Frustration with Washington is pervasive.

There is dissatisfaction because of revelations of what our government has been up to behind our backs. Just think of the Internal Revenue Service and the National Security Agency.

There is also dismay that the federal government is locked in to the same old way of doing things - that, even when confronted with a sensible and reasonable alternative, some things just can't be changed.

I've tried to challenge that idea and stand up when things aren't right, even if I knew the odds of success might be long.

[continues 520 words]

Two law enforcement groups on Monday criticized efforts to revive hemp production in Kentucky as economically unsound.

In a joint news release, the Kentucky Narcotic Officers' Association and Operation UNITE said they opposed Senate Bill 50 and House Bill 33, both of which would license farmers to grow industrial hemp.

"All the rhetoric you're hearing from the small group of proponents seeking to reintroduce hemp cultivation is based on desired outcomes, not reality," said Dan Smoot, vice president of Operation UNITE, an anti-drug organization covering 32 counties in southern and Eastern Kentucky. Its name is an acronym for Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment and Education.

[continues 446 words]

Has it come to this? Kentucky State Representative Robert Benvenuti claimed, at the recent House Health and Welfare Committee hearing on SB43 the Cannabis Compassion Act, that he could, "fill this committee room with first responders, law enforcement officers and parents of dead children based on the effects of marijuana!" Are the arguments for continuing the prohibition of marijuana, even for the sick and disabled, so bereft of science and logic that our legislators must embarrass themselves with such ridiculous and inflammatory statements?

[continues 509 words]

Part 3 (for part 2 refer to this link, http://www.state-journal.com/citizen%20news/2013/10/25/to-end-marijuana-prohibition-for-responsible-adults-or-not )

Recently in the news, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid embraced medical marijuana, political leaders from other countries are beginning to legalize marijuana and even President Obama stated marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol along with voiced his support to the states which have legalized it already. (If you've missed that last one here is an article about it, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/19/obama-marijuana-alcohol_n_4627740.html )

[continues 644 words]

It's encouraging to see more states working to allow hemp cultivation (Kentucky officials again approach DEA on hemp issue, Nov. 27). It's time to Re-introduce hemp as a component of American agriculture.

Colorado Re-legalized hemp cultivation when it simultaneously Re-legalized cannabis (marijuana) a year ago and the sky has not fallen in. Now free American farmers may grow hemp just like communist Chinese farmers.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

[end]

A writer made some false claims in his anti-marijuana letter. I would like to correct these errors.

He claimed that "most people who are for marijuana legalization are the ones who use drugs illegally." Some 78 percent of Americans favor legalizing medical marijuana, and 58 percent want it legalized for recreational purposes. So he was obviously wrong.

He says that one joint is as harmful as five cigarettes. Cigarettes cause cancer, marijuana does not cause cancer. He again was wrong.

[continues 172 words]

After reading several opinions in recent months by individuals and editorial boards advocating the use of marijuana as medicine, I feel that many Kentuckians have been misinformed about the ramifications associated with the attempt to legalize marijuana under the guise of medicine.

While individual cannabinoids may have medicinal applications, unregulated smoked marijuana is far too impure to be considered medicine. Medi-pot proponents would have you believe that the entire plant has medicinal benefit, when, in fact, it is only a few cannabinoid compounds that have the medicinal value.

[continues 683 words]

The citizens of America have decided that marijuana should be legal. Finally their Legislators are starting to listen to them. Twenty states have legalized the cultivation, use and sale of medical marijuana and two states, Washington and Colorado have legalized it for medical, industrial and recreational uses. Eventually the Federal Government will come around and the long nightmare of marijuana prohibition will be over.

The ending of marijuana prohibition has been a long time coming. While America will no longer have a marijuana prohibition problem, it will still have the original policy of prohibition it uses to deal with drug use and abuse. The policy of drug prohibition started in 1914 with the Harrison Act which made opium and other drugs illegal and finally provided oversight of the drug market. This prohibition of some drugs and not others has fueled, as alcohol prohibition did in the thirties, a rise in criminal activity to supply the needs of a population of addicts who were suddenly cut off from the help of their doctors, and made criminals simply by the fact of their addiction.

[continues 164 words]

You're dead, but let's pretend for a minute or so that you're not dead yet, but your time is coming. I want you to think about what folks around here will be saying about you:

"I knew this was going to happen. It was just a matter of when."

There's truth in this. As a drug addict, you have three choices: Prison, sobriety, or death.

"I did everything I could to help her, but she wouldn't listen."

[continues 930 words]

New Industrial Hemp Law May Have No Impact in State

Gov. Steve Beshear listened to both proponents and opponents of a bill that could pave the way toward a return to the time when industrial hemp was a major cash crop in Kentucky - and opted to take a middle ground, the path of the least political resistance. Ignoring pleas from different constituencies to sign Senate Bill 50 and to veto it, the governor chose the third option: He allowed the bill to become law without his signature.

[continues 623 words]

FRANFORT - The sponsor of legislation to set up a regulatory framework for hemp cultivation Wednesday asked Gov. Steve Beshear to sign the bill into law.

Sen. Paul Hornback, RShelbyville, sponsored Senate Bill 50, which originally would have authorized the Department of Agriculture to license and monitor hemp cultivation should the federal government either grant a waiver to Kentucky to grow the crop or legalize the biological relative of marijuana.

