1880
Twenty years after Fitz Hugh Ludlow scandalized the bourgeoisie with his novel The Hasheesh Eater, The Minneapolis Journal publishes a lurid account of an anonymous local doctor who claims to have treated a lady hasheesh eater right here in the Twin Cities.
1903
Railroad magnate James J. Hill attempts to use his Great Northern line to reroute the Manila hemp trade. Instead of going through the Suez Canal to New York, bales arrive in Seattle and are taken by train overland to Chicago.
1917
To free the domestic market from the rising prices of a hemp trade dominated by the Mexican trusts, U of M botanist John A. Wilson urges Hennepin Country farmers to devote acreage to the plant.
1939
Spurred by racist reports from the Mexican border as well as conspiracy theories born out of anti-Chinese prejudice, Minnesota passes the India Hemp Act. All varieties of Cannabis sativa are banned, and the state Department of Agriculture is tasked with eradicating the plant.
1943
The Japanese navy cuts off hemp imports from Manila during WWII, forcing the U.S. government to goose the gone-fallow domestic hemp crop. Minnesota farmers grow “hemp for victory.”
1964
When the Beatles meet him in their NYC hotel room, Bob Dylan suggests they do a j. The Fab Four are down but admit they’ve never smoked. “But what about your song…‘When I touch you…I get high’?” Dylan wonders. He’d misheard the lyrics to “I Want to Hold Your…
