Cannabis: It's Not Just for Smoking
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All Marijuana Is Hemp, Not All Hemp Is Marijuana
On November 4, 2008 the state of Michigan passed a ballot initiative to make medicinal marijuana legal. While this was a great step forward in terms of loosening the legal prohibitions on marijuana use in the United States, the victory obscures an important, little-known fact about marijuana:
Cannabis is not just for smoking.
Cannabis, marijuana, hemp--all of these words refer to the same wild plant. In fact, smoking cannabis is only one very narrow use of this incredibly versatile weed. Only one highly-hybridized, highly-specialized variety of cannabis is even smokable anyway. (Well, you can smoke anything I suppose, but if you smoke industrial hemp you won't get high.)
For most of human history, cannabis has been used for more practical purposes than recreational pharmacopeia.
Cannabis satvia, the most common North American variety of hemp, contains strong fibers and rich botanical oils that can be harvested and made into cloth, rope, shoes, nutritional supplements, food products, plastics, alternative fuels, paper, animal feed and bedding, medicines, and much, much more.
The natural fibers in cannabis satvia, the most commonly grown variety, are one of the first and strongest materials used for making rope. One of the earliest prototype cars built by Henry Ford (over 100 years ago) ran on hempseed oil, not gasoline. (So much for Detroit's claim that they don't have the technology yet for alternative vehicles!) The first paper was likely made of hemp fibers, and some third world countries still make paper out of hemp.
Hemp cloth is similar to linen and is very durable and strong. In medieval times, hemp cloth was the standard material for garments worn by the peasant class, because hemp grew wild and didn't have to be imported like silk or cotton. Hemp seeds are similar in nutritional content to flax seeds (flax is the plant with fibers that give us linen fabric), and are known to help prevent heart disease when ground and sprinkled on cereal or used in baking. You can buy cereals with ground hemp seed in the health food section of most groceries.
Hempseed oil is has industrial applications, fuel applications, and is used in some nutritional supplements. In spite of the fact that hemp is easy to grow and harvest and has literally hundreds of other practical uses, growing hemp, even growing industrial hemp, is illegal in the United States and many other countries.
Why?
Medical Marijuana and Pot Laws
Why is pot illegal?
Marijuana is one of the only substances that can relieve the suffering of terminal cancer patients, yet it is still illegal in many states to prescribe or possess any quantity of cannabis. This strikes me (and many others) as immeasurably cruel. At the very least, a physician should have the ability to prescribe marijuana for medicinal use.
The amount of taxpayer money spent each year to police communities and incarcerate people for recreational use of pot is enormous. Why we are spending huge amounts of money to find and destroy cannabis is an open question.
Pot is bad for your lungs in much the same way that cigarette smoke is bad for your lungs, but we don't make cigarettes illegal. Smoking pot gives you a buzz like alcohol does (not the same buzz or even a similar buzz--what I mean is, like alcohol, it alters your state of mind), and yet alcohol is perfectly legal.
If used chronically (every day, all day) pot does bad things to a personality and has other negative health effects (the THC can actually cause men to grow breasts if they smoke chronically, and impotence is a problem with chronic use as well), but even so, chronic pot use has far fewer negative effects than chronic alcohol use. Yet our one attempt to do criminalize alcohol (Prohibition in the 1920s) was an abyssmal failure, and now we would never even try.
If pot were to be legalized, we would immediately save all the money we are currently wasting on law enforcement and incarceration, plus we could regulate pot production and earn tax revenue both from the producers (the pot growers and packagers) and from the buyers (both the stores that stock the pot and the individuals who buy the pot). Taxing pot purchases could fund whole communities almost by itself, and the people buying the pot would know they were getting just pot--not pot laced with God knows what, which is what they get when they buy pot on the street.
I am convinced that people are going to smoke pot whether it is legal or not. You can take that fact to the bank. By making pot illegal, we are shooting ourselves in the foot as a society. Plus, just to make the whole thing completely insane, we extend this criminalization of pot to all the other useful varieties of hemp--So no rope, no clothes, no plastics, no paper, no food products, no hemp oil for us--We will not have those industries here in the U.S.
Do we need industry in the U.S. right now?
I'd say we could use some industry. I'm no expert, but I'd say we could use a few factory jobs right about now.
Decriminalizing cannabis would create a host of new industries almost overnight, and with those new industries, millions of new jobs. And yet, this idea is barely even on the table as a serious option.
