title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Canadian radio engineer Wilbert B. Smith, who worked for the Canadian Department of Transport, was interested in flying saucer propulsion technology and wondered if the assertions in the just-published Scully and Keyhoe books were factual. In September 1950, he had the Canadian embassy in Washington D.C. arrange contact with U.S. officials to try to discover the truth of the matter. Smith was briefed by Robert Sarbacher, a physicist and consultant to the Defense Department's Research and Development Board. Other correspondence, having to do with Keyhoe needing to get clearance to publish another article on Smith's theories of UFO propulsion, indicated that Bush and his group were operating out of the Research and Development Board. Smith then briefed superiors in the Canadian government, leading to the establishment of Project Magnet, a small Canadian government UFO research effort. Canadian documents and Smith's private papers were uncovered in the late 1970s, and by 1984, other alleged documents emerged claiming the existence of a highly secret UFO oversight committee of scientists and military people called Majestic 12, again naming Vannevar Bush. Sarbacher was also interviewed in the 1980s and corroborated the information in Smith's memos and correspondence. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Smith granted public interviews, and among other things stated that he had been lent crashed UFO material for analysis by a highly secret U.S. government group which he wouldn't name.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: A few weeks after the Robertson Panel, the Air Force issued Regulation 200-2, ordering air base officers to publicly discuss UFO incidents only if they were judged to have been solved, and to classify all the unsolved cases to keep them out of the public eye. In addition, UFO investigative duties started to be taken on by the newly formed 4602nd Air Intelligence Squadron (AISS) of the Air Defense Command. The 4602nd AISS was tasked with investigating only the most important UFO cases having intelligence or national security implications. These were deliberately siphoned away from Blue Book, leaving Blue Book to deal with the more trivial reports.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In 1955, Donald Keyhoe authored a new book that pointedly accused elements of the United States government of engaging in a conspiracy to cover up knowledge of flying saucers. Keyhoe claims the existence of a "silence group" of orchestrating this conspiracy. Historian of Folklore Curtis Peebles argues: ""The Flying Saucer Conspiracy" marked a shift in Keyhoe's belief system. No longer were flying saucers the central theme; that now belonged to the silence group and its coverup. For the next two decades Keyhoe's beliefs about this would dominate the flying saucer myth."


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: The book features claims of a possible discovery of an "orbiting space base" or a "moon base", knowledge of which might trigger a public panic. "The Flying Saucer Conspiracy" also incorporated legends of the Bermuda Triangle disappearances. Keyhoe sensationalized claims, ultimately stemming from optical illusions, of unusual structures on the moon.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In 1955, Morris K. Jessup achieved some notoriety with his book "The Case for the UFO", in which he argued that UFOs represented a mysterious subject worthy of further study. Jessup speculated that UFOs were "exploratory craft of 'solid' and 'nebulous' character." Jessup also "linked ancient monuments with prehistoric superscience".


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In January 1956, Jessup began receiving a series of letters from "Carlos Miguel Allende", later identified as Carl Meredith Allen. "Allende" warned Jessup not to investigate the levitation of UFOs and spun a tale of dangerous experiment in which Navy Ship was successfully made invisible, only to inexplicably teleport from Philadelphia to Norfolk, Virginia before reappearing back in Philadelphia. The ship's crew was supposed to have suffered various side effects, including insanity, intangibility, and being "frozen" in place. By 1975, the Philadelphia Experiment was being promoted by paranormal author Charles Berlitz and in 1984, the legend was adapted into a fictional film.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In 1957, Jessup was invited to the Office of Naval Research where he was shown an annotated copy of his book that was filled with handwritten notes in its margins, written with three different shades of blue ink, appearing to detail a debate among three individuals. They discussed ideas about the propulsion for flying saucers, alien races, and express concern that Jessup was too close to discovering their technology. Jessup noticed the handwriting of the annotations resembled the letters he received from Allen. (Twelve years later, Allen would say that he authored all of the annotations in order "to scare the hell out of Jessup.")


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: The Jessup book with Allen's scribbled commentaries gained a life of its own when the Varo Manufacturing Corporation of Garland, Texas, who did contract work for ONR, began producing mimeographed copies of the book with Allen's annotations and Allen's letters to Jessup. These copies came to be known as the "Varo edition." This became the heart of many "Philadelphia Experiment" books, documentaries, and movies to come. Over the years various writers and researchers who tried to get more information from Carl Allen found his responses elusive, or could not find him at all.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In 1956, Hollywood producer Clarence Greene collaborated with Air Force public information officer Albert M. Chop, who was in charge of answering UFO questions. When Chop told Greene about the existence of film footage of UFOs, Greene obtained the footage for analysis and display in his documentary.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: The documentary includes recreations of the Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting, the Mantell UFO incident, and the Gorman Dogfight. Project Sign and Project Blue Book, the Air Force studies of the UFO phenomenon, are discussed. Although initially a UFO debunker, Chop comes to believe that UFOs are unknown, and possibly extraterrestrial, aircraft. Chop interviews a German rocket scientist (formerly of Penemunde's V2 program) working for Americans who supports the possibility that UFOs exist.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: The documentary analyzes two famous pieces of UFO footage: the Mariana UFO Incident of 1950 and the 1952 UFO film taken near the Great Salt Lake in Utah by US Navy photographer Delbert Newhouse. The documentary concludes with the famous 1952 Washington, D.C. UFO incident and Chop stating his belief that UFOs are a "real", physical phenomenon of unknown origin.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Ruppelt was a captain in the US Air Force who served as director of official investigations into UFOs: Project Grudge and Project Bluebook.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In 1956, Ruppelt authored "The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects", a book that has been called the "most significant" of its era. The book discussed the Twining memo which initiated UFO investigation and the rejected 1948 "Estimate of the Situation". Ruppelt


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: criticized the Air Force's handling of UFOs investigations. Historian Curtis Peebles concludes that the book "should have ended the speculation about an Air Force cover-up. In fact, Ruppelt's statements were converted into support for the cover-up idea."


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: 1956 saw the publication of Gray Barker's "They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers", the book which publicized the idea of Men in Black who appear to UFO witnesses and warn them to keep quiet. There has been continued speculation that the men in black are government agents who harass and threaten UFO witnesses.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: According to the "Skeptical Inquirer" article "Gray Barker: My Friend, the Myth-Maker", there may have been "a grain of truth" to Barker's writings on the Men in Black, in that government agencies did attempt to discourage public interest in UFOs during the 1950s. However, Barker is thought to have greatly embellished the facts of the situation. In the same "Skeptical Inquirer" article, Sherwood revealed that, in the late 1960s, he and Barker collaborated on a brief fictional notice alluding to the Men in Black, which was published as fact first in Raymond A. Palmer's "Flying Saucers" magazine and some of Barker's own publications. In the story, Sherwood (writing as "Dr. Richard H. Pratt") claimed he was ordered to silence by the "blackmen" after learning that UFOs were time-travelling vehicles. Barker later wrote to Sherwood, "Evidently the fans swallowed this one with a gulp."


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Throughout much of the 1960s, atmospheric physicist James E. McDonald suggested—via lectures, articles and letters—that the U.S. Government was mishandling evidence that would support the extraterrestrial hypothesis.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In June 1967, researcher Jacques Vallee was tasked with organizing files collected by Project Bluebook investigator J. Allen Hynek Among those files, Vallee found a memo dated 9 January 1953 addressed an assistant of Edward J. Ruppelt, an Air Force officer assigned to Bluebook. The memo was signed "H.C. Cross", but Vallee elected to refer to the author under the pseudonym "Pentacle".


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: The memo referred to a previously unknown analysis of several thousand UFO reports, along with calls for agreements about "what can and what cannot be discussed" with the 1953 Roberson Panel. Writing in his 1967 journal, Vallee expressed the opinion that the memo, if it were published, "would cause an even bigger uproar among foreign scientists than among Americans: it would prove the devious nature of the statements made by the Pentagon all these years about the non-existence of UFOs".


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Clark cites a 1973 encounter as perhaps the earliest suggestion that the U.S. government was involved with ETs. That year, Robert Emenegger and Allan Sandler of Los Angeles, California were in contact with officials at Norton Air Force Base in order to make a documentary film. Emenegger and Sandler report that Air Force Officials (including Paul Shartle) suggested incorporating UFO information in the documentary, including as its centerpiece genuine footage of a 1971 UFO landing at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. Furthermore, says Emenegger, he was given a tour of Holloman AFB and was shown where officials conferred with aliens. This was supposedly not the first time the U.S. had met these aliens, as Emenegger reported that his U.S. military sources had "been monitoring signals from an alien group with which they were unfamiliar, and did their ET guests know anything about them? The ETs said no" The documentary was released in 1974 as "" (narrated by Rod Serling) containing only a few seconds of the Holloman UFO footage, the remainder of the landing depicted with illustrations and re-enactments.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In 1976 a televised documentary report "" written by Robert Emenegger was presented by Rod Serling, Burgess Meredith and José Ferrer. Some sequences were recreated based upon the statements of eyewitness observers, together with the findings and conclusions of governmental civil and military investigations. The documentary uses a hypothetical UFO landing at Holloman AFB as a backdrop.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Emenegger's 1973 depiction of a landing at Holloman is widely noted for its "striking" similarities to Steven Spielberg's 1977 depiction of a landing at Devil's Tower in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In the 2013 documentary Mirage Men, Ufologist Richard Dolan discussed the Emenegger documentary, saying "I have wondered [if] that film, I think as many people have wondered, was an abortive attempt at some kind of 'Disclosure'.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: J. Allen Hynek was an American astronomer who served as scientific advisor to UFO studies undertaken by the U.S. Air Force under three projects: Project Sign (1947–1949), Project Grudge (1949–1951) and Project Blue Book (1952–1969) Hynek had drawn ridicule for his most famous debunking, in which he suggests a mass-sighting over Michigan may have been caused by "swamp gas".


