irst American flag. Hemp canvas (the word canvass comes from cannabis, Latin for hemp) covered the pioneers’ wagons as they headed west to settle America. Abraham Lincoln was said to have used a hemp oil lamp to read and study by. In the 1930’s, a corporation called Du Pont and a man named William Randolph Hearst were two major leaders in a quest to make marijuana illegal. They were both afraid that hemp would compete with certain paper and synthetic products of theirs. Since Hearst owned newspapers, he had a perfect opportunity to write and publish many false stories about hemp and give it an evil face in the eyes of Americans. When Hearst acquired a patent for the sulfuric acid paper-making process to be used with tree pulp, and oddly enough owned timber holdings in Oregon, he had two major reasons to fight for marijuana becoming illegal. He used his money and political influence to make a movie entitled “Refer Madness”, which falsely exaggerated the negativity of marijuana. In 1938 the US government made marijuana illegal. However, in 1942 the United States Department of Agriculture made it’s own film which they called “Hemp for Victory”. This movie was made to reemphasize hemp’s usefulness and encourage farmers to grow the plant because of the need for materials during the War. After the War, however, when hemp was again able to be acquired from Asia, American production again came to a halt. There have been many questions about medical problems that marijuana has said to create. The most popular question is if people have died from smoking marijuana. The answer to that question is no. From research done by the US Government Bureau of Mortality Statistics in 1987 the following statistics on deaths attributed to substances in a year were found: · Tobacco………………………………..340,000-395,000 ·

Drug Overdose (prescription)…………….24,000-27,000 ·

Drug Overdose (illegal)……………………..3,800-5,200 · Marijuana……………………………………………….0 The only deaths from an overdose of marijuana recorded were mice. The ratio that doctors came up with for a lethal dose of marijuana is 1 to 40,000. This means that in order for someone to overdose they would have to consume 40,000 times as much marijuana as it would take them to get stoned or high. Strangely enough, the ratio of alcohol can vary between 1 to 4 and 1 to 10. Looking at these statistics it is pretty easy to see how nearly 5,000 people die from alcohol overdoses a year. Many people also believe that marijuana flattens people’s brain waves. This is untrue. A few years ago the Partnership for a Drug-Free America

Some topics in this essay:
Department Agriculture, Drug-Free America, Holland Holland, Harry Anslinger, Drug Overdose, Popular Mechanics, Americans Hearst, Plant Prior, Central China, Randolph Hearst, marijuana plant, brain wave, believe marijuana, people believe marijuana, smoked tobacco, drug overdose, marijuana medical, medical purposes, · drug, allowed grow, marijuana medical purposes, · drug overdose, marijuana illegal,