A Brief History Of Cannabis/Hemp/Marijuana – In Rhyme

 

Something that’s very odd about the history of cannabis,

Is in fact how very legal it once was.

In fact it wasn’t only legal it was one of the largest agricultural crops on Earth,

You see cannabis can also be hemp, and hemp has a profound worth,

For it is the most robust, durable NATURAL soft fibre on the face of this planet,

Which can be grown in the many different climates that people inhabit,

Up until 1883 and for thousands of years before,

It was the largest crop in the world and would never bring cops to your door,

The majority of fabrics, lighting oil, medicines, paper and fibre were just some of its thousands of uses,

While skin cancers are one of the things that it significantly reduces,

The first law regarding hemp was in Virginia in 1619,

Enacted ORDERING farmers to GROW hemp in the Jamestown colony,

Founding father Benjamin Franklin used it to start one of Americas first paper mills,

And up until the 1800’s hemp was also responsible for most of Americas textiles,

The first 2 copies of the declaration of independence were written on cannabis hemp paper,

While 50% of the medicine marketed in the last half of the 19^th century was made from cannabis indica,

Even Queen Victoria used the resin extracts from cannabis to alleviate her menstrual pains,

But the real funny thing about hemp is that you could not get high from the industrial strains.

Yet in a show of political propaganda that makes absolutely no sense,

This wonderful plant was given derogatory labels like ‘reefer madness’,

In the early twentieth century yellow journalism came to the surface,

With Blacks and Mexicans depicted as frenzied beasts that were wild and worthless,

That smoked marijuana, played devils music and heaped disrespect  and viciousness on the readers,

Who the majority of which just so happened to be white, and many of whom were unthinking blind believers,

Some offences included looking at a white woman twice and even laughing at a white person,

While stepping on a white mans shadow was deemed a criminal incursion,

This led up to a 1937 law in the form of a tax stamp,

A tax stamp that would not only include marijuana, but cannabis medicines and industrial hemp,

It speculated that industrial hemps potential as a source for an abundance for new productive causes,

Was going to be in direct competition with other more expensive sources,

And this combined with all the reefer madness,

Led to the eventual downfall of all forms of cannabis……………

Popular mechanics magazine a publication that carried some weight,

Actually prepared an interesting article back in 1938,

Declaring that hemp would become the first one billion pound crop,

And when you see its multiple uses you it becomes obvious why it got stopped,

Hemp was touted as being able to produce more that 5,000 textile products from its thread like fibre,

And more than 25,000 products from it cellulose making it a plentiful provider,

Its superiority as a source of paper was also becoming more commonly known,

Especially with the development of hemp processing equipment quickly transforming all that was grown,

Now the new marijuana stamp tax act was all fine and dandy except for one thing,

You had to obtain a stamp from the government if you wanted to start or continue growing,

But the government decided they wasn’t going to give them out to anyone at all,

So in effect in an instant, all forms of cannabis became against the law,

And things pretty much stayed that way until the start of world war 2,

When the government changed its mind again and decided growing hemp would be a good thing to do,

‘Hemp For Victory’ the movie reels proclaimed,

Its myriad of uses universally acclaimed,

But by the time the war was over hemp again became bad,

And cannabis was yet again under industrial attack,

And in 1948 when the cannabis law once again came up for questions,

Congress decided that marijuana was made illegal for the wrong reasons,

Rather than making people violent it turned them into peaceful pacifists,

Which could be exploited by their new cold war foes, Those Russian communists,

So congress voted again to make marijuana possession a crime,

But for exactly the opposite reasons as it did the first time,

And all through the years since,

Report after report commissioned by multiple sources,

From the mayor of new York to the president of the united states,

That marijuana possession should not result in people becoming criminal inmates,

Yet hemp today still remains as illegal as it was 70 years ago,

Resulting in the theft of your fundamental freedom should you seek out its benefits and dare to grow!