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: By 1974, the former skeptic was publicly charging that Bluebook was "a Cosmic Watergate". Hynek claimed 20% of Bluebook cases were unexplained. Fellow Ufologist like Stanton Friedman echoed Hynek's "Cosmic Watergate" accusations.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Jerome Clark comments that many UFO conspiracy theory tales "can be traced to a mock documentary "Alternative 3", broadcast on British television on June 20, 1977 (but intended for April Fools' Day), and subsequently turned into a paperback book."


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: According to the fictional research presented in the episode, it was claimed that missing scientists were involved in a secret American/Soviet plan in outer space, and further suggested that interplanetary space travel had been possible for much longer than was commonly accepted. The episode featured a fictional Apollo astronaut who claims to have stumbled on a mysterious lunar base during his moonwalk.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: It was claimed that scientists had determined that the Earth's surface would be unable to support life for much longer, due to pollution leading to catastrophic climate change. Physicist "Dr Carl Gerstein" (played by Richard Marner) claimed to have proposed in 1957 that there were three alternatives to this problem. The first alternative was the drastic reduction of the human population on Earth. The second alternative was the construction of vast underground shelters to house government officials and a cross section of the population until the climate had stabilized. The third alternative, the so-called "Alternative 3", was to populate Mars via a on the Moon. The final moments of the film feature the discovery of animal life on the surface of Mars.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: The late 1970s also saw the beginning of controversy centered on Paul Bennewitz of Albuquerque, New Mexico.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In February 1978, UFO researcher Stanton Friedman interviewed Jesse Marcel, the only person known to have accompanied the Roswell debris from where it was recovered to Fort Worth where reporters saw material that was claimed to be part of the recovered object. Marcel's statements contradicted those he made to the press in 1947.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In November 1979, Marcel's first filmed interview was featured in a documentary titled "UFO's Are Real", co-written by Friedman. The film had a limited release but was later syndicated for broadcasting.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: On February 28, 1980, sensationalist tabloid the "National Enquirer" brought large-scale attention to the Marcel story. On September 20, 1980, the TV series "In Search of..." aired an interview where Marcel described his participation in the 1947 press conference:


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Marcel gave a final interview to HBO's America Undercover which aired in August 1985. In all his statements, Marcel consistently denied the presence of bodies. Between 1978 and the early 1990s, UFO researchers such as Stanton T. Friedman, William Moore, Karl T. Pflock, and the team of Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt interviewed several dozen people who claimed to have had a connection with the events at Roswell in 1947.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In the 1990s, the US military published two reports disclosing the true nature of the crashed aircraft: a surveillance balloon from Project Mogul. Nevertheless, the Roswell incident continues to be of interest to the media, and conspiracy theories surrounding the event persist. Roswell has been described as "the world's most famous, most exhaustively investigated and most thoroughly debunked UFO claim".


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: By 1981, astronaut Gordon Cooper reported suppression of a flying saucer movie filmed in high clarity by two Edwards AFB range photographers on May 3, 1957. Cooper said he viewed developed negatives of the object, clearly showing a dish-like object with a dome on top and something like holes or ports in the dome. When later interviewed by James McDonald, the photographers and another witness confirmed the story. Cooper said military authorities then picked up the film and neither he nor the photographers ever heard what happened to it. The incident was also reported in a few newspapers, such as the "Los Angeles Times". The official explanation was that the photographers had filmed a weather balloon distorted by hot desert air.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: The so-called Majestic 12 documents surfaced in 1982, suggesting that there was secret, high-level U.S. government interest in UFOs dating to the 1940s. Upon examination, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) declared the documents to be "completely bogus", and many ufologists consider them to be an elaborate hoax.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Linda Moulton Howe is an advocate of conspiracy theories that cattle mutilations are of extraterrestrial origin and speculations that the U.S. government is involved with aliens.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In 1986, conspiracy theorist George C. Andrews authored "Extra-Terrestrials Among Us", accusing the CIA of the Kennedy assassination. Scholar of extremism Michael Barkun notes that "Andrew's political views are almost indistinguishable from those associated with militias, only his placement of extraterrestrials at the pinnacle of conspiracies identifies him as a ufologist." According to Barkun, "the publication of "Extra-Terrestrials Among Us" marked the beginning of a feverish period of UFO conspiracism, from 1986 to 1989.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Citing Andrews as a source, in 1991 the UFO conspiracy author Bill Cooper published the influential conspiracy work "Behold a Pale Horse" which claimed that Kennedy was killed after he "informed Majestic 12 that he intended to reveal the presence of aliens to the American people". "Behold a Pale Horse" became 'wildly popular' with conspiracy theorists and went on to be one of the most-read books in the US prison system. According to Michael Barkun, the theories of Andrews and Cooper helped create "a conspiracist form of UFO speculation, which Jerome Clark refers to as ufology's 'dark side'."


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In November 1989, Bob Lazar appeared in a special interview with investigative reporter George Knapp on Las Vegas TV station KLAS to discuss his alleged employment at S-4. In his interview with Knapp, Lazar said he first thought the saucers were secret, terrestrial aircraft, whose test flights must have been responsible for many UFO reports. Gradually, on closer examination and from having been shown multiple briefing documents, Lazar came to the conclusion that the discs must have been of extraterrestrial origin. He claims that they use moscovium, an element that decays in a fraction of a second, to warp space, and that "Grey" aliens are from the Zeta Reticuli star system. According to the "Los Angeles Times," he never obtained the degrees he claims to hold from MIT and Caltech.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: On October 14, 1988, actor Mike Farrell hosted "U.S. UFO Cover-Up: Live!", a two-hour television special "focusing on the government's handling of information regarding UFOs" and "whether there has been any suppression of evidence supporting the existence of UFOs".


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: The Ufologist Bill Moore was scheduled as the main speaker, and he refused to submit his paper for review prior to the convention, and also announced that he would not answer any follow-up questions as was common practice. Unlike most of the convention's attendees, Moore did not stay at the same hotel that was hosting the convention.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: When he spoke, Moore said that he and others had been part of an elaborate, long-term disinformation campaign begun primarily to discredit Paul Bennewitz: "My role in the affair ... was primarily that of a freelancer providing information on Paul's (Bennewitz) current thinking and activities". Air Force Sergeant Richard C. Doty was also involved, said Moore, though Moore thought Doty was "simply a pawn in a much larger game, as was I." One of their goals, Moore said, was to disseminate information and watch as it was passed from person to person in order to study information channels.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Moore said that he "was in a rather unique position" in the disinformation campaign: "judging by the positions of the people I knew to be directly involved in it, [the disinformation] definitely had something to do with national security. There was no way I was going to allow the opportunity to pass me by ... I would play the disinformation game, get my hands dirty just often enough to lead those directing the process into believing I was doing what they wanted me to do, and all the while continuing to burrow my way into the matrix so as to learn as much as possible about who was directing it and why." Once he finished the speech, Moore immediately left the hotel and Las Vegas that same night.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Moore's claims sent shock waves through the small, tight-knit UFO community, which remains divided as to the reliability of his assertions.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: On November 24, 1992, a UFO reportedly crashed in Southaven Park, Shirley, New York. John Ford, a Long Island MUFON researcher, investigated the crash. Four years later, on June 12, 1996, Ford was arrested and charged with plotting to poison several local politicians by sneaking radium in their toothpaste. On advice of counsel Ford pleaded insanity and was committed to the Mid Hudson Psychiatric Center. Critics say the charges are a frame-up.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: The Branton Files are a series of documents espousing various conspiracy theories circulated on the internet since at least the mid-1990s. They are most often attributed to Bruce Alan Walton who claims to have been a victim of alien abduction and had contact through "altered states of consciousness" with humans "living in the inner earth". The files have been characterized as "high fantasy" filled with "complex and convoluted conspiracism".


