Ben van Kerkwyk

Remind me.

William Randolph Hearst.

So William Randolph Hearst.

So if you go back to the 1930s when alcohol prohibition ended, you have a bunch of enforcement officers that aren't doing anything anymore.

Then you have William Randolph Hearst.

And then there's a machine, an invention called the decorticator.

And the decorticator allowed them to effectively process hemp fiber.

Hemp was always a very difficult plant to process.

And when Eli Whitney, was it Eli Whitney created the cotton gin?

Is that what it was?

I think that sounds right.

When they created the cotton gin, now cotton took over for hemp clothing.

So cannabis, hemp, the term cannabis, that was what canvas was.

So all paintings, the first draft, the Declaration of Independence was made on hemp paper.

It's a superior textile.

It's a superior paper.

It's a commodity.

You can take an acre of land that you're using to grow trees on that you process into paper, and it'll take you years and years to regrow the trees in order to have the same amount of paper in that area.

With hemp, it's instantaneous almost.

It grows very quickly, and within a few months, you have these plants again.