Face of Puna

[LeeE]

If these gentlemen had lived in Puna, this is what they'd have said. Maybe the mainland was more like Puna in the old days?

"America's Founding Fathers used cannabis for many practical, everyday things, and to get high...

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor and Franklin Pierce were early American presidents and cannabis users, according to Dr. Burke, president of the American Historical Reference Society and a consultant for the Smithsonian Institute.

According to MarijuanaLibrary.org, "Hemp farmer Thomas Jefferson and paper maker Ben Franklin were ambassadors to France during the initial surge of the hashish vogue. Their celebrity status and progressive revolutionary image afforded them ample opportunities to try new experiences. Jefferson smuggled Chinese hemp seeds to America and is credited with the phrase in the Declaration of Independence, "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." " Thomas Jefferson and George Washington used to exchange gifts of hemp smoking blends.

The Chinese valued their cannabis genetics so much that it was a capital offense to smuggle hemp seeds out of the country. Should Thomas Jefferson have been executed by the Chinese for smuggling the hemp seeds that were so essential to many aspects of early American everyday life?...

Here are some pro-cannabis and anti-prohibition quotes by some of America's most influential historical and contemporary figures.

"Make the most of the Indian hemp seed, and sow it everywhere!"
- George Washington, U.S. President, in a note to his gardener at Mount Vernon

"Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country." - Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President

“Some of my finest hours have been spent on the back of my veranda, smoking hemp and observing as far as the eye can see.” - Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President

"We shall, by and by, want a world of hemp more for our own consumption." - John Adams, U.S. President

"Two of my favorite things are sitting on my front porch smoking a pipe of sweet hemp, and playing my Hohner harmonica." -Abraham Lincoln, U.S. President, from a letter written by Lincoln during his presidency to the head of the Hohner Harmonica Company in Germany..."