Hemp is illegal for ANTI-COMPETITVE CORPORATE REASONS, e.g. DuPont

[yodermon]

During the 1930s, machinery was developed for separating hemp fibers from the stalk, thus making widespread industrial use feasible. Popular Mechanics called hemp a "billion-dollar crop."

Hemp's future looked promising but this was not to be. DuPont had just obtained patents for making nylon from coal, plastic from oil, and paper from trees.

Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon (an oil baron) was DuPont's chief financial backer. The Hearst newspaper empire owned enormous timber tracts. The oil, synthetic fiber, timber and cotton industries stood to lose billions if hemp was not outlawed.

Secret meetings were held. Treasury Secretary Mellon appointed his nephew-in-law to head the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Hearst newspapers introduced the word "marijuana" into English and inflamed the public with outrageous stories of drug-related violence.

Anti-marijuana films (Reefer Madness and Assassin of Youth) fanned the flames of hysteria. The strategy worked. In 1937, Congress outlawed hemp by imposing a prohibitive tax - just as DuPont's annual report predicted: "... the revenue-raising power of government may be converted into an instrument for forcing acceptance of sudden new ideas of industrial and social reorganization."

DuPont Corporation, 1937 As a model of deception and orchestrated media manipulation, the anti-hemp crusade constitutes one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetuated on the American People. Few public relations campaigns in history can match its success in eradicating competition while transforming citizens into unknowing pawns of big business. The legacy of Reefer Madness lives on today. Industrial-grade hemp is worthless as marijuana since its THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) content is so low, as little as 0.06%.

Industrial-grade hemp varieties poses no psychoactive effects. In contrast, high-grade marijuana strains can have THC contents exceeding 10% but are worthless for industrial purposes.

This vital distinction is lost on those caught up in the anti-drug frenzy currently fashionable in this country - a frenzy perpetuated by vested interests. The New York Times, for example, owns a pulp mill in Canada and benefits from wood pulp paper production.

DuPont, Monsanto, Dow Chemical and Standard Oil are protected from competition by the marijuana laws...as are the cotton, coal, timber, chlorine, polyester, latex paint and vinyl plastic industries. The major considerations blocking hemp's utilization are not agricultural or botanical, but political.

http://www.lightparty.com/Energy/Hemp5.html

[MercutioATC]

1. Hemp cultivation is illegal for the same reason coca cultivaton is illegal.

...because both marijuana and cocaine are ilegal substances.

One may not agree with their being illegal, but your argument is akin to claiming that "corporate flower cartels" are the reason we can't plant opium poppies in our landscaping.

[Webster Green]

2. Huh?

The reason they are illegal is because they are illegal?

That makes no fucking sense at all, and you obviously know nothing about the history of how the stuff became illegal. It was absolutely due to the reasons stated in the OP. Another aspect was that the federal agents were worried about their jobs as prohibition ended, so they needed a new enemy. They made up a bunch of lies about cannabis, presented them to congress, and we still suffer the results 70 years later.

BTW...You can plant Opium poppies in your landscaping. Just don't score the pods to gather the latex. Once the pods are ripe, take the entire plant minus the root ball, stick it in boiling water and make a tea. It tastes better than you would ever think, and it works great. You need to drink two big glasses of it to get the desired effect. Look for bread seed poppy seed when you go to plant. The Latin for the desired species is Papaver somniferum. Enjoy!

Glad I could help with your confusion. :smoke:

[MercutioATC]

6. Actually, opium poppies are a Class II controlled substance.

Enforcement is spotty, but they ARE specifically listed.

http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/law/law_fed_sched2.shtml

[Webster Green]

9. Looks like I'll stand corrected on the opium poppies..

I was under the impression that you could grow them if you didn't score the pods. Maybe its a state guideline? I know you can order the seeds online or whatever.

Thanks for citing the federal law. Perhaps you've saved me some hassle. :P

[MercutioATC]

14. As that article (and others) say, it's not uniformly enforced.

...especially because opium poppy products (like seeds) ARE legal and are used for commercial purposes.


Seems to be a gray area as far as whether one would be be charged or not...but if they wanted to charge you, the law is there.

[devilgrrl]

3. WTF are you smoking?

What? :crazy:

You can't get high off of hemp. Are you insane?

[MercutioATC]

5. I didn't suggest that one could...but hemp does contain THC

The concentration might be very low, but THC is a controlled substance.

[devilgrrl]

12. BFD!

A lame argument.

[MercutioATC]

13. "Lame"? THC is a controlled substance.

...which is why cultivating hemp (without a permit) is illegal.

What part of that doesn't make sense?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. Yes, but why is it illegal?

[MercutioATC]

16. For the same reason opiates are controlled substances...

...because our society views THC as something that's availability should be restricted.

