-
Soaringmonkey 05/15/2011 6:46:00 AM
worst piece of journalism ever....
-
Joanie 05/09/2011 3:27:00 PM
Kevin, I've seen the videos and read the pro hemp materials. I am not anti-hemp, I just know that it is nowhere near the wonder plant many think it is. Most of the estimates you read are greatly exaggerated and don't bear out in practice in the real world. All you have to do is look at the existing worldwide hemp industry and you can see that it's not all it's cracked up to be. There is a very limited market for it. When countries produce more than the market requires, farmers lose their shirts.
Hemp could be a useful crop for our farmers to put in rotation. We would no doubt come up with new uses for it, but understand that most industrialized nations already have legal hemp industries. Are they all just completely inept and incapable harnessing the magic of hemp but we're so brilliant that we could easily save the world with it? We have huge countries with sophisticated agricultural sectors and sophisticated textile industries, manufacturing, etc., producing hemp, and while it's a useful crop for limited purposes that has some market, it's not anywhere close to being the wonderplant many people seem to think it is. That's just the facts. I have to look at the facts and be skeptical of wild theoretical claims that could only be true if all these other 30 something nations are completely inept. Do you think the Chinese are incapable of taking cheap raw materials and producing cheap goods with their cheap labor?
The worldwide hemp market is worth something like $400,000,000 now. Farmers in Canada make a couple of hundred bucks an acre for hemp, which isn't bad, but before when they overproduced many lost their shirts.
I am not anti-hemp, I just think people who want marijuana to be legalized should not focus much attention on the virtues of hemp because the wild claims about it are easily disproved and those making the wonderplant arguments quickly lose credibility. There are more effective arguments.
My bet is that pot will be legalized sometime in the next decade if not in the latter part of this decade. When that happens there won't be much need to grow < 1% marijuana. Multipurpose strains of marijuana will be developed to supply the market for hemp and marijuana. I can imagine huge field of higher THC "hemp" being mechanically harvested and dried and then mechanically processed to remove the resin for commercial grade hash while the rest of the plant is used for other purposes. Hash making is a rather wasteful process, yields per pound or ton of pot are low, but with huge fields of specially developed strains of high THC "hemp," mechanized mass production and use of the rest of the plant for other purposes it could be cost effective and producers could blend resins from different strains, throw in preservatives and stabilizers and flavors and so on to make a consistent product with a consistent texture, smell, taste, potency, etc., with a ridiculously long shelf life that is marketed to the masses like Bud Light. That may be a scary thought for some who want pot legalized, but it is kind of the American way. The big corporations that are supposedly terrified of hemp (and medical marijuana) will be the ones producing most of it in the future. And, if hemp was such a wonderplant it would be an incredibly profitable plant and our big corporations would have already gotten it legalized so they could rake in all that money.
-
05/08/2011 4:24:00 PM
Joanie, I applaud your legalization stance, but you are mistaken when it comes to the potential uses for hemp. I "have done my research" and so has the USDA. Hemp yields 4 times more paper pulp per acre than trees (USDA bulletin 404). Why do we have DEA regulations that prohibit the growing of this plant? It is not a drug. As you mentioned, George Washington Carver did his homework and came up with a new use for peanuts. Why couldn't some modern day George Washington Carver do the same thing with hemp? If industrial hemp were legalized with a minor rule change by the DEA, we could let the free market decide if it was economic grow the crop or not. We don't need this excessive government regulation killing potential jobs. The "better and cheaper" products that we use now which used to come from hemp include petroleum derivatives such as nylon and paper pulp from old-growth forests and tropical rainforests. Of course, oil is expensive now, and the forests are disappearing. What will take its place when our "better and cheaper" sources are no longer better and cheaper ? I have seen stands of feral hemp firsthand, so I am qualified to tell you that it has a phenomenal growth rate with no fertilizer or pesticides. It produces high-quality seed oil that is higher in beneficial omega 3 acids than any other source. It fibers are superior to cotton. To oppose the cultivation of this plant is big government, anti-jobs, reefer madness! Check out "Hemp for Victory" and "Hemp and the Rule of Law" on youtube.com if you don't believe me.
-
05/08/2011 4:23:00 PM
We need to re-Legalize industrial hemp. It is important to note that industrial hemp is not actually illegal, but the DEA continues to overstep its legal bounds. Check out "Hemp and the Rule of Law" on youtube if you want to know more about our big spending, job-killing DEA.
-
05/05/2011 8:50:00 PM
Joanie, I applaud your legalization stance, but you are mistaken when it comes to the potential uses for hemp. I "have done my research" and so has the USDA. Hemp yields 4 times more paper pulp per acre than trees (USDA bulletin 404). Why do we have DEA regulations that prohibit the growing of this plant? It is not a drug. As you mentioned, George Washington Carver did his homework and came up with a new use for peanuts. Why couldn't some modern day George Washington Carver do the same thing with hemp? If industrial hemp were legalized with a minor rule change by the DEA, we could let the free market decide if it was economic grow the crop or not. We don't need this excessive government regulation killing potential jobs. The "better and cheaper" products that we use now which used to come from hemp include petroleum derivatives such as nylon and paper pulp from old-growth forests and tropical rainforests. Of course, oil is expensive now, and the forests are disappearing. What will take its place when our "better and cheaper" sources are no longer better and cheaper ? I have seen stands of feral hemp firsthand, so I am qualified to tell you that it has a phenomenal growth rate with no fertilizer or pesticides. It produces high-quality seed oil that is higher in beneficial omega 3 acids than any other source. It fibers are superior to cotton. To oppose the cultivation of this plant is big government, anti-jobs, reefer madness! Check out "Hemp for Victory" and "Hemp and the Rule of Law" on youtube.com if you don't believe me.
