CANADA'S ANTI-OPIUM ACT OF 1908 WAS RACIST

According to Canadian law, growing or being in possession of cannabis
is illegal, but the origins of banning opium are shamefully racist
and economic in nature. The prohibition of opium commenced in British
Columbia after an anti-Asian riot in Vancouver destroyed the property
of local businesses in 1907.

Two Asian businessman asked Ottawa for compensation and the minister
of labour, then Mackenzie King, investigated their complaints. The
two Asian businessmen were both opium dealers, so Mackenzie King
blamed the riots on opium. The argument was that white women were
customers, and therefore the riots were justified. The Anti-Opium Act
of 1908 was North America's first anti-drug law, but it was also
racist because it only forbade the Chinese from selling opium, but it
did not prevent whites from selling it.

Racism was not the only motivation for banning the hemp plant, there
was also economic reasons. The same economic forces that made
cannabis illegal in the United States were also in part responsible
for making it illegal in Canada. John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil
had Mackenzie King on his payroll since 1915. It wasn't just oil
companies that wanted hemp banned; it was also textile and cotton
companies that fought against cannabis.

Levis Jeans and American flags use to be made out of hemp, but the
cotton companies didn't want any competition. The oil companies
didn't want to compete against hemp either. You could use hemp to
power your home or your car instead of foreign oil. Hemp stems make
four times as much cellulose (to make gasohol or methanol) than corn
stalk. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture hemp can make
four times as much paper from hemp plants than an acre of trees, and
unlike an acre of forest, it only takes a few months to grow another
acre of hemp plants. The green leafs of hemp have multiple purposes
and could fuel a green economy in North America today.

Jason Setnyk

Cornwall Ont.

The letter-writer is a member of the NDP.)