Hide your children, they said...
Reefer Madness is a 1936 American film directed by Louis J. Gasnier. The film, commissioned by a religious group, is an anti-cannabis propaganda film with a runtime of 1.5 hours of pure madness. An unintentional comedy, the film became a cult classic in the 1970s among cannabis legalization activists who mocked the prevailing moral order, and also thanks to the widespread screenings of midnight movies . As America recovered from prohibition, the film depicted people committing a series of criminal acts as a result of cannabis use, ranging from hit-and-runs to murder, attempted rape, and descent into madness. Oh, exaggeration, when you hold us!
But this wasn't just a pious coincidence. It was a matter of good timing for the traders and manufacturers of synthetic fabrics, such as nylon, which was then booming, who saw hemp (and incidentally cannabis) as a potential threat that went beyond morality, but also financially.
Let's go back in time: In August 1914, the Rockefeller Foundation, ardent supporters of alcohol prohibition in the United States, hired Mackenzie King as head of a newly formed industrial relations department within their foundation. Along the way, King became closely involved with John D. Rockefeller Jr., and the two men came to greatly appreciate and admire each other. Upon returning from the United States, Mackenzie King became leader of the Liberal Party of Canada in 1919 and then Prime Minister in 1921. Cannabis was added to the list of prohibited substances under his administration in 1923, without any parliamentary debate. John D. Rockefeller Sr., founder of Standard Oil, reportedly understood that hemp was the only real competitor to oil, the production of which he controlled almost entirely in the United States. He was also aware that marijuana (high in THC) was a potential competitor to all his investments in the field of synthetic drugs. This businessman's role in establishing the prohibition of hemp in the United States is well known. It is therefore highly likely that he influenced Mackenzie King's behavior during his terms as Prime Minister of Canada.
Hemp was widely used in food, textile fibers, and paper. In wartime, this easy-to-grow and eco-friendly plant was even considered an essential resource, as it produced exceptionally strong ropes and sails. However, everything changed in the 1930s in the United States. Cannabis found itself in the political crosshairs, dragging hemp down with it. In hindsight, it might be understood that the confusion between marijuana and hemp was intentionally driven by industry leaders of the time, who wanted to see other materials, particularly plastics, triumph in place of hemp.
In the United States, Harry Anslinger, the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics at the time, had made the fight against cannabis his priority, even though marijuana use was far from being a public health issue. History will show that Mr. Anslinger was controlled and paid by wealthy families from the petrochemical industry in the first half of the 20th century. In his anti-pot crusade, Mr. Anslinger succeeded in getting the Marijuana Tax Act passed in 1937. The goal was to heavily tax hemp to make it uncompetitive and slowly cause it to decline, with the result we know today. Horror films like Reefer Madness were then able, sadly, to serve as an instrument for an industry much larger than the recreational use of the plant that we know.
In 1942, however, Hemp for Victory was released. A film produced by the United States Department of Agriculture during World War II and released in 1942, which explains the uses of hemp and encourages farmers to grow it as much as possible, due to the stress caused by the shortage of other industrial fibers, often imported from overseas. During World War II, the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was briefly suspended in order to create rope for the U.S. Navy, only to revert to its illegal status immediately afterward. The film showed a history of hemp and hemp products; how to grow it and process it into rope, fabrics, and other products.
Today, we are rediscovering and increasingly popularizing the multiple applications of hemp: healthy food, beauty products, strong and durable textile fiber of course ( hello Abaka ! ), paper, insulation, and thousands of other things!
A piece of history…
Hemp has been used for thousands of years, China in the time of Emperor Shen Nung is said to have begun producing textiles twenty-eight centuries before our era. Hemp was imported into Europe around fifteen hundred years before Christ. It was in Gaul in 270 BC, in the Rhone Valley, that we find the first historical evidence of hemp cultivation in Europe. During the Middle Ages, hemp spread throughout Europe. Charlemagne ordered the planting of canava everywhere. The Visigoths and Ostrogoths migrated to Western Europe, these descendants of the Scythians preserved certain rites of their ancestors and in particular those which linked hemp to the cult of the dead. For centuries, hemp mannequins with human figures were burned in Carnival fires. This mannequin symbolizes the eternal return of life, like hemp which dies and is reborn each year. For centuries after the disappearance of the Scythians, hemp remained linked to the cult of the dead in Central Europe. As the centuries passed, the rituals were lost.
Karine at the Museum…
This summer, our designer Karine visited the Hemp & Hashish Museum in Barcelona. The museum explores the importance of hemp in history, culture, and the arts, as well as its contributions to medicine, botany, and modern industry.
Would you hemp it?
- Hemp belongs to the same cannabis sativa family as marijuana. The fundamental difference between useful hemp and recreational marijuana is the level of THC (the buzz-inducing element). It's only 1% in hemp and about 20% in pot . A headache is all you'll get if you try smoking hemp to get high!
- By 1820, 80% of all textiles, fabrics, and clothing were made from hemp. Some early paintings by Vincent Van Gogh were done on hemp canvas, and early Bibles, Betsy Ross's American flag, maps, charts, and early drafts of the U.S. Constitution were also made from hemp. #weaveweedeveryday
- Unlike hemp, growing (non-organic) cotton requires significant pesticides to protect it from insects, diseases, and weeds. About 50% of the total pesticides used in the United States are used in cotton farming.
- Legalized in Canada in 1998 across the country, hemp is still illegal in several American states to this day.
Sources: Newsweed, Blocpot, Norml, Madeinchanvre, Wikipedia, CannabisCulture, BlogMaison, Fyllde, OhFact. Photo credit poster Reefer Madness, Hemp for Victory .