Pubdate: Fri, 08 Mar 2013
Source: Herald, The (Everett, WA)
Copyright: 2013 The Daily Herald Co.
Contact:  http://www.heraldnet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/190

APPROVE HEMP FARMING

While Washington, Colorado, and the Justice Department grapple with
the intricacies and implications of the states' historic votes to
legalize recreational marijuana (with medical cannabis already on the
books), our Legislature has a chance to do something noncontroversial
and very belated on the other end of the weed spectrum: Allow the
cultivation of industrial hemp.

The difference between marijuana and hemp is vast. An important but
frequently ignored fact is that the hemp plant contain the
psychoactive ingredients that produce the marijuana "high." A person
could smoke fields of hemp and only get a headache and burned lungs.
Another important difference: Industrial hemp is an easy crop for
farmers to grow - it is hardy and resistant. Marijuana, on the other
hand, is fussy and difficult to grow, and prone to pests and mold. (A
farmer would never want to grow the two varieties together, as the few
remaining hemp opponents argue would happen to cover for an illegal
grow, because it would weaken the properties of both plants.)

The age-old and versatile agricultural product is cultivated
worldwide. Technically it's not illegal to grow here, but it's darn
near impossible since the 1950s marijuana fears and the adoption of
the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, according to votehemp.com. U.S.
farmers can grow industrial hemp if the DEA issued permits for it, but
they don't. Instead, we let the rest of the world grow it and then we
import an endless variety of goods made from it - from food to
clothing to paper to rope to fuel.

Let's end this non-reefer madness. No reasonable argument exists (and
never did) for banning industrial hemp. The economics, science and the
gosh darn common sense of it all argue strongly in favor of returning
(back-to-thefuture style) to a time when hemp's potential and uses
were praised, not demonized. (See the article "New Billion Dollar
Crop" in the February 1938 "Popular Mechanics Magazine," which says
the plant "can be used to produce more than 25,000 products, ranging
from dynamite to Cellophane.")

The tide has definitely turned. Nineteen states have passed pro-hemp
legislation, while 31 (including us) are considering such bills.
Legislation has also been introduced in Congress, the Industrial Hemp
Farming Act of 2013, but who knows its fate in these dark sequester
days.

Here at home, Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley, introduced H.B. 1888,
to permit the development of an industrial hemp industry, Examiner.com
reported. The bill would also permit Washington State University to
undertake research of industrial hemp production. It's all neat and
tidy and tied with a hemp bow, awaiting its logical and
better-late-than-never passage.
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MAP posted-by: Matt