Our attitude toward medical marijuana has unfolded like a sisyphean tragedy in three acts. Act I: The People Press Their Case, Again and Again In 1937 Congress passed the Marihuana Tax Act, which made the recreational use of marijuana illegal. But it affirmed the right of physicians and pharmacists to prescribe and dispense it. The American … Read More
States Rights vs. Federal Tyranny by David Morris Originally published in AlterNet, January 25, 2004 For many of us, the phrase “states’ rights” has been viewed as code for the right of a state’s majority to tyrannize its minorities. That view may have to change. For in December a federal court embraced the concept of states’ … Read More
Canada and the U.S.: A World Apart on Hemp by David Morris Institute for Local Self-Reliance June 16, 1998 – published in St. Paul Pioneer Press In May, a few miles across the border from Buffalo, 50 Canadian farmers began planting 2,000 acres of industrial hemp, the first commercial hemp crop in that country in 60 … Read More
Can Hemp Break Through America’s Drug Insanity? by David Morris August 22, 1997 – published in St. Paul Pioneer Press This July in Hoover, Alabama, police arrested eight month pregnant Angela Gilford for selling hemp t-shirts and macrame. Angela and her husband face mandatory three year prison terms. Twenty-six countries around the world now grow hemp … Read More
Hemp Comes of Age by David Morris January 29, 1997 – published in St. Paul Pioneer Press As of January 23, 1997 growing industrial hemp is legal in two counties in Kentucky, thanks to a decision by District Court Judge Ralph E. McClanahan. Judge McClanahan dismissed a case against actor Woody Harrelson, who was arrested for … Read More
Here Comes Hemp by David Morris May 9, 1995 Nine months ago I described the remarkable rebirth of hemp. Once the world’s most important textile crop, hemp was banned in the late 1930s because smoking its flowers got you high. My column reported that 60 years later the prospects for industrial hemp are once again bright … Read More
