No excuse to deny right to grow crop

Regarding the editorial, “Approve hemp farming”: The United States is one of the few countries in the world that denies farmers the right to grow industrial hemp. Apparently federal bureaucrats can’t tell the difference between a tall hemp stalk and a squat marijuana bush. Prior to passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 (sic), few Americans had heard of marijuana, much less smoked it, despite widespread cultivation of industrial hemp.

The first anti-marijuana laws were a racist reaction to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s. White Americans did not begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. Decades later, marijuana use is now mainstream.

If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal nationwide. The direct experience of millions of Americans contradicts the lies used to justify marijuana prohibition.

Reefer madness is a poor excuse for criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis. There is no excuse for denying farmers the right to grow industrial hemp.

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.