Hemp Is Not Pot: It's the Economic Stimulus and Green Jobs Solution We Need

Though a conservative I completely agree with you, very nice column.

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... but you don't ONCE mention Ron Paul's soon-to-be-introduced Hemp Farming Act of 2009?

What gives?

Am I blind and missed it, or what?

-matti.

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I smoke it to get high.


FREE AMERICA

REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY

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Take a nice deep toke and dig on THAT one brothers and sisters. ;)

-matti.

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"With 25,000 known applications from paper, clothing and food products -- "

Didn't Michael Pollan warn us about that habit?

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DuPont, William Randolph Hearst, and hemp

The decision of the United States Congress to pass the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was based on hearings,[2] reports[22] and in part on testimony derived from articles in newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst, who had significant financial interests in the timber industry, which manufactured his newsprint.[23]

Cannabis activist Jack Herer has researched DuPont and in his 1985 book The Emperor Wears No Clothes, Herer concluded DuPont played a large role in the criminalization of cannabis. In 1938, DuPont patented the processes for creating plastics from coal and oil and a new process for creating paper from wood pulp. If hemp would have been largely exploited, Herer believes it would have likely been used to make paper and plastic (nylon), and may have hurt DuPont’s profits. Andrew Mellon of the Mellon Bank was DuPont's chief financial backer and was also the Secretary of Treasury under the Hoover administration. Mellon appointed Harry J. Anslinger, who later became his nephew-in-law, as the head of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (FBNDD) and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), where Anslinger stayed until 1962.[24]

In 1916, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) chief scientists Jason L. Merrill and Lyster H. Dewe created paper made from hemp pulp, which they concluded was "favorable in comparison with those used with pulp wood in USDA Bulletin No. 404."[25] In his book Herer summarized the findings of Bulletin No. 404:[26]

USDA Bulletin No. 404, reported that one acre of hemp, in annual rotation over a 20-year period, would produce as much pulp for paper as 4.1 acres (17,000 m2) of trees being cut down over the same 20-year period. This process would use only 1/4 to 1/7 as much polluting sulfur-based acid chemicals to break down the glue-like lignin that binds the fibers of the pulp, or even none at all using soda ash. The problem of dioxin contamination of rivers is avoided in the hemp paper making process, which does not need to use chlorine bleach (as the wood pulp paper making process requires) but instead safely substitutes hydrogen peroxide in the bleaching process. ... If the new (1916) hemp pulp paper process were legal today, it would soon replace about 70% of all wood pulp paper, including computer printout paper, corrugated boxes and paper bags.

Hemp was a relatively easy target because factories already had made large investments in equipment to handle cotton, wool, and linen, but there were relatively small investments in hemp production. Big technological improvements in the wood pulp industry were invented in the 1930s; for example the recovery boiler allowed kraft mills to recycle almost all of their pulping chemicals, and other improvements came later. There was also a misconception hemp had an intoxicating effect because it has the same active substance, THC, which is in potent cannabis strains; however, hemp only has minimal amount of THC when compared to recreational cannabis strains.

An alternative explanation for Anslinger's opinion's about hemp is that he believed that a tax on cannabis could be easier to supervise if it included hemp and that he had reports from experiments with mechanical harvesting of hemp reporting that the machines was no success and reports about cannabis farms.[27]

"The existence of the old 1934-1935 crop of harvested hemp on the fields of southern Minnesota is a menace to society in that it is being used by traffickers in marihuana as a source of supply."[28]

"they were able to cut only a part of the Tribune Farm crop by machine, two thirds of it they did by hand with a sharp hand cuttertuff".[29]

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Corporations concentrate power at the top. This explains obscene salaries, bonuses and golden handshakes (even for failure). Oh, and outsourcing of jobs.

If you can grow grapes and make wine for your own consumption, if you can grow hops and brew your own beer, why can't you grow cannabis and supply yourself with a relaxant that's less harmful than alcohol?

Perhaps because brewers and distillers know that most people can't be bothered to make wine or brew their own brews, but would quite happily grow their own splifs.

Result? Reduced profits for Seagram's and Coors, et al.

Industrial hemp seems like an answer to many an environmentalist's prayer. Even if it didn't take a shedload to get high, it would still be valid to grow it. Which is why what I wrote above is not off-topic.

If the pot smokers' hemp has been made illegal for no good reason, how can industrial hemp be barred?

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Let's face it. The most enthusiastic opponents of legalizing hemp in the US are established businesses dealing in cotton, and drug manufacturers seeking to lock down their oligopoly over drugs. These are the interests that lobby, that publish inflammatory propaganda, that fund slanted science to support the outcomes they desire.

