Hemp Prohibition
In this environment, it is easy to forget that we are only now escaping a prohibition on hemp that was imposed in 1937 — by way of the Marihuana Tax Act —and effectively maintained until the breakthroughs seen in recent years. For the record, hemp has deep historical roots in America long before 1937. American colonies encouraged — and in some cases, even mandated — that farmers grow hemp. President George Washington grew hemp at Mount Vernon. Cannabis, more generally, was widely utilized for medicinal purposes, and listed in the United States Pharmacopeia from 1850 through 1937. In the early 1900s, social attitudes toward marijuana shifted. Racist ideas spread associating marijuana and its perceived dangers with immigrants. By the 1930s, government drug warriors (most famously, Henry Anslinger) played on this through propaganda and conspiracy to raise public fear. This was a platform to assault the legality of cannabis.