How to Fix the Economy ?

17-18th Century: Hemp was legal tender in most of the Americas. It was even used to pay taxes, to encourage farmers to grow more, to ensure America’s independence.

We Say Use the ROOTS ! Yes the Roots of America, to Fix and Repair it

We have done a little research, and thought about the issue as both an ecologist and an economist; since I’m both. the economy needs a fast boost from something that will take little ramp up investment; and have a pre-existent distribution scheme working and ready.

What-Else ? HEMP.

Marijuana and Hemp, are a huge part of why America should return to it ROOTS. in case you don’t know - the Original First American Constitution is Written ON HEMP. The Forefathers Were Hemp Farmers, and Users.

Hemp was a part of the fiber of this country’s tax and farm system.

lets start the dialog today, and add the voices of experts to defend and acknowledge our point of view. we’ll lead out with NORML and then add a few words from Our Friend - The US of Anthony; who is according to the american media, quite an authority on Legalization of Marijuana Issue Blogging. You Go Ant. We think you have started sorting it out, so we’re sharing your clarity with the rest of this smokey debate team.

Normal, You Hit it first:

HEMP COULD PROVIDE NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR ECONOMY
by Patrique Veille, (Source:Gamecock)

South Carolina
Many Uses For Plant Could Create Emerging Industries Within U.S., Around Globe

Did you know that there is one product that can be used as a source of fuel, food, clothing, paper, medicine and other random things such as fast food containers?

This source can be grown from sea level to 6,000 feet above sea level in environments that have little rain because it mainly needs sunlight to grow. As it grows it actually replenishes the nutrients in the soil, helping the land become rich again even if the soil is malnourished to begin with.

This is extremely helpful to all farmers across the globe, but especially to those in Northern Africa, who are experiencing rapid desertification because of extreme droughts. Furthermore, you can grind up the seeds like corn to make a flour like mixture, eat the hulls like sunflower seeds, eat the leaves like a salad, make tea, make a soy type milk and other random edible things.

Unlike most grown sources for fuel, this source is naturally resistant to pests and funguses, thus it requires no pesticides, which can cause further soil degradation and pollution.

For all the people in the world who cannot afford the proper clothing, like some peoples in Africa, this is the perfect solution for at least giving them some basic comfort.

You can make any necessary article of clothing from this material, and since it can be grown anywhere, supply issues will be substantially less than those associated with other crops. We would just have to teach the people how to grow and utilize it.

The source I am talking about is hemp, and no, that is not the same thing as marijuana. Marijuana is the female plant and hemp is the male plant. The reason this plant is called weed is because it is a weed - hence the rapid growth. Fortunately for farmers, it also grows in a variety of climates. In these

I apologize for not telling you the name of the plant earlier, but when most people hear hemp they tend not to listen to the facts related to it due to an unfair stigma. Don’t get me wrong, hemp has a big part in bettering our earth’s health, but I still understand that it needs to be incorporated with other earth-friendly ideas.

Fortunately, the introduction of hemp brings economic opportunities. Because it is so new there will be many emerging industries that will bloom, boosting our economy and better the basic living conditions for more people at home and around the world.

Pubdate: Mon, 17 Nov 2008
Source: Gamecock, The (SC Edu)
Copyright: 2008 The Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina
Contact: http://www.dailygamecock.com/home/lettertotheeditor/
Website: http://www.dailygamecock.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2319
Author: Patrique Veille
Note: Patrique Veille is a Second-year management student
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/industrial+hemp

Now to the Male Point of View - from the US of Anthony

Kick it Anthony

Marijuana Mondays

Education is proving to be legalization in the United States.
For far too long, Americans have been lied to about marijuana by various entities feeding off of other entities. The DEA has led the charge in misinforming the American people about marijuana. This campaign of misinformation is like the misinformation that put American voters behind Bush when he decided to go to war in Iraq. Usually people are afraid of what they don’t know.

But, the DEA uses misinformation to promote and grow that fear of marijuana. Just as we, as a people, were educated that the War in Iraq was based on a lie, we are also realizing the War on Drugs is based on numerous lies. There is nothing wrong with questioning our government. Doing the right thing is the obligation of any citizen but we must know the full truth to do THAT right thing.
Check the last episode: Marijuana Monday Ep 12: Oh, Happy Days!

Pot Mumblings
Medical marijuana could ease economic pains

“There is a great opportunity here for the government to collect significant tax revenue currently being lost to the street market,” Nash, one of the best-known legal cannabis producers, enthused.

