Josh Sigurdson reports on the recent news that hemp will likely be legalized in 2018 as Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell and a few other senators have pushed for legalization within a larger farm bill which has now passed the senate but still has to be passed by the House which has been vocally in opposition.
Taking you back to the 18th century, George Washington grew hemp, as did Thomas Jefferson.
Hemp was one of the most durable, useful plants in the world. It was used for rope, building blocks, foundation, replaced wood, shingles, panelling, pipes, paint… Then the big ones, fuel, all kinds of food, essential oils, natural durable plastic, fabric and textiles. Hemp could be used for practically anything. Not only that… it can be grown and harvested several times a year, spare massive rain forests and make farmers a fortune. It can revolutionize the markets.
Instead, Standard Oil and government created a massive monopoly in the late 19th century. As regulations and taxes came in, it began to be more and more difficult for farmers to harvest hemp. Major industries were pressured to use petroleum instead, including Ford.
Henry Ford meant for his original Model T to run on and be built of hemp. He later created a hemp plastic car in 1941 and urged spectators to hit it as hard as they could with an axe.
In 1937, the US government enforced the 1937 tax act making it incredibly expensive to grow hemp and eventually leading to prohibition of hemp outside of some governmental and industrial uses. However, the final industrial farm went under in 1957 in Wisconsin.
So while the government attempts to ban plastic products which were monopolized with the help of the government by the chemical and petroleum giants in the first place, restricting the use of hemp; while the government throws people in a cage for their own free will as a result of their obsession with prohibition and control, in comes the legalization. Legalize simply means the government took a right away and are giving it back at a price, and that price is extortion and regulation. How do you like that?
Prohibition needs to end. We as individuals must make our own choices and simply follow the non-aggression principle rather than demand by the hand of democracy that other people submit to our will as a majority. Let individual demand of the dollar take over. The free market.