I wanted to post an article I found in the local paper but that would take too much time, so I will parphrase it.

Bassicaly, the United States is at it again. For years I have been trying to figure out why hemp necklaces, hemp chapstick, hemp oils, etc have sold here with no proclems. Last night answered that for me. As I read the newspaper before sleeping I learned that our laws leave a loophole for this product... sort of.

Hemp products (which include food that I have never seen such as bread and butterlike stuff) are made from the seeds that have been shelled and ground up. They make a good source of vitamin E, contain most of the fatty acids we need, and are richer in protein than meat and fish. But unfortuanatly they also contian THC. Despite the fact that the seed contains .000015 percent THC while the marijuanna sold illegally usually contains 10 percent. This isn't even enough to show up for a UA.

There are other products out there with simlilar situations, ie poppy seed products (the poppy plant is the source for opium and the seed its self contians opiates, enough to show up in a UA). But the government has already said that poppy seeds are not to be included in these sort of measures (substance-abuse laws of 1970) Decaffinated coffee still contains a small amount of caffine, Nyquills first ingrediant is listed as alcohol, and there is an herbal suplement known as kava kava which is reported to cause liver probems.

The US is the only country in the world that does not recognize the different between marijuana and hemp. The laws say that THC is wrong, not JUST smoking or eating the marijuana leaf.

The reason I felt like pointing this out is because the US recently outlawed marijuana for medicinal use and is imprisioning the manufacturs of those plants. So this is kind of fucked up. I'm just not sure if I should put this here, the conspircy forum, or anywhere else.

Hmm... we should get rid of single-ply toilet paper because it causes some people to get rashes.

No no no!! Just if it's made out of hemp... if it's made out of anyting else but causes problems it's ok!

I agree that hemp is a product with myriad uses, and would be sure to be a massive cash crop. I see a couple of problems with getting current laws changed or reversed, however.

First, you have resistance from other companies that would stand to lose money if hemp became a national cash crop. For instance, you can make paper out of hemp. There goes money for the logging industry. They'll fight for that.

Second, many of the advocates of the legalization of hemp (at least many of the ones I've actually met and spoken to) also seem to have a problem differentiating between hemp and marijuana. They seem to think that by pushing for this type of legislation will allow them to smoke out without being arrested for it. With representation like this, the cause for hemp legalization is hurt rather than helped.

Now if the tobacco companies could be convinced that lobbying for hemp legalization would provide their businesses with an alternate cash crop should they lose too much revenue from the anti-smoking campaigns...that would be a definite advantage. It's always good to have big business on your side.

I'm not saying I can do anything about it... it's just interesting and I would LIKE to do something about it. I havre heard most of that before (But thank you anyway )
I have heard that R J Renolds and other companies (specifically whoever makes Marborlos ) already have the land set aside to start making marijuana ciggarettes. It just worries me that they will put chemicals in that too and make weed as harmful as any othr ciggarette.
I just found it interesting that hemp seeds are getting heat when they give you such litttle THC and poppy seeds that show up as herion on a UA are fine.

They'd be smarter to think of it as land set aside for hemp fields. Industrial hemp would be a more likely candidate. It would also make them a lot more likeable to the general public... I don't see industrial hemp and marijuana getting legalized together.

It is a rather weak argument, I'll agree.

I'm not quite sure what's going on with the ciggarette companies, it was a rumor I heard last year. Something about them preparing land and facilities.

DAMN THEM!!! Drugs are bad, but hemp is so more than beyond useful. If they want to make any damned laws, they should apply to the shit being used as drugs-- not being used as real and useful things!

[this is all from memory, so I don't have any statistics or technical whatnot] The paper that could be made of it, as was somewhat mentioned, would be putting down the tree people business, but it would be SO much better for the environment, not having to cut down all of the big pretty trees . . . . The gas that can be made from it is so damned environment friendly and so damned cheap that the gas people would be out of business like that! Also, if these businesses were to be started, the profit they'd make would pay off the whole business in about 2 years. So of course all the corporate bastards are going to fight to the death to keep this shit illegal. *sigh* There's definitely something wrong with the world when people choose money over the environment . . . .

that's weird, never really thought of the selling of marijuana on a large scale basis when it was to legalised. more like just decriminalised. to me it's just a little bit weird how the existance of a naturally occuring thing can be illegal.
i wonder what the market for marijuana cigarettes would be like? would peple continue to buy from their dealers or grow it themselves when it was made legal? or would you pick some up at the supermarket? i think personally i'd grow my own knowing that companies would be injecting their own shit into it. one thing about the dealer situaltion though, is that once it is made legal, the price will have to come down because dealers would be in competition with companies that would be manufacturing it cheaply. threfore, would dealers still bother? they're getting less money for what they've always done. or i suppose the emphasis would be that they're stuff is more natural and safe. organics and shit.

as for the hemp argument, to me it is ridiculous. why don't the companies opposing it, just get shares in the industry before it booms? makes sense to me. rather than trying to fight a battle that will never go away.

in the Uk it used to be the law that everyone had to grow hemp on their land as they needed it for royal navy sails and ropes in whatever wars were going on at the time (I believe).

Yep, and if you want to know why it's now illegal worldwide check out the setting up of OPEC

I'm not going to go into a big speil about it, but some of the OPEC countries had real problems with Marajuana (being brought in from other countries and crippiling their economy etc.) and they had it written into their constitution that any country buying oil from them would have to stamp it out.

If you're interested look it up.

Yeah-- and I read something related to that! I don't know what year that was, but I'm assuming it was FOREVER long ago. Anyway, when the little people who do this crap dug up million year old British shipwrecks, they found that the ropes and sails made from hemp were still in tact, as opposed to whatever the hell they now use to make the stuff. Such nonsense . . . .

Holy shit! I could kick someone! *grumbles* That is such nonsense . . . . I'm too lazy, though . . . . could you give me a link or some such that I could refer to?