Cotton is especially desirable to agribusiness and the clothing industry because, frankly, cotton rots. It falls apart after washing. Mold weakens it and destroys it. Hemp is more durable, and that will translate into less demand over the long run. You can argue that more durable clothing is an economic strength, and you might be right, but it won't be an economic strength for industries that currently rely on cotton. They'll fight as hard as they need to fight to keep hemp on the sidelines.

Hemp also grows in different climates from cotton, so hemp advocacy is geographical advocacy. The regions benefiting from cotton are heavily dependent on the crop and will spend money to protect their interests. Hemp's advocacy is more theoretical than actual; nobody is going to match the money spent by the cotton-producing states.

This is how we govern in the US. Whoever has the money to elect the politicians gets favorable legislation. Other interests are shut out. It's government by the privileged and for the privileged. Propaganda seals the deal by convincing the population that there is a moral issue involved. We're all suckers for moral issues.

Hemp is not the only product locked out by the power of oligopolies.

Consider the case of stevia, which has been used in Japan and elsewhere for decades. It's demonstrably safe, far safer than artificial sweeteners. There is no possible justification for criminalizing it, so instead the oligopolies which control the FDA have simply refused to allow stevia to be used as a sweetener in foods and beverages until it is "proven safe" - but of course no amount of proof will ever convince them. From a purely scientific standpoint, this stance makes no sense. The products the FDA has permitted to be used as artificial sweeteners are demonstrably, provably far more toxic. But lacking a well-funded advocacy, stevia is perpetually left on the sidelines.

I do not think Obama and the New Democrats are sympathetic in the least. They are "business friendly," meaning what well-connected businesses want, well-connected businesses get. I don't know for sure exactly how corrupt the FDA will remain under Obama, but if the FDA under Clinton is any indication, the changes will be cosmetic rather than substantial. Corruption will flourish.

I honestly think America will never realize its true economic potential, so long as our government actively helps oligopolies consolidate their power over the rest of us.

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"...making America the planet's only industrialized nation to ban hemp production."

Almost true. But Norway bans hemp production, too, as a "mini-me" trying to outdo USA on the USAs own terms. Attempting to agree more with the US than the US itself.

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It would also help out the food industry. ;)

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My sources have told me that the banning of growing hemp post WW II was due to lobbying by the timber industries. They did not want to lose their paper and pulp business to a far superior source that not only did they not have a monopoly over but that virtually anyone with some land could easily grow. It's another example of a corporate greed teamed up with scumbag lobbyists and spineless politicians to put personal gain ahead of what's best for society. Make me king for a day and many heads would roll!

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All right soldiers. Let's get cracking because Ron Paul is introducing the HEMP FARMING ACT again but this time it's 2009 not 2007. Below is the link to write your representative:

http://capwiz.com/votehemp/issues/alert/?alertid=12393271

Hemp is the basis for providing the road to true green jobs and by God, Obama will support this. In fact, even within the conservatives, when I bring up the industrial benefits of cannabis and leave out the pot stuff, immediately there's a deep divide. Yes, there are people who will refuse to understand the true benefits of cannabis but if we emphasize industrial benefits over the recreational stuff, we can defeat the corporate troublemakers who back in the 1930s and after pushed for getting hemp off the market and later outlawed to keep the petroleum dependent market rigged as it is today.

GOD BLESS YOU DARA ! :)

P.S.: A friend of mine from WV even confirmed that hemp pellets can replace coal even though it would be somewhat expensive but that would merely enforce conservation so no biggie there.

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industries were certainly part of the prohibition problem, but there was a more sinister reason. The black and latino cultures were more prone to smoking the herb while white culture relied on alchohol. When the children of the whites gravitated towards pot smoking white culture became reactionary.

The War On People Who Smoke Pot has always been a good example of institutionalized racism. It has been the perfect way for the white majority to legally persecute the minority populations. With the oriental races it's the opium smoking we use against them. Persecuting other cultures for daring to act differently is a cornerstone of white culture. We only accept them when they obsequiously mimick us.

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I have searched the web and found only one vendor that "used" to sell them. Where can we buy these stamps?

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This scumbag is not trying to protect your privacy; he's trying to steal your identity.

If you click on his "Privacy Center" hyperlink, the server the link points to will install a keylogger on your computer, which is used to steal your credit card number, SSN, etc.

Please, report the comment to Alternet's staff.