Why not?
Lobbyists and the War on Drugs
When we talk about the war on drugs, which drugs are we talking about?
Mostly we're talking about pot, meth, heroin, cocaine, and an oddball assortment of illegally-obtained OTC drugs made into various street cocktails. Those are the 'bad' drugs, the ones we are supposedly waging a war against.
At the same time, the totally legal pharmaceutical industry is busy inventing new diseases that they can push new (and old out-of-fashion) drugs to cure. If you spend a few hours watching TV on any given weeknight in the U.S., you'll discover that you need A LOT of drugs, a lot of drugs, and that you should ask your doctor about these drugs ASAP. Honestly, how can you still be alive without lots of these drugs?
Get crackin', will ya???? Time's a wastin'!
In fact, just in case you forget which drugs you need to ask your doctor about, the drug commercials you see on TV will usually refer you to a toll-free number or website for coupons and brochures and whatnot that you can take to your doctor to help pester him to prescribe you these drugs that you didn't realize you even needed until you started watching "Wheel Of Fortune".
Some of my biggest pet peeve drug commercials are the ones aimed at middleaged women--drugs that are specially designed to cure the crippling condition of having to pee "too often". I take this kind of thing personally. I mean come on: How often is too often? Who decides such things? What's wrong with just peeing when you have to pee?
Now I know that there is such a thing as urinary incontinence, and I know that it's not funny and that it's also not fun to have that condition. But I also know that there are more and more corporations that penalize employees for peeing on the clock. I've worked for two of these places myself.
Peeing off the clock is not a problem for young men and women with strong bladders who can still hold it until a scheduled off-the-clock potty break, but after a woman has had several kids and hits a certain age, she has to pee more often. There's nothing worse than being chastised at your lousy cubicle job for exceeding your allotted pee time. And trust me, it happens. A lot.
So suddenly, we have these "miracle" anti-pee drugs for women in the their 40s and 50s, and suddenly peeing "too much" is a medical condition.
Sure it is.
Here's a thought: Why can't we invent an anti-stinginess drug for corporate CEOs who are dumb enough to think that their badly-run businesses are losing money because women pee?
Don't hold your breath waiting to see that commercial!
And how about those old guys singing about their Viagra? How embarrassing is that? I mean come on--did we really need that visual? Ick! And what's up with those people who end up side by side in separate bathtubs after the guy takes his Cialis? Did I miss something? Since when is holding hands in separate bathtubs a part of a healthy mature sex life? Bill and I don't even have separate bathtubs. In fact, mostly we just use the shower. (To shower in, I mean, not to...well, you know.)
In fact, who says old people have to be going at it like rabbits anyway? Since when? I mean, if older folks want to have sex and they can, that's great--but honestly, not everyone over fifty wants to be as sexually active as they were in their teens. Making it an issue does sell drugs though. And Viagra and Cialis are not cheap. You could buy everyone in your household a separate bathtub for what a year's supply of Cialis will cost you. And that might be just as much fun, if not more fun.
It depends a lot on your perspective and your unique relationship.
My point is that we are bombarded constantly with these legal but spurious drug-pushing ads, day in day out, many for bogus medical conditions, others for drugs that are just hard to sell because they are bad drugs. Drugs that are LESS EFFECTIVE than their generic counterparts are most likely to be advertised heavily on TV, a fact which in and of itself should disturb us.
My favorite of these "lesser-drug" ads is for an asthma medicine that lists as a side-effect "sudden death" and notes that, "because sudden death can occur in a small number of patients, if your asthma is well-controlled with another drug," then don't buy this one! (So why are they advertising it, you might ask????)
I also love the sleeping pill ads with the mile-long disclaimers:
"Taking Snoozien may result in tremors, sleepwalking while naked, peeing in the Walmart video aisle, obessive gambling while dressed in bunny outfits, bleeding from the eyes, rectum, nostrils, hair follicles, and/or tonsils. Side effects are usually mild and temporary. Consult your physician if you experience nausea, vomiting, or large sentient anal tumors."
The truth is that we are not fighting a war on drugs, we are fighting a war on drugs that aren't a part of the giant pharmaceutical industry's lobbying efforts. Prescription drug addiction is rampant, but no one fighting the war on drugs is all that worried about it. Smoke pot, you're going down, baby! Get hooked on Oxycontin, and you're probably just a Rush Limbaugh fan.
