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

[MagickMuffin]

We can make over 25,000 things with it. Farmers love it. Environmentalists love it. You can't get high from it. So why is it still illegal?

While Uncle Sam's scramble for new revenue sources has recently kicked up the marijuana debate -- to legalize and tax, or not? -- hemp's feasibility as a stimulus plan has received less airtime.

But with a North American market that exceeds $300 million in annual retail sales and continued rising demand, industrial hemp could generate thousands of sustainable new jobs, helping America to get back on track.

"We're in the midst of a dark economic transition, but I believe hemp is an important facet and has tremendous economic potential," says Patrick Goggin, a board member on the California Council for Vote Hemp, the nation's leading industrial hemp-farming advocacy group. "Economically and environmentally, industrial hemp is an important part of the sustainability pie."

With 25,000 known applications from paper, clothing and food products -- which, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal this January, is the fastest growing new food category in North America -- to construction and automotive materials, hemp could be just the crop to jump-start America's green economy.

But growing hemp remains illegal in the U.S. The Drug Enforcement Administration has lumped the low-THC plant together with its psychoactive cousin, marijuana, making America the planet's only industrialized nation to ban hemp production. We can import it from Canada, which legalized it in 1997. But we can't grow it.

"It's a missed opportunity," says Goggin, who campaigned for California farmers to grow industrial hemp two years ago, although the bill was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, citing the measure conflicted with federal law.

Considering California's position as an agricultural giant -- agriculture nets $36.6 billion dollars a year, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture -- Goggin's assessment is an understatement. Especially if extended nationwide.

Now that the Obama administration has announced an end to medical marijuana raids, hemp advocates are hopeful the move could open the door for hemp, because the president voted for a hemp bill while he was in the Illinois legislature.

The DEA follows the government's lead, and the government, which does not want to be seen as being soft on drugs, has been notoriously skittish tackling drug policy reform. If Obama told the DEA to move forward aggressively and issue all pending research, commercial and agronomic licenses, farmers like Monson could grow hemp tomorrow.

<<MORE>>

http://www.alternet.org/environment/133055/hemp_is_not_pot%3A_it%27s_the_economic_stimulus_and_green_jobs_solution_we_need/

This is something President Obama needs to address. Especially since he has voted for the Hemp bill when he was in the Illinois state senate.

[Fumesucker]

1. Yeah, but it's awful easy to hide a few real pot plants in a field of hemp..

That's why hemp will most likely never be made legal in the USA, there are far too many people making far too much money off the drug war, on both sides of the law.

[shadowknows69]

3. That probably has little to do with why industrial hemp isn't legal here

But I'll bet the lumber, paper, food and clothing industry might have a bit to do with it.

[Soylent Brice]

8. i think you just nailed it. it's easy,

when the gov't is dead set against anything all you have to do is figure out who stands to lose $$$, and you'll find the lobbyists behind keeping said policy/product banned.

ALWAYS follow the money.

[Fumesucker]

9. So you don't think psychoactive cannabis can be hidden in industrial hemp fields?

Physically the plants don't resemble each other all that much but when you have a thousand acres of hemp, combing the whole thing on foot or by air for a few psychoactive plants would take a lot of effort.

The drug war will never end, certainly not in my lifetime.. See the thread about drug testing welfare applicants for confirmation of the public's attitude toward "drugs". The American public has been subjected to over seventy years of vicious and mostly false propaganda from their government, such a sustained propaganda effort is almost impossible for most people to overcome.

[shadowknows69]

16. Did I say that? I just don't think it's the primary reason for industrialized hemp prohibition.

Obviously the pharmaceutical lobby, unless they could think ahead farther than the next fiscal quarter, is a huge wall to the decriminalization of cannabis. It just goes a lot deeper than that.

[Webster Green]

18. You would wind up with some heavily seeded pot..

The hemp crop would have a lot of males and a lot of pollen.

It would still be psychoactive, but half the weight would be seeds.

Folks want sinsemilla these days. :hippie:

[shadowknows69]

23. I remember the days of seeds. Don't miss them much.

At least one thing in my life is going well lol. Price needs to come down though. B-)

[Fumesucker]

32. Not everyone has the money for sinse..

Particularly in these economic times.

