1941 plastic car made from hemp

It is truly unfortunate that there is such misinformation and hysteria surrounding a species of plant that has such promise. I can only hope that as some of the older generations expire  that some of the regulations surrounding hemp will expire too.

It didn't start out as hysteria, it started out as GREED (imagine that!).  Hemp was a big industry in the U.S. for many years because it was so useful.  In 1937 it suddenly became illegal.  Here is some info on it, which agrees with what I read about it some years ago. 

The 'why' starts about 2/3 down the page.
http://www.ericthered.ca/thoughts1.ihtml

Does this sound at all familiar??? 

Sue

yes , I know the history. but now (at least around here) the propaganda they used to justify the decisions and legislation to cover their greed still permeates even a large portion of the younger generations. Marijuana is ranked right up there with heroin.  and the word "hemp" immediatly triggers the established neural pathways  A freind and I watched an old movie from those times, for the life of me I can't recall the name, but we were laughing hysterically about how the people smoking pot were portrayed as violent, dangerous and super hyped, musing about how previous generations were conned.

The movie was probably "Reefer Madness"... "Play faster, Mae, FASTER!"  Very funny!

Some place in California was doing experimental research on growing industrial hemp. They had to have a high (and electric, I think) fence around it.

At one point, they held a kind of open-house, to disseminate information.  They got a LOT of druggie type of people. 

They explained that industrial hemp has only trace amounts of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the compound that gets pot smokers stoned, and if industrial hemp crosses with marijuana, it dilutes the THC.  They reported that it was rather amusing that all the druggie types were carefully inspecting their pockets and cuffs to make sure they wouldn't take any contamination home with them!

Sue