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In 1995, a man calling himself Philip Schneider made a few appearances at UFO conventions, espousing essentially a new version of the theories mentioned above. Schneider claimed to be the son of U-Boat commander who was captured by the allies and switched sides. According to Schneider, his father has been part of the Philadelphia Experiment. Schneider claimed to have played a role in the construction of Deep Underground Military Bases (DUMBs) across the United States, and as a result he said that he had been exposed to classified information of various sorts as well as having personal experiences with EBEs. He claimed to have survived the Dulce Base catastrophe and decided to tell his tale.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: According to folklore, Schneider died on January 17, 1996, in a death ruled a suicide, though some of his followers reportedly believed he may have been murdered.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: 2003 saw the publication of "Alien Encounters" (), by Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman, which primarily re-stated the notions presented above (especially Cooper's) and presents them as fact.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Eight files from 1978 to 1987 on UFO sightings were first released on May 14, 2008, to the National Archives' website by the British Ministry of Defence. Two hundred files were set to be made public by 2012. The files are correspondence from the public sent to government officials, such as the MoD and Margaret Thatcher. The information can be downloaded. Copies of Lt. Col. Halt's letter regarding the sighting at RAF Woodbridge (see above) to the U.K. Ministry of Defence were routinely released (without additional comment) by the USA's base public affairs staff throughout the 1980s until the base closed. The MoD released the files due to requests under the Freedom of Information Act. The files included reports of "lights in the sky" from Britons.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In the early 2000s, the concept of "disclosure" became increasingly popular in the UFO conspiracy community: that the government had classified and withheld information on alien contact and full disclosure was needed, and was pursued by activist lobbying groups.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In 1993, Steven M. Greer founded the Disclosure Project to promote the concept. In May 2001, Greer held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. that demanded Congress hold hearings on "secret U.S. involvement with UFOs and extraterrestrials". It was described by an attending BBC reporter as "the strangest ever news conference hosted by Washington's august National Press Club". The Disclosure Project's claims were met with by derision by skeptics and spokespeople for the U. S. Air Force.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In 2013, the production company CHD2, LLC held a "Citizen Hearing on Disclosure" at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. from 29 April to 3 May 2013. The group paid former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel and former Representatives Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, Roscoe Bartlett, Merrill Cook, Darlene Hooley, and Lynn Woolsey $20,000 each to participate, and to preside over panels of academics and former government and military officials discussing UFOs and extraterrestrials.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Allegations of suppression of UFO related evidence have persisted for many decades. Some conspiracy theories also claim that some governments might have removed and/or destroyed/suppressed physical evidence; some examples follow.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: On July 7, 1947, William Rhodes photographed an unusual object over Phoenix, Arizona. The photos appeared in a Phoenix newspaper and a few other papers. An Army Air Force intelligence officer and an FBI agent interviewed Rhodes on August 29 and convinced him to surrender the negatives, which he did the next day. He was informed he would not get them back, but later he tried, unsuccessfully, to retrieve them. The photos were analyzed and subsequently appeared in some classified Air Force UFO intelligence reports. (Randle, 34–45, full account)


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: A June 27, 1950, movie of a "flying disk" over Louisville, Kentucky, taken by a Louisville "Courier-Journal" photographer, had the USAF Directors of counterintelligence (AFOSI) and intelligence discussing in memos how to best obtain the movie and interview the photographer without revealing Air Force interest. One memo suggested the FBI be used, then precluded the FBI getting involved. Another memo said "it would be nice if OSI could arrange to secure a copy of the film in some covert manner," but if that was not feasible, one of the Air Force scientists might have to negotiate directly with the newspaper. In a recent interview, the photographer confirmed meeting with military intelligence and still having the film in his possession until then, but refused to say what happened to the film after that.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In another 1950 movie incident from Montana, Nicholas Mariana filmed some unusual aerial objects and eventually turned the film over to the U.S. Air Force, but insisted that the first part of the film, clearly showing the objects as spinning discs, had been removed when it was returned to him.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: According to some conspiracy theorists, during the military investigation of green fireballs in New Mexico, UFOs were photographed by a tracking camera over White Sands Proving Grounds on April 27, 1949. They claim that the final report in 1951 on the green fireball investigation claimed there was insufficient data to determine anything. Conspiracy theorists claim that documents later uncovered by Bruce Maccabee indicate that triangulation was accomplished. The conspiracy theorists also claim that the data reduction and photographs showed four objects about 30 feet in diameter flying in formation at high speed at an altitude of about 30 miles. According to conspiracy theorists, Maccabee says this result was apparently suppressed from the final report.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: On January 22, 1958, when NICAP director Donald Keyhoe appeared on CBS television, his statements on UFOs were censored by the Air Force. During the show when Keyhoe tried to depart from the censored script to "reveal something that has never been disclosed before," CBS cut the sound, later stating Keyhoe was about to violate "predetermined security standards" and about to say something he was not "authorized to release." Conspiracy theorists claim that what Keyhoe was about to reveal were four publicly unknown military studies concluding UFOs were interplanetary (including the 1948 Project Sign Estimate of the Situation and Blue Book's 1952 engineering analysis of UFO motion). (Good, 286–287; Dolan 293–295)


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: A March 1, 1967 memo directed to all USAF divisions, from USAF Lt. General Hewitt Wheless, Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, stated that unverified information indicated that unknown individuals, impersonating USAF officers and other military personnel, had been harassing civilian UFO witnesses, warning them not to talk, and also confiscating film, referring specifically to the Heflin incident. AFOSI was to be notified if any personnel were to become aware of any other incidents. (Document in Fawcett & Greenwood, 236.)


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: John Callahan, former Division Chief of the Accidents and Investigations Branch of the FAA, Washington D.C., also a Disclosure Project witness, said that following the Japan Air Lines flight 1628 incident that involved a giant UFO over Alaska, recorded by air and ground radar, the FAA conducted an investigation. Callahan held a briefing a few days later for President Reagan's Scientific Study Group, the FBI, and CIA. After the briefing, one of the CIA agents told everybody they "were never there and this never happened," adding they were fearful of public panic.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: According to one theory related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the CIA killed Kennedy in order to prevent him from leaking information to the Soviet Union about a covert program to reverse-engineer alien technology (i.e., Majestic 12).


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Nick Cook, an aviation investigative journalist for "Jane's Information Group" and researcher of "Billion Dollar Secret" and author of "The Hunt for Zero Point" claims to have uncovered documentary evidence that top-secret US Defense Industry technology has been developed by government-backed Defense Industry programs, beginning in the 1940s using research conducted by Nazi scientists during WWII and recovered by Allied Military Intelligence, then taken to the U.S. and developed further with the collaboration of the same former German scientists at top-secret facilities established at White Sands, New Mexico, and later at Area 51, allegedly resulting in production of real-world prototype operational supersonic craft actually tested and used in clandestine military exercises, with other developments incorporated later into spy aircraft tasked with overflying hostile countries: the UFO story that evidence of alien technology is being suppressed and removed or destroyed was generated and then promoted by the CIA, beginning 1947, as false-lead disinformation to cover it all up for the sake of National Security, particularly during the Cold War, at a time when (his investigations found) the Soviet Union too was developing its own top-secret high-tech UFO craft. Cook's conclusions, alleging suppression of evidence of advanced "human" technology instead of alien, together with what he presents as declassified top-secret documents and blueprints, and his interviews of various experts (some of doubtful reliability), was developed and broadcast as a feature documentary on British television in 2005 as "UFOs: The Secret Evidence" and in the US in 2006 as a two-part episode on the History Channel's UFO Files, retitled "An Alien History of Planet Earth", with an added introduction by actor William Shatner. The "History Channel" program teaser promised "...a look at rumors of classified military aircraft incorporating alien technology into their designs."


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In 1993, Steven M. Greer founded the Disclosure project to promote the concept of disclosing allegedly suppressed evidence of extraterrestrials. In May 2001, Greer held a press conference at the National Press Club in D.C that featured "20 retired Air Force, Federal Aviation Administration and intelligence officers" who demanded that Congress begin hearings on "secret U.S. involvement with UFOs and extraterrestrials"


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Benjamin Radford has pointed out how unlikely such suppression of evidence is given that "[t]he UFO coverup conspiracy would have to span decades, cross international borders, and transcend political administrations" and that "all of the world's governments, in perpetuity, regardless of which political party is in power and even among enemies, [would] have colluded to continue the coverup."


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Popular fiction has often included scenarios where a government does not disclose the discovery of non-human intelligence to its populace.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In 1968, director Stanley Kubrick explored the idea in his film "" and the accompanying novel by Arthur C. Clarke. In those works, the discovery of a non-human artifact prompts a government coverup, with secrecy extending even to the astronauts tasked with investigating the discovery. The 1969 film Easy Rider's "best-remembered" scene featured a character who "tries smoking grass for the first time and delivers a long exegesis about highly evolved Venusians whose ubiquitous presence on earth is being concealed by the leaders of hide-bound society." In 1977, Steven Spielberg's film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" tells the story of Roy Neary, an everyday blue-collar worker in Indiana, whose UFO experience sets him on a quest to overcome government secrecy and disinformation.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In the 1980 film "Hangar 18", the government recovers a crashed alien craft in the desert of the US Southwest and attempts to cover up the discovery. Like "2001", it is learned that the aliens have affected the course of human evolution. In the 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, government scientists hide the discovery of an alien being. In the 1990 film Total Recall, government forces cover-up the discovery of ancient alien artifacts on Mars.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Beginning in 1993, the television series "The X-Files" followed FBI Agent Fox Mulder as he attempted to overcome a government effort to hide the truth about UFOs. Conversely the 1997 sci-fi/comedy film "Men in Black" followed government agents tasked with maintaining the coverup to prevent a panic. A government coverup and reverse-engineering attempt after Roswell was a central element of the 1996 film "Independence Day".


