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At the stroke of midnight, January 16, 1920, America deemed alcohol illegal, and the prohibition era began. All hell broke loose leading up to this infamous event, with people holding riots and rallies, fighting for their rights to distill, ferment and work with alcohol as a legal commerce. This isn\u2019t unlike the fights we\u2019ve held for cannabis throughout the years. Old-school moonshiners, once the backbone of many small societies, were persecuted and imprisoned for fighting for their freedom to create private commerce. Backwoods raids, threats, murders and corruption followed this industry long before the days of \u201cDukes of Hazzard,\u201d as they sped across the countryside to evade Boss Hog.<\/p>\n
As amendments to constitutional law require three-fourths of the states to agree upon it, the only states that refused to enforce federal alcohol prohibition to end were, not surprisingly, Connecticut and Rhode Island. With heavyweight booze hustlers rubbing elbows with political entities at private clubs and speakeasies, it\u2019s not too hard to understand how alcohol\u2014which was readily available for corrupt commerce\u2014became legal again within 13 years. Despite the religious onslaughts and self-righteous propaganda of the times, the need for jobs and economic stimulation far outweighed what had become a public fear of the negative health and moral effects of alcohol consumption.<\/p>\n
On December 5, 1933, prohibition was repealed and alcohol was legalized. Not one famous moonshiner or advocate comes to mind, and we haven\u2019t found any scientific or medical evaluations to support that the use of alcohol was needed.<\/p>\n The Evolution of Cannabis Use<\/strong><\/p>\n In contrast to alcohol, cannabis was not a common item, held in secret by decades of farmers from slavery and indigenous descent. History books tell us that there has been documented use of cannabis and hemp in the US\u00a0as far back as George Washington<\/a>. Political leaders\u00a0reportedly chose hemp paper<\/a>\u00a0to write the Constitution of the United States upon, and the plant was also used to manufacture the first paper money. Hemp could be used to pay taxes and, at times, was a requirement to have agricultural property and public stipends.<\/p>\n But as for smoking, this was considered a \u201csavages\u2019 practice.\u201d Many loyal British confidants stayed in alignment with tobacco as it made its way into the hands of being governed and controlled. Cannabis smokers historically concealed their use, anxious from the opinions of racists and uneducated society members. As for hemp and the textile applications, these were lobbied against and inevitably overthrown by the biggest businesses running the nation at the time. Those businesses happened to be associated with oil, cotton, corn and, yes, alcohol.<\/p>\n The Prohibition of Pot<\/strong><\/p>\n Cannabis (not species defined) was first prohibited in 1937 under the\u00a0Marijuana Tax Act<\/a>. The law aimed to control cannabis\u2019 growing popularity, as society had become more accepting of its use, thanks in large to the popular jazz scene. Unfortunately, lawmakers seemed to forget about America\u2019s self-reliance on the cordage created by the plant.\u00a0<\/p>\n Up until this time, hemp had been massively produced in Russia and Asia. As World War II loomed, Japan was regarded as a leader in hemp production. The \u201cHemp for Victory<\/a>\u201d campaign was created to revive the hemp production industry in the US as international supplies became unavailable during worldwide dispute.\u00a0The US government filed its\u00a0first patent rights on hemp<\/a> fibers as a commodity in tandem with ad campaigns to encourage people to cultivate the plant.<\/p>\n After the war ended, countries followed American federal law, possibly to avoid more conflict and to stay in compliance with what was now held as the global governing force. Soon after the abatement, America again dropped its need for colonial cannabis textiles, as producing overseas proved to be much more cost-effective. As prohibition tightened, most countries instated severe bans and laws that threatened the lives of those involved. India remained a quiet cannabis producer as a non-official internationally accepted hub and remained so until recent years. Most, if not all of those countries, had never prohibited the plant\u2019s farming in the past; some even relied on its production for agricultural revenue.<\/p>\n These points in history, where there\u2019s an obvious timeline and motivation, aren\u2019t singular. We can see the creation of government laws, taxation and regulations echo the needs for commerce in which sector it seems fitting. The key aspect is to have a prospect for governing. What the higher powers can\u2019t profit from, they will not back. Laws are made by lobbyists whose funding perpetuates the very core of our economy. The alcohol and tobacco industries have applied excessive funds to keep cannabis illegal, knowing that its occurrence would lessen their\u00a0profits and market share<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Hemp for Victory: Part Two<\/strong><\/p>\n The passing of the\u00a02018 Farm Bill<\/a>\u00a0ushered in a new era in plant commerce. This change in policy allowed the relaxing of international laws and launched an innumerous number of new businesses and farms worldwide. It seems the race to lead the way in hemp production is yet again underway.