On this very day in 1773, infuriated colonists famously tossed chests of tea into Boston Harbor, protesting unjust taxes on a beloved plant. But tea wasn't the only politically potent plant in colonial America. Hemp was so vital for ropes and sails that the British Empire's naval dominance depended on it, and some colonies even allowed farmers to pay their taxes with it! It’s a fascinating historical parallel: two powerful plants, both central to commerce and both tangled in webs of taxation and control. It just goes to show that the debate over how we regulate and tax our favorite botanicals is a story as old as the country itself.