The Hemp Wars in California

[Lyion]

Interesting article in regards to farming hemp.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/28/us/28 ... ref=slogin

Seven states have passed bills supporting the farming of industrial hemp; their strategy has been to try to get permission from the Drug Enforcement Administration to proceed.

But California is the first state that would directly challenge the federal ban, arguing that it does not need a D.E.A. permit, echoing the state’s longstanding fight with the federal authorities over its legalization of medicinal marijuana. The hemp bill would require farmers who grow it to undergo crop testing to ensure their variety of cannabis is nonhallucinogenic; its authors say it has been carefully worded to avoid conflicting with the federal Controlled Substances Act.

But those efforts have not satisfied federal and state drug enforcement authorities, who argue that fields of industrial hemp would only serve as hiding places for illicit cannabis. The California Narcotic Officers Association opposes the bill, and a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington said the measure was unworkable.

Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican running for re-election, has been mum on his intentions, with the political calculus of hemp in California difficult to decipher. The bill was the handiwork of two very different lawmakers, Assemblyman Mark Leno, a San Francisco Democrat best known for attempting to legalize same-sex marriage, and Assemblyman Charles S. DeVore, an Orange County Republican who worked in the Pentagon as a Reagan-era political appointee.

[Spazz]

The dea is a horrible orginization.

[Diekan]

The sooner they just legalize the shit, the better off we'll all be. For fuck's sake alcohol is far worse than weed... just legalize it and be done with it.

[Spazz]

I AGREE. I also think after they legalize it they should sell it in party packs with a case of beer and some margerita mix. I think mad weed should be grown everywhere. Grow the kind you can make shit out of and the kind you can get blasted off of it would make the world a better place.

[Martrae]

The sooner they just legalize the shit, the better off we'll all be. For fuck's sake alcohol is far worse than weed... just legalize it and be done with it.

OMG!!!! I agree with Diekan!!!

[Naethyn]

Always remember that one day all this drug monkey business will be legal. They won't leave it to people like me... not when they finally figure out how much money is to be made - not millions, fucking billions. Recreational drugs PLC - giving the people what they want... Good times today, Stupor tomorrow. But this is now, so until prohibition ends make hay whilst the sun shines.

[Arlos]

ROFL. No intelligent pot grower, who's intending his crop to be smokeable for getting high would *EVER* plant them among industrial hemp to "hide them". You know why? They cross pollinate, and since it's the female pot plants that you smoke, if they've been fertilized by non-THC-bearing hemp plants, then THEY won't have any THC component either.

So sure, you could hide pot among hemp. It just wouldn't DO anything if you smoked it, and thus it would be useless to sell...

-Arlos

[Yamori]

Even if you're 100% against legalizing weed, there is no even remotely reasonable argument for the continued illegalization of industrial hemp.

If smoked it would be on par with smoking a piece of cardboard or a sheet of newspaper. It's even visually distinctive enough to be distinguishable from narcotic hemp.

It's neither a food nor a drug - I have no idea why any governing agency has any sway over this in the first place, aside from obvious lobby interests in lumber/paper industries and such.

[Diekan]

The sooner they just legalize the shit, the better off we'll all be. For fuck's sake alcohol is far worse than weed... just legalize it and be done with it.

OMG!!!! I agree with Diekan!!!

You always secretly agree with me... you can admit it

[Naethyn]

Hemp is illegal because not only did it at one time compete with alcohol, but also cotton. Two major contributors to political campaigns when it was made illegal. Actually, its not illegal you just need a stamp =) Oh, to bad they never made the stamps. I guess the same thing can be said about those tommy guns.

[Arlos]

Well, I actually know of people that have gotten licenses for automatic weapons. Guy I knew in college the first time around, his dad owned a gun store, and had a license for automatic weapons. They could only keep them in specific locations, and only fire them in specific locations, but they COULD own them.

As for pot & hemp, I think I've made my position on their legalization quite clear over the course of time here. I think it's absolutely ridiculous that either one is illegal, but especially industrial hemp. SO many uses for the plant, not least of which is for paper. Hemp paper is higher quality than wood-pulp paper, and grows MUCH faster, so you don't have to wait 30 years after planting in order to get a useable harvest. Thus we could save the lumber of our forests for use for actual lumber, and drastically cut down the cutting necessary for supplying other needs.

-Arlos

[Yamori]

Hemp is illegal because not only did it at one time compete with alcohol, but also cotton. Two major contributors to political campaigns when it was made illegal. Actually, its not illegal you just need a stamp =) Oh, to bad they never made the stamps. I guess the same thing can be said about those tommy guns.

You're thinking of marijuana. Industrial hemp didn't compete with alcohol because it has no medicinal or psychological effects. They just blanket illegalized it because they're dummies.

And the marijuana tax (ie stamp) act was deemed unconstitutional in the mid 1960s (due to self-incrimination - you had to show you illegally owned it to apply for a stamp). Cong Timothy Leary for that one.

And a new law was made a few years later to replace it and make it blatantly illegal.