OT. Louisiana Leads the way

One word SUGAR.

If politicians really meant what they say they'd approve other sources such as industrial hemp. (it's a weed after all)

Come on man, get real. Support of hemp or marijuana is the sure road to political suicide.

To bad for us, but it aint never gonna happen.

Curly

It would take a real _leader_ to stand up and say that we need to dispose of our legacy prejudices and accept the use of hemp (a product that has no significant levels of any psychotropic drugs) in the many useful ways it can be used for. The problem is, no real _leaders_ ever become politicians.

If you care to, read

The denouncements of hemp by some in the fiber industries during WWII rival 'Reefer Madness' in their absurdity

Oh, the games that people play.

Curly

snipped-for-privacy@ipal.net wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news4.newsguy.com:

I agree with this writer:

He points out that "rape seed oil" was renamed Canola Oil because people got all upset over the name "rape seed" - based upon that, he proposes a "rebranding" (pseudonouveau dopey word for "rename") of low-THC hemp.

How about a "rename the weed" contest?

Here are some starters:

- Elltea ("LT", = low-THC)

- No-nine (no delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol i.e. THC)

- Fan-leaf False Bamboo (based on its bamboo-ish look and leaf shape)

- Dakota Twineweed (since it's used for twine, among other things, and North Dakota farmers Wayne Hauge and Dave Monson filed a lawsuit against the DEA)

- Dakota Paperplant (as above) (Also, I dunno whether this is true, but I read that the Declaration of Independence is written on hemp paper =:-o !)

I read that 30 (at least) industrial nations grow and utilize industrial hemp. It figures, these days, that the US is looking backasswards rather than towards the future - heck, most folks here seem to think that oil is a never-ending self-renewing resource (too damn stupid to remember the lessons of the gas crisis in the 70's, which I remember *very* well - including people getting beat up, knifed, and even shot in various disputes related to the lines - and the gov.t's flippant annihilation of MPG restrictions compounded that myopic amnesia).

Anyway, given that, these days, Flash in the US now counts for far, FAR more than substance, it wouldn't surprise me if a simple rename did actually help =:-o

The real objection to hemp is it's hard for cops to tell from marijuana, especially from the air.

Legalize 'em both.

James Arthur

James Arthur wrote in news:EESek.258$6O4.201@trnddc06:

Except that isn't necessarily relevant, because, if someone is growing it legally, it'll be grown out in the open, not secreted away in wooded areas, areas inside other crop fields, or basement hydroponics setups. If someone wants to grow it as a legal crop, heck, make them pay a fee for signs that are visible from the air.

plus, if the cops are local, why wouldn't they already know who is growing it legally, and where they're growing it?

It just doesn't make for a good-enough excuse, IMO.

Well, IMO, that'd save the most not only in terms of money, but also, given the violence associated with the cartels bringing the stuff in, lives as well. And, heck, it'd keep the money in the country rather than simply adding to the trade imbalance (and funding violent activities) - they subsidized tobacco for I don't even know how many decades, and it's long been known to directly cause disease. Also, nicotine is supposedly one of the most addictive substances around, whereas pot is only habit- forming if someone is already prone to liking getting buzzed a lot - IOW, the problem isn't with pot so much as it is with personal probably- biological predelictions, and the solution with those is never to simply make stuff illegal.

One would think people *might* have learned from Prohibition that trying to outlaw every single little petty vice only succeeds in first creating, than feeding, organized crime. But nope. Too many people, in various sectors of society, make far too much money off of the current situation. And it's soooo easy to get various voters all riled up by jumping immediately into worst-case scenarious. Like tha tgoofy old movie "Reefer Madnes" - all the evidence shows that it doesnt' exist, but belief doesn't require proof...

So, a highly useful, and profitable, crop will go unused by the US, but used by other nations (whose products we'll import), while violence and deaths increase - and use of pot continues, except of course where it's being overtaken by other drug use. The fact that people love to ignore is, drug use is almost always a symptom of something else, and not self- causational.

Hemp doesn't provide sugar. Rather, it provides a high grade cellulose easily substituted for petroleum in a LOT of industrial processes.

As to hemp for fuel: Henry Ford produced 1000 gallons of methanol from each acre of hemp he grew. One might hope the massive hemp growing efforts during WWII would have added to the knowledge base, and we could do better than that now. Hemp seed oil is as suitable as any other VO for use in diesels, though at today's prices, quite uneconomical to burn all those valuable omega3 and omega6 fatty acids as fuel. Increase hemp seed availability, and who knows...

You don't think hemp growers are sharp enough to realize there's money to be made growing pot too? Pot growers aren't sharp enough to get into the hemp business? Pot growers aren't sharp enough to secret a few plants inside other's hemp fields?

It makes for some very good excuses.

Not such a big deal with pot, because so much (of the good stuff) is grown locally.

Typical tired weenie arguments.

Nonsense.