By Ralph Nader Source: Common Dreams USA -- Congressman Ron Paul, a libertarian from Texas and an obstetrician who has delivered over 6000 babies, is trying to deliver our farmers from a bureaucratic medievalism in Washington that keeps saying "No" to growing industrial hemp. Many farmers want to grow this 5000 year old long fiber plant that has been turned into thousands of products since being domesticated by the ancient Chinese. That is their heresy. The enforcer is the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Washington, DC, which has placed industrial hemp on its proscribed list next to marijuana. Detailed petitions signed by agricultural groups, agricultural commissioners, International Paper Co. and others were presented to both Clinton and Bush to take industrial hemp off the DEA list and let the states allow farmers to grow it. The DEA turned the petitions down cold. The arguments for this great, sturdy and environmentally benign plant are legion. In over 30 countries where it is commercially grown, including Canada, France, China and Romania, industrial hemp has been used to produce hemp food, hemp fuel, hemp paper, hemp cloth, hemp cosmetics, hemp carpet and even hemp door frames (Ford and Mercedes). Factories, food stores and paper manufacturers are free to import raw hemp or finished hemp materials from foreign countries. Last year, about $250 million worth of hemp products were purchased from abroad. But federal law in the US prohibits farmers or anyone else from growing it on US soil. Why? The DEA says that industrial hemp grown next to marijuana can camouflage and impede law enforcement against the latter. Strange. This problem doesn't bother Canadian police authorities or similar officials in other nations. Besides, since industrial hemp is only 1/3 of 1 percent THC, growing it next to marijuana would cross-pollinate and dilute the illegal marijuana plants. No marijuana grower wants industrial hemp anywhere near his or her pot plots. You can smoke a bushel of industrial hemp and not get high. Far too little THC. Like poppy seeds on bread. You may, however, get a headache, if you try. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew industrial hemp on their farms. Drafts of the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper. Imagine the billions of trees and tons of bleach chemicals which would have been saved were hemp a big source of paper. A multi-billion dollar a year farm crop blocked. During World War II, hemp was made into very strong rope for the war effort. The Department of Agriculture made a film "Hemp for Victory" to encourage more cultivation. Enter Ron Paul, the courageous. Numerous colleagues of Rep. Paul, in both the House and Senate, believe as he does regarding the legalization of industrial hemp farming, but they are afraid to go public lest they be accused of being "soft on drugs". This is true, for example, of the North Dakota Congressional delegation, in spite of overwhelming private and public support for farmers being allowed to plant it in their spacious state. On June 23, 2005, Congressman Paul introduced HR 3037, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act. The bill requires the federal government to respect state laws (already five of them) allowing the growing of industrial hemp. Immediately, Congressmen Peter Stark (D - CA) and Jim McDermott (D - WA) co-sponsored the legislation. Rep. Paul's announcement was made during lunchtime in the Rayburn Office Building at the House of Representatives. Denis Cicero, owner of the Galaxy Global Eatery in New York City, served up a delicious and nutritious luncheon featuring industrial hemp. Speaking were two leading North Dakota farmers, David Monson, also a state legislator, and Roger Johnson, the North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner. Their remarks were so compelling that in my remarks, I asked whether there were any DEA representatives in the audience who wished to reply. Nobody responded. Last summer I shared a podium with Rep. Paul at a large gathering of organic farm and food enthusiasts in New England. It was a debate of sorts. At one point, I challenged the Congressman to apply his libertarian philosophy by introducing legislation to let farmers have the freedom to grow industrial hemp and sell it to manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers. He immediately said he would. And he has done it. There are those like former CIA chief, James Woolsey, who support growing hemp to reduce our reliance on imported oil. More broadly, industrial hemp advances the growth of a carbohydrate-based economy instead of a hydrocarbon-based economy. Thomas Alva Edison, Henry Ford I and the presidents of MIT and Harvard dreamed of this transition during the nineteen-twenties. Unfortunately, the synthetic chemical industry of DuPont, Dow Chemical and others pushed this dream aside. The rest is the history of environmental damage, pollution-disease, geopolitical crises and many other external costs. Please urge your members of Congress to support HR 3037. Free our farmers and you, the consumers, to move toward a more sustainable economy. Visit: http://www.woodconsumption.org/ -- http://www.votehemp.org/ & http://www.NAIHC.org/ for more information. Source: Common Dreams (ME) Author: Ralph Nader Published: Saturday, June 25, 2005 Copyright: 2005 Common Dreams Contact: editor@commondreams.org Website: http://www.commondreams.org/ Link to article: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20903.shtml
