Hemp is used to make rope.
A rope can be used to make a noose.
A noose can be used for hate crimes.
Therefore, hemp may cause crime and must remain unlegal. Nylon rope should also be verbotten.
And may I add from personal experience that even smoking hemp wrapped with banana peels will not get you high.
Posted by TIKI AL at November 12, 2007 01:41 PMThis isn't 1969 anymore, the time that a gullible public believed that the government told the whole truth about drugs is over. Also, virtually everyone voting in next years primaries knows the difference between hemp and pot. Why will no Democratic candidate for president take this issue up? I guarentee that any candidate willing to tell the truth on this issue will gain five or ten percent over what the so called beltway experts say.
Posted by herbal tee at November 12, 2007 02:05 PMAnd may I add from personal experience that even smoking hemp wrapped with banana peels will not get you high.
Nor will smoking a hemp/catnip/banana peel blunt while licking a toad.
You can also make paper out of it, which could stop the deforestation of the planet while providing a major cash crop for American farmers.
Posted by MaskedVigilante at November 12, 2007 02:05 PMYeah, herbal, I live in the midwest, I know farmers. They should be able to grow this stuff. I read the thing in the WaPo and got pissed off.
TIKI, MV, you two sound desperate. Do I need to hook you two up or what? :)
Posted by Jeff Dinelli at November 12, 2007 02:25 PMEveryone knows banana peels are useless! An acquaintence long ago told me that they smoked Crest toothpaste in juvie, though these days, I'm sure crack is prolly easier to get...
Posted by iamcoyote at November 12, 2007 02:38 PM"Nor will smoking a hemp/catnip/banana peel blunt while licking a toad."...MV
...depends on if the toad "squirts" while you are in full-lick.
Jeff: Thanks for the offer! A big busted blonde with 5 lbs. of chocolate would be a nice gesture!
Posted by TIKI AL at November 12, 2007 03:03 PMSpeaking of Hemp:
When I was stationed at Ft. Riley, KS (The Big Red One); I was laughing my ass off at all the folks buying, selling and smoking ditch weed. I told them don't worry about a piss test, smoke all you want!
Posted by Seven of Six at November 12, 2007 04:03 PM7: Depends on what seeds they threw in the ditch. You know, reap what you sow and such.(It's in the Bible}
Is there a ditch weed exibit in the Creation Museum?
Lou Dobbs is being broadcast from Phoenix today.
Is Sheriff Joe so tuff he could even arrest Lou if he doesn't like the questions?
They know it is not Jeff.
There is only 1 reason, truthfully, and 1 additional reason that they think is a problem.
1. They think it would be too easy to grow pot within the fields of hemp undetected. This is complete BS as it would be virtually impossible to grow quality pot in the fields due to the amount of pollen that hemp creates. In fact, hemp produces so much pollen that it could very well threaten the quality of illicit pot being grown in the region.
The real reason, is the reason that pot was made illegal in the first place: it is a threat to the cotton, paper and petroleum industries.
They've shown no reservations about letting farmers grown it when the government needed the benefits ("Hemp for Victory" campaign in WWII). It is simply another mind-f**k of the American public in protection of big monied interests.
- 10 tons of biomass/acre
- no pesticides
- 90% reduction in chemicals needed to produce high quality paper (though in truth kenaf is arguably an even better paper fiber source).
- Harvestable in 90 to 120 days
- High quality oil (though the yield is not as high per acre as rapeseed/mustard seed)
- Hemp seeds are incredibly nutritious
It is flat out stupidity and greed that have prevented the legal cultivation of Hemp in this country. Though I will say that it will happen, later more likely than sooner, but it will happen at some point.
Posted by Simp at November 12, 2007 04:15 PMGreat comment, Simp, I forgot about that WWII initiative! I'm rooting for this decision in N. Dakota on Wednesday. At least we've gotta give these two farmers credit for taking on the DEA now.
To me this is a big deal.
Posted by Jeff Dinelli at November 12, 2007 05:19 PMProbably incredibly stupid question but...
Would a hemp crop bring back some bees?
Anyone who doesn't know the difference between pot and hemp, hasn't smoked.
Posted by Judith at November 12, 2007 05:36 PMIn high School, in Eastern Colorado in the late 50's, we used to drive the ditches of Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska looking for "Ditch weed with flowers". Drying it (upside down) and preparing it was a near religious ceremony. I'm not sure it ever got us high but it sure was a good cruise.
