Let's Restore the Hemp Riggings on the USS Constitution

The USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides") giving a 21-gun salute on July 4 in Boston Harbor

As part of the country's semiquincentennial celebration this year, Boston Harbor is hosting a Sail 250 Tall Ships parade July 11- 16, lead by the USS Constitution, the world's oldest commissioned warship, which was originally outfitted with tons of hemp sails and ropes. 

The Constitution is the only survivor of the United States Navy’s original six frigates. Undefeated in battle, her mission was to "keep the sea lanes open for commerce, fight pirates, land Marines in trouble spots (...to the shores of Tripoli...), and prevent the slave trade." 

As part of what became known as the Barbary Wars, the ship was sent to Tripoli in 1803, after President Thomas Jefferson refused to pay an increased "tribute" to pirates for the protection of commerce at the Libyan port. The United States prevailed after a combined naval and land assault by the US Marine Corps. 

Britain continued to oppose American trade and navigation in the Mediterranean – a stance that would contribute to the War of 1812. It was during that war that the Constitution earned its nickname "Old Ironsides" after defeating the British warship HMS Guerriere and sailors watched as enemy cannonballs bounced harmlessly off the hull.

The ship went on to win additional battles before embarking on a world cruise in the 1840s, sailing more than 52,000 miles and visiting over 25 countries while protecting American commerce and gathering intelligence on foreign waters. By 1860, it was no longer needed as a frontline warship and instead served as a training vessel for midshipmen at the Naval Academy. The Constitution’s primary mission has now become education and public outreach, and since the 1930s, the vessel has been stationed at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, where it was built in 1797.  

Bales of hemp being unloaded onto Navy Yard railroad 
for rigging of the USS Constitution (March 1927). 

As one of several restorations the vessel has undergone, a restoration that began in 1927 used several tons of hemp, as recorded in The Frigate Constitution and Other Historic Ships by F. Alexander Magoun and reprinted in The Emperor Wears No Clothes: Hemp and the Marijuana Conspiracy. According to the USS Constitution museum, "All of Constitution‘s rigging for the 1927-1931 restoration was made at the Charlestown Navy Yard ropewalk....only hemp was used for the standing and running rigging, bolt ropes for the sails, cables, and other miscellaneous small lines." About 67 tons of hemp rope of various sizes was manufactured at the Boston Navy Yard for the restoration. 

About such a hemp ropewalk, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, 

In that building, long and low,
With its windows all a-row
Like the port-holes of a hulk,
Human spiders spin and spin,
Backward down their threads so thin
 Dropping, each a hempen bulk.

Thomas Paine wrote in his revolutionary 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, "In almost every article of defense we abound. Hemp flourishes even to rankness, so that we need not want cordage." The US Navy has been quite concerned with the domestic production of hemp, and explored substituting manila hemp from the Philipines as a cheaper alternative. 

In the 1843 Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy, it was reported, "A resolve was passed by the late Congress, appropriating four thousand dollars towards establishing an agency in the State of Kentucky, and one in the State of Missouri, for the purchase of American hemp for the use of the navy. An agent was appointed on the 1st of July last for the State of Kentucky; and, in obedience to directions, he visited the United States rope walk at the Charlestown navy-yard, for the purpose of gaining information as to the kind and quality of water-rotted hemp used in the navy, and the mode of testing its strength.... 

Speaking of the agent appointed to investigate domestic hemp production, the report continues, "Mr. Von Schmidt, an intelligent gentleman, well acquainted with the culture of hemp in Russia and in this country, has been employed, by the direction of the department, the last season, on the culture and preparation of hemp, in this vicinity. He is now engaged in constructing, a machine for breaking it and separating the fibres from the stalks without rotting. Should he succeed, (of which there is a fair promise,) a great saving of labor will be made; and the hemp thus prepared will be much superior, in quality and strength, to hemp prepared by the old method of rotting." (The invention of a machine to automatically decorticate hemp has long been an object of study. The latest and possibly best version has just been developed by Hemp Traders and Oregon State University.) 

Navy and customs officials pose with Panama hemp in 1932.