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: Other television programs and films like "Dark Skies", "Stargate", "Project Blue Book" and any number of novels have featured elements of UFO conspiracy theories. Fictionalized elements may include the government's sinister operatives from the men in black, the military bases known as Area 51, RAF Rudloe Manor or Porton Down, a rumored crash site in Roswell, New Mexico, the Rendlesham Forest Incident, a political committee dubbed "Majestic 12", or the successor of the UK Ministry of Defence's Flying Saucer Working Party (FSWP). The novel "The Doomsday Conspiracy" by Sidney Sheldon includes a UFO conspiracy in its plot.


title: UFO conspiracy theories

text: In March 2001, former astronaut John Glenn appeared on an episode of the TV series Frasier playing a fictional version of himself who confesses to a UFO coverup.


title: Sound of Freedom (film)

text: Sound of Freedom is an unreleased American biographical action drama film directed by Alejandro Monteverde. It stars Jim Caviezel, Mira Sorvino, and Bill Camp. Caviezel plays Tim Ballard, a self-styled anti-human trafficking activist and founder of the organization Operation Underground Railroad.


title: Sound of Freedom (film)

text: "Sound of Freedom" tells the story of Tim Ballard, a former operative, who quits his job as a Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to save children from cartels and human traffickers. It takes a look into the child trafficking in Latin American countries, especially Mexico. Ballard calls himself a modern day abolitionist and in addition to saving these children he wants to get rid of the problem at the root. He says that America is the biggest consumer of this evil. The story will show how Ballard went to Colombia to rescue 127 children from sexual abuse and misery.


title: Sound of Freedom (film)

text: Investigative journalists Lynn Packer and Damion Moore of "American Crime Journal" reported that Tim Ballard lied about his involvement in the case and fabricated details about his child sex trafficking activities. The film begins with the arrest of Earl Venton Buchanan, which is the case that Tim Ballard claims was "confirmation from God" for him to begin his own child sex trafficking rescue organization Operation Underground Railroad. In the film, Tim Ballard rescues a kidnapped Mexican child from human trafficker Earl Buchanan at the border crossing in Calexico, California. The then five year-old child runs to Ballard and hands him a necklace, that was given to him by his sister before they were separated by sex traffickers. The necklace has a verse from the first book of Timothy. Ballard then quits the Department of Homeland Security to rescue the sister of the trafficked boy from a reputed Columbian drug lord. Ballard finds the boy's sister and kills the drug lord while posing as doctor.


title: Sound of Freedom (film)

text: Jim Caviezel, before the shooting of the film, spent several days shadowing Tim Ballard and learning about Operation Underground Railroad's operations. He says that he was able to go to Latin America and witness an operation led by Ballard himself.


title: Sound of Freedom (film)

text: Principal photography began in the summer of 2018. While some of "Sound of Freedom" was shot in the United States (Calexico, California), most of the film was shot in Cartagena, Colombia.


title: Sound of Freedom (film)

text: Currently, the film does not have a release date. Various dates were announced for the film's premiere, but each passed without a release taking place.


title: Sound of Freedom (film)

text: Jim Caviezel has stated that this was the second most important film he has ever done. He ranks it behind his role as Jesus Christ in 2004's "The Passion of the Christ". Tim Ballard personally requested that Jim Caviezel portray him in the film; the producers were taken aback by the request and tried to convince him to select an actor who more closely resembled him. However, Ballard was steadfast, saying that he was affected by Caviezel's roles in "The Passion of the Christ" and "The Count of Monte Cristo".


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The cultivation of cannabis in Italy has a long history dating back to Roman times, when it was primarily used to produce hemp ropes, although pollen records from core samples show that Cannabaceae plants were present in the Italian peninsula since at least the Late Pleistocene, while the earliest evidence of their use dates back to the Bronze Age. The mass cultivation of industrial cannabis for the production of hemp fiber in Italy really took off during the period of the Maritime Republics and the Age of Sail, and continued well after the Italian Unification, only to experience a sudden decline during the second half of the 20th century, with the introduction of synthetic fibers and the start of the war on drugs, and only recently it is slowly experiencing a resurgence.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: At present, cannabis is legal in Italy for medical and industrial uses, although it is strictly regulated, while it is decriminalized for recreational uses. In particular, the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use is a misdemeanor and it is subjected to fines, as well as the suspension of personal documents (e.g. passports and driver's licenses). Nevertheless, the unauthorized sale of cannabis-related products is illegal and punishable with imprisonment, as is the unlicensed cultivation of cannabis, although recent court cases have effectively established the legality of cultivating cannabis in small amounts and for exclusively personal use. The licensed cultivation of cannabis for medical and industrial purposes requires the use of certified seeds, however there is no need for authorization in order to plant certified seeds with minimal levels of psychoactive compounds (a.k.a. cannabis light).


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The family of Cannabaceae includes the two genera of cannabis and humulus, with the former believed to be native exclusively to Asia, while the latter also to Europe. According to Greek historian and geographer Herodotus, the Scythians brought hemp from Asia to Europe during their migrations around 1500 B.C., while the Teutons were a major factor in the spread of the cultivation of hemp throughout Europe. Other sources attribute the introduction of hemp into Italy to the arrivals of both the Scythians and the Illyrians between the 10th and the 8th centuries B.C. while, by the 6th and 5th centuries B.C., hemp cultivation was present throughout Italy.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: Nevertheless, the oldest evidence of the presence of cannabis and humulus in central Italy dates back to the Late Glacial, as inferred from sediment cores extracted from the Albano and Nemi lakes, in which pollen records show an increase in the human influence on the local vegetation. In particular, humulus pollen values increase during the mid Holocene, while hemp pollen values start to rise from about 3000 cal BP (i.e. 1050 B.C.) onwards, reaching their earliest peak during the 1st century A.D., as a clear consequence of the cultivation of hemp by the Romans, although the pre-Roman trends can be attributed to natural sources, and possibly to anthropogenic sources as well.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In terms of the earliest evidence of the processing of hemp for the production of strings and fabrics in Italy, three micro-fragments of what appear to be hemp fibers were detected through a scanning electron microscope in the dental calculi of three female individuals from the Early Bronze Age. Furthermore, the analysis of the teeth of 28 females and one male from the same period, revealed evidence of "activity-induced dental modifications" that are consistent with yarn production, or weaving preparation, of small-diameter threads, which were repeatedly pulled across the fronts and sides of the individuals' upper incisors and canines. All the examined individuals were buried in an ancient cemetery located in Gricignano di Aversa, in southern Italy, and traces of hemp were also found attached to a metal blade, possibly the remains of a fabric sheath, in the tomb of an adult male within the same site. These findings show the importance that hemp fabrics had in the region at the time, as well as clear gender-based role divisions in the manufacturing of fibers.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In the 1st century A.D., Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder described in his "Naturalis Historia" the cultivation and use of cannabis plants in the Roman Empire, both for industrial and medical purposes. Ancient Romans would sow hemp seeds during spring and harvest the ripe hemp seeds after the autumn equinox, after which they were dried in the sun, or the wind, or by the smoke of a fire, while the hemp plants were plucked after the vintage, to be then peeled and cleaned. According to the "De re rustica" by contemporary writer Lucius Columella, hemp plants require either rich, manured, and well-watered soil, or alternatively soil that is level, moist, and deeply worked. Roman farmers would plant six hemp seeds per square foot toward the end of February however, if the weather was rainy, sowing could be done up to the spring equinox without harming the crop.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The main use of hemp fiber was for manufacturing ropes, sheets, wickers, and nets; in particular Pliny mentions three Alabandica varieties to be the best ones to be used for hunting nets, the variety produced in Mylasa to be the second best, and the hemp cultivated in the Sabine territory to be particularly tall. Furthermore, archaeological excavations at Pompeii, in "Campania felix" (i.e. part of what is now Campania), unearthed samples of hemp textiles that have been preserved by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D., reportedly including cloth sandals made of hemp, although linen was generally preferred in antiquity for the production of canvas, sails, and clothing.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In 2018, excavations on the eastern bank of the ancient "Natiso cum Turro" river of Aquileia, in the area of "Venetia et Histria" that is now Friuli-Venezia Giulia, revealed the first system of basins from the Roman world that is known to have been used for the maceration of hemp, as inferred from archaeobotanical and archaeo-palynological studies of the site. The long and shallow pools were dated between the late 2nd – early 3rd century A.D. and the late 3rd – early 4th century A.D.; they were delimited by parapets made of clay, sand, and tiny pebbles; and they were coated with thin layers of cocciopesto for waterproofing. Similarly to more recent water retting procedures, the harvested stalks of cannabis sativa were bundled into sheaves and then submerged into either stagnant or running water by tying them to dedicated poles, in order to extract the fiber.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In Italia, different parts of the hemp plants were used for various culinary purposes, in particular Pliny mentions hemp seeds being stored in pots for later use and lasting for as much as one year, while the stalks and branches were used as vegetables. In terms of the contemporary beliefs on cannabis plants and the effects of their personal use, according to Pliny, wild hemp first grew in woods and had darker and rougher leaves, while its seeds were said to cause impotence. The juice derived from it was used to drive out worms and other creatures that could enter the ears, although it would cause headache as a side effect, and it was said to be so potent that it was able to coagulate water when it was poured into it. Furthermore, when the hemp juice was mixed with water and then drunk by beasts of burden, it was said to be able to regulate their bowels. Moreover, hemp roots boiled in water were thought to ease cramped joints, gout, and similar violent pains, while they could also be applied raw to burns, but they would be changed before getting dry.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The ability of boiled cannabis roots to lessen inflammation was also attested by contemporary Greek physician and botanist Pedanius Dioscorides in his "De Materia Medica", a pharmacopoeia that mainly focuses on medicinal plants. In regards to the recreational use of cannabis in the Roman Empire, 2nd century Greek physician and philosopher Claudius Galenus wrote that it was customary in Italia to serve small cannabis-based cakes for dessert, whose seeds would reportedly create a feeling of warmth and, if consumed in large quantities, affect the head by emitting a warm and toxic vapor.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The mass cultivation of industrial cannabis in Italy started during the High Middle Ages, with the demographic and agricultural recoveries, the rise of Medieval communes and the Maritime Republics, and the increase of their trade in the Mediterranean Sea. Between 1304 and 1309, Bolognese jurist and landowner Pietro de' Crescenzi compiled an agricultural treatise entitled "De agricultura vulgare", alternatively known as the "Ruralia commoda", which includes a section on the cultivation of industrial cannabis at the time.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In the treatise, hemp is described as having the same nature as flax, namely requiring similar air and soil, although the latter does not need to be ploughed as much. Nevertheless, for the production of ropes, the seeds must be planted in rich soil, in order to increase the resulting yield, while the sparser the seeds are planted, the more ramified the grown plants will be. Conversely, for the production of textiles such as cloth sacks, sheets, or shirts, the soil does not need to be as rich, while the seeds must be more densely sowed, in order to obtain plants without branches, which are more suitable for such products. Morover, hemp fiber is described as necessary for the production of fishing nets, since it is more water resistant than flax fiber.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: Furthermore, hemp seeds have been used for food for several centuries, especially by the poorer social classes, since they were inexpensive, rich in nutrients, and available even during droughts. In fact, several centuries-old Italian recipes use cannabis sativa as the main ingredient, and these recipes include:


