Hemp and all its uses. Why is it illegal?

[LONDONER]

That's a moot question given all the uses it can be put to in the following article. Hemp could free us from oil, prevent deforestation, cure cancer and it’s environmentally friendly – so why exactly is it illegal?

http://healthimpactnews.com/2013/hemp-co...t-illegal/

[ck86]

Is it only illegal if you dry it then sell it for people to smoke tho? I know you can buy hemp oil from the supermarkets and hemp products from the body shop.

I'm not sure tho. Not an expert on the matter.... :-)

[mookytx]

watch the movie reefer madness. All fake but a con to to get congress to make it illegal to benefit William Randolph Hurst and the paper industry.

[ShiftyNJ]

I don't even smoke but I think it is stupid how much money we spend on policing it and how many people (disproportionately people of color, BTW) are arrested and their lives screwed up for minor possession. Being as into music as I am (and my family is) I have been around pot smokers my whole life and I fail to see how it is any worse than drinking or smoking regular cigs.

[Beaux]

Hemp could free us from oil..... – so why exactly is it illegal?

http://healthimpactnews.com/2013/hemp-co...t-illegal/

Kinda answers its self, nes pa?

[Beaux]

I don't even smoke but I think it is stupid how much money we spend on policing it and how many people (disproportionately people of color, BTW) are arrested and their lives screwed up for minor possession. Being as into music as I am (and my family is) I have been around pot smokers my whole life and I fail to see how it is any worse than drinking or smoking regular cigs.

Hemp and pot aren't actually the same plant, same family but hemp can't get you high. They just LOOK alike.....
~Beaux

[MikeW]

Well, [MENTION=18457]LONDONER[/MENTION], if you really want to know the answer to that question -- it's all about the money. Big financial forces in the US. Harry Anslinger (in bed with the DuPont, [petrochemical] and Hearst [wood pulp] corporate interests) deliberately (or perhaps out of ignorance) conflated cannabis and hemp in the public mind, using the Hearst newspaper industry to spread horror stories about cannabis use.

If you're really interested in this -- and it is quite a fascinating story -- you might want to read THIS. Its a lecture so a bit windy so if you want to get to the gist of it, scroll down to the sections on the Harrison Tax Act of 1937. This guy tells the story of HOW Hemp was made "illegal" in the US. Typical US politics. Madness, I tell you, madness! And we plebs have suffered the consequences since.

[ShiftyNJ]

Kinda answers its self, nes pa?

That's depressing /infuriating if it's true. So we're all kililng ourselves slowly for no reason just because of the greed of a handful?

[LJay]

An old, old syndrome, Shifty.

It is the classic example of an irrational campaign to the unthinking public. Things really have not changed.

We have legislation proposed here in Virginia to legalize pot. My bet is that the prejudice/emotion and grandstanding will win out once again in the General Assembly as the reps march like lemmings toward re-election, fearful that they will be criticized for standing up for something sensible. The criticism will come from people who fall for things like Anslinger's campaign.

True, hemp and pot are two different things, but try explaining that to Senator Foghorn's constituency right here in the state where the founding fathers grew the stuff.

PS: Along with the arguments that it is silly and wasteful of time, money and resources to prosecute this stuff, it is too seldom mentioned that having pot laws on the books provides the police with a lovely excuse to raid and arrest. The police state will not want to give that up. Talk about a gateway drug. It provides a handy gateway for police harassment.