FACTS AND FICTIONS ABOUT 'HEMP,' AND HOW IT BECAME 'MARIJUANA'

The letter headlined "Industrial hemp legislation raises major substance
abuse questions" by "president, chief executive officer" of South Suburban
Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, states, "Industrial hemp is
produced from the same 'plant' as marijuana."

My dear chief executive officer, there is no "marijuana plant," it is
"hemp" or cannabis. So, where did the "M" word come from?

The "M" word was created in the mid-1930s to tarnish the good image and
phenomenal history of the hemp plant. Why? Because of the many industrial
uses of hemp, and of hemp's threat to certain enterprises.

Andrew Mellon became Hoover's Secretary of the Treasury and was also
Dupont's primary investor. Mr. Mellon appointed Harry J. Anslinger to head
the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, and after secret meetings with those
motivated by profits, took an obscure Mexican slang word marihuana and
pushed it into the (un)consciousness of Americans, and all of hemp's "dangers."

Yes, money is the answer to all things, Why doesn't the "chief executive"
look at the February 1938 Popular Mechanics article, "The most profitable
and desirable crop that can be grown," or the 1941 Popular Mechanics
article on Henry Ford's first Model-T that was built to run on "hemp"
gasoline, and constructed from hemp plastics?

As to substance abuse, it is a known fact that there are far more people
addicted to legal prescription drugs then dope. 1995 statistics showed
14,000 people reported to have died from the effects of dope, but 140,000
that died from "legal" prescription drugs.

Mr. Chief Executive, just follow the money trail and you will have your
answers, if indeed that is what you want. Oh, one more question: If it took
a constitutional amendment to make alcohol illegal and a constitutional
amendment to make alcohol legal again, how did hemp become "illegal" in the
first place?

Brad Wargin, Frankfort Via e-mail