Cannabis also competes with cotton and tobacco; two U.S. industrial crops with strong lobbies and lots of money to get their way. Tobacco is highly addictive and has almost no other legitimate use aside from its ability to kill people slowly and expensively, and yet tobacco is completely legal and makes a ton of money for the tobacco industry, while hemp remains taboo.
Finally, we have the culture wars. Cannabis continues to be associated with hippies and leftist political activists, even though lots of middleaged businessmen and their wives smoke it every single day. I'm not kidding. All of my siblings and most of their friends are daily pot smokers and have been for over 20 years, and it's not like they are plotting to blow up the Pentagon or something. They're postal employees, waitresses, clerks, salesmen--they're ordinary middleaged people, not criminals.
Do I smoke pot?
I do not.
I was raised Catholic, so I only ever indulge in vices that will make me suffer a lot later--like alcohol, which makes me good and sick, or sugar, which settles in my midsection in a most unattractive manner, or men, who take all my money and leave with my stuff.
Pot is way too benign for someone as guilt-ridden and neurotic as myself.
No, my interest in legalizing cannabis comes from my personal frustration with the impracticality of daily life in the United States. Hemp is a good plant. It grows easily and abundantly if we plant it here. We can do a bazillion good, useful things with it. Growing industrial hemp would create lots of jobs and new products and even new alternative energy sources. Selling legal pot would generate tax revenue for cities. And smoking pot is not that big a deal compared to drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, or taking Ambien.
So why is Cannabis still illegal?
You tell me.
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Comments
Well written article!
Hi Robert,
I was struck by your last sentence:
"...it's not self punishing so there's a danger people will be lazy and enjoy themselves rather than work hard without enjoying anything."
I think that is so true. The idea that life does not have to be punishing and full of hard work for little reward is pretty heretical here in the U.S. It is definitely in the interest of corporate America to encourage this belief, and further encourage suspicion of people who reject it.
No one ever lay on a death bed and moaned, "Oh! If only I'd worker harder and longer at my thankless corporate job!" I realized that this year. I thought, you know, I'm 55, I have a few things I still would like to do before I die, I'd better do them, like, now.
Denying medical marijuana to chronically ill persons like yourself strikes me as unspeakably cruel. We finally legalized it here. I'd like to see a national initiative but I'm not holding my breath.
Thank you as always for your thoughts on this. You are certainly on the inside of the issue, and I'm sorry that you have to put up with this when pot could ease your daily life.
Thanks Ray!
dope hub. pun intended
LOL! Great comment. thanks!
The other side effect of the illegality of dope is that it encourages gangsterism. You make something illegal, you make it harder to get, you increase it's value, therefore you encourage people who want to make a lot of money to take it on. It's an obvious equation. The rarer it is the more valuble it is. The more valuable, the greater the risks people are likely to take to have control over it. The thing is, i think the people who control these laws know this and that there are other even more nefarious agendas being played out. Just check out the CIA and its relationship to the heroin trade.
PS Like the new photo Pam!
pgrundy....I love the way you presented your pseudo commercial for the sleeping med...I think those drug commercials should scare off anyone with half a brain...and yet people still buy them and want them....agh!
I worked as a nurse and passed out those meds...all the time thinking...."these are not good for you, there must be something better"...but most of us nurses don't have a choice...we obey like sheep to keep the job...
So true - one point missed was if you investigate rehab centers - you will find 95% of the people there are addicted to Pharmaceutical prescribed drugs that they now buy on the street.... 5% are there for booze.... ZERO...0% are there for pot addiction. Albeit most smoke pot too, you wont find that being the reason they need rehab.
Legalization is the only solution that makes any sense at all! Not just medicinal, but recreational as well.
Cheers to a good article.
Hi CJ--Good to see you! You are right about the gangster effect. Often the criminalization of pot is defended
Soon I'll settle on a photo and keep it. I think this one is OK. I went back and colored my hair. Some day I'll be 70 and maybe I'll stop--or maybe I'll color it purple when I'm 70!
Enlydia--I know what you mean about the sleeping meds. I feel bad for nurses these days. The money is good but the job has to be very stressful and conflicted. So much of what goes on in hospitals these days is unhealthy. Thank you for your comments.
Neil-- Yes, rehab is such a racket--and no, you don't see whole wards of pot smokers locked up in mandatory rehab. What a funny idea, in fact.
