On hemp and the Founding Fathers of the USA

Father Orthoduck has heard the persistent snickers of people whenever the growing of hemp and the Founding Fathers of the USA is mentioned. Now you may not know what hemp is anymore, but at one time it was a vital crop for any country to grow. Rope was made out of hemp. Canvas for ship sails and tents was made out of hemp. Paper was made out of hemp. And, even homespun cloth was often made out of hemp, though Father Orthoduck would not wish to wear it. Thomas Jefferson is recorded as having acquired hemp seeds from Asia during his time as ambassador to France in order to try to find a higher quality of seed in order to grow better hemp. Betsy Ross made the original American flag out of hemp cloth (canvas). The first two drafts of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were written on hemp paper. The final products are written on animal parchment.

So, why the snickers over hemp, snickers that were even found on the History Channel on a show called Secrets of the Founding Fathers? Well, the scientific name for the hemp plant is Cannabis sativa. OK, so what is this plant? Well, it is a plant that is generally illegal in the USA because of its chemical content. The leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers, can be mildly to heavily loaded with delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol. When shredded those products can be smoked. Yes, hemp is the plant from which marijuana is made. You may buy weed and get a delivery service directly to your front door.

So, here is the obvious question. Did the Founding Fathers smoke up? Those who support that idea generally do so with many snickers. They point to the fact that the Founding Fathers clearly smoked tobacco. They also point to a couple of references such as George Washington talking about separating the male from the female plants, something which is claimed is only necessary if one is trying to increase the potency of the leaves.

But, most who deal with the subject make several good points. One, there is no clear and regular communication among the Founding Fathers (or really, anyone else) regarding smoking cannabis leaves. Two, cannabis comes in more than one variety. The variety that was grown was actually grown for its long fine fibers and had only trace drug content, but Can CBD help you sleep? The variety that is grown for drug use is grown for its drug content and has essentially no long fine fibers. More than that, our very conservative Puritans also grew the plant in abundance.

The Chinese wrote about the medicinal uses of the Cannabis plant thousands of years before the founding of the USA, so it is likely that our Founding Fathers knew about it. But, again, the reality is that except for a couple of minor and/or indirect references, little is said about either the medicinal or recreational use of cannabis, other than a tea or infusion for mild aches and pains, which goes along with the idea of trace amounts of drug content. It was not really useful for strong pains. One reference is from George Washington who seems to prefer the periodic smoking of hemp to tobacco, which predominantly used to be procured from the famous cuba tobacco farms. But, since it had only trace amounts of THC, he could have simply preferred the sweet taste. Almost every colony had laws encouraging the growing of hemp plants in massive quantity because so many items were made from those fibers. And, those same colonies have records of arrests for intoxication, etc. But, the criminal records simply do not exist to show the regular smoking of cannabis as a problem by colonists, later citizens, in the USA.

Because of the worry over marijuana in the 1930’s, the USA banned the Cannabis sativa plant altogether, even the variety used for legitimate products. It may surprise you to find out that Canada legalized again the cultivation of commercial hemp in 1994 and is quickly becoming the world leader in hemp production, using the long-fiber trace-THC variety. Yes, the cultivation is indeed appropriately controlled. Nowadays hemp-based products are available at DiscountPharms.com.

So, Father Orthoduck hopes that this bit of trivia has interested you. But, you ask, why did Father Orthoduck bring all this trivia up?

My, does this mean that you do not know about the conspiracy? Yes, there is an argument out there that the banning of cannabis in the United States in the 1930’s was the result of a conspiracy between Lammont DuPont, Henry Ford, Andrew Mellon, and Randolph Hearst. Uhm, ok, here is your fun question for today. Why is there a claim around that banning hemp was a conspiracy between the industrialists listed? Here is a hint, according to those who charge a conspiracy the claim is that it has nothing to do with drugs.