Hemp used to be strongly linked to Japan both culturally and economically. The only thing that could break this bond was WWII and its subsequent regime change on Japan.
The U.S. also used hemp products fairly liberally in textile, medicine, oil and forestry industries. The following are the build-up of events that lead to demonizing and criminalizing of marijuana in Japan.
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the village in the Japan Alps, next to the one where I have an art studio is called Miasa which translates into hemp, I think. For 100's of year they grew hemp for everything except smoking? Hemp is such a worthwhile fiber.
Thank you apeescape,
The article is really interesting and I read it all. Just one point I would like make - the prolonged use of cannabis leads to abnormalities in the human brain ( http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/65/6/694 ) and overall decreased cognitive functions in humans. So that is why I am not sure reasons of ban on cannabis in US are entirely social and economical (unless social and economical includes and health reasons, which they rather do).
And I have one question (may be you know the answer of):
A friend of mine told me that before WWII it was usual to have mixed onsens (both men and women naked together) but the Americans put a ban on this. Is this true or my friend misunderstood something?
Thank you very much in advance for the answer and looking forward for more interesting posts from you.
Whoah!
Check this out...
In Denver, a new medical-marijuana shop called Ganja Gourmet serves cannabis-infused specialties such as pizza, hummus and lasagna.
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"When I started using marijuana, I was eating a brownie every day. I gained a ton of weight," said Michael DeLao, a former hotel chef who hosts the "Cannabis Planet" cooking segments on Los Angeles' KJLA. "Then I learned how to really cook with marijuana, and once more people learn about all the possibilities, we're going to see a lot more people wanting this in their food."
Ganja Gourmet's menu includes lasagna ("LaGanja"), "Panama Red Pizza" and an olive tapenade called "ganjanade," along with a sweets such as cheesecake, muffins and brownies. Employees wear tie-dyed T-shirts that proclaim, "Our food is so great, you need a license to eat it!!!"
He he, In Amsterdam they were selling them everywhere. I tried several of them (brownies). They looked so innocent that I didn't believe they could do something on me. I was wrong. I was very wrong. They completely knocked out my orientation skills and I was completely lost. 5 or 6 times I was trying to leave the district but I was always returning on the very same place and I on the top of this I was totally exhausted the next day several days.
I never tried them again.