That explains how a bunch of amateur, untrained farmers and craftsmen were able to defeat them. The British were stoned the whole time!
(I know what you meant. Hemp!=THC. But I thought it was funny.)
(I know what you meant. Hemp!=THC. But I thought it was funny.)
pgwenthold
Penultimate Amazing
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Yerrrrs.
Perhaps it should be grown and marketed under another name??
I don't think that is necessary. It would just help if the people pushing for hemp-law reform were folks like farmers who would produce it and manufacturers who would utilize it, instead of potheads, who would...use it for other things.
From time to time some posters on this board say things like -- its impossible to keep a secret, have a conspiracy that lasts any significant amount of time, etc.
Well, after reading about the history of hemp I now know that is simply not true. Here's a plant with a 5000 year old history (at least) that has been used for innumerable useful products that has been made illegal for false reasons for almost 70 years for the benefit of a few companies.
Unbelievable.
Edited .. because
Well, after reading about the history of hemp I now know that is simply not true. Here's a plant with a 5000 year old history (at least) that has been used for innumerable useful products that has been made illegal for false reasons for almost 70 years for the benefit of a few companies.
Unbelievable.
Edited .. because
Last edited:
Oh, there are good reasons for hemp/pot (I personally use it more for the latter than the former) to be illegal, from the perspective of the policitians.
- "It is illegal now, and it is demonized, so I might as well act like I think it is a great idea, because I want VOTES!!!!!"
- "If we were to legalize it, we would have to admit we were wrong all those years. And we politicians are NEVER wrong!!!!!"
- Vrrrroooooommmmmm.....mmmmmmmmm.....nnnnnn.......screeeeeeeeccchhhh....mmmmmmm...rrrrrrrrrr......beep...beep...beep...beep......thud thud thud klunk thud klunk thud.......(sound of a dumptruck backing up to a politician's office and dropping off loads of cash from drug and alcohol companies). "Thanks, guys! I'll do my part to make sure you guys don't have competition."
Mephisto
Philosopher
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Sorry, Roadtoad,
I guess I posted the wrong link. I had a story I'll try to find again that stated that the changes in cyber-sleauthing affording by Homeland Security were responsible for Tommy Chong's arrest - not exactly why Homeland Security was created.
Mephisto
Philosopher
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Thanks for pointing out the hypocrisy of the whole "Reefer Madness" debacle. There really IS no reason for marijuana to be illegal other than the fact that it doesn't put money in the pockets of the drug companies while serving the same purpose as Prozac, Paxil, Celexa, etc, AND, it does it all free as it's grows nearly anywhere. Can't have something that effective and NOT be able to reap a buck, can we?
I've had one shrink tell me: "You really should not be drinking alcohol or doing opiates. And you DEFINATELY should not be doing any sort of stimulant like meth or coke. And don't you even think of touching X. But if you want to smoke a little weed now and then, I can live with that."
And I had another shrink (the one I'm seeing now) tell me: "If I had to choose between the two, I'd rather you smoke weed than drink alcohol. Because pot is a much safer drug to abuse than alcohol."
Think of that what you will...
Roadtoad
Bufo Caminus Inedibilis
Why is it unbelievable? Look at the auto industry. Chrysler, GM and Ford basically colluded and crushed Studebaker. The Tucker was one of the most advanced automobiles ever conceived, but Preston Tucker was driven into bankruptcy, and his plans destroyed. Eddie Rickenbacker put together a car with brakes on all four wheels back in the 20's, and Ford and GM ran him out of business. This is nothing new.
Take a look at the history of Standard Oil, then try and tell me it's unbelievable.
webfusion
Philosopher
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That's exactly who is at the forefront of the legal challenges.
See: North American Industrial Hemp Council (NAIHC)
Here's a 4-year-old article, which ends "I'm optimistic, hemp will be legal at the federal level in a year or so"
http://csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/durableRedirect.pl?/durable/2001/02/13/fp2s1-csm.shtml
This is the same refrain I've been hearing since 1977, and still nothing has been forthcoming from Washington DC. What I would like to see is a major Presidential candidate for 2008 bring forward the issue of industrial hemp as a main part of his campaign platform, and show how the USA can achieve great things with a massive and burgeoning hemp crop, sponsored and encouraged by the White House, instead of spending billions for the DEA to be running around like gangbusters!
Pvt. Stash
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I have a problem with that line of "reasoning" , as if the facts about Hemp are somehow invalidated simply because a Pothead espouses them...
pgwenthold
Penultimate Amazing
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It's not that the facts about hemp are invalidated. It's just that no one cares about them if it is just potheads who are the ones complaining.
I'm all for the North American Hemp Council. I don't care about Woody Harrelson, and neither will anyone else. Ever.
I'm all for the North American Hemp Council. I don't care about Woody Harrelson, and neither will anyone else. Ever.
zenith-nadir
Illuminator
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I have always been puzzled by the objection to hemp and pot... especially since alcohol abuse is responsible for more grief than Marijuana.
Yet after a thorough search at the National Institute on Drug Abuse & the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism I could not find any numbers for Marijuana related deaths.
See, now I think it's silly that it's illegal to grow hemp in the US but I would find it hard to take seriously any presidential candidate who spent even five seconds thinking about it, let alone putting it into his platform. According to Cecil Adams, US hemp production peaked at 1,300 acres. That's less than half of current US production of brussel sprouts. It had already been overthrown as the plant of choice for textiles. Hemp is not a major industry. It will never be a major industry. It's not like there are vast fields of hemp in the developed world and huge hemp outerwear (or anything else) companies making a mint selling to Europe and Canada and Asia and laughing at those dumb Americans too stubborn to realize the awesome value of hemp products.
Ziggurat
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See, I keep hearing that it's good for "innumerable" products, but about all I ever hear of is paper and rope. For rope, I'll paraphrase James Lileks: why would I buy a hemp rope which weighs twice as much as nylon, is half as strong, and costs five times as much (figures are approximate)? Just because it was economic once doesn't mean it is anymore: even if it were legal, nobody would be using whale oil to light their houses now. Aside from selling rasta hats, tie-dyed shirts, and daily journals made from hemp to teenagers at a Phish concert, would hemp actually have any real market now?
Sure, hemp being illegal may be stupid. But does it really matter? I'm far from convinced legalizing it would actually have any significant positive impact.
Ziggurat
Penultimate Amazing
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Truer words have seldom been spoken.
There is also not a single documented incident of anyone over dying from an OD of pot. It has never happened. But every day, people die from OD's of alcohol. Pot is actually a safer drug to abuse than alcohol. You can't OD on it.
zenith-nadir
Illuminator
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God knows I've tried...
You've obviously never had any of what we referred to simply as "Joe's brownies".
Nobody makes brownies like a pharmacy student.