why is weed illegal

William Randolph Hearst, the biggest newspaper publisher in the U.S. before WWII, owned vast amounts of timber used to make pulp paper. The value of his timber was threatened by new technology to havest and process hemp into pulp for much less cost than timber. Hearst not only published the many lies about marijuana circulated in the 1920s and 30s, but wrote them himself and personally met with federal officials to encourage a national marijuana law.

Du Pont was the richest and most powerful company in the world by the 1920s, after supplying most of the arms to both sides in WWI, and was partners with Standard Oil. They were developing petroleum based synthetic materials such as Nylon, whose main competition would be natual hemp fiber and the synthetics that could be made from hemp's rich source of cellulose. They also developed chemicals used in the processing of timber into pulp paper and owned a lot of timber land. As if that wasn't enough, DuPont also owned General Motors, whose chief competitor, Ford, was developing cars made of hempen materials. DuPont was well aware of hemp's potential, because they had used a lot of it to manufacture dynamite. Politicians key in the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 were connected to DuPont.

:(