[Webster Green]

34. Word..

I hear that! :smoke:

[Mist]

35. Yes, it was the lumber and paper industries who demonized hemp and

pot back in the 30s.

[wovenpaint]

37. and DuPont

check out the time frame when nylon was introduced and all hemp renamed "marijuana" and made illegal.
Seasonal farm workers were targeted as well, from what I understand-with the name change...

[troubleinwinter]

39. And Monsanto hasn't a patent on the seed, and it doesn't need pesticides & fertilizers!

Once Monsanto developes (GM) a seed that WILL require pesticides and fetilizers and patents it, THAT will be the strain that will be legalized, with the support of DuPont, Dow, etc.

[SammyWinstonJack]

40. BINGO!

:thumbsup:

[geardaddy]

43. Bingo.

[MagickMuffin]

4. Perhaps we need to rethink our laws about ALL Cannabis prohibition

The DEA should refocus their efforts on "Drugs" that really cause the greatest harm to people, legal and illegal. Cannabis IS NOT one of those "drugs" as it doesn't cause anyone any harm, except for the laws against it.

[patrice]

7. Hemp causes Pot to become Hemp.

[Fumesucker]

11. Not in the first generation.. n/t

[patrice]

13. 'k' Thanks for the info.

[lonestarnot]

21. LOL and then there is the cross-pollination issue due to those pesky honey bees, but then we've kill

ed all those soooooo.....

[patrice]

30. Yeah, but those were some Happy Peaceful Bees when they died, so they went straight to Nirvana . . .

Om namah Shivaya!

[lonestarnot]

38. Here's to bees everywhere!

:toast:

[patrice]

47. And gardens! The sooner the Better!

:toast: My Dad used to keep Bees. We always had lots of raw Honey! :toast:

[tuckessee]

41. Cannabis/hemp/marijuana is wind pollinated.

No bees or any other insects are needed.

[cbc5g]

33. its easy...but it will be worth nothing and will give a headache to whoever smokes it

Ever heard of pollination??

Schwag has some seeds from a few male plants in the area...industrial hemp fields would literally turn a pot plant into a seed stalk and therefore worthless.

[Fumesucker]

50. Genetics don't change in the first generation..

You've watched too many movies about mutants, things don't work that way in the real world.

[rbixby]

45. The thing is

both male and female hemp plants grow in hemp fields, if you tried to grow pot in the same fields, you'd end up with fertilized buds, which end up with very little smokable product. It would be a waste of money to try to grow them together.

[Fumesucker]

51. There was seeded pot around a long time before there was Sinse..

Sinse is better, no doubt, but seeded pot can be plenty potent and yield more smokeable material than you might imagine.

[MagickMuffin]

52. But try smoking Hemp and all you'll get is a Super Sized Headache

I know some people who tried smoking Hemp and that is what they told me.

[Fumesucker]

58. But growing a psychoactive pot plant in a field of hemp won't turn it to hemp.

Not in the first generation..

That is a genetic impossibility.

[marmar]

2. We had lunch in the Hemp Hotel in Amsterdam.....Everything in the hotel (much of the food included)

...... was made from hemp.

It was amazing. I had no clue about how many products could be made with hemp.

[shadowknows69]

5. You could feed and clothe the world, make paper and save the environment

So it makes perfect sense why we can't have it legal here. Corporations would actually have to think outside the box and maybe spend some money on conversion of their industries; and that would bite into those CEO salaries too much.

[geardaddy]

44. And create fuel

[MagickMuffin]

10. I've heard of the Hemp Hotel, I hope to visit someday.

I use fortunate enough to have some hemp fabric. I made a vest from it. It has a really interesting texture, one side is soft but has a texture that you can see the weaving pattern, the other side is almost velvety-fleecy texture, very very soft.

Hemp IS an amazing plant.

[patrice]

17. I order Hemp foods from Canada. The bread is substantial and delicious.

And I have yet to see it mold!!?!

[MagickMuffin]

24. I have tried Hemp Oil, it is even better than Olive Oil.

Great stuff. I even bought it in Texas @ Health Food Stores.

