From Cavemen to Statesmen, Marijuana has Endured the Ages.

By Vivian McPeak

Source: blog.seattlepi.com

As the Woodstock Generation eases into its golden years, there may be reason for some of us to continue our decadent youthful ways. Some of the world’s longest living people, such as in Bama, use cannabis/hemp in their daily meal program. The seeds of the plant have high amounts of minerals, vitamins, protein, and essential fatty acids. The cannabis/hemp seed is said to offer the most complete amino acid profile of any plant protein. Recent science suggests that the nefarious herb may even have properties that retard cancer tumor growth.  More scientific study  is needed.

As the demand for the oil and hulled seed continues to grow,  the hemp-seed food industry is emerging. Why is the seed so nutritious? The cannabis plant is very efficient at soaking up nutrients out of the earth –B vitamins, minerals such as magnesium, calcium, iron, and zinc. It also provides 30% protein and superior fiber. The seed is taken from the strain of the plant that has no psychoactive properties, the same strain that is used to make rope.

While the average American may associate the use of the plant we call “marijuana”—a Mexican slang term adopted by early prohibitionists—with hippies, patchouli and Bob Marley music, human beings have been imbibing it for thousands of years. Humans have employed the cannabis plant as food, medicine, fiber, oil, recreation and religion as long as human beings have been walking on this cosmic little clod of stardust.

Indigenous to Central and South Asia, cannabis/hemp is believed to originate high in the Himalayas, where it was transported to other parts of the world. It did not take long for the fibrous herb to become a staple. The oldest example of human industry is a swatch of hemp fabric dated approximately 8,000 BC. Mentioned in the Assyrian scripts, the fabric was discovered in Mesopotamia.

And it was not just textiles that were turning people on during those long, cold days and nights in the mudflats. Charred pot-seeds were found at an ancient Roman burial site, in a ritual brazier in present -day Romania. The Assyrians also used Cannabis to gain a higher perspective, after they were hooked up by the Aryans.  Members of the ancient Cult of Dionyus (Bulgaria, Greece, and Italy) are also believed to have been heavy inhalers of burned cannabis foliage.

Cannabis has been considered a medicinal must have for millennia. The Persian prophet Zoroaster lists cannabis as a priority item in the sacred text, the Zend-Avesta, which contains 10,000 plants. Detailed mention of cannabis was also found in the pharmacopoeia of Shen Nung, considered one of the fathers of Chinese medicine. In 2003, a 2,500- to 2,800-year-old mummified shaman was discovered in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygar Autonomous Region of China. The Irie shaman was found with a leather basket of pot seeds and leaf fragments.

It is known that hemp rope was used to work the large blocks of stone required for the construction of the Pyramids, and that the ropes and sails of the ships Columbus sailed to America were made of hemp. Columbus also had hemp seed and oil on board for the journey. Not long after, there were pilgrims arriving at Plymouth Rock. Guess what they brought with them? Hemp seeds.

Parts of our American heritage have been hidden from us, sanitized from modern history books.

In 1776, the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper, and at one time raw hemp fiber was considered legal tender in the Thirteen Colonies. Both George Washington and Ben Franklin were hemp farmers. The first U.S. flag was made from hemp fabric. Henry Ford designed his first cars to run on hemp biomass; he even built an impact-resistant car out of hemp composite.

Eventually, the United States government got directly involved in hemp production. On the land where the Pentagon now stands, 13-foot-tall hemp plants once grew.  A government botanist named Lyster H. Dewey kept a meticulous diary for a quarter century, detailing the growth of such strains of the plant as “Kymington, Yarrow, Tochigi, Tochimington, Keijo and Chinamington hemp”. The U.S. Department of Agriculture was paying Dewey to produce the finest quality hemp for the oil and fiber it could produce. In the 1940s, the land was given to the War Department so that it could be used for the creation of the Pentagon, which stands there today.

Humans have used cannabis/hemp for millennia, and there is no indication we are going to stop anytime soon.  A recent United Nations report suggests that 147 million people the world over use cannabis regularly, despite its illegality.

In our country, Colorado and Washington state voters legalized small amounts of cannabis recently, and everyone is waiting to see how our federal government responds to the groundbreaking legislation.

The laws that prohibit cannabis/hemp all over the world are ignoring history by asking humans not to use a substance that has been around as long as we have.  In the 1930’s, during the reefer madness lunacy, hemp seeds were removed from birdseed. Congress quickly exempted bird seed from the prohibition policies when it  was reported that the songbirds refused to sing without their hempseed.

Let the songbird of freedom sing, and end prohibition by getting cannabis/hemp off the federal schedule.