tify these costs. Marijuana, though illegal, is a very valuable commodity; however, prior to its prohibition, it was used for much more than smoking.Hemp was once the universal crop in America, as it served to produce paper, cloth, and medicine, among many other uses. After colonists in Jamestown, Virginia planted hemp in 1611, Englands King James I ordered wide scale farming of the crop. The forefathers of this country, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew cannabis and promoted an economy centered around the plant (Still Crazy, Moench 108). Colonists used hemp to make sails, bibles, clothing, and maps (Still Crazy). It was used by the U.S. Navy for sails and rope and the settlers of the American West for covered wagons. In fact, Levi-Strauss made his first pair of jeans from hemp. Marijuanas medicinal benefits have been known for centuries; it was for clearing bronchial passages, relieving migraines, and treating glaucoma (Moench 108). In 1934, F. Pascal concluded that Indian hemp could be used for psychological, psychoanalytical, and psychotherapeutic research (Statement of Dr. William C. Woodward). According to Doug Moench, marijuanas finest use would be the acid-free, non-polluting production of hemp-fiber paper. One acre of cannabis hemp could replace four acres of trees and produce higher quality paper without deforestation or acid rain. In fact, the American Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper (Moench 108-109). This great strength, however it is what would bring about the eventual prohibition of the all-purpose weed. The sole fact that marijuana could be used to produce cheap paper led to a full-fledged conspiracy to ban any use of it in America. Hemp production was very labor intensive, so after the Civil War, it was replaced with the cheaper wood pulp sulfide process. By the mid 1930s, woods short reign as the source of paper appeared short lived however, for a new invention called the decorticate would...
