'Industrial' hemp support takes root

[Thom Little]

David Monson is a conservative Republican in North Dakota's legislature. He's also a farmer who believes that a new cash crop could revitalize his state's agricultural industry, which has been suffering from poor harvests and depressed soy and corn prices.

That policy has led to an explosion in goods containing high-fiber, high-protein hemp that has been fueled by Americans' thirst for organic products — and perhaps by the tie some consumers see between hemp and marijuana, a counterculture symbol for decades. It also has put the cannabis plant at the center of a battle between unlikely foes: angry farmers such as Monson who are leading increasingly vocal calls for the U.S. government to legalize the growing of what's known as "industrial" hemp, and federal anti-drug officials who say that allowing such crops would create a slippery slope toward legalizing marijuana.

.......

The DEA says allowing farmers to grow hemp in the USA would undermine the war on drugs. It says marijuana growers would be able to camouflage their crop with similar-looking hemp plants, and that DEA agents would have difficulty quickly telling the difference.

"Let's not be naïve," says Tom Riley of the White House Office on National Drug Control Policy. "The pro-dope people have been pushing hemp for 20 years because they know that if they can have hemp fields, then they can have marijuana fields. It's ... stoner logic."



http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-11-22-hemp-crop_x.htm

[slor]

1. Call your reps...tell them to support H.R. 3037

Take action here!
http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=7766166&type=CO

[prescole]

2. "Stoner logic" sure sounds better than the boner logic of the Bushies

If the worst thay can come up with is that some stoners will be able to hide those awful marijuana plants, then why the hell would they put so many farms and farm families in jeopardy--just to prevent a few people from feeling good?
Let these hypocrites go home to their martinis and cigars (and OXY CONTINS) and screw themselves.

[wtbymark]

3. The Real reason is:

it would undermine the petrochemical business, ie. Exxon/Mobil, DuPont

Maurice DuPont was one of the principle players in illegalizing marijuana in 1932

The headline in a 1929 Popular Mechanics magazine read "New Billion Dollar Crop" - they were refering to hemp

[droidamus]

4. Typical

This is typical of the DEA and their minions. They can't have a debate about hemp or pot without twisting the truth or outright lying. Though it would be possible to grow smokable pot next to hemp the resulting smoke would be of low grade due to cross pollination. The high grade, high cost pot sold to day is raised by not allowing the female plant to get pollinated this results in more resin and more THC. If you grow the same plants near low grade hemp (I will admit here I am supposing that the plants are close enough genetically that cross pollination will take place) the resulting pot is of much lower grade. I have said for years that the best way the government could stop the growing of sinsemilla (sic) would be to seed the country with low grade marijuana plants.

[tanyev]

5. It seems to me that hemp would be a perfect crop to replace tobacco.

[htuttle]

6. There are a couple of 'better' fiber and pulp producing plants...

...but none better for the northern part of the farm belt than hemp. All the other 'pulp-plants' prefer much warmer weather and longer growing seasons. Hemp grows about anywhere. It's a very hardy plant (and excellent for preventing erosion, I might add -- it typically puts down an 18" tap root).

I've seen hemp stalks that were almost 6' long and 2" in diameter. That's a heck of a lot of high grade fiber for one plant to produce in one season (and if you take only the stalks and leave the leaves in the field to rot over the winter, you help reduce nutrient depletion in the soil). In fact, hemp was one of the 'off year' rotation crops used by early American farmers, and has also been used to condition a field for planting something else due to it's hardy root system.

And yes, as somebody mentioned above, wild hemp is the marijuana cultivators bane (along with CAMP, of course). You don't want to grow them together as the DEA suggests.

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. If Riley knew anything about hemp

he would know that the stoners definitely don't want hemp anywhere near their stuff.

[whatever4]

8. Stoner logic that it's virtually as nutritious as soy, but easier to grow

Sure, takes a stoner to understand that. Starvation in a globally warming world. And a crop that requires little in the way of fertilization, doesn't drain the soil and is hardy, in our over-polluted world of shrinking water supplies.

Stoner logic? I want whatever he's taking.

[droidamus]

9. logic

If you use Stoner Logic and get the munchies do you end up with Pretzel Logic? As Bush has shown that can be dangerous because you can choke on Pretzel Logic ;-)

[whatever4]

13. Ah, but 'cha don't "get the munchies " from industrial grade hemp

It's negligible thc, give you a headache before a high. Stoner logic to think you could ;)

[donsu]

10. hemp growing should not be illegal - it's the oil barons that hate hemp

I'll take stoner logic over the criminal bushgang logic anyday.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Stoner logic? *grrr* Maybe we need to have licensed hemp

growers then. There is surely a compromise here that will let the DEA keep their high and might war on drugs going and yet still allow the sensibility of growing hemp return to this nation.

[K-W]

12. It is telling that stoners are logical and the DEA isnt. EOM

[cui bono]

14. And what about pharmaceutical logic?

So they won't allow famers to have a great cash crop that has multiple uses such as clothing, paper and nutrition yet they allow pharmaceuticals to be advertised on TV at all hours offering free trials of hardcore addicting mood altering drugs that may cause nausea, diarhea, dizziness and who knows what other negative side effects? wtf???