[patrice]

29. Hemp butter makes the creamiest health-shake you can imagine.

I had a large bottle of the oil that has stayed fresh, after being opened, for YEARS.

[blogslut]

6. Interjecting some love for bamboo here

Pretty much everything that can be said about hemp, can be said about bamboo. In fact, Mexico is working very hard to surpass China as major supplier of bamboo. Hell, we can grow it here and we do.

I'm all for industrial hemp but I must give some love to bamboo.

[Webster Green]

14. The two most useful plants on earth are cannabis and bamboo..

It is a disgrace that we aren't allowed to use cannabis. It makes no sense at all! :wtf:

[patrice]

15. Cool, but Does Bamboo have the "green manure" properties that Hemp has?

Bamboo can also be aggressively invasaive too, right?

[blogslut]

19. Probably

I'm not sure what "green manure" is. Can you tell me?

Bamboo is aggressive if not planted properly. The trick is to bury "stops" into the ground to contain it.

The best part about bamboo is how quickly it replenishes. Some culms can grow as much as one foot in a 24 hour period.

[patrice]

20. Hemp, like Soy Beans, Alfalfa, and some others, binds Nitrogen in the soil, thus replenishing

it instead of using it up and, thus, making fertilizers necessary.

[blogslut]

25. Forgive me

I'm not smart enough to tell you. Here's a link on the subject:

http://biblioteca.universia.net/ficha.do?id=5711106

Maybe you can make sense of it.

[patrice]

28. Me too. But I think that says that the Bamboo, by preserving fine-root biomass, preserves Nitrogen

in clear cut areas.

[blogslut]

31. cool

Like I said, I'm all for hemp but bamboo deserves consideration as well.

[muriel_volestrangler]

67. No, I don't think that's right, for hemp

For instance:

Two groups of herbaceous and woody plants have the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil, legumes and actinomycete-nodulated angiosperms. Together in these two groups are at least 1,350 species of plants capable of nitrogen fixation, although only about 25 are extensively used today in agriculture and forestry. Included among the legumes are beans, peas, clover and alfalfa. Certain legumes fix nitrogen because of their symbiotic relationship with Rhizobium bacteria, which form nodules in the roots of their host plants. The plants provide the bacteria with carbohydrates for energy and a stable environment for growth, while the bacteria give the plants usable nitrogen and other essential nutrients. The rest of the soil community and neighboring and succeeding plants benefit from the nitrogen and other rich compounds exuded from the nodules, and from the recycling of the nitrogen as the plant drops its leaves or decays. Rhizobium bacteria usually are annual in nature, developing inthe spring and decaying in the autumn.

A second, less familiar form of nitrogen fixation occurs in plants that are nodulated by actinomycete fungi of the genus Frankia. Although the basic nitrogen fixation process is the same with these plants as with legumes, most of their nitrogen contribution is in the form of falling leaves and decaying litter. Their nodules are perennial rather than annual. Examples of this group of plants are alder, ceanothus and Russian olive.

The planting of nitrogen fixers such as alfalfa and soybeans as green manure crops is a long-established practice. Trees and shrubs can be used in a similar fashion. For example, alder has been reported as being included in the rotation of Asian rice fields, as a companion plant for apples in the Netherlands. Masanobu Fukuoka interplants acacia trees in his Mandarin orange groves in Japan, and autumn olive is being used successfully as a nurse crop for walnuts in the American Midwest. In the coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest, some foresters are studying the use of red alder as a nitrogen-fixing companion for Douglas-fir.

http://www.tilthproducers.org/tfia/nitrogen.htm

Compare that with comments about hemp and nitrogen, which says that hemp needs something else to supply nitrogen:

Hemp cultivation is very good for the soil because it controls weeds and aerates the soil. However, hemp is a heavy feeder and depletes soil nutrients, especially nitrogen. Chilean farmers have long recognized that crop rotations with nitrogen-fixing legumes restores the nutrient balance of the soil.

http://www.hempfood.com/IHA/iha03213.html

To avoid fertilizer use and qualify as organic, though, hemp should be rotated with a nitrogen fixing crop.

http://www.freelabs.com/~whitis/politics/hemp/

There is a legume called 'sunn hemp':

