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Raging Pencils by
Mike "quinoa" Stanfill
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Rope A Dope
"Make the most of the hemp seed and grow it everywhere." -
George Washington
 The
U.S. Constitution was printed on hemp.
That's Cannibis Sativa, BTW, not Cannibis Indica, famous for its THC. Sativa
is largely THC free.
Hemp was the plastic of its day. In fact, the oil from hemp can be used just
like plastic, both extruded and injection-molded.
You can eat its leaves and the seeds provide as complete a source of proteins
as soy or quinoa. The oil pressed from the seed is highly nutritious, full of
essential fatty acids, good for salads or cooking.
You can use the hurds to make lightweight concrete, the fibers to make strong,
soft clothing or tough rope. Mercedes uses it in car interiors.
Hemp requires no pesticides or herbicides, and works double-duty providing soil
control. It's among the fastest-growing plants and would be ideal for producing
biofuels.
The more you study this plant, the more you wonder what all the fuss is about.
Hemp was the #1 cash crop in America up until 1937 when it was suddenly demonized.
The US is, in fact, the only country where it is illegal to be grown.
Why? A couple of reasons.
Dupont invented Nylon and wanted to replace all the rope used by the US military
with its new wonder material. William Randolph Hearst owned large swaths of forests
and made a lot of money from his paper mills. Hemp made great rope and good paper
so both companies banded together to eliminate the competition.
Hearst's papers ran editorials about the evils of "marijuana", a term
they coined because everyone already knew hemp to be a safe and useful product.
When the public's fear of this new evil reached significant levels both companies
brought their vast economic weight to bear on Congress and soon the Marijuana
Tax Act of 1937 was passed. It imposed a $100-an-ounce tax on any hemp-related
transaction, effectively killing it as a cash crop in America.
Oddly enough, in 1942 America was unable to import enough hemp to supply its
war effort so it planted over three hundred thousands acres of hemp and built
several factories to process it. Shortly after the war the entire crop was destroyed.
In 1951, in the paranoid days of the Red Scare and Joe McCarthy the Boggs Act
was passed, adding severe penalties for all possession of the dreaded "marijuana".
Considering the vile drugs that can be concocted these days from something as
simple as allergy medicine I say it's high time to decriminalize hemp. Call or
write your congressman and take a bite out of the War On Reason.
=mike=
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Today's
Google Chow.
Censored cartoon.
Hunter lying on back on the ground with huge male lion
standing on his chest. Lion says to hunter:
"I'm guessing that just about now you're starting to reconsider you previous
opposition to vegetarianism."
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