Prof. Coomer
English Comp 2
Long Research paper
11/4/14
More than Just Rope
April 30th, 1789 was a great day in American history. It was the day that George Washington became president of The United States of America. Many people know that George Washington was our first president, but they do not know he also grew hemp. George Washington was a promoter of hemp and has been quoted from his personal diaries “Hemp, Grow it everywhere.”(Callery 2) Hemp is a type of cannabis plant that can grow as tall as wheat and can be used to make many different and useful products. In the United States of America as of now, hemp is illegal to grow. Industrial Hemp should be legal on a federal level in the United States of America.
Hemp is very …show more content…
Hemp was first outlawed on April 14, 1937. It was outlawed by The Prohibitive Marihuana tax law. This law made it illegal for farmers to grow hemp. You may be wondering why there is still hemp in the United States. Even though The Prohibitive Marihuana tax law prohibits the growth of hemp in the U.S. buy, it is still legal to buy hemp and have it in The United States. A quote from Anderson Cooper compared the law to bread “It is like we can buy bread but it is illegal to grow wheat.” When hemp was made illegal it was put into the same narcotics category as marijuana. Hemp is considered a schedule one drug along with other drugs like heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. Even though hemp is considered a schedule one drug there is not enough Tetrahydrocannabinol for someone to smoke it and get high. Hemp was place as a schedule one drug in the Seventies with the Controlled substances act signed into law by Ronald Regan. (Duppong 1-7) Hemp should be removed from this list because it is not a substance someone could abuse. The only way that an individual could get “high” on hemp is if they take a ride in the first ever hemp plane. The plane is made up of 95% hemp and even runs on hemp fuel. Even though Hemp is illegal to grow federally some states are decimalizing marijuana and hemp. In Colorado you are legally allowed on the state level to grow and sell hemp. What that means is that there is no state law that says you cannot. It is still illegal on a federal level so at any time Colorado hemp farmers can have their entire crop seized by the federal government or Drug enforcement agency. For hemp farmers in America it is a big gamble to grow hemp because all their hard work and money that they invested can be lost at any