Posted by johnmorris at November 12, 2007 05:37 PMSharon, don't we have to get rid of cell phones for the bees to come back? I haven't seen that discussed recently.
Posted by Jeff Dinelli at November 12, 2007 05:43 PMI figure it's the GM food grown that's making sending the bees away. I worked for GM, and it sent me packing it in too!
Posted by Sharon at November 12, 2007 05:45 PMWould a hemp crop bring back some bees?
Not a stupid question, really. More pollen and less pesticides seems like a bee magnet to me.
Posted by iamcoyote at November 12, 2007 06:05 PMIsn't Haliburton working on a no bid contract to develope teeny remote controlled drones to replace the bees?
Posted by TIKI AL at November 12, 2007 07:32 PMYet, it's possible to buy products made from hemp here. I have hemp shirts (which are like linen only a little more coarse and a little less likely to wrinkle) and have seen countless other things for sale in the US made from hemp.
Posted by Rich at November 12, 2007 07:40 PMWhat Simp stated is 100% right on. The only reason pot's illegal practically is because of its and hemp's agricultural and industrial uses, particularly in regards to cotton and paper.
The government doesn't give a damn about anyone's health in these matters. It's all protection rackets for monied interests disguised as a "war on drugs." It is also an easy button-pushing issue for the electorate to gobble up while feeling superior to sick people, sick people that the majority in this country have been brainwashed against all normal experience to believe are more likely to be sick people with brown skin.
This is not a paranoid view. When the government outlaws Aspartame, then I'll believe they give a shit about my heath, but not until then.
Posted by Brian Bell at November 12, 2007 08:56 PMOh, fuck it. You know we're all talking about legalizing pot.
It would be the new #1 cash crop for American farmers. Tax the hell out of it, like cigarettes. Provide the only known relief for chemo patients and terminal AIDS patients, when keeping up their appetite is the most important factor for their well-being.
Keep those of us with addictive personalities off the sauce. Off the cancer sticks. Besides, it's a plant w/ an active ingredient. If not for the aforementioned DuPont, I'd be waking and baking right now.
(Of course, I would run the risk of going to jazz clubs and hanging out with "negros" a la "Reefer Madness". But I'm willing to take that chance.)
Hey, you know who's for legalization?
Ron Paul 2008.
You know who's against legalization? Everybody else running for president.
Posted by MaskedVigilante at November 13, 2007 04:51 AMWhy? Because the government and it's agents are too damn stupid to 1) recognize industrial hemp and THC laden Cannabis in the field (hint - the THC stuff makes poor fibres); 2) there's no easy scratch test that could be done to check which plants are high THC, ala CSI. Or if there is, the test is 'too expensive' for widespread use.
Posted by idiosynchronic at November 13, 2007 05:26 AMYou know we're all talking about legalizing pot.
Actually no.
While I am an advocate for legal cultivation of pot, I treat it as a separate... a VERY separate issue.
Reason being is that because the 2 are always linked, it hampers our ability to make the case for Hemp clutivation. The American public has treated the 2 as brother and sister when, in actuality they are more like 2nd cousins. This needs to be hammered home.
They are 2 separate issues and when we consistently treat them as such, we will make much more progress.
Posted by Simp at November 13, 2007 09:35 AMExactly, Simp. MV, the key to getting hemp to the point where it's legal for farmers to grow is to totally made it clear to the knuckleheads in our federal government that we are dealing with two very different products.
The legalization of pot is for another post. Which I may write at some point, but right now I'm watching for this court action tomorrow in N. Dakota.
Posted by Jeff Dinelli at November 13, 2007 09:44 AMI actually didn't mean the issue in the post was about legalization of pot. I get the distinction and how the lack of understanding of said distinction causes this ridiculous hemp stigma.
I meant the theme of the comments.
Posted by MaskedVigilante at November 13, 2007 12:21 PMVigilante:
You know who's against legalization? Everybody else running for president.
I don't think Dodd is opposed to it. He is on the record as being for decriminalization.
Posted by Toby Petzold at November 13, 2007 06:25 PMI meant the theme of the comments.
Minor distinction, but I still hold that even in this commnent thread we are addressing hemp, not marijuana.
I want to be very clear. I'm speaking of and only of Hemp cultivation. The fact that we are already growing it by the hundreds of thousands of acres drives me batty.
Posted by simp at November 13, 2007 07:00 PM