Patrick Boylan wrote:
>When cannabis was banned (with little or no Parliamentary discussion) in
>- I think - the early 1960s as part of a much wider criminalisation of
>drugs, many asthmatics and as I remember it quite a few doctors protested
>that the move was nothing less than a near-criminal conspiracy by the
>international pharmaceutical companies to force asthmatics to switch
>from traditional remedies and palliatives such as Potter's to
>their expensive and heavily marketed new synthetic drugs, such as
>vasodilator inhalation sprays, antihistamines and steroids.
Cannabis was grown as a commercial crop (for hemp) in the USA until the
1930's. At the time it was banned the then US Treasurer (?) had large
personal investments in the cotton industry, and practical mechanised
cotton production had just become economical. The Treasurer lead the
crusade to ban cannabis as a commercial crop, claiming the narcotic affects
of the plant were damaging and evil. Just a small case of conflict of
interest! Many American doctors protested the banning, but to no avail.
Cannabis was regularly prescribed to cancer patients for pain relief, women
for relief of menstruation pain, and also to those suffering eating
disorders, as an appetite stimulant.. Interestingly enough, when the USA
entered World War 2 the ban was temporarily lifted, so that hemp could be
grown to make ropes for the US Navy. After the war, the ban was
reintroduced, and other countries banned the crop following pressure from
the US government.

George Bailey
Objects Conservator
Australian War Memorial
Treloar Centre for Conservation
4 Callan St, Mitchell, A.C.T. 2911
Australia
Phone: +61 6 241 6122
fax:   +61 6 241 7998
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