<\/p>\n The burgeoning aspect of alcohol taking the greatest hold on America and beyond is due to timing, science and focus. When the entry of cannabis was introduced, little was known about the plant by Western man. Alcohol was popular and had been widely consumed for centuries, including the use of wine with crackers during religious ceremonies.<\/p>\n The advancement of science and pharmaceuticals in the 20th century is what\u2019s truly brought cannabis to light, following in the footsteps of other plants, including opium poppies and willow trees. Scientists can synthesize and manipulate the elements within cannabis that are profitable, adding an extra layer to its value aside from textiles that were once the focus.<\/p>\n The Next Chapter<\/strong><\/p>\n With the federal rescheduling conversations ramping up to equate political attention, it\u2019s crucial to recognize that rescheduling cannabis from\u00a0Schedule I to Schedule III<\/a>\u00a0puts the power in the hands of those with vetted funds and affiliations. To truly free it\u2014at least to the point of what alcohol is\u2014we must deschedule it completely and force the ones in commerce to align their morality with a free industry that provides equity and reparations to its people.<\/p>\n Botanical science is the present need. The ability to separate the two forms of cannabis sativa has been the downfall of our cultural clarity. Through decades of selective breeding, high THC (delta-9) has mutated and was not present during the original days of ditch weed that created\u00a0Reefer Madness<\/a>. The conversations within media are muddled with the lack of understanding that one plant species has two outcomes. This must be ratified by specifying that hemp \u201cmarijuana\u201d is separate and distinctly different from cannabis \u201cmarijuana.\u201d Indica, Sativa or Ruderalis species with high levels of THC, regardless of their visual characteristics, should be categorized independently.<\/p>\n It\u2019s time to use scientific analysis rather than vague comparisons to categorize and understand the diverse effects of cannabis and hemp, much like we do with spirits and alcohol. We shouldn\u2019t let the focus on these plants be solely about dominance.<\/p>\n Our Current Position<\/strong><\/p>\n On April 30, 2024, the DEA\u00a0agreed to endorse the current rescheduling of medical cannabis<\/a>\u00a0from the \u201chighly addictive\u201d Schedule I drug classification (heroin\/cocaine\/LSD) to medically accepted Schedule III classification (Aspirin\/Codeine\/testosterone).<\/p>\n The choice to reclassify instead of deschedule cannabis may leave room for a future of complex standards. If this federal oversight is signed into law without proper public understanding, it could delete the last of small farms. Medical standards are large investments. Costly buildouts and operating costs leave few small pharmaceutical manufacturers in business. Hardly anyone knows an Aspirin farmer.<\/p>\n More cannabis legislature is on the horizon. Whichever \u201cact\u201d is chosen will certainly define the next steps in the\u00a0Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP)<\/a>\u00a0implementations. Farmer-friendly bills such as the MORE Act \u00a0and US Representative Nancy Mace\u2019s\u00a0OFF Act<\/a>\u00a0could change the direction of federal gains.<\/p>\n Large companies that lobby for the laws to be passed have more funds than all the Americas farmers combined. Use your voice and your platform to spread the word on potential risks of allowing these decisions to be made in federal government without the input of those who are in the trenches of cannabis culture.<\/p>\n The post The History of Prohibition: Cannabis vs Alcohol<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
At the stroke of midnight, January 16, 1920, America deemed alcohol illegal, and the prohibition era began. All hell broke loose leading up to this infamous event, with people holding riots and rallies, fighting for their rights to distill, ferment and work with alcohol as a legal commerce. This isn\u2019tContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":75203,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6726,50,296,119,369,3329],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75202"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75204,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75202\/revisions\/75204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabisnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/George-Washington-Patriotic-Duty@2x.jpg\")
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\nRead More: The History of Prohibition: Cannabis vs Alcohol<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"