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The mass production of naval ropes, cables, and hawsers from hemp at the Venetian Arsenal dates back to between 1303 and 1322, when the first "corderia" was established, known as the "Tana" hemp house. Its construction was approved on 7 July 1302 by the Major Council, in order to localize the storage of hemp and the production of ropes, as part of the first enlargement of the Arsenal. The elongated ropewalks, located on the southern side of the Arsenal, were later reconstructed between 1579 and 1585 under architect Antonio da Ponte, resulting in a long and wide building divided into three aisles by two rows of tall and wide brick columns, for a total of 84 pillars.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The raw hemp was mainly imported through trade agreements from the Don river delta, on the Azov Sea, where the Venetians established several trading posts, whose importance is attested by the fact that the "Tana" hemp house reportedly derived its name from "Tanai", the ancient greek name for the Don river. Nevertheless, in order to maintain favorable prices and ensure steady supplies, Venice also imported hemp from Emilia, the Marches, and the Middle East. The importance of the raw material for shipbuilding is also attested by its exception from tariffs, as well as by several deliberations from the Venetian judiciary that were aimed at the protection and promotion of hemp cultivation in the mainland.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The imported hemp was primarily used to manufacture ropes at a low cost, but it was also used for caulking ship hulls. The produced ropes would then be safely stored, thus creating strategic stockpiles that would allow the Republic to remain independent from external suppliers during wartime. These stockpiles were overseen by three magistrates, known as the "Visdomini alla Tana", who were elected by the Major Council, and one of the required checks was that the ropes produced for vessels had to be made from exactly 1,098 twisted hemp strings. When needed, the rope would be taken out of storage through dedicated holes, and cut at the required size, rather than already being produced with standardized lengths, while the fiber of any leftover would be repurposed. The rope could also be sold at a lower price to foreign ships transiting at the port, thus making it competitive in the international market at the time, although sales from the Arsenal to private third parties required an appropriate licence issued by the authorities.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: After the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797, with the arrival of Napoleon, the "Tana" hemp house ended its centuries-old activity, to be then turned into a warehouse, while it has more recently been used as an exhibition center during the Venice Biennale since 1980. The production of ropes was instead moved to the "Corte dei Cordami" (i.e. Cordage Courtyard) on the island of Giudecca, where hawsers were still being twisted in open-air ropewalks, and activities continued there up until 1995. The legacy of the once thriving hemp rope industry, as well as many other related activities, is attested in the toponyms of several streets in Venice.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: At the "Tana" hemp house, the hemp fiber would arrive in large square bales, already macerated and dry, and it would be forcefully slammed against a wooden pole, equipped with metal rods, to complete the breakage of the stalk. The remaining woody fragments would then be removed using comb-like tools of different shapes for both coarser and finer combing, in preparation for the spinning phase. While using scutching tools with ever-finer teeth, the finest of which could have a teeth spacing as small as , the artisans would gradually separate the different fibers based on their qualities, including their robustness and color.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The spinning device would consist in a large rotating wooden wheel, placed vertically and firmly fixed to the ground, equipped with laterally protruding rods that supported a winding rope connecting the wheel to several interchangeable wooden cylinders of different dimensions, depending on the final size of the rope to be produced, which were located a few meters away. The rotating wheel would make such cylinders spin, and they would be used to either twist a twine (with a single cylinder), or intertwine three or four strings (with multiple cylinders) to produce different types of rope. Several other tools would be used in order to keep the rope always tightly stretched, while also sustaining its weight along the ropewalk; to avoid hand contact with the rope during twisting; and to keep it constantly lubricated, thus preventing any damage from friction-related heat. Afterwards, the rope would be soaked overnight, with the water causing the twisted fibers to stick together, and thus increasing the compactness of the rope. As a final touch, an iron mesh would then be used to rub the rope, in order to remove the last few remaining streaks, while a stretch of coarse rope would be rolled up and run around the rope for a final smoothing and polishing.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The cultivation of hemp in southern Italy dates back to the Roman Empire and continued during the Middle Ages, when Emperor Frederick II promulgated the "Constitutiones Augustales" in 1231, which included provisions to protect populated places in the Kingdom of Sicily from the decomposition fumes emanating from the maceration basins. In particular, maceration sites around Naples had to be located at least one mile away from population centers, although any waste from the retting process could still be disposed of in either local rivers or the sea.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: Following significant public protests, King Charles II of Anjou decreed the closure and reclamation of several maceration sites in 1300 and 1306, which were followed by similar projects during the Angevin and Aragonese periods, until King Alfonso I of Aragon permanently moved the processing of hemp plants to the shallow Agnano lake, about west of Naples. Moreover, the Miano-Agnano highway, known as "Via dei Canapi" (i.e. Hemp street), was constructed in order to facilitate the transport of hemp between the fields North of Naples and the maceration sites at the lake, while also avoiding population centers.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: Despite two temporary bans, the first one during the plague of 1656 and the second one following the death of one of the sons of Viceroy Gaspar de Bracamonte from an infection in Pozzuoli in 1663, retting activities continued in the Phlegraean Fields until the second half of the 19th century, when they became unprofitable. Subsequently, the Agnano lake was decontaminated and drained between 1866 and 1870, with its surface at the time spanning between and within a volcanic crater about wide. This land reclamation project was carried out in order to remove the rotting fumes, as well as to prevent further outbreaks of the mosquito-borne malaria by reducing the local habitat of the Anopheles mosquito.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: Nevertheless, from the 17th century onwards, the hemp cultivation area in Campania steadily increased to include the southern part of the modern-day Province of Caserta, and most of the former Province of Naples, including the sides of Mt. Vesuvius. According to an economic census compiled under King Joachim-Napoleon, during the French rule of the Kingdom of Naples between 1806 and 1815, hemp fields were mainly located in the fertile Volturno river basin, between the "comuni" of Capua, Caserta, Maddaloni, and Aversa; while significant exports of hemp from Naples towards the rest of Europe were recorded around 1840. The legacy of the once-flourishing industry of hemp cultivation and processing in the area is attested in the toponyms of several streets and towns around Naples.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: Furthermore, the oldest "corderia" that is still operating in Italy was established in 1796 in Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples, in order to produce high-quality cordage from hemp as part of the local shipyard, which was founded in 1773 by royal decree of King Ferdinand IV of Naples. Another noteworthy site for the production of ropes in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was located near the Ear of Dionysius in Syracuse, Sicily, where the wide humid spaces within the "Grotta dei Cordari" (i.e. Cave of the Ropemakers) have been utilized as ropewalks for three centuries, using hemp produced in Campania, until the last ropemakers left in 1984 due to the risk of collapse.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: After the affirmation of Papal rule over Romagna in the early 16th century, hemp and wheat became two of the main exports of the Papal States, so much so that several regulations emanated by "Pope Paul III in 1523", and later reaffirmed by Pope Sixtus V in 1586, defined the processing standards required for hemp in order for it to be exported. In fact, the exportation of raw hemp from Bologna, when it was temporarily under Papal rule, had already been forbidden by a bull from Pope Gregory XI in 1376, which aimed at allowing the inhabitants to keep the revenue derived from the processing of hemp plants.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: Historically, the cultivation of hemp in what are now Umbria and the Marches was already widespread during the mid 13th century, as attested in the cartulary of the Abbey of Sassovivo, and in ancient statutes of the town of Foligno, as well as other towns in the March of Ancona. Similarly to the regulations implemented in southern Italy, city laws sometimes dating back to 14th century statutes and subsequently updated up until the 18th century, banned maceration sites both inside and outside city walls in the areas around Foligno and Ascoli Piceno, for public health reasons based on the miasma theory. Nevertheless, these activities were so widespread that the retting of hemp plants was still carried out almost everywhere, even within urban centers. Several other laws regulated the production of hemp fiber and ropes, in order to ensure high-quality products.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: Hemp plants were used in their entirety, namely the roots were used as firewood, the woody fragments of the stalk were dipped in sulfur to produce matches, the seeds were used as food for livestock, and the fiber was used to make fishing nets, ropes to be used in various agricultural activities, and textiles such as packaging for fine linens, flour sacks, family clothing, and trousseaus for daughters' weddings. Hemp ropes were also widely used for the numerous architectural and engineering projects that took place in Rome, and Foligno in particular is cited by architect Domenico Fontana as a major producer of hemp fiber. As an example, Roman ropemakers used fiber from Foligno to produce the significant amount of cordage that was used to move and re-erect the Vatican Obelisk at the center of St. Peter's Square in 1586, for a total of 4,700 "canne" (10.5 km; 6.65 mi) of rope with an average thickness equal to a third of a palm (7.17 cm; 2.82 in). Another important center for cannabis production was located near Viterbo, in Lazio, in the town of Canepina, which derives its name from the once locally widespread cultivation of the plant. In particular, the lands surrounding the town are rich in water, which flowed along a multitude of streams and rivulets, while the predominantly stony grounds caused the local hemp to acquire a pure white color, which made it particularly sought-after in all contemporary markets, and especially by Roman noblewomen.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In terms of the cultivation area, industrial cannabis in Umbria was cultivated both in the river valleys, such as along the Nera river banks, and in the Apennine mountains, such as in Gavelli, Monteleone di Spoleto, and Castelluccio di Norcia. Moreover, following several land reclamation projects carried out between 1561 and 1562 in the swampy areas between the comuni of Foligno, Trevi, Montefalco, and Bevagna, under Francesco Jacobilli, and in 1588 in the swamp of Colfiorito, vast sections of the newly recovered fertile farm land were turned into hemp fields, which resulted in a significant increase in the local hemp production already in 1563. Most of these reclaimed lands belonged to the Jacobilli noble family, who leased them to other noble families, and these families then subleased them to the eventual farmers, who would then grow hemp and wheat on a rotationary basis, switching their crops every two or three years. The legacy of the cultivation and processing of industrial cannabis is attested in the traditional tools, toponyms, and even nursery rhymes, that can still be found in the area around Foligno.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: Conversely, in the Marches, hemp fields were less common in the countryside, with the exception of the elevated valleys of the Potenza and Chienti rivers, although they steadily increased during the 18th century around Ascoli Piceno and the Tronto river valley, in order to accommodate the contemporary population and economic growths. In particular, besides the increased needs of the general population, the higher demand for hemp was also prompted by the expanding maritime trade and fishery sectors in the nearby Adriatic coast, as well as the establishment of the free port of Ancona in 1732. Moreover, another noteworthy center for the production of ropes and fishing nets in the Papal States was located in San Benedetto del Tronto, where ropemakers used hemp grown in Ferrara, Ascoli Piceno, as well as other cultivation centers in Romagna.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In the territory of Bologna, which firmly returned under Papal rule in the early 16th century, the cultivation of cannabis increased significantly between the 14th and 17th centuries, with the development of new production techniques that remained in use until the 19th century. Starting from farm lands located between the comuni of Bologna, Budrio, and Cento, the mass cultivation of cannabis spread to large parts of Emilia and Romagna, particularly around the cities of Bologna, Ferrara, Modena, Rovigo, Ravenna, and Cesena. Initially sustained by the demand for hemp fiber from the Venetian Arsenal, as well as from local customers, in the 17th century producers in Bologna started exporting hemp to shipyards in Northwestern Europe, where it was used for the manufacture of ropes and sails. The last boost in the production of industrial cannabis occurred during the 19th century, particularly after 1870, with significant applications in the industrial sector.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The introduction of hemp plants in Piedmont is generally attributed to the arrival of Roman legions in what was then Cisalpine Gaul, in the 3rd century B.C., with the earliest cultivations being located in the area around modern-day Carmagnola, since it was rich in water without being swampy. Other sources date the introduction of hemp into the region to the 10th century, or alternatively its possible reintroduction, following the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 A.D., and the concurrent migration period lasting between the 4th and 6th centuries A.D., which could have disrupted its cultivation. Nevertheless, the cultivation of hemp spread to the entire Padan plain during the Middle Ages, in particular during the 11th century, while a major boost to the production of hemp in Carmagnola was given by the foundation of the Abbey of Santa Maria di Casanova, between 1127 and 1150, after a land donation made by the Marquis of Saluzzo to the Cistercians.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: Several documents from the 12th and 13th centuries attest the cultivation and processing of hemp in the area, in particular with the monks working on expanding and improving their crops, which grew to cover several hectares. In the 14th century, hemp fields in Piedmont covered a large area between the "comuni" of Cavour, Cercenasco, La Loggia, Moretta, and Racconigi. The importance of cannabis cultivation in the region is attested in the historical area of "Canavese", which reportedly derives its name from the plant, while the comuni of Barone Canavese and Prascorsano even show a hemp plant in their coats of arms. In any case, Carmagnola became an important trading center for hemp fiber and seeds under the Marquisate of Saluzzo, and by the second half of the 16th century it was the main center for all of Piedmont. In particular, the "Carmagnola" hemp variety was exported to the rest of the Italian states, as well as to France, and the town itself acquired over the centuries the title of "Empire of Hemp".