In the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, there is a need for crop diversification and protection of the Chesapeake Bay from nitrogen pollution. Legume plants that have the potential of reducing/eliminating use of inorganic nitrogen fertilizers need to be studied. Sunn hemp, a legume plant, has great potential as an annually renewable fiber crop, in addition to its desirable biological nitrogen fixing capability for improving the soil. The objectives of our research studies were to examine the feasibility of producing both kenaf and sunn hemp in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, and if feasible, identify optimum factors to maximize sunn hemp and kenaf yields.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_no_115=147981

but that's a completely different plant:

“Hemp” refers primarily to Cannabis sativa L. (Cannabaceae), although the term has been applied to dozens of species representing at least 22 genera, often prominent fiber crops. For examples, Manila hemp (abaca) is Musa textilis Née, sisal hemp is Agave sisalina Perrine, and sunn hemp is Crotolaria juncea L. Especially confusing is the phrase “Indian hemp,” which has been used both for narcotic Asian land races of C. sativa (so-called C. indica Lamarck of India) and Apocynum cannabinum L., which was used by North American Indians as a fiber plant. Cannabis sativa is a multi-purpose plant that has been domesticated for bast (phloem) fiber in the stem, a multi-purpose fixed oil in the “seeds” (achenes), and an intoxicating resin secreted by epidermal glands. The common names hemp and marijuana (much less frequently spelled marihuana) have been applied loosely to all three forms, although historically hemp has been used primarily for the fiber cultigen and its fiber preparations, and marijuana for the drug cultigen and its drug preparations. The current hemp industry is making great efforts to point out that “hemp is not marijuana.” Italicized, Cannabis refers to the biological name of the plant (only one species of this genus is commonly recognized, C. sativa L.). Non-italicized, “cannabis” is a generic abstraction, widely used as a noun and adjective, and commonly (often loosely) used both for cannabis plants and/or any or all of the intoxicant preparations made from them.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ncnu02/v5-284.html

It bears a slight similarity:


http://www.physorg.com/news105636936.html

[PVnRT]

36. I believe it also grows very dense, i.e., very small footprint

[GoCubsGo]

54. Dense is an understatement.

Bamboo is an invasive weed here in the Southeast. I have seen stands so dense that only a small creature like a squirrel could penetrate them. You have to go in and dig it out to get rid of it. Some friends of mine bought property that had a stand of it. They cut it before digging the roots out. The stumps punctured every tire on the bulldozer at least once before they got it all out. I have absolutely no problem harvesting what is here for use in things like cloth. But, we should not be planting more of the stuff.

[Webster Green]

12. A San Francisco medicinal marijuana provider was raided yesterday..

I guess the DEA hasn't got the word yet to lay off the pot clubs.

DEA agents are nothing more than sadistic thugs and drug dealers themselves. They get their rocks off by taking medicine from providers and patients.

Looks like we're still fucked, unless someone can stop the renegade DEA assholes. :mad:

[MagickMuffin]

22. Man that SUCKS

The DEA needs to refocus their objectives. There are a lot worse "drugs" they should be concerned with legal and illegal.

When I see all those legal "drugs" being pedaled on TV and ALL the warnings concerning side effects I just have to shake my head while cursing the Pharma industry. To me these "drugs" are MORE dangerous than Cannabis. :grr:

[shadowknows69]

26. Unless the order wasn't really meant to be enforced in the first place

Easy to hide the truth from the uncaring masses with the help of the MSM.

[patrice]

27. I'd love to know what "legal" drugs they take!

:grr:

[Bluenorthwest]

66. Another lie foisted

Obama clearly promised to end those raids. And Holder repeated it.

[JackRiddler]

42. Sure, but both should be legal.

[leftchick]

46. big oil won't let it

henry ford actally made a hemp car, and had planned to use hemp as fuel. Big Oil will never allow that and we know they own our 'representatives.

[Iggo]

48. Next you'll be tellin me grain is not alcohol...lol.

[BlooInBloo]

49. Gawd the pot-can-do-ANYTHING lobby is hilarious...

Because really, all 99% of them want to do is get high.