When I quit drinking I listened to story after story about how rough rehab was, and to tell you the truth, it pissed me off. I had to stop cold turkey with a screaming drunk husband (ex-husband now) in my face the whole time (until I left) and here's all these rich recent-ex-drunks whining, "Rehab was so devastating. We had to make our own beds! We had to travel to town on a bus!"
Jesus, it sounded like summer camp. I said, "Where do I sign up?" Someone cooks for you, you don't punch a clock, you get to talk about yourself all day long for 30 days straight--God, I still want to go, just thinking about it.
Just kidding, sort of.
Thanks for your excellent comments!
Hi Pam
You really got cracking with this hub! Personally I haven't smoked cannabis in years, but strangely enough and by pure coincedence I did have Spelt and hempseed pasta for tea tonight. There's a company in the UK that produces a great range of wholefood featuring hempseed. The stuff that I've tried tastes great and apparently it's good for you too with loads of Omega oil in the hemp.
Cannabis is outlawed here, but you can still grow other categories of hemp. Can you really not do that in the States? Most odd!
Hi Amanda,
It's true, all forms of cannabis, even industrial hemp, are illegal here. It's nuts, I think. In fact, even outlawing the smokable stuff strikes me as nuts as broke as we are right now. We could tax the snot out of that stuff and people would still buy it.
We can buy hemp in food, and buy hemp products from other countries though.
I guess it's just another case of our shrewd import/export policies. Lol!
I was feeling irritated at the thought of how absurd the government can be; a medical doctor should absolutely have the authority to prescribe cannabis for terminally ill patients- they prescribe worse drugs. And, I was smiling at your comment about the commercials, LOL! I also dislike the one about urination, as if all middle aged women are going to experience this problem.
Thumbs up!
Great hub: curiously NSW here in Australia just legalised hemp: its one of the most drought tolerant crops in the world! http://australia.today.com/2008/11/17/nsw-legalise
I've never understood the illegality of dope: basically the old people who made it illegal (when the 60s?) didnt use it but did use alcohol! Someone who is high on dope has never killed anyone - can't quite say the same for booze! Great hub as always
Great hub!! I am not a smoker (I have asthma want to keep my lungs clear of any type of smoke) but I am an advocate for Hemp. I think that this plant is simply amazing and is more than a drug and the bad rap it gets. I think that it is wonderful that it can grow under almost any condition and that the whole plant can be used for just about anything. Thank you for the enlightening!!
Hi Violetsun! Yes, I think the medical profession right now has lost a lot of the public's trust. Few of us can afford care, and when we do have to get it, it's often quite bad. I could go on and on about that, but.... I have to pee! lol! (Just kidding!)
Lissie, Good on you guys. Hemp is amazingly resilient. It really is such a waste to outlaw it. And the smokable kind would make the few jobs left here in American SO much more bearable! Thank you for your commentary!
Hi triplet mom! Thank you for your thoughts! I agree, cannabis is an amazing plant, and an ancient one. It's so much more versatile than cotton or corn or tobacco. You'd think we could find a place in our economy for it. Maybe we will someday.
Of course pot/cannabis should be legalized. But what? Do that with all the infrastructure set up for it to be illegal and all? It's the car industry all over, except that it is the various government levels and industries, yes, that depend on it NOT being legal. (Well, I guess it is EXACTLY like the car industry after all.) Literally, things would not get funded here in AZ without these drug arrests--it is big business.
CJ is also right. My partner had intelligence clearance while an officer in the army years ago--the federal government has, shall we say, large interests in certain illegal drugs and their uses. (Oh, no, the secret is out now! :) )
Like all things, I think its okay in moderation, but there are friends of mine that chose to continue smoking after say 21, when it was legl to drink, and they really missed the train of life and its like that old 80's commerical when the dude is still living at home with his mom and he's into his thirties and trying to convince his buddies its never affected him. Those guys fighting so hard for it are the ones who make it so easy to argue against. Another reason why it never became legal is because the government couldn't control it and tax it. And though I gave up the daily habit when I left school high....errr, high school, I wouldn't want to go to jail if I ever decide to light one up just for the hell of it. I always thought pot and drinking should be legal after 18, on the condition you have a job and some type of card verifying that you are not on welfare and that you are not a burden on your mom.
Hi Lita-- Yes, so many fishy things going on in our federal government, drugs being just one of them. Any kind of vice patrol--you get corruption. It always happens. You get the crooks, then you get the crooks with badges who chase the crooks without badges, and all this money changing hands under the table. It's an old, old story.
goldentoad--There's nothing sadder than a 40+ year old chronic, but it should still be legal. Chronic pot use has negative effects alright, but busting adults for pot use is ridiculous IMO. Plus, the plant itself has so many other practical uses--that what get to me--the lost industry.
Not to mention the age old use of this sacred plant for ritual practice. For those whose spiritual nature is alive, cannabis opens the doors of perception. Who could possible be against that? But no, the crime industry is more important. One cannot count on the fingers of two hands how many different businesses derive profit from the crime industry, as well as from the war industry. Let's face it, we are a corrupt society.
Hi vitaeb! We are a corrupt society, I guess. It's undeniable. Still, I have hope. Part of me is glad to see this system failure coming together--weird as that sounds. I'm hoping something better will replace it. Kind of a cleansing or whatever. Thank you for your comment!
Pam,
Excellent article as always! It's definitely a shame that marijuana is illegal when there are many other drugs (e.g. nicotine, prescription drugs) that are addictive and/or cause health problems are legal and readily available.
The "war on drugs" is also a joke. The United States Government spends billions of dollars to try to stop people from using illegal drugs. Their strategy is not working. I have a solution that is much more cost effective. The government needs to stop taxing us so much and stop messing up our economy. Then people won't feel such a strong need to escape reality.
Hi John! I like your strategy! If reality were a bit less grim here, drug usage might just ease off a bit. So much of the work we have left in the U.S. is depressing, underpaid, or disreputable. It would be great to see some good jobs come back and also a few of the tax breaks we've lost. I appreciate your thoughts on this. Thanks!
Illegalizing cannabis, IMHO, is throwing out the babby with the bathwater. Hemp could be grown where tobacco is now, solving two problems. Hemp can be used for much more than just a moderately mind altering substance. Problem is with the public image of all the legalize pot people. The only ones who really get up in arms about it are the ones who just don't want to be busted for their stash. So all the kneejerk reefer madness people look out at them with their red eyes and their grungy guatemalen shirts and say "See! look who wants to legalize pot. just people who never got over the sixties. We need a few more Republicans in suits who spot a dynamite business opportunity, then they could spin it the way Mr. and Mrs. Smith would support it and the side effect that yeah certain strains can be used to get high, would seem minimalized.
Hi hot dorkage--Good point. I'm surprised no one does try to jump on it for the industrial value. I mean, money is money. Even legalizing it and selling it like alcohol would be better than the way things are now--but what interests me is all the practical uses of the plant. Maybe La Palin will take up the cause? Nah. Probably not! lol!
Johnny, Johnny, open up, whats going on in there, I smell smoke?!! Is someone in there with you, your work called said you were supposed to be there an hour ago. What's going on in there, I heard you coughing, I know you're in there!!!
Eventually this world will realise that things like prohibition are the dumbest ideas in history. Marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol or cigarettes...
Thanks for starting this discussion about the uses of cannabis. Don't forget that the much diluted and homeopathically prepared substance can have powerful healing effects when needed for individuals overdosed on drugs. You can read about Cannabis Indica also called Indian Hemp of the Urticaceae plant family t HPATHY http://www.hpathy.com/materiamedica/allenkeynotes/ There is also a commentary written by Classical Homeopath Robert Lee Dalpé, N.D. on the substance at http://www.onlinehomeopath.com/canni.shtml
Thanks for your thoughts t.keely--I agree completely.
Debby--thank you for the links! Good point on the homeopathic use of hemp.
Great rant!
I don't smoke pot and never have (I used to get violent headaches when the smoke drifted in the open window of my college dorm) but I agree that it's completely ridiculous that it's illegal when other, far more harmful and far less multifunctional, substances aren't. Obviously we learned nothing from Prohibition.
Hi kerryg--Yes, there's something about it that doesn't add up, isn't there? I mean, sure there is lots of money to be made here. I wonder why some businessman Republican type doesn't take up the cause? I mean that seriously. It's weird!
Pam, thanks for another brilliant article. You've brought up a lot of great points here and to add to the long list of positive benefits, I've read that hemp seed oil contains all the essential amino acids and fatty acids needed to maintain healthy human life. Pity so much money is being used to demonize cannabis so as not to reduce sales of more poisonous substances.
For the past four years, I have mentored a young lady who was raised under very difficult circumstances--her mother died when she was 9 and her father was imprisoned a few years later. She and her sister lived on the streets and she would have sex with men for money or alcohol. Eventually, she ended up in a halfway home, and then later ended up in the mentoring program. When I met her, she was drugged up on meds and somewhat anti-social. A few months later, she won an award for being the youth who progressed furthest in the program--she became more outgoing, completed her GED, and enrolled in Job Corps. A couple of months ago, we went out for lunch and she mentioned that she had met someone she deeply connected with, but she didn't want to hang out with him because he smoked pot. At this point, I revealed to her that I also occasionally smoke, in hopes of demonstrating that someone can be a smoker and still be a good person, with goals and accomplishments.
A month and a half later, she entered a rehab program for alcoholism and codependency. She called me from a payphone and revealed that she wasn't allowed to speak to me since she admitted to the group that I was "using." The word hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn't believe that regardless of the role I had played in her life, regardless of who I am as a person, she was being forbidden to interact with me because of something so trivial. They have no problem with her speaking to people who "use" alcohol, of course, because they are decent, law-abiding citizens, whereas I am a degenerate drug user. It makes me sick.
Melissa, that's nuts. I'm so sorry that happened to you.
I actually think that criminalizing marijuana use is what creates crime around marijuana use. If you could go to the grocery store and pick up some pot the same way you pick up a bottle of wine, can you even imagine that scenario playing out?
I have have been close to people who slipped into selling hard drugs because they knew a pot dealer who knew someone else who knew how they could score pot by "helping some people out." What if they could buy pot cheaply at the grocery instead? Would they be lured into criminal activity to get cheap or free pot? No, they wouldn't even know any dealers, period.
I'm NOT saying that using pot automatically turns people into drug dealers either--I'm just saying, criminalizing pot creates more crime. This is irrefutable.
Thank you for sharing that painful story.
Hi Pam--same here, I know of people who started off as pot smokers and then got into harder drugs simply because they were available through their supply lines. What a shame.
I like your grocery scenario, and I hope we reach that point one day. As vitaeb mentioned in his comment, I think a lot of people could benefit from the more spiritual aspects of pot smoking if there wasn't so much guilt and paranoia around it.
Thanks again for this great hub!
Thanks for your thoughts Melissa!
Gret Hub.... but you gotta the cotton lobby they don't like hemp very much
Hooray for the hemp hub, pg. I knew it would be great and it is.....of course part of why I like it is that I am in total agreement both on the legalization of marijana at the very least for medical use and on the corruption of big pharma. Oh yes, and thanks for mentioning all the virtues of hemp. I hear it makes a great biofuel as well.
I too am sick of TV pitches for viagra. I find it funny that these commercials never use the word "impotence" but delicately refer to "erectile dysfunction" Oh Puh-leeze-- talk about TMI.
I also can't believe the genius sales-type who came up with "restless leg syndrome" Get a grip!!!! Your parody on this stuff was hysterical. ROTFL. Thanks for another great read.
DITTO! C.S.
Back in the day, as a rock musician and hippie freak, I met tons of people who smoked tons of weed. I did so myself back then but haven't for at least 30 years. I never met a single person who jumped from pot to something chemically addictive like heroin. Back then it was very rare to run into many people in that particular social strata that drank anything stronger than an occasional glass of wine. I've often felt that the legalization of marijuana has been blocked by the liquor manufacturers as well as big pharma.
The CIA was and still is the main conduit for heroin into this country. The same financial institutions currently receiving welfare payments from our taxes launder drug money to the tune of around 600 billion $ per year. Even such august bodies as the Harvard Endowment include heroin as one of its many investments which helps to give it total assets of around 20 billion $.
Such harmless drugs as pot and their illegality are a huge source of revenue for our corporate prison system.
This is very true what ColdBaby says, I can't speak for the rest of the country, but I know downtown LA is flooded with heroin since the US went to Aghanistan a couple of years ago and the government made deals with the Afghan warlords. The CIA also provided a pipeline for cocaine which fueled the the crack wars and on top of that, funded the anti-communist wars in central america.
Thank you for your comment Dr Jim--Cotton is great, but hemp ain't bad either. I'm sure lots of lobbies block its legalization.
robie--Don't you just love the disclaimer, "Seek help if you experience an erection lasting four hours or more..." Like that won't send 80% of the guys over fifty running for a Viagra prescription and abusing it until they GET that 'dreaded' four hour erection! LOL! Can't you just see them all proud, strolling into the emergency room behind the broken arms and uninsured fevers???