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In the 15th century, the main use of the produced fiber was in warfare, and it was mainly acquired by the Marquisate of Saluzzo, the Duchy of Savoy, the Republic of Genoa, as well as the French army. After its annexation by the Savoyard state under Duke Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy in 1588, Carmagnola became an important center for the production of hemp ropes, although this was mainly driven by artisan family businesses, while the main product being traded in the region was still the raw fiber, with significant purchases being made by Spanish, French, and Genoese merchants. Even though the rope production in Carmagnola never quite had an industrial nature, a rope factory was established in the town in 1617, in order to produce stocks of strings for the matchlocks used in arquebuses, as well as to supply hemp ropes to the army and the navy. Despite a temporary interruption due to the plague of 1630, the production of ropes in Carmagnola significantly increased during the 17th century, as did their exportation, particularly to France; and by the 18th century, nine of the twenty provinces of the Kingdom of Piedmont produced a surplus of hemp. Moreover, among the 80 factories and workshops that could be found in Carmagnola in 1822, 66 were connected in one way or another to the processing of hemp, including 5 ropeyards. The reputation of the locally-produced ropes was such that, reportedly, they were even supplied to Napoleon during his Italian campaign of 1796–1797.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: After the Italian Unification of 1861, in particular with the annexation of Veneto and Friuli, then parts of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, by the Kingdom of Italy after the Third Italian War of Independence of 1866, the demand for ropes produced in Carmagnola decreased, while profits made from exports were limited by tariffs. Nevertheless, Carmagnola remained the primary center for the production of hemp seeds, which became the main source of revenue for the local economy between 1875 and 1889. However, the cultivation of hemp in Carmagnola started to decline at the beginning of the 20th century, due to a reduction in the price of bast fibre, with the crisis deepening between 1925 and 1935, and the main hemp market closing down in 1939. The centuries-old activity of the town eventually came to an end around the mid-1960s, mainly due to the introduction of cheaper synthetic fibers, although its legacy is still attested in the remains of the old markets, maceration sites, and ropeyards. In particular, the last one remaining of the 40 historical "tettoie" (i.e. canopies), that were once used as ropewalks by generally underpaid workers, has been turned into the "Hemp Museum of Carmagnola", and it includes several traditional tools that are still occasionally being used for reenactments by the local "Historical Society of the Ropemakers".


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The reputation of Italian hemp well preceded the unification of the country in 1861; in particular, its higher quality, durability, and strength had already been noted during its first introduction into the United Kingdom in the 1820s, where it was initially used for the production of fishing nets, despite its higher price. As an example, a smack-owner from Barking, Essex, who combined Russian and Italian twines for his fishing net, reported that "the Russian hemp portion had to be renewed with the same material several times before the Italian hemp portion was worn out". In fact, tensile tests performed at the Chatham Dockyard in January 1855 found the strength of Italian hemp to be nearly one-fourth higher than that of Russian hemp. For instance, ropes made from Italian hemp only broke at a strain of and several cwt, while Russian hemp ropes with the same number of strands broke at 3 long tons and 3 cwt (7,056 lb; 3,201 kg), and Irish hemp ropes broke at .


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: Furthermore, following a Navy Board inspection of the Chatham and Portsmouth ropeyards on 4 November 1823, a more extended use of Italian hemp was recommended, particularly for lines and twines, in order to counter the monopoly that Russia held in the country at the time, while it was reckoned that the higher cost of the fiber would be recouped by its longer duration. At the time, it was estimated that the sails and cordage of a first-rate man-of-war required of raw hemp for their manufacturing, and that the land required to produce of hemp averaged at , meaning that a single large ship could require the yearly hemp production from as much as of farm land, in order to furnish its necessary tackle. Therefore, it was reckoned that Great Britain could not provide for the immense demand from both the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy by relying solely on its own production, hence the need for imports. As an example of the resources needed just for the rigging of a navy ship, a total of of Italian hemp rope, of spun yarn, of canvas, and over of tar were used in 1964 for the re-rigging of the HMS "Victory".


