Marijuana Trivia & Facts You Didn't
Know
NOTE: This page is in process. We will be adding and
arranging content
as time allows. Email us with trivia that we can use.
There have been various books, articles, and lengthy research papers
written on this subject. We have tried to collect and summarize some
interesting facts and trivia about hemp, cannabis, and marijuana (marihuana)
that most of our readers have probably never heard.
Keep in mind, that this page is not intended to be an authoritative
treatise, nor is it intended to be published in a professional journal.
Although we believe the information is accurate, please -- check it out
yourself! If you find an error or a misstatement of fact, please let us know
and we will check into it and correct it.
We want to provide you with the most interesting and obscure trivia and
historical facts
about marijuana.
Now then, let's get on with it!
ж
Prior
to the late 1880's, most documents and books were made from hemp fiber.
ж
Marijuana is
created from the dried, shredded flowers and leaves of the hemp plant
Cannabis Sativa. Contrary to the label given to it by the government,
marihuana is not a narcotic.
ж
It has been
estimated that were marihuana legalized, it would cost about $75 a pound in
today's dollars for
quality medical marihuana.
ж
"Cannabis indica is one of the best additions to cough mixtures that we
possess, as it quiets the tickling in the throat, and yet does not
constipate or depress the system as does morphine." --- Practical
Therapeutics (1895)
ж
The December, 1941 edition of Popular Mechanics Magazine (Vol 76. No.
6) reported that the Ford Motor Company had completed 12 years of research
and has assembled a prototype
plastic body car made from 70 percent fiber (wheat straw, hemp) and 30 percent
resin. The plastic panels could withstand a blow 10 times greater than steel
without denting; the car weighed 1000 lbs less.
ж
The term 'marihuana'
was a slang Mexican term for cannabis or hashish and was not used to
describe pot until the feds coined this term in the Marihuana Tax Stamp Act
of 1937.
It is thought the term was used to confuse the medical community and the booming hemp industry to avoid heated opposition.
 ж In early 1942, Japan cut off our supplies of vital hemp and fibers.
Marijuana, which had been outlawed in the United States as the "Assassin of
Youth" just five years earlier, was suddenly "safe enough" for our government
to ask the kids in the Kentucky 4-H clubs to grow the nation's 1943 seed
supply. It is estimated that the U.S. Government
distributed 400,000 pounds of cannabis Sativa seeds to American farmers in 1942 to
aid the World War II war effort.
ж The
roots, stalk, and stems of the cannabis plant (hemp) are legal to possess.
You cannot be arrested for toting a hemp fiber bag or for wearing a hemp
shirt.
ж For thousands of years (until 1842), marijuana and hashish extracts were the most widely-used
medicines in the world.
ж You could pay your taxes in this country with
hemp until the early 1800's.
ж
It
was a crime in some states to refuse to grow hemp in the 1700's.
ж
Many
of the Founding Fathers, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson,
grew hemp. Benjamin Franklin owned a paper mill that used hemp to make
paper.
ж
Until
the cotton gin was invented in the 1820's, about 80% of fabrics, clothes,
curtains, textiles, etcetera, were made from hemp fiber.
ж
Most
of the early canvas paintings were painted on hemp linen (Van Gogh,
Rembrandt)
ж
Cannabis
is a Latin word
'cannapaceus' (made of hemp) originated
from the Greek word 'kannibis'. Old English: 'hænep'.
ж
The
first Bibles, maps, flags, and ship sails were made from hemp paper.
ж
The first draft of the Declaration of
Independence (June 28, 1776) was written on hemp paper, as was the
second draft (July 2, 1776). This was the document agreed to and released
two days later on July 4, 1776. On July 19, 1776, Congress ordered
the Declaration be copied and engrossed on parchment (animal
skin) and this was the document actually signed by the delegates on August
2, 1776.
ж
Hemp paper lasts 50
to 100 times longer than most preparations of papyrus and was a hundred
times easier and cheaper to make.
ж
Betsy Ross sewed the
first American flag from hemp.
ж
Hemp was poised to become a billion dollar crop in the
U.S. in 1938 (just before World War II).
ж
The cannabis plant can survive in nearly any environment
and can grow one to two inches per day to a height of 18 feet.