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="385"> <tbody><tr><td bgcolor="#aaddaa">Action Alert</td></tr> \t\t\t<tr><td height="10"> </td></tr> \t\t \t\t<tr> \t\t<td valign="top" width="385"> \t\t\t<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="385"> \t\t\t<tbody><tr> \t\t\t \t\t<td align="left" valign="top" width="100"> \t\t \t\t</td> \t\t<td valign="top"> \t \t\t\tCongress Considers Industrial Hemp Legislation ' \t\t\tAsk your Representative to support H.R. 3037 \t\t\t</td> \t\t\t</tr> \t\t\t<tr><td colspan="2" height="5"> </td></tr> \t\t</tbody></table> \t\t\t<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="385"> \t\t\t<tbody><tr> \t\t\t<td align="left" valign="top"> \t\t\t\t<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0">\t\t \t\t\t\t<tbody><tr><td> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t \t\t <form action="/norml2/mail/compose/" method="get" onsubmit="return verify(this);"> \t\t\t\t\t<input name="voteid" value="0" type="hidden"> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<input name="alertid" value="7766166" type="hidden"> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t<input name="target" value="NH" type="hidden"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t<input name="target" value="NH" type="hidden"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<input name="type" value="CO" type="hidden"> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<input name="billid" value="7766161" type="hidden"> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="100"> \t\t\t\t\t<tbody><tr> \t\t\t\t\t<td> \t\t\t\t\t<table bgcolor="#000000" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0"> \t\t\t\t\t<tbody><tr> \t\t\t\t\t<td> \t\t\t\t\t<table bgcolor="#eeeeee" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="100"> \t\t\t\t\t<tbody><tr> \t\t\t\t\t<td colspan="2" align="left"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t</td> \t\t\t\t\t</tr> \t\t\t\t\t<tr> \t\t\t\t\t<td align="center"> \t\t\t\t\t<input name="azip" size="5" maxlength="5" type="text"> \t\t\t\t\t</td> \t\t\t\t\t<td align="right"> \t\t\t <input value="Go!" type="submit"> \t\t\t\t\t</td> \t\t\t\t\t</tr> \t\t\t\t\t</tbody></table> \t\t\t\t\t</td> \t\t\t\t\t</tr> \t\t\t\t\t</tbody></table> \t\t\t\t\tRead about this bill \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t</td> \t\t\t\t\t</tr> \t\t\t\t\t</tbody></table> \t\t\t\t\t</form> \t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t\t</td></tr> \t\t\t\t</tbody></table> \t\t\tNORML is pleased to announce the introduction of H.R. 3037, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2005, sponsored by Reps. Sam Farr (D-CA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Jim McDermott (D-WA), George Miller (D-CA) and Ron Paul (R-TX). This legislation is the first bill ever to be introduced in Congress to repeal the federal ban on the cultivation of industrial hemp as a commercial crop. If passed, H.R. 3037 would allow states the legal authority to license and regulate hemp cultivation without conflicting with federal law. To date, several states have passed legislation authorizing the cultivation of industrial hemp for research and commercial purposes. However, farmers in these states can not legally grow hemp without federal permission to do so. House Bill 3037 would remove this federal hurdle by granting states "exclusive authority" to regulate the growing and processing of industrial hemp. Currently, the United States is the only developed nation that fails to cultivate industrial hemp as an economic crop, according to a 2005 Congressional Resource Service (CRS) report. Hemp is a distinct variety of the plant species cannabis sativa that contains only minute (less than 1%) amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Farmers worldwide grow hemp commercially for fiber, seed, and oil for use in a variety of industrial and consumer products, including food. Please take time today to write your Representative and ask them to co-sponsor and support H.R. 3037, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2005.</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody> </table> Link to article: http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=7766166&type=CO
Wow. I watched Magic Weed a week or two ago. I learned about the Hemp for Victory campaign back in WWII and went in search of my new signature picture. And I'm a native Texan... I am absolutely going to contact my congressman!
