Global Hemp Prohibition and American Foreign Policy
25 Pages Posted: 15 Aug 2013
Date Written: August 15, 2013
Abstract
From the 1960s to the present, hemp production has severely declined throughout the world. In May 30, 1961, the Single Convention on Narcotics was signed by 73 states, creating a comprehensive global control regime for opium, coca, and cannabis, the first global treaty of its kind. Initiated by the United States, the convention represented the culmination of over 50 years of international diplomacy to bring global narcotics under a single prohibitive framework. Article 28 of the convention explicitly exempts the production of cannabis “exclusively for industrial purposes (fibre and seed) or horticultural purposes,” yet after a spike shortly after 1961, hemp production experienced a significant decline. Why did hemp production begin to decline in production after the implementation of a global drug prohibition regime that had banned cannabis, hemp's close cousin of hemp?
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