Hemp: Republicans to the rescue!

[sailingaway]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dar-williams/hemp-republicans-to-the-r_b_857360.html

[jmdrake]

Great article!

Imagine my surprise to see that for the last five years, Congressman Ron Paul (R, Texas) had actually been sponsoring HR 1866, The Industrial Hemp Farming Act. Last year it was introduced with twenty-five co-sponsors, five of whom were Republicans.

The bill calls "to amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marihuana" and allow states to regulate hemp laws.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R, California) ticked off an impressive list of hemp's benefits, including more self-reliance for farmers, adding "To restrict our society's use of hemp for these very valuable attributes in order to prevent people from smoking marijuana in their backyards; it makes no sense."


He's right. Here's a non-exhaustive list of hemp's contributions to society:

1. Hemp is a fiber crop that doesn't require any pesticides or herbicides (cotton gets the third largest dose of pesticides in this country).

2. Hemp is a helpful rotation crop. North Dakotan farmers think hemp could help break the hold of Fusarium Head Blight on their wheat.

3. The stalk can be used for bio-fuel, and it's not a food product (unlike corn or soy, which incidentally are #1 and #2 in pesticide use). Hemp seeds can make fuel, too, but these days the seeds are prohibitively expensive, because...

4. Hemp seeds are an excellent source of protein, and they are a preferred ingredient in many health products and cosmetics.

5. The long fibers of hemp can be mixed with recycled paper (whose fibers weaken with repeated recycling) to strengthen the paper and the recycled paper industry.

6. Efficient dual-use factories can harvest seeds and stalks for use as food, fuel and fiber. Every part of the plant is important.

I hope Ron brings this up tonight.

[specsaregood]

I hope Ron brings this up tonight.

Not to mention it is another 10's of millions of dollars we export overseas because people pay to import hemp products from other countries. that is 10's of millions that could stay and support jobs in the US.

[Koz]

I don't want them to bring it up tonight, this is a question for the general. It will not help us in the primary.

One question though, why are the hemp seeds expensive?? It does one of these...

Hemp is not marijuana, and you cannot get high from it. Most people do not understand this.