Navy Commander Charles Wilkes led the first United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842) (aka The Wilkes Expedition) that traveled the world with a ship full of naturalists, botanists, taxidermists, artists, a mineralogist, and a philologist. In 1841 Wilkes made an extended study at Manila, sending scientific parties inland. "The islands had great potential for trade in a variety of goods: abaca hemp [aka manila hemp], indigo, cotton, coffee, sugar cane, and tobacco."  A 1932 photo shows customs and navy officials posing in the Phillipine port of Davao in front of a huge pile of manila hemp (pictured). 

Jack Herer, author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes, discovered that having supplies of manila hemp cut off in WWII lead the US to develop its "Hemp for Victory" program, which encouraged US farmers to grow hemp for the war effort. A film produced by the USDA for the program says, "For the sailor, no less than the hangman, hemp was indispensable. A 44-gun frigate like our cherished Old Ironsides took over 60 tons of hemp for rigging, including an anchor cable 25 inches in circumference....Then came cheaper imported fibers for cordage, like jute, sisal and Manila hemp, and the culture of hemp in America declined."

"But now with Philippine and East Indian sources of hemp in the hands of the Japanese, and shipment of jute from India curtailed, American hemp must meet the needs of our Army and Navy as well as of our Industry. In 1942, patriotic farmers at the government's request planted 36,000 acres of seed hemp, an increase of several thousand percent. The goal for 1943 is 50,000 acres of seed hemp."

Public law 83-523, passed on July 23, 1954, authorized the Secretary of the Navy to restore Constitution “as far as may be practicable” back to her original condition, although not for active service. In the 1960s a transition occurred replacing the hemp rigging on the Constitution to polypropylene, a petroleum product discovered by Phillips Petroleum chemists in 1951. Activist Chris Conrad, author of Hemp: Lifeline to the Future commented, "that's not restoring it, that's defacing it."

“[USS] Constitution really changed the world. It put our nation on the map. It connected us with people all around the globe,” said Jeff Draeger, president and CEO of the USS Constitution Museum. Another major restoration is expected within the next decade as the Constitution approaches her 250th birthday, Draeger says.

How about we restore Old Ironsides this time with its original hemp rigging? The 1992 replicas of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria celebrating the 500th anniversary of Columbus's voyage to the Americas used hemp (and linen sails). Let's boost our domestic hemp farming industry and be true to our past, and our future. 

Elizabeth Manning Hawthorne (and Hemp)

Coming up on the 250th birthday of the USA, I looked up Elizabeth Manning Hawthorne, Nathaniel's older sister and co-editor with him on "The American magazine of useful and entertaining knowledge" (1834-37), a compendium of all sorts of information designed to "give to the public a work descriptive, not merely of subjects, scenes, places, and persons existing in distant climes, but also of those which are to be found in our own fine and native country."

In it pages, "The American magazine" states that hemp is “a native of Persia and India; whence it was introduced into Europe. In the United States it has become naturalized; but not so extensively cultivated, as to supply the wants of the manufacturers. Large quantities are exported to America from Russia....It is a matter of wonder with some, that both hemp and linen are not more generally cultivated in America."

"The stem of this plant is erect, simple, herbaceous, and grows four and six feet high," the entry continues. "It possesses narcotic properties; and in eastern countries it is common to mix the leaves with tobacco for smoking." A drawing or engraving of a hemp plant opens the entry. 

It's interesting that the Hawthornes knew about the "narcotic properties" of cannabis, and how to use it. Also, that they lamented it wasn't more widely cultivated in the US. Thomas Paine, in his revolutionary 1776 pamphlet "Common Sense" listed hemp first among the natural resources the land offered, writing, "In almost every article of defense we abound. Hemp flourishes even to rankness, so that we need not want cordage." Thomas Jefferson smuggled hemp seeds out of France and George Washington grew it at Mt. Vernon, where it is still cultivated and processed.

Hemp is mentioned elsewhere in "The American magazine" as encompassing both male and female plants, substituting for mulberry to feed silkworms, and luring wild ducks to their death by spreading hempseed on pond water. 

It's possible that Elizabeth is the editor who contributed the hemp information to the magazine: Her nephew Manning Hawthorne thought that while topics on literature or colonial history in the magazine were mainly written by Nathaniel, "the bulk of the useful and entertaining knowledge was furnished by Elizabeth."