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The strategic importance of ensuring the steady supply of raw hemp became even more evident during the Crimean War of 1853–1856, which prompted a discussion on possible alternative suppliers of fibers among the British colonies and dominions, such as the Cape Colony and British India. In fact, the potential introduction of both Italian hemp and rhea into the Indian subcontinent, together with proper processing machinery, was proposed as a way for the United Kingdom to become independent from the rest of the world in terms of supplies. In the 1850s, the Italian hemp was selling at £70 per long ton in the London market, which was more than double the price for the best Russian hemp, and would roughly correspond to £9,800 (€11,200; 10,900 US$) per long ton in 2022.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: Hemp fiber produced in Italy has been used for several geographical surveys and scientific explorations, such as the sounding of the deep sea bed off the coast of Ireland by the HMS "Porcupine" in 1869; and the Challenger expedition of 1872–1876, in which the HMS "Challenger" carried of Italian hemp rope that was used for measuring the depths of the ocean through plummets, as well as lowering dredges in order to sample the sea floor. However, since submerged ropes tend to carry air in their interstices, they would have been increasingly slowed down the more they descended, thus significantly distorting the measurements at great depths. Moreover, in the case of the HMS "Challenger", since the weights attached to the hemp lines were too heavy for the limited steam power available on board, which was mainly used either to power the dredging platform or to keep the ship from drifting during depth soundings, such plummets were slipped and left at the bottom of the sea after each measurement.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: During the golden age of alpinism, the strength of Italian hemp was also noticed in the context of the development of protection systems for rock climbing and mountaineering. In 1864, a special committee of the Alpine Club approved the use of ropes made from "Manila hemp", Italian hemp, and flax for mountaineering purposes. The purpose of the committee was to "determine what is the strongest kind of rope which is light enough to be carried about", considering that "the alpine traveller's rope, if tried at all, will have to resist a sudden jerk, which may be a very violent one". In particular, dedicated tests showed that no plaited rope could stand a person falling for , and only four types of rope would take it. Subsequently, the committee increased the required minimum tensile strength to being able to endure both a person falling for , and a person falling for , which reduced the acceptable rope types to the aforementioned final three. However, none of them could stand a person falling for , and they tended to break at a dead weight of .


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In terms of the carrying weight, the three approved types of rope were considered to be the heaviest ropes that could still be conveniently carried about in the Alps, with the Italian hemp rope weighting per , while both the Manila hemp and flax ropes weighted per . In regards to their extensibility, no rope with a potential extension lower than 12.5% was considered fit for use in mountaineering, and most Manila ropes were found to extend between 15% and 16% when dry, while the Italian hemp ropes extended somewhat less. Finally, among the identified advantages in using Italian hemp, the committee found that the rope was both harder and less bulky with respect to the other two, and therefore it was reckoned that it would probably wear best, while being the least likely to cut against rocks. On the other hand, among the disadvantages, it was also found that Italian hemp ropes were much more stiff and difficult to untie than the others, and that they were very difficult to handle when wet, as they tended to kink. Nevertheless, any kind of waterproofing was reported to be highly damaging to both hemp and flax; moreover, every knot tied along the ropes was found to cumulatively weaken them and thus constitute a potential breaking point, so much so that none of the approved ropes types could pass the second one of the two previously mentioned tensile tests, if they presented a knot.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: A notable example of the use of Italian hemp ropes in mountaineering is the first technical climb of the Devils Tower in Wyoming in 1937, led by the German American pioneer of free climbing Fritz Wiessner, during which each climber carried a long safety rope made of the best quality Italian hemp. The ropes were tested using weights up to , and they were estimated to stretch between and , which would correspond to an extension between 17.1% and 22.9%, thus acting as a cushion to the climbers in case of a fall. Italian hemp ropes were also used during Wiessner's ill-fated American Karakoram expedition of 1939, which unsuccessfully attempted the first ascent to the then unclimbed summit of K2. Considered to be the best ones available at the time, even though they were only half as strong as the kernmantle ropes that would become available a few years later, the Italian hemp ropes still had the disadvantage of being water absorbent and proved to be totally unmanageable when wet and frozen.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In the late modern period, the spread of the use of cannabis for recreational purposes in Europe is generally attributed to the return of French soldiers from Napoleon's military campaigns of 1798–1801 in Egypt, where the lack of alcohol prompted them to try hashish as an alternative. Nevertheless, the first scientific studies on the medical use of cannabis were made by Irish doctor William Brooke O'Shaughnessy in 1839, when he administered cannabis-based medicine to patients suffering from various diseases, ranging from epilepsy to rheumatism, and noticed an anticonvulsant, analgesic, and antiemetic efficacy.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: One of the earliest attempts to treat patients with cannabis indica in Italy was made in 1887 by Dr. Raffaele Valieri, the then chief physician at the "Hospital for the Incurables" in Naples, which was dedicated to the treatment of patients in conditions of extreme poverty. In particular, the hospital operated in the context of four major outbreaks of cholera, which ravaged the city in 1855, in 1866, in 1873, and in 1884, causing thousands of deaths due to the severe overcrowding of the poorer neighborhoods combined with an underdeveloped sewage system, and thus prompted several major redevelopment projects in 1885. Nevertheless, Dr. Valieri spent years experimenting with the medical use of cannabis for treating nervous conditions both on patients and on himself, testing different administration methods, while also taking notes on both positive and adverse effects.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The tested administration methods included mastication, smoking pipes and cigarettes, decoctions and infuses, liquors, distilled water, pills, pearls, essential oils, tinctures and extracts. According to his findings, medical cannabis proved to be helpful in the treatment of hysteria, asthma, pulmonary emphysema, migraine, exophthalmic goiter, facial hyperkinesia, as well as other neuroses originating from both the central and peripheral nervous systems, neuralgia of the peripheral nerves, the trigeminal nerves, the occipital cervical plexus, the brachial plexus, the lumbar plexus, and the sacral plexus. Based on the observed beneficial properties of medical cannabis, and considering its popularity especially among patients with asthma, Dr. Valieri started lobbying the Health authorities so that they would reduce the cost of cannabis, in order to make it more affordable for patients. Furthermore, the doctor campaigned for the establishment of an "inhalation room" in all of the Local Health Agencies, similar to the one he established in his hospital, in which patients could inhale the air-filling smoke produced by the combustion of cannabis.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The main setback for the spread of medical cannabis in Italy was that, while by the end of the 19th century its use in clinical practice was well established in several parts of the world, the popular "Indian" variety was difficult to find in the Italian market. For this reason, Dr. Valieri tested the medical properties of several "Italian" varieties found in Casoria noting that, while the effects were the same as the ones experienced with cannabis indica, they required a doubling of the previously prescribed dose. Nevertheless, the medical use of cannabis suffered a significant global decline during the 20th century due to several factors, including the introduction of more effective treatments for various ailments; its pharmacological instability, derived by the fact that the active principle (THC) had not yet been isolated, and therefore its effects were difficult to predict and standardize; and the economic costs associated with importing the medicine from abroad, especially in the context of two world wars.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In the early stages of the international cannabis prohibition, the United states did not play a leading role at all, while the role of Italy, South Africa, Egypt, and Turkey is seen as largely overlooked. At the First International Opium Conference, held in the Hague in 1911–1912, Italy lobbied for an international ban on cannabis, largely due to the prevalence of the use of hashish in its North African colonies of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, which were annexed from the Ottoman Empire after the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912. Even though the 1912 Conference was focused on opium, leading to the first International Opium Convention, the so-called "issue of Indian hemp" was examined, however nothing substantial came out of it. Instead, the regulation of cannabis came with the Second International Opium Conference, held in Geneva in 1925, at the behest of Egypt, and previous encouragements from South Africa and Italy, among others.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The section of the 1925 Opium Convention dealing with cannabis represented a compromise, in which the signatories were committed "to limit exclusively to medical and scientific purposes the manufacture, import, sale, distribution, export and use" of extracts and tinctures of Indian hemp. The compromise did not constitute an absolute prohibition, since it only dealt with the international trade of cannabis, while it neither prohibited its production, imposed controls on domestic traffic or consumption, nor mandated government production estimates.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The final document changed the language that was used in the proposed first draft, which incurred the objections of countries like India, where weaker cannabis-based preparations often accompanied social events, religious ceremonies, and festivals, even though the more potent hashish was generally frowned upon. In regard to the matter, the United Kingdom remained ambivalent, while the United States remained focused on opium.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In 1914, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) compiled a report on the worldwide production of hemp, citing Italy as one of the main producer of hemp fiber for export, together with Russia, Hungary, and Romania. More specifically, the yearly average estimates for the five years between 1909 and 1913 reported of farm land in Italy being occupied by hemp fields, producing 83,500 t of hemp fiber, compared to a yearly worldwide production ranging between 500,000 and 800,000 t. Although not as important as silk, as far as the textile industry was concerned, hemp was one of the few raw textile materials that Italy exported, considering that the country was at the time the second-biggest producer in Europe, after Russia. In fact, this even led to an overproduction crisis in 1921, which caused the prices of hemp to fall heavily, and the cultivation area to significantly shrink for the following two years.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: As an average, the hemp fiber produced in Italy was exported at a rate of 50% of production, together with a considerable amount of tow, and the main importers of Italian hemp were Germany, England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United States.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The quality of Italian hemp was highly appreciated, especially due to "the excellent manner in which it is handled during the extraction of the fiber by the highly skilled rural labor trained in this task". Nevertheless, the exports of raw hemp declined substantially during the 1930s with respect to the previous decade, mainly due to the increase in the internal demand, whose purpose was to reduce cotton imports by replacing them with mixtures of hemp and other fibers. At the time, the main importer of Italian hemp by far was Germany, which acquired over 70% of the exports, followed by France and the United Kingdom.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In any case, the 1914 USDA report described the Italian hemp as the highest-priced hemp fiber in both the American and European markets, noting that it was obtained from plants that were similar to those cultivated in Kentucky at the time. The cause of the higher price was attributed to the process of water retting, as well as to the increased care and labor involved in the preparation of the fiber. This made the water-retted Italian hemp less competitive against the dew-retted American hemp, whose main competitors at the time were the dew-retted Russian and Hungarian hemp. Nevertheless, its different qualities made it more suitable for use in certain kinds of twines, as well as the finer grades of carpet warp, for which the American hemp was not well suited. Moreover, by the end of the 19th century, at a time when both warships and merchant vessels were transitioning from sailing ships to steamships, Russian hemp ropes of the best quality were more extensively used by the US Navy than any other rope type. Conversely, Italian hemp was only used in the navy for packing for engines, since its price at the time was more than double that of Russian hemp. Nonetheless, the Italian hemp was considered the best one among those imported into the American market at the time, so much so that the more careful cultivation and processing practices utilized in Italy, as well as France, were proposed as reference for those American growers wishing to improve their products from the cheaper, less sought-after, dark hemp to the higher-priced light hemp, and thus compete with the imported goods.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In regards to hemp seeds, they were primarily used in Italy for planting new crops, but they were also exported, especially the "Carmagnola" variety. However, in case of short supplies, such as during the shortage that occurred in 1924 as a consequence of the significant reductions in the cultivation area in 1922 and 1923, hemp seeds could also be imported from abroad. In the case of the 1924 shortage, hemp seeds were imported from Manchuria, although they were considered of low quality, which was seen as an opportunity for American exporters to promote their seeds as a high-quality alternative. In particular, American exporters were advised to provide guarantees, such as the year in which the seeds were gathered and the assured germination percentage, since it was more or less customary for Italian farmers to delay payment until after germination, and to seek either a discount or a rebate in proportion to the difference between the percentage of germinating seeds and the initial guarantee.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The plentiful home supply of good raw hemp, combined with comparatively cheap labor, generally gave the Italian hemp industry a competitive advantage in the international market of the 1920s. However, the significant costs associated with the utilized machinery, combined with the somewhat limited domestic demand for hemp textiles, made the industry dependent on its foreign customers for disposing of its products, mostly in the form of raw hemp and tow. According to contemporary analyses, the improvements needed by the Italian hemp industry at the time included a more careful selection of the planted seeds; using the plant residues to manufacture cellulose instead of burning it; mechanizing the process of separating the fiber from the plant; as well as enhancing both the existing agricultural methods and the techniques used in the domestic textile industry, in order to make hemp textile preferable to linen and cotton.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In terms of the contemporary working conditions, the wages of Italian farmers in 1920 could range between the equivalents of 10 to 12 US¢/h (i.e. 1.49 to 1.79 US$/h in 2022) for heavy summer work (e.g. harvesting, threshing, and gathering hemp), around 7 US¢/h (i.e. 1.04 US$/h in 2022) for lighter summer work, and a minimum of 5 US¢/h (i.e. 0.75 US$/h in 2022) in winter. Working hours were fixed at a maximum of eight in the summer, while overtime was exceptional and paid at a rate between 25% and 50% above the normal wage, and in no case could the work day exceed ten hours. In many parts of the country, the use of machinery was allowed only on condition of full employment of all available labor, including women, while workers had to be hired exclusively through a labor exchange, on which both employers and laborers were represented. Moreover, joint municipal commissions determined the minimum number of hands to be employed on each farm, with some districts requiring landowners to commit to steadily employ one person for every , while also giving precedence to union labor. Joint commissions of employers and laborers were also appointed in order to verify that the work was fairly distributed between permanent and casual labor, with agreements stipulating that the use of machinery had to cease when unemployment was prevalent in a certain area.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In terms of the grown crops, the 1914 USDA report identified four main varieties of hemp being cultivated in Italy:


