How Did We Get Here? The Roots of Pot Prohibition

Hemp was in the way of Dupont's chemical fibers!

Sounds a little bit like this video I saw called " the Union"...and it was true to why legalization is not legal

funny you should mention roots. since slavery is what cannabis prohibition is really about. its about control so a few rich men can make a killing of the misery and misfortune of others. a year ago i WOULD have said a few rich "WHITE" men ! ! ! i wonder if that is the kind of equality that doctor king was preaching about. the way that the rich equally ignore the poor and put us in prison....no matter what color the rulers are. greed has no color......lies dont come in colors...i only see neglegence and abuse...wrong after wrong will never make it right............................

I think what it comes down to most of all is that it is illegal to most because the prescription drug companies would lose money if it was legal.

Think about it.

There have been studies that marijuana can help patients suffering from multiple sclerosis to anxiety to chronic pain to cancer and the list goes on. If weed is the cure-all it seems to be it would take a big chunk out of the drug companies bottom line. There is no way for them to control who can get marijuana. It grows out of the ground, it isn't something that has to be manufactured like their pain pills and anti-depressants.

Make no mistake, it's racism that started anti-weed activities and it's just become a taboo since then.

What most people don't know is that anti-drug laws are often racially motivated. Prohibition, for instance, was actually an anti-saloon measure which was the main center of life for German and Irish immigrants.

Get this, it wasn't illegal to DRINK or POSSESS alcohol during prohibition, just to sell, buy or transport it. Starting to get the picture?

I'm positive that marijuana laws were designed for the same reason since it was initially the favorite choice of African Americans. And our modern "drug war" is clearly done for much the same reasons.

White people's favorite drug of choice (alcohol) is protected as is their industry. But in the ghettos, where selling drugs is one of the most profitable ways to pull yourself out of poverty, it's suddenly "prohibited."

Most laws legislating "morality" have similar ulterior motives. The first anti-prostitution laws in the late 1800's, for instance, were designed to prevent women from becoming independent.

The taboo against marijuana is less a result of empirical evidence than an outward sign of the cultural war that still rages between the Baby Boom Generation and its parents. Pot is not as harmful as alcohol has been repeatedly proven to be: in my own life I have lost several relatives to alcoholism, but none to marijuana use. Pot is illegal because the “Greatest Generation” as Tom Brokaw calls it, is still miffed that we did not fall in line behind their version of the way things should be.

People who use marijuana are sometimes not as ambitious and are not easily manipulated into working as wage slaves. This fact is a great threat to corporations who want willing workers whose entire focus is upon the acquisition of material goods. Marijuana may affect the bottom line.

However, marijuana, used in a reverent and mature way, can be a significant relief to those who are ill and a sacramental substance to those seeking to alter their consciousness. Perhaps when we and our parents are dead, the next generation will throw off the baseless taboos and use marijuana to make their lives better.