You guys remind me of Forrest Gump's friend Bubba, detailing the ways you can cook shrimp. You can broil em, boil em, saute em, fricassee em.....

Well, except that what Bubba said wasn't a load of crap, of course.

[RadiationTherapy]

57. YAWWWWWWN. Another boring comment.

Nothing wrong with getting high, is there? Nothing wrong with reducing the prison population by releasing non-violent offenders who just wanted to get high, is there? Nothing wrong with wanting to end a senseless prohibition and be able to get high legally, is there?

Do you have a problem with people altering their states of mind responsibly without fear of jail, lost job, or lost financial aid?

[comtec]

59. I think your 99 number is a bit high (pardon the pun)

If you only look at industrial hemp, you see for the most part they are correct.
I am unfamiliar with the food aspects, so I will not comment one way or the other.

but you have two basics from the hemp plant:
Oil (from seeds)
and Fibers - which are used to make cloth, rope, and paper and all products associated with these basic products

In fact Hemp rope is considered far superior to synthetics.

Yes there WAS a coup to remove hemp in the 20/30's by big industry.

The cannabis plant it self is literally a weed. Easy to grow, hard to kill.
However it has also been shows to have two particularly useful properties:
HIGH CO2 --> Oxygen production --cannabis produces more O2 than most trees which are larger
High HEAT conversion -- that is Cannabis requires a great deal of sunlight and heat.

both of these properties are needed badly to start repairing the damage done to the world by man. We need more natural CO2 scrubbers, and some way to cool the earth down.

as far as the medicinal properties I will leave that up to more experienced persons on the subject.

And for the record, I live currently in the Netherlands, I do NOT use hash, etc, and the drug related crimes here, while present, are infinitesimal compared to the US.

"Coffee shops" here are responsible contributors to the economy. The pay taxes on the wheat (weed) sold, they create jobs (thus providing MORE tax money), the companies pay themselves taxes, and the "fast food" industry is quite healthy. Tourism is also very healthy, thus providing foreign monies into the system.

I can not explain Wall-food. If you haven't seen it, I can't explain it. If you have, then I don't need to.
Tho, imho, croket MUST have been created while someone was stoned.

[muriel_volestrangler]

69. "Hemp rope is considered far superior to synthetics" - only in certain applications

Hemp rope is far more prone to rot. Against that, synthetic ropes are prone to damage by sunlight. As I eventually found, in a previous discussion, modern-day use of 'true' hemp rope is fairly small - 'manila hemp' is preferred for most uses when using a natural fibre:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3597028&mesg_id=3597544

[eShirl]

63. nice blinders

very stylish

[Bluenorthwest]

65. Fact free snarking from the fact free snark

Filled as always with unsupported assumptions and characterizations of the hearts and minds of strangers.

[Johonny]

68. I agree

[C......N......C]

53. Common sense rarely prevails over many issues.

West Virginia had an unlikley and unplanned co-alition between moonshiners and preachers that ruled drinking laws in W VA to this day. There are no legal public bars in W VA. The law is not enforced, but hangs there.

[GoCubsGo]

55. George Washington was a hemp farmer

If it was good enough for the Father of Our Country to grow, it should be good enough for the rest of us, too! Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence grew it, too. And, Ben Franklin owned a hemp mill. Phooey on all who keep hemp illegal!

[C......N......C]

56. Mornig Glory has escaped wrath.

In training as a first responder, I was taught that treating the effects of Morning Glory seeds was similiar to narcotic symptoms.

[Romulox]

60. If I remember my Anarchist's Cookbook, it takes a lot of doing to wrangle the "good stuff" from them

[C......N......C]

61. I just googled. Prepare 100 to 150 seeds for eight hour LSD type high.

[C......N......C]

62. I wondered why it cost $3 for a pack of ten seeds.

[Romulox]

70. Or you could buy a real tab for $5 (back in the day, of course!)

We never saw a reason to mess with the morning glory stuff...

[WeDidIt]

64. Taxonomically speaking...

Hemp would be Cannabis Sativa.

Marijuana would be Cannabis Indica.

It's been established within the botanical community that what smokers and growers call "sativa" is, in fact, just a narrow leafed version of Cannabis Indica.