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Thanks for the post Dara,And a shout out to Chris Cooper.I think hempseed is more suited to Bio-Diesel fuel as Rudolf Diesel designed his compression ignition engine to run on Hempseed oil.The Bast(stem pith waste products) and leaf can be returned to the soil to build humus or fermented to produce celulosic ethanol.After the oil has been expressed from the seed for Diesel fuel the seed cake is ideal human food with compete protein and healthy E.F.A.s.
The D.E.A.s argument against industrial Hemp is based on bad science.Widespead industrial Hemp cultivation would make it harder to produce outside Sensimea(seedless) crops as all that low quality pollen would contaminate the drug type Marijuana strians with low T.H.C. genes.
There is no good reason to continue to ban industrial Hemp,or drug Marijuana cultivation.Bad science,bad politics and ignorance.
As Mark Emory has said we need to "over grow" the government, non-violently.Look at the damage drug prohibition has done,look at who profits from the "drug war"!Hemp for Victory! peas in

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Finally a post where all the hemp enthusiasts that keep polluting every other thread with off-topic hemp nonsense can come together and discuss hemp injustice until their eyeballs bleed.

Now maybe we can have discussions elsewhere without "OMG HEMPZORS" every two seconds.

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Under our drug laws, even the growing of cannabis hemp -- the nonspyschoactive variety of the plant--is outlawed in order to enforce the marijuana laws.

Hemp has many economic uses. It contains the longest fiber in the plant kingdom and is one of the strongest and most durable. It can be used for commercial and industrial applications, including insulation, textiles, clothing, and rope. The fiber and pulp can be used to manufacture nondeteriorating paper using a relatively pollution-free process. The plant can also be used for biomass applications. Its seeds yield oil similar to linseed, which can be used in many commercial and industrial applications. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the seeds have been used for human consumption.

"Hemp. It's marijuana's nonspyschoactive sister," writes Ed Rosenthal. "You couldn't get a buzz if you smoked a bale of hemp, but it's still illegal to grow it in the United States." Industrial hemp is legally grown in over thirty countries. For thousands of years, people grew hemp and prospered. It flourishes without pesticides. Thomas Jefferson considered hemp so vital to America that he risked his life to smuggle hemp seeds out of France. George Washington grew hemp and instructed his caretaker at Mount Vernon: "Make the most of the hemp seed. Sow it everywhere."

Industrial hemp was first grown in Kentucky 250 years ago. It is currently grown in other countries across the globe, including France, England, Canada, Australia, China, Hungary and the Ukraine. Industrial hemp has virtually no THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. It cannot be used as a drug. None of the countries that allow industrial hemp production have experienced any drug problems relating to the crop. Using modern processing techniques, hemp can be used in place of petrochemicals. Instead of synthetic plastics made from oil, we can use natural fiber and processed bioplastic derivatives. Plastics and polyester rely on foreign oil, while cotton consumes enormous amounts of water, fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides.

Industrial hemp is very clean, easy to grow and is one of the most environmentally sound sources of industrial fiber in the world. Environmentally friendly detergents, plastics, paints, varnishes, cosmetics, and textiles are already being made from it in Europe. Industrial hemp can meet our fiber needs while also revitalizing our struggling rural economies.

Hemp is already being used in place of trees for pressboard, particleboard, and core concrete construction molds. Paper made from hemp is acid-free, stronger and lasts far longer than paper made from trees. Hemp fabrics are far stronger and more resistant to mold than any other natural fiber. Builders in France and Germany use hemp for construction material, replacing drywall and plywood. Hemp can be used to manufacture plastic plumbing pipe, replacing such toxic materials as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Hemp fiber is already being used in place of glass fiber in surfboards and snowboards. Hemp could also provide the resin itself.

For ideological reasons, the federal government refuses to allow farmers to grow hemp despite the fact that industrial hemp is currently grown legally worldwide. The George W. Bush administration took anti-hemp policy to a new extreme, attempting unsuccessfully to ban the import of hemp foods and cosmetics. Erwin "Bud" Sholts, director of the Wisconsin Agriculture Department's marketing division, said hemp "is the most value-added, prolific fiber crop man can grow." Sholts acknowledged that hemp is an emotional issue, but points out that "other nations with drug laws as tough or tougher than ours have overcome this hurdle." The U.S. is the only major industrialized nation that prohibits the growing of industrial hemp; anti-drug hysteria should not blind the public to the commercial and industrial applications of hemp.

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It is the same plant.

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There has to be a simple chemical test that can be performed on-site for the DEA to verify a farmer is growing hemp and not pot.

Questions: Is there something akin to a "litmus" test for THC content?

Do hemp and pot reflect radiation in the infra-red differently? If so, monitoring fields from the air would be a simple task.

