More on hemp

While I'm on the subject of this amazing plant, Bonnie Bucqueroux is making a movie about this War on Some Drugs and has a a trailer up for viewing. On her main website related to the production of the film, she also has rare archived footage of the original Hemp For Victory short our government made during the war to encourage ordinary citizens to grow the crop.

It makes you wonder how our government can now justify the ban on the cultivation of hemp when in the 40s it was making claims on the absolute necessity of providing it for our armed forces. The statistics roll off the screen in torrents. It took 60 tons of hemp rope to rig the battleship Old Ironsides. In 1942, our country grew 36,000 tons of hemp on 14,000 acres of land. By 1943, with the blessing and encouragement of the government, production increased to 50,000 tons with an ultimate goal of devoting 300,000 to cultivation. Kind of gives some weight to Stephen Young's remarks in the post below, on the theory that the criminalization of this natural fiber was simply a plot to suppress hemp in favor of promoting the use of the DuPont's (at the time new product) nylon.

Anyway, stop by Bonnie's site and while you're there, check out her weblog on the production of the movie. She doesn't have a lot of posts there yet, (one expects she has little free time) but it's an interesting look at the production process that's sure to continue growing. And while you're there, take the poll. I was voter number four, (it's only up to five) and the results are somewhat mixed so far but unsurprisingly no one has voted to maintain the status quo.