller farms growing cannabis, nor the hundreds of
thousands if not millions of family hemp patches in America; nor does it
take into account that well into this century 80% of America’s hemp
consumption for 200 years still had to be imported from Russia, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia and Poland, etc..
Benjamin Franklin started one of
America’s first paper mills with cannabis. This allowed America to have
a free colonial press without having to beg or justify the need for
paper and books from England.
In addition, various marijuana and hashish
extracts were the first, second or third most-prescribed medicines in
the United States from 1842 until the 1890s. Its medicinal use continued
legally through the 1930s for humans and figured even more prominently
in American and world veterinary medicines during this time.
Cannabis
extract medicines were produced by Eli Lilly, Parke-Davis, Tildens,
Brothers Smith (Smith Brothers), Squibb and many other American and
European companies and apothecaries. During all this time there was not
one reported death from cannabis extract medicines, and virtually no
abuse or mental disorders reported, except for first-time or
novice-users occasionally becoming disoriented or overly introverted. (Mikuriya,
Tod, M.D., Marijuana Medical Papers, Medi-Comp Press, CA, 1973;
Cohen, Sidney & Stillman, Richard, Therapeutic Potential of
Marijuana, Plenum Press, NY, 1976.)
World Historical Notes
“The earliest known woven fabric was
apparently of hemp, which began to be worked in the eighth millennium
(8,000-7,000 B.C.).” (The Columbia History of the
World, 1981)
The body of literature (i.e., archaeology,
anthropology, philology, economy, history) pertaining to hemp is in
general agreement that, at the very least:
From more than 1,000 years before the time
of Christ until 1883 A.D., cannabis hemp, indeed, marijuana was our
planet’s largest agricultural crop and most important industry,
involving thousands of products and enterprises; producing the overall
majority of Earth’s fiber, fabric, lighting oil, paper, incense and
medicines. In addition, it was a primary source of essential food oil
and protein for humans and animals.
According to virtually every anthropologist and university in the world,
marijuana was also used in most of our religions and cults as one of the
seven or so most widely used mood-, mind- or pain-altering drugs when
taken as psychotropic, psychedelic (mind-manifesting or - expanding)
sacraments.
Almost without exception, these sacred (drug)
experiences inspired our superstitions, amulets, talismans, religions,
prayers, and language codes. (See Chapter10 on “Religions and Magic.”)
(Wasson, R. Gordon, Soma, Divine Mushroom of
Immortality; Allegro, J.M., Sacred Mushroom & the Cross,
Doubleday, NY, 1969; Pliny; Josephus; Herodotus; Dead Sea Scrolls;
Gnostic Gospels; the Bible; Ginsberg Legends Kaballah, c. 1860;
Paracelsus; British Museum; Budge; Ency. Britannica, Pharmacological
Cults; Schultes & Wasson, Plants of the Gods; Research of:
R.E. Schultes, Harvard Botanical Dept.; Wm. EmBoden, Cal State U.,
Northridge; et al.)
Great Wars were Fought to Ensure the Availability of Hemp
For example, the primary
reason for the War of 1812 (fought by America against Great Britain) was
access to Russian cannabis hemp. Russian hemp was also the principal
reason that Napoleon (our 1812 ally) and his “Continental Systems”
allies invaded Russia in 1812. (See Chapter 11, “The (Hemp) War of 1812
and Napoleon Invades Russia.”)
In 1942, after the Japanese invasion of
the Philippines cut off the supply of Manila (Abaca) hemp, the U.S.
government distributed 400,000 pounds of cannabis seeds to American
farmers from Wisconsin to Kentucky, who produced 42,000 tons of hemp
fiber annually until 1946 when the war ended.
Why Has Cannabis Hemp Been
so Important in History?
Because cannabis hemp is, overall, the
strongest, most-durable, longest-lasting natural soft-fiber on the
planet. Its leaves and flower tops (marijuana) were, depending on the
culture, the first, second or third most-important and most-used
medicines for two-thirds of the world’s people for at least 3,000 years,
until the turn of the 20th century.
Botanically, hemp is a member of the
most advanced plant family on Earth. It is a dioecious (having male, female and sometimes
hermaphroditic, male and female representation on the same plant),
woody, herbaceous annual that uses the sun more efficiently than
virtually any other plant on our planet, reaching a robust 12 to 20 feet
or more in one short growing season. It can be grown in virtually any
climate or soil condition on Earth, even marginal ones.
Hemp is, by far,
Earth’s premier, renewable natural resource. This is why hemp is so very
important.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * *
Footnotes:
1. Clark, V.S., History of Manufacture in
the United States, McGraw Hill, NY 1929, Pg. 34.
2. Ibid.
3. Diaries of
George Washington; Writings of George Washington, Letter to Dr. James
Anderson, May 26, 1794, vol. 33, p. 433, (U.S. govt. pub., 1931);
Letters to his caretaker, William Pearce, 1795 & 1796; Thomas Jefferson,
Jefferson’s Farm Books; Abel, Ernest, Marijuana: The First 12,000 Years,
Plenum Press, NY, 1980; Dr. Michael Aldrich, et al. Copyright © Jack Herer,
2009 All rights reserved
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