Barack Obama Talks About Taking the Higher Ground on "All the Smoke" Podcast

It's been wonderful to be able to watch the intelligent and articulate Barack and Michelle Obama as they inaugurate his presidential library while we approach the USA's 250th birthday, instead of just the Madness of King Gorge and his fetid reflecting pool of corruption and crime.

 

 I caught a video clip of Barack inaugurating the library's basketball court with some NBAers and spotted "All the Smoke" co-hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. Obama sat down for an interview for the podcast, which doesn't shy away from talking about cannabis, but covers so much more about basketball and life. 

Of course I wondered if they would ask Obama, who admitted to smoking pot as a teenager growing up in Hawaii, saying, "Of course I inhaled. That was the point." Instead, our former president brought the topic up himself. 

During a discussion of Barack coming to terms with his biracial heritage, he said, "Part of the thing that I figured out around 19, 20 was ...there's no one way to be Black. I remember in college, because I was trying to be—I won't say a roughneck, but...look, in my high school years I was getting high a lot, and partying a lot" before going into how he evolved from playing the Fresh Prince to something more like Carlton during that time. He then talked about taking the Higher Ground. 

Eve Babitz Testifies For Marijuana and LSD

Eve Babitz photographed by Julian Wasser

After celebrating "Tram Day," marking the first time a woman—Susi Ramstein—took an LSD trip on June 12, 1943, I just discovered another reason to celebrate women's contributions to psychedelic movement this week.

Sixty years ago, on June 15, 1966, the young artist and writer Eve Babitz testified along with her employer Walter Bowart of the East Village Other newspaper about their experiences with LSD and marijuana before the US Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency.

The New York Times article by Nan Robertson, “Senators Urged to Take LSD ‘Trip,’ ” appeared in the paper on the following day, saying, “Eve Babitz, 23, a strawberry blonde, remarked of marijuana: ‘It’s not fattening, you don’t get a hangover, it’s not addicting… Everybody I know uses it except my grandmother.’ Asked after the hearing why she had not persuaded her grandmother to try, Miss Babitz replied: ‘She’s turned on already.’ ”

Babitz testified that she had been a hypochondriac but that LSD had "freed her from her fears." Presaging the "Set and Setting" lessons around LSD trips, Babitz told the committee, "The best way to take it is with a friend, or two trusted friends, in the country." She suggested setting up park "reserves" staffed by doctors as "vest-pocket launching pads for LSD users."  

Bowart suggested that a member of the committee should have an LSD session and report back to the other members. Paula Sherwood, 26, a senior at New York University, also testified, saying along with Babitz that they would continue to take the drug even if it were made illegal. (This didn't happen until the 1970 Controlled Substances Act.) 

RIP David Hockney, Cannabis Legalization Supporter

David Hockney photographic collage, 1986  J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

British-born, California-residing artist David Hockney has died at age 88, making him another long-living, productive marijuana smoker. 

His death came nine months after the close of a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, reports the NY Times. "But even at that point, he was not finished. Working out of his studio in London, using a wheelchair, his health failing, he continued to paint." Best known for his poolside scenes and double portraits that celebrated the Southern California scene and sunlight, Hockney worked in many media, including photography and iPads. 

Born in 1937, the year marijuana was effectively made illegal in the US, Hockney earned a scholarship to a local art school at a young age and in 1959, he enrolled at the Royal College of Art in London. Seeing a major Picasso exhibition at the Tate Gallery the following year cemented his interest in art, and cubism (which was developed after Picasso tried cannabis). 

Hockney came out as gay when he was 23, seven years before Britain decriminalized homosexual acts. He took the occasion of his exhibit at London's Royal Academy of Arts in the summer of 1999 to call for the legalization of marijuana. "I remember Jack Straw [UK's home minister] in 1968 saying 'you can't legalise marijuana as we haven't got enough information.' Thirty years later, he's said exactly the same thing. I don't know what life has taught him, I've learnt quite a lot. I've smoked a lot of marijuana. It hasn't harmed me."

The artist said he smoked a regular "joint" with a glass of whiskey in the evening. But, he hastened to add, he had never indulged in stimulants when working because "drugs and art don't mix…You have to be very clear-headed." Drugs made you "too pleased with everything," he said, and to create great work "you have to struggle." (Source: Dalya Alberge, HOCKNEY SAYS DRUGS ARE FINE BUT NOT FOR ART, The Times (UK), May 27, 1999.) 