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While I prefer Hemp based rope over plastic replacements, consider that the oil industry might be involved here; I think ethanol is a cruel joke played on a gullible public. Bio-fuels can never replace oil or fossil fuels in anything but a small fraction of the output oil affords. Bio-fuels were an investment scam to allow moneyed investors to reap profits from a government subsidized program that played upon the public’s misconception that we could grow our own oil. That's impossible. Oil represents millions of years of accumulated bio-fuels compressed and concentrated in the form of oil and gas deposits. Oil also represents the accumulation of millions of years of sunlight converted into chemical energy by photosynthesis. To think that a single year of photosynthesis, which is 30% efficient, more that our best solar cells, will somehow replace the millions of years of accumulation of solar energy is sheer folly.

However, all the other uses of Hemp are of practical value. Biodegradable products made from hemp are very attractive alternatives to their fossil fuel derived counterparts. I would look forward to their re-introduction into our culture. Hemp baskets to hang your plants, hemp ropes for construction, and I have to admit I am not aware of the myriad of other uses that are derived from this plant, but will research that immediately.

Commercial Uses of Hemp can be found here

As for getting high off of the drug derived from cannabis, I believe that all drug induced forms of euphoria are shallow and not satisfying. Real euphoria comes from meeting the challenges that life throws in your path, overcoming them and surviving. Only when you have conquered the difficulties that threaten your existence can you have real peace and euphoria, that doesn't require any drug, not even tetrahydracanibinol.

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the REASON hemp is "illegal". The column goes on and on about how great hemp is, but mentions nothing about the true reason behind it's status as a controlled substance.

The cotton industry is in direct competition with hemp and scared stiff about it's superior qualities. Cotton requires massive pesticides for example.

Marijuana is illegal because hemp competes with cotton. It was the cotton industry that lobbied to promoted marijuana as a dangerous drug that makes people insane, and it's the cotton industry who are the main opponents to legalizing hemp production today.

Marijuana is a low hanging political fruit. Though it's not a drug, lay people are easily convinced it's evil, and the politicians profit from their ignorance. That hemp is related to marijuana is a convenient synergy for the cotton industry lobbyists who also add to the politicians' profits.


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If marijuana wasn't illegal, this wouldn't be an issue. Separating the issues of marijuana legalization and legal hemp production takes away from the main issue, which is that our drug laws don't make any sense at all.

Legalize pot, and this becomes a non-issue.

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It's amazing how our country which used to be a mass producer of the plant has been losing out in the last 80 years. I'm able to get hempseed oil and hemp protein powder from my local organic stores. I was at first afraid I wouldn't pass a drug test when I first heard about it but it turns out these products don't have THC in them. The hemp based shampoos are great as well. I hear that hemp can also be used to improve the soil. Maybe that could reverse the 20 year decline in small family farms that have been ongoing in rural MO where I used to live. Let's support Ron Paul's bill to legalize the plant for farming and industrial purposes. What's to lose?

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This is what happens when you pass legislation that gives unelected government bureaucrats the power to arbitrarily ban products - without any guidelines or measurable standards. BTW, the Controlled Substances Act was needed because the Marihuana Tax Act was challenged as the scam it was by Timothy Leary - so another scam was needed. A drug prohibition or "controlled substances" act was installed without any actual measurable standards - although standards are actually strongly implied within the legislation.
I've seen this style of legislation in Oregon's initiatives all the time. The legislation is deliberately open ended so as to maximize the government's ability to punish wrongdoers. If it is written very broadly then it would close any "loopholes" that would allow certain wrongdoers to get high using drugs that weren't technically illegal. We certainly wouldn't want anyone to smoke a telephone pole's worth of hemp[like one poster] in order to get high. Actually, with someone with a low tolerance for THC a baseball bat's worth of hemp might give a strong buzz. We can't tolerate those types of wrongdoers now can we?

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What if the US had legal hemp, and someone decided to smoke a bale of it, or a joint the size of a telephone pole? They could get high! Better to destroy the environment, the economy, and the whole world rather than let that happen!

This is an excellent time for every other country in the world to develop their own hemp industries and leave the Amerikan clowns in the dust. The US is rocketing towards 3rd world status with no-one but themselves to blame. General Motors co-operated with their ruling psychopathic masters, how well did that work out for them?

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Great article. Thoroughly enjoyed it, gave me a thrill, made my blood boil for a moment, I'll get to run less today for my heartrate. yeehaw.

But the real reason is the owning class. These pseudo-humans' entire focus in life is how to consolidate control, power and money into the hands of the fewest possible.

Hemp liberates and empowers more people. That flies int he face of owning-class values and logic. Of course they'll never allow it.

It's time for 'Merkuh to dump her owning-class massas and emancipate themselves from the plantation. Dammit.

