That would be how a socialist would see it. This is America. There is nothing evil about profit or making money.
Don't knock socialism because a healthy dose of socialist regulation is exactly what the American economy needs. And while there is nothing evil about profit or making money, per se, the kind of laissez-faire capitalism and the accompanying accumulation of excessive wealth which has been happening since
Reaganomics pushed our economy off track is as evil as it gets.
However, there is something wrong with the federal government outlawing the cultivation of commercial hemp. Benjamin Franklin was a hemp farmer and I am pretty sure he wouldn't agree with the over-reaching Drug War or the funding of Cartels and Gangsters that result from the prohibition of Marijuana.
The fact is marijuana prohibition was enacted as a means of banning the cultivation of hemp, which, at the turn of the century, represented a substantial threat to several major financial interests including the Hearst newspaper cartel, the DuPont corporation, and several others. The full story may be found in Jack Herer's well-documented book,
The Emperor Wears No Clothes, (available from amazon). But the following is a brief outline of the reason why a benign substance like marijuana has been persecuted for over eighty years.
Back in the early 1900s, William Randolph Hearst, the immensely wealthy and powerful newspaper magnate, purchased an enormous amount of pine timber acreage in northern Maine. He also contracted for timber-cutting and trimming operations and for railroad transportation of huge amounts of cut timber, and he contracted with the DuPont chemical corporation to process the delivered pine timber into pulp for the manufacture of paper, which Hearst needed to supply his vast newspaper empire. The Mellon Bank of Pittsburgh was also heavily invested in this enterprise.
Shortly after this highly profitable operation had commenced supplying Hearst's newsprint needs a process
(decortication) was discovered which enabled the production of a superior grade of newsprint from easily cultivated hemp fiber
without the need for using environmentally damaging acids in the process. This process represented a substantial threat to Hearst, DuPont, the Mellon bank, and other corporate interests.
Andrew Mellon, who was on close friendly terms with President Herbert Hoover, was appointed Treasury Secretary. It is a matter of record that several secret meetings were held at the White House which included Secretary Mellon, Mr. Hearst, and ranking executives of DuPont. At some point between then and 1937, Secretary Mellon created
The Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, and he appointed his future nephew-in-law, Harry Anslinger, as head of that agency.
Soon after his appointment, Anslinger set about to identify marijuana (hemp) as a dangerous drug and, in 1937, banned its cultivation and possession and demanding its destruction wherever found. At the same time Hearst financed production of the now-infamous propaganda film,
Reefer Madness. And the rest is history.
Again, what I've provided above is a brief outline. Anyone who is interested in learning more is urged to read Herer's book, every item of which is well documented with authoritative references. Those who are not interested in buying this fascinating book are invited to read it
FREE right here:
The Book « JackHerer.com