 ж Marijuana
was America's number one analgesic for 60 years until the rediscovery of
aspirin around 1900. From 1842 to 1900 cannabis compounds made up half of
all medicines sold.
ж Today in the
Philippines, possessing 1.5 lbs of marijuana calls for the death penalty.
ж
Marijuana cultivation is
thought to have began in the United States around 1600 with the Jamestown
settlers, who grew hemp because it had unusually strong fibers used to make
rope, sails, and clothing. Marijuana was a source of major revenue for
the U.S. until the late 1870's. During the 1800's marijuana plantations
flourished in many states such as Mississippi, Georgia, California, South
Carolina, Nebraska, New York, and Kentucky.
ж Fiorello La
Guardia, mayor of New York, was against the Tax Stamp Act.
Skeptical of the government's claims and propaganda, he a commissioned a
six-year study by a group of 31 scientists. His commission published a
report that scientifically disproved all of the propaganda and
ridiculous claims about smoking marijuana. FBN Head Anslinger used the
press to discredit the report and destroyed every copy of this report his
agents could locate. He then blocked further research by restricting the
availability of marijuana for medical study.
ж
In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte declared
a total prohibition in France after realizing much of the Egyptian
lower class were habitual smokers of marijuana.
ж In 1928,
the recreational use of marijuana was banned in Britain.
ж A research study
found that it would take 800 chain-smoked marihuana cigarettes to kill you...of
course the cause of death would be from carbon monoxide poisoning.
ж
In 2003, Canada became the first country in
the world to legalize medical marihuana.
ж
The well known movie Reefer Madness was
originally released under the name Tell Your Children. The movie
was purchased, edited, and released under various different names,
including: The Burning Question, Dope Addict,
Doped Youth and Love Madness. The movie
was thought to have been lost until 1971's, when a copy was discovered
in the Library of Congress by The National Organization for the Reform
of Marijuana Laws (NORML). The movie soon
became a cult classic, and is revered by pot smokers and
others who find the poor acting and production quality hilarious. The
movie has remained so popular, that a colorized version was released in
2004.
 ж
In 1972 , twenty-five year old Vietnam veteran Don
Crowe was convicted of selling marijuana to an undercover cop in the
1970s. It was his first offense and the amount of marijuana was under an
ounce. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
ж
In 1988, DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Law held
hearings to determine the medical benefits of marijuana. He found that
it clearly had medical applications and urged that it be reclassified as
a prescription drug. No action was ever taken.
ж
Marijuana
remains on the federal government's "Schedule I" list of narcotics. Schedule
I
drugs are those that have a high likelihood for abuse; have no current
medical use in treatment, and there is a lack of accepted safety for use of
the drug under medical supervision (21 USC 812). The U.S. government still
spells Marihuana with an 'h' and lists it right alongside
opium, morphine, peyote, heroin, LSD, ecstasy, and other heavy duty
narcotics.
ж Christopher
Columbus is thought to have brought cannabis to the new world in 1492.
ж
In 1872 the
Sultan of Turkey gave hashish to the United States as a gift.
ж
Queen
Victoria of England was proscribed marijuana to relieve cramps in
the late 1800s.
ж
About
every minute, somewhere in the world someone is arrested for a marijuana crime.
ж
In
the country of Malaysia, the death penalty is mandatory for
someone convicted of being a 'drug trafficker.' You are presumed
to be a drug trafficker if you possess 1/2 ounce of heroin or seven ounces
of marijuana.
 ж
Before the
1978 "War on Drugs," was declared, there were about 300,000 Americans in
prisons for all crimes combined.
ж
Current federal law mandates a one-year minimum prison sentence for
distributing or manufacturing controlled substances, which includes
marijuana, within 1000 feet of a school, university, or playground. The 1000
feet distance is measured 'as the crow flies,' which means that most urban
houses in an average city will fall within the “drug-free zones.” And
unlike most state laws that give you a slap on the wrist for a first
offense, the feds don't play around; minimum 1-year prison sentences are
common.
ж
President
Abraham Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, was prescribed cannabis for her nerves
following his assassination.
The illustrations on this page are provided as a courtesy. No claim of copyright is made as to any original works.
They are provided to assist the reader understand the historical context of
the information provided on this page.
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