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Cannibas hemp, pot and marijuana's real name has been known for thousands of years,so has smoking it along with making everything else it does. The other names were slang and propaganda names used to fool our great grand parents that pot and marijuana made folks nuts,rapists and dangerous. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Thomas Jefferson wrote to George Washington the "He should try smoking the flowers of the femalle cannibas plant for they had a much stronger effect'. He didn't say pot, marijuana,, weed, or grass. He said Cannibas.

Before we can ever get forward on this issue we'd better get used to calling it by it's real name and talk honestly about ALL it's uses, from #2 diesel,to flour, to varnish,to jeans,lace, cough syrup,and a smikoing herb that,through a bong or water pipe, is less harmful than ciggarettes and helps create the peace.

Isn't that better than an all night 'kegger' where folks get beat up, molested and sometimes kill themselves by driving into others or off the road?

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If it doesn't work out they can always repeal it like prohibition on alcohol. Pot intensifies everything and makes you judge things differently. Pot is good!!!

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We need to end the war on drugs. It merely puts money into the hands of drug cartels, gangs and enemies of society. The war on drugs will never be won so, as we did in Viet Nam, we need to call it quits and get out.

Billions of dollars would immediately stop flowing into the hands of notorious people and governments, we would save billions on financing this stupid war and we could tax drugs like we do cigarettes and alcohol which would be the best stimulus package since world war II and the ending of prohibition on alcohol.

We need to legalize, tax and educate the public when it comes to drugs. Proclaiming a war on them just doesn't work. Never has and never will.

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In the terms proposed by this article, the crisis in Mexico is not about hemp, but about marijuana. It is time that we put the fig leaf of that distinction and the medical distinction behind us. The resistance to the War on Drugs is a matter of the human spirit, and we must loudly claim:
♪You gotta fight
♫For your right
♪To PA-ARTY!♫

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These images come to mind whenever I think about the dismal failures of Prohibition and our current idiotic drug laws. Consider if you will, all the pratfalls, slaps on the face, nose tweaking and general chaos of a Three Stooges episide, or the image of three monkeys, one with his hands over his eyes, another with his hands over his mouth, and the third with his hands over his ears. This is our current state of affairs regarding the bogus morality and willful blindness behind the rationale of drug laws. There are TONS of wild hemp flourishing along irrigation canals, a stone's throw from my house. The plants aren't tended to , fertilized with expensive petroleum-based chemicals,or protected by pesticides, or herbicides. They just GROW there, the picture of vigorous good health. If this stuff is so bad, why aren't there armies of weed-pullers, toiling to eradicate the stuff? Ask the Three Stooges or the Three Monkeys. Their answers are as good as anyone else's.

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I live in the south,where you used to be able to drive for miles and see some of the best crops and greenery anywhere! Now those same miles are weeds,and the gov.is paying the farmers,what are left of them, not to plant anything but what they want planted! what a damn shame, we could get out of this mess that has been created with some hemp! Come on, open your eyes and lets use the seeds of sense that we have left! Hemp to the rescue! As a open minded woman I would prefer the cousin to hemp, but I think there would be enough jobs created to save us!!It sure would beat the weeds I see growing now!

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Never!
Industries like oil, cotton and timber would suffer a devastating economic hit if hemp were used to its' full potential; and that will never happen. So, all the talk about "legalizing it" is a waste of time and energy.

Do you think the above named industries would sit idly by as hemp is legalized? Don't bother to answer. The ruling class (the super rich) aren't about to "give it up" for "the people" no matter how hard life becomes for "the people"; history should tell you that.

Without naming names, you can figure out who the "money changers" are, because they are people who are as American as apple pie. They are the people who tell you that it is within the "national interest" to fight their dirty little wars, it's in the "national interest" to protect us from "all enemies, foreign and domestic", and it's "good for the economy", etc. They control the media, the Pentagon, the CIA, Congress and the White house. Even, our "messiah", Obama will soon learn that it isn't the Congress who runs America. It is the corporations who rule America.

Europe has suffered through two world wars, the Great Depression, and many attempts by government to reign these guys in, to no avail, because they "own" Europe. They are still incredibly wealthy, and are still the "power behind the thrown", so don't expect anything to change. If we were to suddenly awaken to where the European oligarchs have given it up for the "team", you would see Europe become a very different place than what it is right now - that is one change that will never happen.

The same applies, here, in the good 'ol US of A; the Super Rich are not about to do that.

