How US attitudes to prohibition were altered by the grim realities of war.

Hemp farming is among the oldest industries on the planet, going back more than 10,000 years to the beginnings of pottery.

The Columbia History of the World states that the oldest relic of human industry is a bit of hemp fabric dating back to approximately 8,000 BC.

US Presidents Washington and Jefferson both grew hemp.

Americans were legally bound to grow hemp during the Colonial Era and Early Republic.

In 1937 the US Congress passed the Marihuana Tax Act which effectively began the era of hemp prohibition. The tax and licensing regulations of the act made hemp cultivation unfeasable for American farmers. The chief promoter of the Tax Act, Harry Anslinger, began promoting anti-marijuana legislation around the world and Australia was strongly influenced by this media campaign, which was supported by media baron Randolph Hearst (who had interests in wood pulp bleaching).

[ To learn more about hemp prohibition see links in left menu, and also check out "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" by Jack Herer. ]

But when the Japanese sunk a large portion of the American fleet at Pearl Harbour, things suddenly changed in the USA when it came to the sudden reality of the huge industrial effort required to fight a world war.