I was thinking what if when the settlers came to the" new world" they grew marijuana in virginia instead of tobacco and made hemp clothes instead of cotton
You haven't really been paying attention in history class, huh. No worries. Google is your friend, though! For starters, hemp was one of George Washington's primary crops. Thomas Jefferson famously wrote in his personal dairy, describing his despair one year, over the fact he mistakenly forgot to separate his male cannabis plants from the females, until after it was already too late and they became pollinated! Mankind had been using cannabis for food, clothing, medicine and spiritual purposes, for thousands of years before we even discovered tobacco. The first restrictions the US placed on cannabis came as early, as the early 1600's.
I know that but I mean instead of cotton and tobacco running the economy cannabis would therefore it eould be legal
lol Thomas Jefferson was probably like "damn now my buds gonna be all seedy" and then everyone went and bought from George instead
Ah, I see. When you said 'instead of' tobacco and cotton a few times up there, I just assumed you didn't realize that hemp actually was the more popular and common option back then and that it continued to be for another few hundred years, mainly because it was well known that cannabis was not only more versatile, but it could both outproduce, and its fiber can outlast, that of the cotton plant. Their clothes, paper, rope, and similar items were largely made of hemp when the first colonists arrived here, and the industry turned more and more to cotton at a much later date. Cotton was more expensive to produce and as such it also cost more for people to purchase, so gradually, some of the rich folks who had stakes in the cotton industry began banding together to keep things that way with the costs high, while taking the more affordable, more versatile, and higher quality hemp out of the hands of the people. But before that happened, back in the early days, when the first settlers arrived and the US was first developing into the nation we know now, colonial law REQUIRED people to grow hemp by law, as a means to stabilize their economy and civilization! A little later on.... "Make the most of the Indian hemp seed, and sow it everywhere!" - George Washington "Hemp is of the first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country." - Thomas Jefferson But a few greedy people, later on in the history of the US, used their power to perpetuate lies and deceit in order to change the cannabis laws for the worse. We really couldn't have had a more positive beginning with cannabis; for a time it was almost literally the backbone of the nation. It's also one of the most easily grown and nutritionally complete food sources, and even today, it still helps poverty stricken people in remote regions of the world to lead much better and healthier lives, than they otherwise would without it (that's not something you can say for the simple health benefits and nutrition in tomatoes or peas!). But in the end it still didn't stop a few corrupt, greedy people, from taking medicine from the mouths of the sick, and from taking a simple, harmless pleasure from the homes of the average people, just for the sake of their profits. There are PLENTY of vastly more toxic plants, some are ornamental and highly toxic, and others are sold in grocery stores as food because their toxicity is low enough to remain harmless, but in spite of their greater toxicity, you don't see the government banding against them, and you don't see the DEA in the Wal-Mart gardening section, at your local grocery store, or lurking in the local and state parks, burning those plants down, in the same ways they hunt out and destroy even wild growing hemp "for our protection and safety". It was made illegal, and it's use has been persecuted, for ONE reason: Money.
Hemp was putting lumber industry out of business like Savage said. Which is ????ing dumb if you think about it