If you were to present the Ruling Class with the facts about the many benefits of hemp, they wouldn't listen. They would instead say,"stop confusing me with the facts after I've already made up my mind". This is what the "people" would have to contend with if any serious attempt is made to legalize it. This idea is far above anything the American people want and need, so don't waste your time waiting on something like this to happen...it will never.

P.S. To quote a very famous person: "The dream is over"...

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clinton never used the words "legalize" or "decriminalize"..but he did try to ramp down the war on marijuana in 1993...the repugnicans seized control of congress the following year and set the country on a dangerous course towards fascism for the next 12 years...

obama has already made the proverbial trip to china by ending DEA raids on medical marijuana vendors...however..he has a good reason to fear a repugnican backlash in 2010 should he move so much as a toenail beyond medical marijuana...and needless to say we can ill afford to have the repugnicans take back congress...

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I still have the hardest time understanding why America hasn't gotten over the whole Nixonian "War On Drugs" mindset despite its utter, irrefutable failures over the last 40 - 50 years. I understand this article is about hemp, not pot, and its industrial/economic uses but it all ties in together, at least in the eyes of our illustrious elected "leaders". Is it outdated anglo-saxon, right-wing christian "values"? Is it simply a matter of gross intolerance and misunderstanding by way of the masses? Is it simply a matter of corporate and government corruption and greed that prevents our country from behaving rationally and ending this farce of a war-on-freedom? I seriously can't wrap my head around it. All one has to do is look at the recent headlines and the violence on our Mexican borders to see the insanity that such thick-headed, illogical policies perpetuates. Today while listening to Obama's address on POTUS (XM radio) he flat out said that he has no intention of legalizing pot and that he "didn't think that legalizing pot and creating revenue from such would be any sort of answer for our economy..." Well, it looks like we'll have to wait for that 'Change' a little longer...

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Traditions are woven into the fabric of the nation. The laws against pot are enforced by industries that employ millions. It will take generations to give the use of pot its rightful place. It would be in the lips of most Americans.

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Bio diesel and cellulose for ethanol from hemp are the two politically correct issues that the politicians are talking about.Hemp for fuel also adds a protien source to the food chain.Hemp is also a carbon catcher more so than other plants. So when we grow hemp or any other energy crop then the farmer should get carbon credits.Food ,Fuel,Fiber,and Medicine, and you have a bio based economy.

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So nice of you to mention the fact that your Govt. will PAY farmers to NOT grow certain crops. I find that hilarious since your Govt. caused our Govt. to lose wood and lumber sales due to the mistaken idea that we subsized the lumber companies.FYI we never did and in fact the lumber companies had to PAY "stumpage" fees for the right to cut trees.The same will go for hemp, and they will never let you grow hemp because they could "hide POT plants" in the hemp fields!!

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I live in Nebraska, where I am a full time grain farmer.

Hemp would be a perfect crop for my state. My dad and his neighbors grew hemp during World War II and it did very well.

Hemp would be a great alternative to corn for where I live. Nebraska tends to get hot and dry in July/August. If you grow corn, this is precisely the time in the growing season when it needs lots of water, hence you see intensive irrigation during these months.

Hemp, on the other hand, LOVES hot dry weather during these months.

Dad also said that the hemp he raised grew so fast that it outgrew weeds, so there is no need for chemical herbicides.

Another plus---most of the agricultural equipment already out here is readily adaptable to hemp growing.

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what do you do with your seeds? Throw them away? Quit doing that. save those seeds and the next time you go to wal-mart visit the garden shop and put them in carry out plants. Put those seeds to good use at your local parks, city hall and the police station Find out where the mayor or city manager lives and plant those seeds in her/his back yard. Make the powers-that-be so busy looking for pot plants in their own and their neighbor's back yard that they don't have time to bother you. Everybody, become Johnny pot seed and plant the nation.

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No way do pot growers want to be anywhere near a hemp field.
No way do they want their precious buds pollinated and especially by industrial grade hemp plants.

The argument that pot growers would "hide" their plants in hemp fields is asinine, ignorant, and illogical.

But isn't that how the war on drug people are?

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Seem to be saying to us that we should ignore the harms done to millions of Americans who are victimized by the intoxicant drug laws as long as we concentrate on the industrial hemp profiteers.

Industrial hemp is and will for years be a marginal industry should it be legalized. While nearly a million Americans are victimized by pot arrests each year. All Americans are victimized by paying tens of billions in taxes each year on pot enforcement.

I am more concerned with the social justice and economic costs of marijuana enforcement. Industrial hemp is trivia by comparison.

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U.S. Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is going to El Paso,TX on Monday to thump his chest and look macho over the blood and chaos caused by his drug war policy. I wrote to him in his capacity at chair of the committee and I am encouraging others to write to him also. And if your senator is on the committee write to them too. Contact information for the committee is on the letter.

