Pubdate: Mon, 11 Feb 2013 Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) Copyright: 2013 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. Contact: http://www.timesdispatch.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/365 War on Non-Drugs VICTORY FOR HEMP Every truth goes through three stages, Schopenhauer is said to have said. First it is ridiculed, then it is violently opposed, then it is accepted as self-evident. The truth about industrial hemp seems to be somewhere between the second and third stages. Having had some heart-to-hearts with Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says he now thinks the wide-scale production of hemp for fabrics, rope and other uses is a good idea. Paul has penned a bill to remove the federal ban on the production of hemp a product Washington once encouraged through wartime "Hemp for Victory" campaigns. That was back in the 1940s, before Washington launched another war - on drugs. Hemp fell victim to that war because it is closely related to marijuana. But the hemp grown for industrial use has so little THC (the active component in marijuana) that anyone trying to catch a buzz off it would die of smoke inhalation first. With marijuana growing in public acceptance medicinal use is legal in 18 states, and a majority of Americans think recreational use should be legal everywhere the hemp ban looks increasingly foolish. Indeed, its wisdom no longer can be considered self-evident. In some circles it is violently opposed. If Paul and McConnell have their way, it one day might even be ridiculed. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom