SPECIAL REPORT: Industrial Hemp - High Time for Change

No, this is not a post about legalizing Marijuana for one reason or another. This is about industrial Hemp - part of the same family as Marijuana, but a taller, ganglier version of it and containing barely any THC, that chemical so famously known for getting people high. (In fact, industrial Hemp has so little THC that a full-grown man would have to smoke an entire bale of it to get high and would most likely die of suffocation from the effort.)

I'VE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF INDUSTRIAL HEMP - WHAT IS IT?

Forced to follow its cousin to prison for no other reason than being related to it, Hemp is illegal to grow domestically in the United States (yet oddly enough, it's perfectly okay to import products made from foreign-grown Hemp). It's been that way for 72 years now and the DEA and their brethren have made sure that all domestic family members of this plant stay in the same jail.

The reality of industrial Hemp is that it probably ranks as one of the most useful and versatile plants known to man. Historical data about Hemp is often crowed into the arguments of Marijuana legalization proponents, but those facts bear repeating here: both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew Hemp. The Declaration of Independence was written on Hemp parchment. Most of the uniforms worn by Americans fighting in World War 2 were made of Hemp. It requires no pesticides to grow (unlike cotton) because it grows so quickly. It has a confirmed reputation of cleaning up contaminated water, as demonstrated by its effective usage in and around the Chernobyl nuclear wasteland. One acre of industrial Hemp will produce as much paper as over four acres of trees over a twenty-year period without utilizing the acids and chlorine needed to produce paper from trees. But why stop there? Wikipedia's got the full scoop so click here to read more:

HEMP

Yet for it's long history and laundry list of beneficial qualities, it languishes in an American prison locked behing the U.S. Code while American consumers eagerly buy food, clothing and cosmetic products containing a nearly identical ingredient - Hemp that is not grown in the United States. Every ally of the U.S. allows Hemp cultivation. China and Russia produce hectares of Hemp.
Even North Korea grows industrial Hemp.

This is sheer folly, made more so from the current financial reality of this country. Because of this country's imbecilic treatment of industrial Hemp, Americans are, in effect, sending their dollars to foreign countries where Hemp is legal to cultivate. Kind of sounds like the relationship America has with foreign oil, doesn't it?

In countries where possession of Marijuana warrants harsh repercussions from the local governments, industrial Hemp is not a problem. Even these countries - nowhere near as advanced as the United States - are able to discern the differences between Marijuana and Hemp. These same governments allow Marijuana to grow wild like the literal weed that it is. Perhaps the difference is cultural. A guide in Kazakhstan seems to say as much to a BBC reporter.



It'S ABOUT TIME - HR 1866: The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009

The filing of a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of American industrial Hemp is LONG overdue.

A call that went unanswered for years is now finally being addressed by two Representatives and arguably the most colorful icons of their respective political parties: Ron Paul (R-TX) and Barney Frank (D-Mass).

They have sponsored a bill now pending in Congress that will effectively remove federal restrictions on wide-scale cultivation of industrial Hemp. HR 1866, or the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009 will release industrial Hemp from its unjustified, irrational, senseless incarceration and put it in the hands of farmers and manufacturers who can and will unleash its future benefits and untapped potential.

Even CNBC has picked up on the sheer stupidity of current U.S. policy on Hemp. Although I have disagreed with certain types of cheerleading CNBC has done in the past, it's nice to see their bias swinging in favor of the only rational choice in this case.



HOW YOU CAN HELP

If you want to make your voice heard to make sure that this bill does not die in the House Judiciary Committee, and to imagine that one day, "your car may be a Hemp-mobile," please go to this link:

VOTE HEMP BILL

The folks at Vote Hemp will help make your voice is heard by your Congressional Representative - just start by entering your zip code to find your Representative.