CWB and goldentoad, I don't doubt the CIA connection for a second. Something is definitely amiss here. The war on drugs obviously creates more drugs. It could have been named by Orwell.
Pam thanks for the heads up on the sleeping pills, I thought it was the hot choclate!
I believe another reason the BIG boys don't go commercial on hemp is the fact that it is too easy to grow and every Tom Dick and Hazel would be growing it in their backyard if it was legal. ( as in some states in Australia). Now were is the big bucks in that?
Hi agvulpes--I watched a documentary on TV about it yesterday. A doctor was saying that if cannabis was legalized, about 80% of prescription painkillers would be obsolete because cannabis works better and is far less dangerous--and, as you say, you can grow your own if you are of a mind to do that. The more I learn about it, the more angry I get--Thanks for your comments!
Great hub and great comments. I am afraid this issue will never be attended here in Portugal :-( , the drug dealers and all of those who legislate (sometimes I think they´re all the same people) will never allow the liberalization of cannabis growing as it would ruin their lucrative business.
Have fun!
Hi funride! Thank you for your comment! I agree-- I think the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys' are the same guys here. Too much money changing hands to allow something anyone can grow to be legal. It's messed up.
Great hub, PG. Although I gave up marijuana at 17 (I was a total pot-head!) I now know what an excellent material hemp is. Strong, soft, durable. I think it should be used a lot more than it currently is. I had a ball cap made of hemp that I found at a hippie-shop. Always looked great, washable in the machine, I loved it. And all my friends wanted it. Then it got stolen when I took it off in a bar one evening. Couldn't believe it! Oh well, I hope they at least are good to it...
Hi CW--Thank for your comment! Yes, hemp makes great fabric. I never had anything made from it, but I've felt it before and it's very nice. It is possible to order stuff online made of hemp. We just can't grow it here.
Yep! Just found this great website, and you can purchase all kinds of stuff, including clothes, from them.
And here's another one that even has shoes!
http://store.hempest.com/catalog/default.php
I've already seen some hoodies and shorts at those sites that I want. Does Santa still have that same cell number?
Super cool stuff CW! Thanks for the links!
Use 'em!
THC can cause men to grow breasts? Wow, I never came across that tidbit before but it's worth knowing.
Doing some research on the marijuana debate, I did find some other outrageous info though. I had to voice my two cents on the claim that TV encourages use: http://www.ms-writer.net/readmoreMS.asp?fn=1742009
Felt like it came right out of my own mouth (except your version has a lot better grammar than mine would) :-D Can't say I agree with you more, this has been my exact argument for a few years.
It's funny that you know so many people who smoke. I do too. And like you said, they are all generally normal law abiding (with the exception of smoking) citizens.
Hi belief713--Yes it makes no sense to criminalize it, especially now with the government hurting for money. The kind for smoking could be taxed at both state and federal levels and people would still buy it, and think of all money saved on law enforcement! But what really frosts me is all the industry it could create--industrial hemp can be made into almost anything. It makes great sturdy cloth, and many, many other things, even food products. Industrial hemp won't get you high, but that kind is outlawed too. It's nuts. Thanks for your comments!
loved everything about this hub -- except for the fact that I didn't get here sooner. the problem with your hubs is that they contain too many great ideas, salient facts, and brilliant logical arguments that I'm bummed I can only type with one hand right now -- it makes posting a comment hard work, instead of fun.
Hemp fibre clothing is wonderful -- here in SC, where it gets so hot in the summer, it's a great alternative to linen and cotton.
But the arguments for medicinal mary-j alone are enough to make a case.
And paper -- wouldn't it be great not to cut down all those trees?
Hello great article. In my belief, government cannot regulate growth of weed and collect taxes. Anyone with some seeds can grow weed. Us being a christian nation, I also believe the bible takes part in legalization of weed. It was ok for Noah to get sloppy drunk and pass out naked. What if Noah would have smoked weed and went to sleep with his clothes on?
I never even thought about all of the industry it could create. Good points. Now if we could just get the big dogs in office to see it that way...