Personally, I don't agree with ANY drug laws, but restricting the cultivation of hemp IS consistent with existing drug laws.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. That's a dodge.

Why does society view that THC should be restricted?

[MercutioATC]

18. Not a dodge...for the same reason cocaine is restricted.

As I said, I think we should be able to ingest whatever we'd like...but the law has decided that some substances are to be controlled.

THC and cocaine (and others) are controlled.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. I'm asking why.

Why THC and not, say, caffeine or nicotine.

Maybe I can ask this another way...

Why did W.R. Hearst, the iconoclast of personal greed, shrewd businessman, wholly immoral bugaboo, and drunk, who owned vast tracts of Canadian wood pulp land which he had used to make a fortune bootlegging alcohol during Prohibition and was stuck with it thereafter... why did he suddenly, upon the end of prohibition, become an anti-marijuana teetotaler and expend no small amount of his resources to create and flame an anti-marihuana crusade when such had essentially not existed before?

[MercutioATC]

21. Why (in some states) are we required to wear seat belts?

Misguided legislators, in an attempt to save us from ourselves, have decided that we have to do something "for our own good".

The same applies to drug legislation.

I agree that controlled drugs are no more harmful than nicotine or alcohol. It's the hypocrisy of most of the pro-marijuana crowd (in this case, the pro-hemp crowd) that I find annoying.

There's no logical basis for arguing to allow THC unless one is campaigning to legalize ALL drugs.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

22. Becaus seatbelt laws dramatically increase seat belt usage.

Another dodge.

[MercutioATC]

23. Why is seatbelt usage desirable?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

24. Because seltbelt use saves lives.

But again, the dodge.

[MercutioATC]

29. ...and the majority of society feels that restricting the availability of certain drugs "saves lives

It's not a dodge, it's a logical process.

You may not agree that THC poses a risk to people sufficient to legally outweigh its availability, but that's society's decision.

It's not some vast conspiracy, THC is a controlled substance because the majority of people (however "wrong" they might be) believe that restricting its availability saves lives.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

30. Why do the vast majority of society have such a clear misperception?

[baldguy]

36. Fruit juices naturally contain alcohol.

Should people have to be 21 to buy Minute Maid?

The fact is that if hemp wasn't a threat to DuPont, marijuana wouldn't be illegal.

[leftstreet]

4. Have you found a way to get high off hemp? Recipe link please n/t

[Greyhound]

7. That is both accurate and completely documented.

I don't know why people are so resistant to simple facts.
:kick: & R

[wovenpaint]

8. Bingo!

This article explains it well. k & r

:kick:

[HopeHoops]

10. The cotton industry had a lot to do with that as well.

They funded a large portion of the anti-hemp activities. Although hemp has always been a far superior fiber, and was used for all of the rigging and sails on the ships that won our independence, the cotton industry was well organized and aggressive. The criminalization of hemp eliminated their only serious natural fiber competition.

[dysfunctional press]

26. cotton requires A LOT of chemicals- herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers...

hemp doesn't need any.

that pisses chemical companies off.

[HopeHoops]

27. Cotton is one of THE WORST crops you can grow with respect to soil depletion.

Yes, the chemical companies love the crop. Hemp is a weed that will grow damn near anywhere all on its own.

[BolivarianHero]

11. Nice to read things like this...

It reminds me that when Ron Paul yahoo types whine about the establishment, they explain their gripes in terms of kooky conspiracy theories. Conversely, progressive and leftists outline their criticisms and the reasons behind them in terms of the scoial and economic relationships that exist among people, ideas, things, and institutions.

[maxpower]

19. I absolutely agree

I also think the big pharm has helped keep it illegal. I happen to think that if they legalized marijuana they would see their profits dwindle. They can't patent a flower that grows anywhere. Just my two cents.

[dysfunctional press]

25. if hemp were grown in rotation with other crops, there'd be less need for fertilizers, too...

it puts a lot of nitrogen into the soil. it also doesn't require herbicides or pesticides.

unlike cotton.

chemical companies make those chemicals in abundance.

[Union Yes]

28. It looks like maryjane AHHHHH KILL IT!!!

:sarcasm:



For real..

Legalize all plants that look like maryjane!

:hippie:


Hemp farming could create an entire new industry in America. A much needed new cash crop for our FAMILY farmers.

How the hell did we ever outlaw a weed that grows in the ditches of many American states?

[mdmc]

31. kick

[Curtland1015]

32. I dunno, I think hemp is illegal because America is so puritanical. Any financial benefits...

...are likely just a side effect.

[Xicano]

33. Industrial Hemp: The Billion Dollar Crop.

[sarcasmo]

34. Makes you wonder how many lobbyist Dupont and Dow have roaming the beltway.

[Mopar151]

35. They've bought so many

it's hard to get a count.