Drug Warrior John Kerry border Chaos Hearing

NO MORE DRUG WAR!

NO MORE DRUG WAR!

NO MORE DRUG WAR!

NO MORE DRUG WAR!

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is not marihuana. Hemp is the male of marihuana and it doesn't have any hch in it therefore is not make you high or better said sick and slowly kill you as it does grass....www.thecrusader.org..www.henrybook.com

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I enjoyed seeing such an overall good article but fear it will just provide another great disappointment to those (few) of you that think America will actually allow reason, practicality, and progress to change the downward spiral our country has undergone since the "We're Number One" mentality seized the populace after 'winning' the Cold War. All of you intelligent progressive liberals do not stand a chance in that land of reactionary religious cults, power hucksters, corrupt political system, corporate ownership of the MSM, profligate TV & radio 'hate mongers', private ownership of your (our) entire monetary system, lobbyists' influence always in favor of big business interests, and the unabashed corruption at all levels of government. Obama, while a significant improvement in image & intelligence for our President, has already betrayed the desperate HOPE for significant CHANGE that got him elected. The average American is too stupid, too brainwashed by childhood teaching & influences, too absorbed by sports or 'soccer mom' duties to think rationally about politics or what their Congressional representatives are voting for or where their lavish campaign re-election donations are coming from. They don't want to hear about American corporations that have been screwing the people of other countries for decades, with direct assistance from the U.S. Government, bribery from the IMF, and criminal activities by our thugs that are running the CIA. And, 'heaven's forbid', even the suggestion that elements of our govt. could actually have been responsible for the 9/11 attacks that make Bush/Cheney traitors who should be executed! They won't even examine the evidence. The very few honest politicians (Kucinich, Paul, Richardson, McKinney (?) and others) never stand a chance...and where were the protests against such blatant manipulation? Frankly, I think those of you who can, should get out now and live happier lives in some other country. The U.S.A. is already a 2nd rate country and certainly not deserving of its former reputation as a 'beacon of hope' to the oppressed peoples of the world. In international opinion polls the U.S. has gone from "most favored" to "most feared"...by a very large margin.

I fought for liberal issues for nearly forty years but moved to Thailand after BushCo stole the 2000 election and the pressures from the wacko religious right & stupid drug laws became unbearable. Thailand has its political problems also but the authorities here don't 'bug' foreigners so long as you don't meddle in their affairs or publicly flaunt their laws. I have thoroughly enjoyed living here these past eight-plus years and can only grieve over what America is today compared to what I believed it to be for the first 60 yrs. of my life. I still love my home country, and the liberals & humanitarians everywhere, but the forces of evil and greed are in control now and the only remedy I can imagine would be some extra-terrestrial interference & guidance! Good luck to you all!

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From a Society and Culture manufacturing jet aircraft and satellites to one workn' on the farm to grow hemp, which won't even get you a buzz?? Making fiber for various uses??

A said state of affairs for the future of a formerly free society. I hope i don't live long enough to see the deprecation of our nation.

You want hemp?? Let the illiterate masses in India and Pakistan grow it and make our clothes with it.

I pray our nation will be involved in more advanced and productive activities.

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Once upon an eco-myth a crisis was hatched…it was intentionally a doom in the fuzzy future…it was called Man-made Global Warming…then it morphed into Global Warming…the Gore-acle was proclaimed its prophet…then it morphed into Climate Change as evidence and doubt appeared…now its morphed into Climate Chaos…ever heard of the Law of Entropy?

Being a retired college science prof that once taught Physical Science for ten years of my 27, I have more than a clue. When all-time record cold appears dozens of places the past few years, sensors are misplaced and models leave out global rainfall…only a fool could be a blind Gore Borgite.

Sadly, we have millions of fools plus a few thousand shallow repeaters (not reporters) pretending that the sun does not shrunk by nuclear reactions to give us light and we someday will have serious terminal declining temperature problems and will wish for warming of any kind.

What fools these (liberal) mortals be…

http://conservablogs.com/theconservativecrawfish

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Youth always fails to see how it's being manipulated by politicos and the media and special interests.

Perhaps in 30 years, when all manufacturing jobs are gone....you know, the ones that paid high wages.....and their labor goes to pay for 'carbon tax', and airfares are prohibitive for the average guy, and they are on 'waiting lists' to see a doctor or have an operation ( as it is in the UK and Canada ), and they don't have the $$ to see a doctor privately, since over 50% of their labor is taken from them by a 'benevolent' government that turns around and doles it out to someone else as a 'benefit', perhaps then they will look back with wisdom and see what happened to them.