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The average yield in Italy, based on statements of annual average yields for 5 to 10 years, was estimated in 1914 to be equal to of hemp fiber, which was the second-biggest yield in Europe after France, which produced an average of . In the 1920s, the average yield in the whole Kingdom was instead reported equal to , with peaks of more than in the major production centers.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In the 1940s, Italy was believed to be the second-biggest producer of industrial cannabis in the world, after the Soviet Union, although statistics from China, another major producer, are not available. According to the national farmers association "Coldiretti", almost of farm land in Italy were dedicated to the production of cannabis at the time. Moreover, according to contemporary newsreels, the main hemp-producing Regions were Emilia-Romagna, Terra di Lavoro, and Piedmont, with the annual national production of bast fibre reaching as much as 130,000 t, while the average yield was still reported equal to . In addition to the areas mentioned in the 1914 USDA report, other noteworthy centers for hemp cultivation were located in Frattamaggiore and Aversa in Campania, and Carmagnola in Piedmont.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The hemp plants were harvested between the end of July and the beginning of August, either manually or mechanically, after which the stalks were left on the ground to dry, to be then bundled together, stacked into large rafts, weighed down using heavy stones, and immersed into open-air tanks filled with soft water. The initial water retting usually lasted for eight days, after which the sheaves were taken out and dried, and then returned to the tanks for a second slightly longer retting, resulting in a soft white fiber. In the retting tanks, specific bacteria (e.g. "Bacillus felsineus") processed the stalks while being kept at the best conditions in terms of temperature and air supply. The retting lasted until the bark, which includes the fiber, readily separated from the stalk, after which the process was interrupted before other bacteria could attack the fiber. After water retting, the inner woody shell of the barks was broken into pieces and removed using either manual tools or movable breaking-and-scutching machines, thus leaving just the clean, long, and straight fiber.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: Besides the need of deep, soft, moist, and deeply worked soil that is rich in organic matter, several other factors were identified that could affect both the quality and the quantity of the produced hemp fiber:


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The average retting tanks consisted of artificial, water-filled, rectangular basins of variable depths, although they were not usually deeper than . In some locations the retting process was done using running water, still the tanks had to be located far away from population centers, due to the strong odors produced by the maceration of the hemp plants. Nevertheless, the tanks were usually filled up in mid-July through dedicated aqueducts, and could also be used for fish farming, while they were drained again during winter, in order to remove the sediments and stones that deposited at the bottom during their use.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The decline of hemp production in Italy came with the economic boom of the 1950s and 1960s, during which time synthetic fibers (e.g. nylon) were introduced into the market and the international campaign against narcotics intensified. In particular, industrial cannabis almost completely disappeared from most Western European countries by the end of the 1960s, with France and Spain being the only two countries which basically never interrupted the cultivation of hemp, although they still had significantly different and volatile trends.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: This significant decline is mainly attributed to competition from both industrial fabrics and cotton for textiles, metallic materials for naval ropes, as well as "Manila" and jute for packaging during long sea voyages. Other contributing factors include a tightening of regulations for textile hemp, increases in the cost of labor that could not be easily replaced by mechanization, and the significant environmental impact of the retting tanks. Furthermore, in regard to drug prohibition, Italy endorsed all the three major drug control treaties, namely the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, and the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988, and soon after the passage of the anti-drug Cossiga Law 685/75 of 1975, hemp fields in Italy all but disappeared.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In the 1950s, the cultivation of hemp in Italy was concentrated in the traditional areas of Emilia, Polesine, and Campania. Similarly to all rotational crops, hemp fields required a significant amount of manure, usually between and , although in areas where the latter was not readily available, it could still be substituted with a particular herbal mix, known as "pascone" in Campania, made of "favette", barley, and oat. Prior to sowing, the soil enrichment was completed with a significant amount of chemical fertilizers, which could vary from the traditional simple mixtures of mineral superphosphate, ammonium sulfate, and potassium sulfate; to the more complex substances including the NPK fertilizers 11-22-16 and 06-12-09, PK fertilizers, and diammonium phosphate. Beside soil enrichment, farmers also used aldrin to kill off all ground-based insects that could harm the crops, especially during their early stages, including elateridae, cockchafer larvae, agrotis larvae, and field crickets. The manually-spread fertilizers and insecticides were both buried into the soil through dedicated tilling machines, which would also soften the earth in preparation for the sowing.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: Once the hemp plants reached about in height, ammonium nitrate was used to help their critical early development, after which hoes were used for soil aeration and weed control. A further nitrogen-based enrichment was conducted once the hemp plants reached between and in height, in particular by using the highly-concentrated and granulated urea, while a second round of manual tilling was carefully performed prior to the crop becoming too tall. The fast growth of the hemp plants to their maximum height was also encouraged by the densely planted seeds, which would prompt the individual plants to fiercely compete for sunlight.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: The main pest for the hemp plants was the european corn borer, whose larvae would penetrate the stalks during the months of April and May, in order to develop within the medullary channel. This process would cause severe internal damage to the crops, especially following the imaginal stage, with the ruined stalks being easily broken by the wind. In order to stop the development of these pests, farmers used to spray the hemp crops with a mixture of DDT-based insecticides, water, and organophosphorus compounds.


title: Cannabis in Italy

text: In the 1950s, while the Soviet Union remained the biggest producer of hemp in the world, Italy was overtaken by India in the second place, and then by Yugoslavia in the third place. The production of hemp in Asia in general, and India in particular, did not yet show significant oscillations since switching to more profitable crops was not yet feasible. Similarly, in Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe (e.g. Poland, Hungary, and Romania) the production trends remained more or less stationary, in part due to labor costs not yet being a limiting factor, and thus the produced hemp constituted significant competition. Nevertheless, the total cultivation area in Europe was ever-shrinking, namely declining by 45.3% between 1961 and 1973, with the regional reduction peaking at 97.3% in Italy. In particular, hemp fields in the Soviet Union were reduced from an average of between 1934 and 1938, to an average of between 1948 and 1952, and then to in 1958; while in Italy the cultivation area declined from an average of between 1936 and 1939, to in 1958.