By Kristin Collins, Staff Writer Source: News & Observer North Carolina -- Hemp wasn't always the pet plant of tie-dyed liberals. Its spiky leaves once covered thousands of acres across the country. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew it. An early draft of the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper. Betsy Ross' flag is said to have been sewn from hemp fabric. Now, a movement is under way to bring hemp back into the mainstream. In June, a Texas congressman introduced legislation to legalize the growing of hemp in the United States for the first time since 1937. Hemp products are legal in the United States, but growing hemp is not. In North Carolina, some say the plant -- which looks like marijuana but has none of its psychoactive properties -- could be salvation for farmers. "It's so easy," said Gale Glenn of Durham, a former Kentucky tobacco farmer who is vice chairwoman of the North American Industrial Hemp Council, which advocates for its legalization. "You close the gate and don't touch it for months. It's exactly what farmers need. They don't need four acres of tomatoes that they have to pick by hand. They need an industrial crop." To hear advocates tell it, hemp is a gold mine. It grows almost anywhere without fertilizers or pesticides. Its fibers can be used to make a variety of products, such as auto parts, bleach-free paper and high-quality fabric. Its seeds are a nutritious snack or a source of luxurious oil. And, though it is in the same family as marijuana, it has such a minuscule amount of THC, the chemical that gets pot smokers high, that it can't be used for recreational purposes. "You could smoke four acres of hemp if you wanted to," Glenn said. "But all you'd have is a terrible headache and sore throat." 'Diabolically Opposed' Hemp is cultivated legally in more than 30 countries, including Canada and much of Europe. But many farmers in North Carolina are not so eager to jump on the hemp bandwagon -- which has been populated for years by the dreadlocked, environmentally conscious and pro-marijuana crowds. The N.C. Farm Bureau opposes the growing of hemp. President Larry Wooten said the bureau takes its cues from law enforcement groups, which he said are "diabolically opposed" to the crop. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration, along with many local law enforcement groups, points out that hemp does have small amounts of THC. And they argue that hemp's similarity in appearance to marijuana would make drug enforcement a nightmare. "I'm against the manufacture of any illegal substance under the guise of industrial hemp or whatever," said Wilkes County Sheriff Dane Mastin, president of the N.C. Sheriff's Association. Importing Hemp Some opponents say there's simply no market for hemp. It has been a long time since the government had a campaign called "Hemp for Victory," which encouraged farmers to grow hemp for parachute cords, rope and other military supplies during World War II. These days, hemp is sold in the United States mostly in the form of high-end clothing in specialty shops and as oil in natural foods shops. "If farmers plant hemp, who's going to buy it?" Wooten asked. "Why isn't the user coming forward saying, 'We need this product. Help us get it.'?" He points to kenaf, a crop in the cotton family that has similar uses, as evidence that hemp would flop. Four years ago, a few Eastern North Carolina farmers planted kenaf as an alternative to tobacco. They put up money for a processing plant and made a deal to sell it to car manufacturers, who used the strong fibers in auto parts. Today, the plant is closed, and the farmers are no longer growing kenaf. Paul Skillicorn, former president of the now-defunct Carolina Kenaf Farmers Foundation, said they were undercut by jute farmers in Bangladesh. But hemp advocates say American farmers should at least have the option to supply the existing hemp market. Those who sell hemp products say it's ridiculous that they have to import all their merchandise. Frank Brown, who runs Natural Selections in Ocracoke, sells hemp clothing, bags, cosmetics, oils and food products. All of the raw materials for his products come from Asia, South America and Europe. "Hemp is an incredible, incredible plant," Brown said. "Even though it's not politically correct, God put it on Earth for us to use it." Staff researcher Becky Ogburn contributed to this report. Source: News & Observer (NC) Author: Kristin Collins, Staff Writer Published: July 11, 2005 Copyright: 2005 The News and Observer Publishing Company Contact: forum@nando.com Website: http://www.newsobserver.com/ Link to article: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20945.shtml