Declaring Independence Like Thomas Jefferson

I am going to tell you how you can hold 10,000 years of progress in your hand.

But it starts – as many great things in America do – with the Declaration of Independence.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote his first drafts of the Declaration of Independence, he wrote it on paper made from cannabis hemp fiber.

But that wasn’t unusual. Until 1883, 75% to 90% of all paper in the world was made from hemp.

There are two reasons why.

First, hemp is very versatile. It’s in all sorts of products, everything from rope to shampoo … and paper. Second, in the good ol’ days when Jefferson, Adams and Washington were dreaming up a new country, they couldn’t make paper out of wood like we do now.

Back in the day, Bibles, maps, paper money, certificates and even newspapers were all written on hemp paper.

And as you know, hemp is a version of marijuana. It doesn’t have much of the potent resin that gives marijuana its kick. Today, industrial-grade hemp has less than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol. That’s THC to you and me. In Denver, Colorado, I visited a grow house with plants routinely over 30% THC.

Now, when Jefferson wrote the FINAL version of the Declaration, he put it on parchment. Animal skin. But no one does that anymore. Why? Progress.

Now let me take you back 10,000 years. That’s when someone used hemp for the first time, as cord to hold pottery in a village located in modern Taiwan. And by 8,000 years ago, cannabis seeds and oils were grown routinely in China. And just 4,700 years ago, China’s Emperor Shen Neng was the first to use cannabis and write about it.

The emperor wrote: “Dude … this stuff is chronic.”

Just kidding. Anyway, the Chinese were onto something. Both marijuana and hemp spread across the known world along with other trappings of civilization. You know. Progress.

By 200 B.C., some smart fellow in Greece figured out how to wind hemp into rope. Now it got really useful. And by 100 B.C., the Chinese invented hemp paper.

By the year 100 A.D., hemp rope traveled to what would become England. And in 850 A.D., the Vikings took hemp rope and seeds to the New World. They considered that progress, too.

The English certainly thought so. In 1533, King Henry VIII fined farmers if they did not raise hemp. Because it was so darned useful. Across the English Channel, a physician named Rabelais was the first to write down marijuana’s medicinal effects.

Hemp and marijuana both came to the New World a second time. In the early 1600s, British and French colonists grew it at colonies in Port Royal, Jamestown, and Plymouth. Hemp was used to make rope, sails, and clothing.

In 1764, “Medical marijuana” became an acceptable term. By 1850, cannabis was added to the United States Pharmacopoeia.

But in 1914, progress hit a brick wall in America. The Harrison Act defined use of marijuana as a crime. The Harrison Act was in response to pain killers made from heroin and to tonics containing cocaine. Marijuana got caught in the mix for political reasons.

In 1915, California passed marijuana prohibition. It quickly spread.

OK, let’s hop in that time machine one more time. Fast forward to the modern day. One by one, states are declaring their independence of a federal government that still considers marijuana and hemp as harmful as heroin.

Those states reap a financial windfall in the bargain. As a result, other states are declaring their own independence.

The latest is Nevada. I already told you how marijuana is so popular in Nevada, they almost ran out of supply. That problem was fixed.

Weed is so popular that prices are rising. The wholesale price jumped 15% in a week.

This is a tax windfall for Nevada. The state is looking at $100 million in marijuana tax revenue this year. 

So what is the state going to do with that money? It’s earmarked to fund the state’s K-12 education. Previously, it faced a $40 million shortfall. Problem solved. Progress.

Looking back at the American Revolution, there was something called “The shot heard round the world.” I think that Nevada’s tax revenue bonanza is ricocheting around state capitols right now.

I believe we’ll see more declarations of independence. States don’t like being poor any more than people do. They want to be able to fund schools, veterans centers, and state employees. These are all things that cannabis taxes are going toward now.

Meanwhile, many great marijuana stocks are priced like the Feds are about to call the cops on this party. Don’t think so. The Feds can’t afford to crack down on marijuana. They need those $billions, too. They just don’t know it yet.

You want to hold 10,000 years of progress in your hand? Hold a marijuana seed. Better yet, hold a share in a marijuana-leveraged company.

Independence is wafting on the wind. And progress is coming with it. Smart investors will get ahead of the coming change. You should, too.

Best wishes,

Sean