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GOVERNMENT'S ANTI-HEMP RULES MAKE NO SENSE

WASHINGTON - The U.S.  is one of the few countries in the world that denies farmers the right to grow industrial hemp.  Apparently, government bureaucrats in Washington can't tell the difference between a tall hemp stalk and a short marijuana bush.

Prior to the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, few Americans had heard of marijuana, despite widespread cultivation of its non-intoxicating cousin, industrial hemp.  Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best.

White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda.  Those original myths have long been discredited, forcing the drug war gravy train to spend tax dollars on politicized research.

The direct experience of millions of Americans contradicts the lies used to justify marijuana prohibition.  Reefer madness is a poor excuse for jailing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis.

There is no excuse for denying farmers the right to grow industrial hemp.

Robert Sharpe

Sharpe is an analyst with Common Sense for Drug Policy, www.csdp.org.