Thank you Teresa! You always are so good for my ego. I hope arm heals fast. That has to be a huge pain in the rear (and the arm).
marinealways--Interesting thoughts about Noah. I think you may be the first person I eve heard link Noah to weed. I don't think the government should try to regulate and be the only producer of marijuana, I just think we should legalize it and industries should be allowed to produce it for profit legally. Theoretically that would include individuals. :)
belief713--If only we could get the big dogs to do so many things...lol!
I just think we should legalize it and industries should be allowed to produce it for profit legally. Theoretically that would include individuals. :)
I completely agree with you since weed is already california's number 1 cash crop. So many of our dollars go to other countries like mexico often for marijuana going to mexican drug cartels. So if we did legalize, that would keep all the earnings in the US to citizens in the US. Thank You for your perspective. PS: If Noah would have toked, he wouldn't have been so mad at the children when they covered him up in his nakedness.
pgrundy.....#1 Pot is not for just smoking...it makes excellent brownies. #2 If it were legal I'd never have been able to afford college #3...like guns If guns were made illegal only criminals would have guns....so the criminal element thrives on the illegality of pot. Yes...make it legal and decrease my tax burden. #4 I gave it up when I left college
Hi R. Blue--I don't smoke pot either and never really got into it even when I was young. I got pumped up about hemp--about the crop's other uses--and about the imprisonment of so many people for no very good reason over pot. It's stupid. If you read about the history of the criminalization of pot, it's clear that it's always just been a gimmick that the government can use to lock up immigrants, protestors, blacks, anybody they don't like, really. It's never been much of a threat socially. The 'War on Drugs' is a big farce.
Great Article Pgrundy and lets not forget all the trees we would be saving by using hemp for paper and other products as our forefathers did. Thank you for this informative hub!
I like how you write. Great personality.
It's the most powerful natural medicine on the planet. Concentrated cannabis oil from the flowers actually help the body to kill cancer cells and protect healthy cells. It is an anti-inflamatory agent. There is no reason that someone should ask permission from the government to grow and use an herbal remedy. The euphoric effect is no excuse for the persecution of people who benefit from this amazing plant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlndKmlmWSg&eurl=ht
The government has 11 patents on medicinal uses of cannabis (http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6630507.html) so the listing as a schedule 1 drug (no medical value and highly abusable) is totally not valid.
There is no legitimate reason for any laws against cannabis planting posession or use. It is a violation of basic human rights. Laws that serve no purpose for the public well being are in effect null and void.
Check out this song by Abigail Storm http://www.nycamp.org
Nice article,but I am not smoker and nt drug user.So it open my eyes about this article.
Hi Dunn,
The history of the 'war on drugs' reads like a history of the 'war on minorities, immigrants, and the underclass'. I think making cannabis a class 1 substance just provides a ready excuse to jail any poor person the government wants to jail. Currently we have the highest incarceration rate in the world, and only 7% of those incarcerated are violent offenders.
It's even more egregious when you consider, as you so rightly point out there, how helpful cannabis can be as a medicinal.
Thank you for your comments. We're on the same page with this.
Hi prasetio30-- I don't smoke either, but I do think making hemp illegal is wrong and counterproductive. It's such a useful plant and it's native to this country. Thanks for reading this. :)
You're a very smart lady, in fact you should email this hub to Congress, lol
dori
PGRundy, you are so right. This war started based on racism, fear, and greed, and it has been continued by scientific ignorance and propaganda. When this is finally all over, a lot of people are going to be extremely angry at the government, more angry than you can possibly imagine.
robertsloan2 says:
13 months ago
Thank you for a great Hub. You've reminded people of all the arguments I've been using for years and years. I have chronic pain and would like nothing better than to be able to get medicinal marijuana, it might do a lot to improve my function day to day and make it easier to rest when my symptoms are so bad that I can't do anything. One of the most harmless drugs I could take is treated like it's heroin.
Yet addicts even on heroin and those drugs are not discouraged by the war on drugs, instead the war on drugs raises the profits for smugglers and the danger makes them glamorous and attractive to the thrill-seeker mentality. We would empty half the prisons in the country if we legalized all these drugs and just put the dangerous ones into prescription status and managed addiction the way Britain and many other countries do (they have to register and they get their fix at the clinic and thus have NO penalty for going into rehab).
The reason for it is the Puritanical streak in American culture. It doesn't have to make sense. As you pointed out, it's not self punishing so there's a danger people will be lazy and enjoy themselves rather than work hard without enjoying anything.