"He is a big supporter of California’s decision to legalise cannabis," says a 2020 The Times article that interviewed Hockney saying, “I always assumed they kept marijuana illegal because of the power of the alcohol lobby. That’s their competition. But the alcohol lobby has become less powerful, and of course there are lots of people now in their seventies or eighties who’ve smoked marijuana for 40 or 50 years. And they know it’s harmless.” He told The Times he smokes it himself, "not when he works, but in the evening to relax." Reportedly, he had a California Medical Marijuana card. He was also a chain cigarette smoker and staunch pro-tobacco campaigner. In 2005, he fought to stop a ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants. 

Etana Launches "Herbs" Cannabis Brand at Her Berkeley Birthday Party

Reggae singer/songwriter Etana introduced her women-grown, organic cannabis brand Etana Herbs at a concert celebrating her birthday at the intimate Chapel of the Flowers in Berkeley, CA on Saturday May 23. Hot off the presses and flown in from LA for the event was her packaging, featuring a fearless image of the musician, now available on a T-shirt at her website. 

Wearing a glittering jacket and luminous "high" heels, she commanded the stage and conjured up much enthusiastic dancing / swaying with joy in the crowd of Reggae fans, who had just feasted on an authentic meal of jerk chicken, oxtail, veggies and plantains. 

Stopping her concert to make her ganja brand announcement, she noted, "It's all natural, organic, just the way we like it," and named some of the strains/flavors, like  papaya.

The artist then treated the crowd to some of her songs from "Etana - The Ganja Collection," her 4/20/26 digital release,  a "soulful 7-track tribute to the Sacred Herb, Roots Reggae & Jamaican culture." 

She began with "Sensemilla":

I have found a tree that heals inside of me
Changes everything, everything that I've been told....

It's the herb that calm my nerves
It's the herb that will heal the world

And moved into "Gimi De Weed": 

This one is for all ganja lovers around the world
All ganja boys and all ganja girls...

No more youths in the jail house for weed...
Oh what a day when ganja man get free

Colbert and Cannabis: A Farewell Tribute

As we approach the final days of Stephen Colbert hosting CBS's The Late Show this Thursday, we follow CelebStoner's lead and look back at our favorite moments when Colbert celebrated cannabis. 

In a January 2006 City Arts and Lectures interview in San Francisco, Colbert said he smoked "a lot of pot" for a period of time in high school. That would explain a lot. 

On his 2007 The Colbert Report debut, during a (mock) interview with Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance, Colbert demonstrated that he knew what "shake" is. Nadelmann commented that while viewers surely must get drunk to watch Fox host Bill O'Reilly, probably half of Colbert's audience got stoned before watching. On his January 18 show that year while introducing O'Reilly, Colbert announced, "You're not high, Bill O'Reilly is really here. You might also be high." 

That July, he showed a clip of the USDA's 1942 film Hemp for Victory film before introducing Marijuana Policy Project's Aaron Houston. Later, he asked Ben & Jerry about their flavor named for VIP Willie Nelson, "What's his made of, shredded tax forms and hash?" 

During a 2008 interview with Carole King, Colbert pulled out his Tapestry album and noted it was a double, briefly demonstrating how this allowed people to clean their pot on it in the 70s. On his premiere Colbert Report of 2014, after Colorado started selling legal pot, he took on columnists Ruth Marcus and Davis Brooks with the line: "I applaud Marcus and Brooks for taking a stand against legalizing the pot they smoked." 

Since The Late Show with Stephen Colbert premiered on September 8, 2015, the pot jokes continued. 

A 2016 segment, "Stephen Colbert Gets All Up in Your Faith" had him commenting on the first cannabis church while pantomiming a killer bong rip. That year, he interviewed Whoopi Goldberg when she introduced her Whoopi & Maya cannabis product line, designed for women. In 2017, he introduced Kathy Bates as "an Academy Award–winning actress who terrified us in Misery, inspired us in Titanic, and now she sells us weed on the Netflix show Disjointed." Bates demonstrated her technique for using a vape pen.

The Late Show won a Best Video Segment Tokey Award in 2023 for "The Ganja Girls: Seniors Smoking Weed." For 4/20 that year, he opened with a "Yes We Cannabis" segment from the "dank, grooved-out wonder planet known as Chillaxia."