Did the drug war destroy any valuable hemp seed strains?
The long fought drug war in America against pot is ending...hopefully. But, there was an innocent bystander that was gravely injured by the war, hemp. Once the fabric of our nation, our flags were weaved from it, our bibles printed on it, and our money printed on recycled hemp rags. Then came the war. Suddenly, a crop that has followed man for thousands of years was declared illegal. It didn't get you high. It didn't do anything wrong. All it did was provide a valuable crop to farmers that could be used to make clothing, paper, or even houses. Hell, now days we can even make a strong plastic from it.
*Postcard of a Kentucky hemp field. (source)
I keep wondering, how many seeds were lost? How many strains were destroyed? What families of plants can no longer grow outside our door because of this insane war just so some politicians can make money on Reefer Madness and their insane racism against jazz?
Plants are objects. They're living beings, just like you or I. They are all unique, with their own unique DNA.
We could have lost a strain with high CBD or some other useful chemical that made it invaluable for healthcare and we might not ever know it.
Or maybe we lost a strain that was more hearty in a particular climate.
It's amazing how many seeds we saved after so many years of criminalization for no reason...but what did we lose?
I often wonder this myself. I also wonder where the technology would be today if the world was allowed to freely develop these early technologies for the last 100 years freely. If Henry Ford's Model T was made from hemp and it was 10x stronger than steel back then, where would that technology be today? If his Model T ran of hemp diesel back then, how efficient would that fuel production be today if it was allowed to progress? We'll never know, I suppose, but it could have led us in a direction where we aren't trying to fight (be taxed) for climate change and the green tech could probably have been developed sooner.
Just glad to hear many seeds are later saved
No doubt your right with guessing how many strains we have lost, as well as people, due to this WAR. THANK YOU for engaging the STEEMITcommunity with CANNABIS related content that brings positive thought. Lets keep the good word alive. Please also remember to put the CANNABIS tag first on related content so we can show how much content we have here.
~RESPECT~