Did George Washington Grow Weed?

Yes.

George Washington grew marijuana, but it was grown as hemp. Washington grew acres of hemp plants from marijuana seeds. This is a historical fact.

In 1762, "Virginia awarded bounties for hempculture and manufacture, and imposed penalties upon those who did not produce it." Growing grass from marijuana seed was the law! Not against the law.

George Washington was growing hemp at Mount Vernon three years later. Historians argue that it was presumably for its fiber. Though it has been argued by some that Washington was also interested in the medicinal marijuana properties of his cannabis plants.

Marijuana was used to treat numerous ailments at the time.

Thus it's not conceivable that Washington was working on creating a hardy medicinal marijuana strain.

Historians argue that there's an entry in his journal suggesting Washington intended to pull his male marijuana plants. Just like marijuana growers do now who choose to grow from cannabis seed. Thus ensuring his female marijuana plants didn't produce marijuana seeds. Instead he could smoke or have Martha Washington make cannabis tinctures.

There can be no doubt that Washington separated the male marijuana plant from the female marijuana plant.

Two entries in his diary supply the evidence: May 12-13 1765: "Sowed Hemp at Muddy hole by Swamp." August 7, 1765: "--began to separate the Male from the Female Hemp at Do--rather too late."

George Andrews has argued, in The Book of Grass: An Anthology of Indian Hemp (1967), that Washington's August 7 diary entry, "clearly indicates that he was cultivating the plant for medicinal purposes as well for its fiber."

He might have separated the males from the females to get better fiber, Andrew concedes--but his phrase "rather too late" suggests that he wanted to complete the separation before the males seeded the female marijuana plants.

Thus, like marijuana enthusiasts today, Washington didn't want marijuana seeds in his bud.

Instead he sought to avoid marijuana seeds by pulling the male marijuana plants and using them for fiber and the beautiful big budded females for medicinal use.

Or getting a good recreational marijuana high on.

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