-
Joanie 05/05/2011 6:29:00 PM
I'm 110% for legalizing marijuana and regulating it like alcohol, but I agree with the author on the hemp issue. It would be helpful to the marijuana legalization argument if hemp really was a wonderplant like many think it is, but the simple fact is it is not so hot. Hemp production is legal now in most industrialized nations, thirty some odd nations including big ones like China, Russia and India. Guess how much fuel is produced from hemp on a commercial basis around the world? None, nada, zip. Why? Because there are better biofuel feedstocks. In fact, while Jack Herer may have been right about there being so many uses for hemp, usually there is something better and or cheaper to use. George Washington Carver came up with hundreds of uses for the humble peanut, and really helped build a market for that crop. The fact is though that the peanut is only used for a couple of the potential uses he came up with because something else turned out to be better and/or cheaper for the intended use. That has turned out to be the case with hemp.
People suggesting the author do some research, I suggest you do some research. Don't look at pro hemp sites with their wildly exaggerated theoretical claims. Look at real world numbers. Look at what's going on in the existing worldwide hemp industry. What you will find is that there is only a very limited market for hemp. You will find that hemp textiles are only produced on a larger scale in countries with dirt cheap labor because it is so expensive to process. You will find that there isn't much hemp paper being produced and that most sold is really wood pulp paper with a tiny amount of hemp in it that they sell to people who think it's cool to use hemp products. You'll find that much of what is grown is used in expensive novelty products for people who think hemp is cool, and you'll see that hemp isn't "saving the world" anywhere where it's legal now. It's just a way over hyped product, and in real world applications it is no wonderplant.
We're doing way more harm than good keeping marijuana illegal. Support for legalization is growing steadily and there should be 50%+ support for legalization among voters sometime in the second half of this decade if the long running trends in attitudes on legalization continue. We need to do a better job convincing my older people and more conservatives to get on board with us and we'll get it legalized maybe even this decade. We won't do that with bullshit arguments though. Weed worshiping wonderplant arguments and all the anti-corporation conspiracy theories that don't hold water either aren't helping us one bit. Only stoners and die hard liberals buy into that crap, and we already have them on our side. God bless Jack Herer but the man was a paranoid hippie who was full of bullshit and people need to bury The Emporer Wears No Clothes in their closets and get away from weed worshiping conspiracy theory arguments and start talking how this particular prohibition does more harm than good, how it funds organized crime (destabilizing Mexico and leading to even more illegal immigration), how it causes millions of Americans to be exposed to really dangerous and addictive drugs sold in the same black market where they buy their pot, how we're wasting a fortune and not making pot hard to find or anymore expensive than beer on a buzz for buzz basis. We need to talk about how more than 50% of all American adults under 65 have already smoked it, so we aren't stopping anything anyway. We need to talk about how futile this prohibition is and how we could save a fortune not trying in vain to keep up this ban, generate tax revenues, create tax paying jobs in the industry and for regulators.
Next time you hear a stoner talking about how the big corporations are keeping pot illegal because they're afraid of hemp (or even medical marijuana), smack 'em. Set them straight. Help them come up with arguments that aren't bullshit and actually have some potential for winning over the people we need on our side. Corporations can and will profit from pot when we legalize it, and we will legalize it, sooner rather than later if we get away from useless bullshit arguments.
-
Cannabis Charlie 05/05/2011 6:05:00 PM
Matt, Matt, Matt, do your homework, you have no idea what you're talking about. And you're calling Mark dumb? The title was a good indication that nobody should waste their time reading this opinionated, baseless garbage written by someone who obviously has a personal agenda!
-
05/05/2011 4:55:00 PM
I agree that Matt Smith is as dumb as a potted plant. This bias against so-called "potheads" has something to do with a personal issue and it comes across as embarrassing and unprofessional. Hey Matt, do you have a bias against alcoholics, too? Should we outlaw the production of grain because it might get brewed into the hard drug known as alcohol? Industrial hemp was never outlawed under the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. It is the over funded and out of control DEA that is preventing the farmers from growing it. Why not allow the free market to work and deregulate the growing of hemp? We have a government that is over $14 trillion in debt and 10% unemployment. Banning a useful crop that grows like crazy almost anywhere without much fertilizers or pesticides is not helping our bottom line. Regardless of Matt's economic arguments, no one would force a farmer to grow hemp in this country. Matt Smith hates the idea that we citizens might be allowed a little extra shred of freedom to grow a potentially useful crop. Matt and his drug warrior buddies are big spending, anti-job, control freaks. For everyone else who might be on the fence concerning this issue, check out the movie "Hemp and the Rule of Law" on youtube.com. For Matt, you have your head too far up your butt for anyone with half a brain to take you seriously. If you don't like living in California, get the hell out. Move to a place where people are more intolerant. They will love your stupid, biased arguments there.
-
05/05/2011 12:54:00 AM
Marijuana is the safest drug with actual benefits for the user as opposed to alcohol which is dangerous, causes addiction, birth defects, and affects literally every organ in the body. Groups are organizing all over the country to speak their minds on reforming pot laws. I drew up a very cool poster for the cause which you can check out on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/01/vote-teapot-2011.html Drop in and let me know what you think!
-
Clark Culver 05/04/2011 11:10:00 PM
"Dumb as a Potted Plant"
So, this refers to the writer. He appears to have quite a chip on his shoulder. Matt, do you feel better after your little hate-filled rant?
-
FactCheck 05/04/2011 8:19:00 PM
"allowing farmers to grow industrial hemp that no one really needs."
I stopped reading here. You are uninformed and biased. I recommend doing just a little research into the many, MANY things that hemp could be used for in our economy.