And don't ever expect to see quotes and facts from accomplished scientisits who are blocked out of the MSM.

AlterNet has a habit of ignoring facts it doesn't like.

Do you think this site would ever call the President to task for his statements on NAFTA??

Nope, won't happen here.

But that's OK......gives me something to write about.

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Fuck just making hemp legal, America's racially biased drug laws are going to lead directly to the next wave of American terrorism - find out how at:

Tremble The Devil

(the last few chapters address drugs laws specifically)

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Our drug laws are a mess and in many cases counterproductive. This is clearly shown in the case of industrial hemp which has many beneficial uses and can be grown on poor land not suitable to most crops.

This points up the need to change our whole concept of anti-drug laws and their enforcement. At present we have serious problems with drug cartels promoting a lot of violence both in Mexico and America and the crack down on these drug cartels will never end the problem since as soon as you remove one, another will rise to take its place. The only way this problem can be eliminated is by elimination of the market for drugs. This could be done by requiring all potential employees and students to have a drug test performed by a testing center and making it an offense to test positive, but treating this violation like a traffic violation by a large fine of the caught individual in order to deter its future use. Imprisoning violators for this and other similar non-violent offenses is just plain stupid and only adds to the cost to the taxpayers of incarceration; whereas, high fines deter repeat negative behavior without cost to the taxpayer – prison population not increased.

Iris89

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I was the 84,739th person to sign the petition to Save Our Economy: Legalize Marijuana in California!.

Check it out:
Make Marijuana Legal here

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or you could even click

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Whatever you do, Sign Mary Jane back into office and give the economy, our police, and our borders a break.

Make Marijuana Legal here

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the dark days of prohibition must come to an absolute end. prohibition didn't work in the early 20th century, it's not working in this century, and it won't work in the future. prohibition is a costly failure, both socially and economically. the very notion of prohibition is draconian, oppressive and intrinsically flawed; the ridiculous polices that have resulted from it have only created more social problems by marginalizing & persecuting casual users, punishing & prosecuting addicts & abusers and has lead to increased poverty & crime rates across the board, plus increased health care costs due to disease transmission... on and on and on.

moreover, prohibition has undermined formal economies - while the underground economy is flourishing - simply because of our government's senseless prohibitionist policies, which have essentially hand-delivered the illicit drug trade, on a silver platter, to organized crime bosses and the brutal & lawless drug cartels. if you think about it, the 'war on drugs' is really a war on the people... on you, i and everyone else; it's vicious, cruel, brutal & uncivilized and ultimately, destructive to social order.

we must shift our focus from the insanely expensive & destructive policies of prohibition & punishment to a health-oriented, harm reduction approach to drug use. we need a system that provides treatment, counselling & support services for *addicts* who *abuse* drugs (since most people who use recreational drugs, particularly marijuana, are NOT addicts & abusers, and most casual drug users actually lead perfectly healthy & productive lives). if you think about it for a moment, *many* of us put 'drugs' into our body every day, in one form or another (caffeine, alcohol, nicotene, codeine, morphine, sedatives, relaxants, anxiolytics, anti-depressants, et al... an innumerable array of psychoactive substances). society at large uses drugs, just as we have for hundreds of years, and will continue to do until the end of time... that's just life. drug use, whether prescription or recreational, is simply another facet of the human experience. while many will never use drugs, and good for them btw, it just makes no sense whatsoever to demonize and punish those who do - of their own free will - choose to use psychoactive substances.

obviously, children must be protected from early exposure to drugs, of any kind, prescription or recreation, and that's were government regulation comes in. but despite what fear-mongering prohibitionists like to parrot, children are NOT being targetted by 'drug pushers'. the illicit drug trade is a multi-billion dollar BUSINESS, and its customers are ADULTS with money, not kids on playgrounds and schoolyards. of course, those with an anti-drug agenda understand that when the public is kept afraid (of drugs or whatever) - they'll believe anything. if we truly want to get a grip on substance *abuse* (and not just drugs btw), then legalization, regulation and taxation is the way forward, and the only way to get ourselves out of this asinine drug-war debacle.

a medically-based, harm reduction model would cost a mere fraction of what is currently being spent (in the hundreds of billions each year) on *failed* policies of drug prohibition & eradication - and it would actually WORK to reduce the health issues associated with drug abuse & dependancy. but perhaps even more important, our prisons wouldn't be overflowing with people who don't belong there (which is another huge burden on the tax payer and an injustice to society overall); crime rates would drop dramatically if drugs were simply legalized, regulated and taxed... just like we've learned to do with other psychoactive substances (alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, and so on).

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