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The_Critical_Cynic OP t1_j2c567x wrote

Reply to comment by Hanginon in TIL John Steinbeck IV wrote an article in January 1968 about marijuana usage among the troops. This set off a media firestorm, & the Army began clamping down on marijuana usage, arresting ~1000 G.I.s a week for possession. Many G.I.s switched to heroin, which was odorless and thus harder to detect. by The_Critical_Cynic

I was thinking this had something to do with hemp farming for fabric way back in the 20's. They came out with all sorts of things to fight that I thought.

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Propyl_People_Ether t1_j2cfqs9 wrote

Paper, I believe - at least, that's why Hearst got into it, he had timber investments for that purpose.

I wonder sometimes how many old-growth trees would still be standing in the US if hemp had remained legal.

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Hanginon t1_j2c73b8 wrote

It was more like post prohibition, all the federal alphabet agencies needed a new boogeyman to -keep them in business- protect the public from.

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The_Critical_Cynic OP t1_j2dzbpd wrote

Got you. Still a long ass time ago.

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Hanginon t1_j2eeyey wrote

Yep. A funny thing is our perception of a timeline coincides with our age. At 21, 30 years ago seems like ancient history, at 60+, 30 years ago is 'not long ago'. We partially percieve time/history as a percentage of our existence.

The US had some serious drug problems in the populace way back in the late 19th century, Opiates were easily available and from post civil war to the turn of the century there were some serious addiciton issues in the US. Opium and morphine were over the counter drugs.

Then hemp/weed as a 'dangerous drug' only hit the federal lawbooks in the very late 1930's, after the repeal of prohibition.

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