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 business men 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. Canada’s first female judge Emily Murphy wrote articles to Maclean’s Magazine about drug use, and her writings were filled with racial stereotypes. She wrote stories about how Asians and other dark races used opium to seduce white women. Fear tactics and racism were used to gain public support to ban marijuana. When Mackenzie King became Prime Minister he made sure there was no debate in Parliament when cannabis was made illegal for all Canadians in 1923.

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 US 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.

Why are we burning oil and chopping down ancient rainforest and giving people criminal records for smoking a product that is no more harmful than alcohol, cigarettes, and over caffeinated energy drinks? It is because corporations lobbied the US government, and it is because of racist attitudes here in Canada. I’m not condoning the use of marijuana; right now I just want an honest discussion about how and why it got banned in the first place.

-Jason Setnyk