Kentucky used to be a major hemp producer in the 19th century and again during World War II, but as part of the federal effort to clamp down on marijuana, cultivation of the crop has been prohibited by the federal government.

[continues 632 words]

FRANKFORT( AP) - Gov. Steve Beshear has until Saturday to sign or veto a bill that would open the door to industrial hemp farming in Kentucky. So far, he hasn't said what he'll do.

The General Assembly passed the bill last Tuesday in the final minutes of this year's legislative session, giving the governor 10 days excluding Sundays to veto it, according to the Legislative Research Commission.

The bill would allow Kentucky farmers to grow hemp if the federal government lifts its decades long ban on the plant. Hemp can be used to make products ranging from paper to cosmetics.

[continues 230 words]

We tend to mythologize the dead; and perhaps that's fair with politicians who've passed, since we use them for rhetorical target practice when they are stumping the earth.

But regardless of the intended spirit, today is a very special day for the memory of my friendly acquaintance and sometimes political rival, Gatewood Galbraith.

On the surface, the two of us could not have looked any more different - my buttoned-down, over-dressed-to-try-to-look-my-age appearance was a stark contrast to his rugged and ragged hippie/cowboy mien. And the communitarian ethos of my attempt at being an auteur, The Compassionate Community, was a diametric challenge to the in-your-face libertarianism of his autobiographical "The Last Free Man in America."

[continues 905 words]

FRANKFORT - Throughout a two-month fight in the General Assembly to license hemp cultivation - assuming the federal government allows it - supporters claimed many virtues for the kindred plant of marijuana.

Maybe they should have claimed it offers powers of longevity and restoration.

Because just when the idea seemed beyond resuscitation, it rose from the dead Tuesday night in the final minutes of the 2013 General Assembly.

Senate Bill 50, sponsored by Sen. Paul Hornback, R- Shelbyville, and pushed hard by Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, seemed dead late Tuesday when Hornback ended negotiations on an amendment by House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, D- Sandy Hook.

[continues 785 words]

FRANKFORT To listen to members of Kentucky's revived Hemp Commission Thursday, a compromise on a bill to regulate cultivation of industrial hemp is just around the corner.

That's not all. It sounded as if hemp can solve many of Kentucky's problems, adding jobs, producing clean energy and making Kentucky a leader in something other than basketball, whiskey and horses.

Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, is sponsor of Senate Bill 50 which would establish a "regulatory framework" within the Department of Agriculture for the licensing and cultivation of hemp if the federal government lifts its ban on the biological relative of marijuana.

[continues 556 words]

FRANKFORT - House Speaker Greg Stumbo says Kentucky's industrial hemp bill is dead.

Stumbo told reporters Monday the bill is stuck in a committee, and it's too late for the House to vote on the measure based on General Assembly rules.

The proposal would let Kentucky quickly license hemp growers if the federal government lifts its ban on the plant. The bill already cleared the Senate.

Stumbo's statement angered the bill's supporters. Republican House Leader Jeff Hoover said Stumbo could suspend the rules and put the bill to a vote. Agriculture Commissioner James Comer said the measure could create jobs.

The proposal is unpopular among law enforcement officials who say hemp could be used to camouflage marijuana, which has similar leaves but far less potency.

[end]

FRANKFORT - Late Tuesday night, House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, DSandy Hook, said he's been in discussions with Agriculture Commissioner James Comer about ways to improve a bill Comer wanted and the Senate passed to form a regulatory framework for growing industrial hemp.

The Republican-controlled Senate passed a bill sponsored by Sen. Paul Hornback, RShelbyville, and backed by Comer to set up a "framework" for licensing and growing hemp if the federal government allowed its cultivation. The crop is currently illegal to grow in the U.S. under federal law.

[continues 357 words]

FRANKFORT - An advisory opinion from Attorney General Jack Conway didn't do anything to clear up disagreements between Republican Agriculture Commissioner James Comer and Democratic Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo about legislating a "regulatory framework" to grow hemp in Kentucky.

Comer has pushed hard for a bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Paul Hornback, which would set up such a framework, including allowing Comer to issue permits to grown hemp in 10-acre or larger plots.

Comer and Hornback claim it could position Kentucky to be first in the nation to grow the crop if a federal ban is lifted, creating thousands of jobs and providing farmers a valuable alternative crop.

[continues 428 words]

FRANKFORT - An advisory opinion from Attorney General Jack Conway didn't do anything to clear up disagreements between Republican Agriculture Commissioner James Comer and Democratic Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo about legislating a "regulatory framework" to grow hemp in Kentucky.

Comer has pushed hard for a bill sponsored by Sen. Paul Hornback, R- Shelbyville, which would set up such a framework, including allowing Comer to issue permits to grown hemp in 10-acre or larger plots.

Comer and Hornback claim it could position Kentucky to be first in the nation to grow the crop if a federal ban is lifted, creating thousands of jobs and providing farmers a valuable alternative crop.

[continues 430 words]

FRANKFORT - The House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday passed Senate Bill 50 to provide a "framework" for the cultivation of hemp after days of pressure on the committee chairman, Tom McKee, D- Cynthiana.

But House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D- Prestonsburg, seems in no mood to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Paul Hornback, R- Shelbyville, and pushed by Republican Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, would set up regulations for growing industrial hemp if the federal government legalizes the product.

[continues 596 words]