Although this article is from Canada, they have some of the same problems that we have here in the US in regards to marijuana. That is, rampant ignorance of marijuana leading to irrational policy making by an out of touch government controlled primarily by corporate/business interests that are frightened of the competition from marijuana (alcohol, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, lumber, and so on). The point of the article is to alleviate the economic burden of marijuana prohibition on a society that is suffering financially.

The problem around the world is the lack of education which needs to be addressed first. People still believe that marijuana is some evil substance. It’s interesting when hundreds of thousands of people die each year from consumption of alcohol and cigarettes while they decide the fate of a plant that is about as toxic as a cold glass of water. Something to think about here in the USA.

Marijuana Advocates Look to National Agenda

A bill introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) that would decriminalize possession of up to 3.5 ounces of marijuana in the U.S. is cited as a starting point for hearings and discussion of the issue on a national level.

Those crazy folks in Massachusetts are trying to go national with their successful campaign. Although the effort is already nationalized, there’s something to be said about whatever they did in Mass. because all 83 counties voted for marijuana decriminalization by a margin of 2 to 1. That’s resounding success. I don’t know exactly what they did but the only way I could see it working is if they were out there educating people on marijuana. We have to undo the fear factor taught by the DEA and other groups and agencies that ignorantly peg marijuana as a bad substance.

Carl Olsen v. Drug Enforcement Administration - 2008
Here is an individual trying to get marijuana reclassified in the schedules of the Controlled Substances Act. Marijuana exists in Schedule 1 (or section 1) of the CSA.

Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act
(A) The drug or other substance has high potential for abuse
(B) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States
(C) There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.

It has this distinction because the DEA (no one else makes these decisions) decided that marijuana fits it. But, anyone who knows anything about marijuana knows that it doesn’t fit at least one of those requirements. But, here’s the truth about it:

• (A) Marijuana is not addictive and can’t be abused. (Then again, anyone can abuse anything. Fat folks abuse Big Macs. This doesn’t mean that Big Macs should be a Schedule 1 narcotic.)
• (B) 13 states along with many medical associations agree that marijuana has incredible medical value.
• (C) Marijuana is nontoxic and can not kill therefore there is NO safety issue

The DEA knows that if people are educated on the truth, they’re job gets harder. It gets harder because marijuana is too easy to get. You can see plants growing if they’re outside. Dogs can smell marijuana through anything. It’s the most widely used “illegal” substance in the US so there’s no shortage of “criminals” to catch. Marijuana makes the DEA look like a capable and functioning agency when you hear they’ve pulled up millions of plants per year and arrested hundreds of thousands of people. It looks good on paper because of the high numbers.

You take marijuana away, they’ll HAVE to concentrate on fighting REAL drug crime - cocaine, heroin, meth, extasy, and so on. These chemicals cost much much more than marijuana so they come in smaller quantities and they don’t stink like marijuana. Dealing with addicts are much more violent and likely to end in violence. Let’s be honest, what kind of danger can someone high on marijuana pose when they show smokers “deflated” on a couch because marijuana makes you “boring and lazy”.

Do you really need no-knock raids and assault weapons for a marijuana smoker?

Thank You Anthony - and to sum it all up, we’d just like to

add these few facts from Hemphasis.net

The Americas

1545: Hemp was introduced into Chile, then in 1554 to Peru.

1606: French Botanist Louis Hebert planted the first hemp crop in North America in Port Royal, Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia).

1611: British start cultivating hemp in Virginia.

1631: Hemp used for bartering throughout American Colonies.

1619: It became illegal in Jamestown, Virginia not to grow hemp because it was such a vital resource. Massachusetts and Connecticut passed similar laws in 1631, and 1632.

17-18th Century: Hemp was legal tender in most of the Americas. It was even used to pay taxes, to encourage farmers to grow more, to ensure America’s independence.

1715, 1726 and 1730: Pro-hemp acts were signed to cut European imports, to help the struggling colonies, who spun hemp cloth, and printed bibles and maps on hemp paper, drive for self-sufficiency.

1720 - 1870: Every township in Lancaster County Pennsylvania grew hemp, flourishing just before the Revolution. There were more than 100 mills that processed hemp fiber.

1775: Hemp was first grown in Kentucky.

18th Century: Benjamin Franklin started the first Hemp paper mill. This allowed America to have its own supply of paper (not from England) for the colonial press. Thomas Paine’s patriotic literature, which helped spark the revolution, was printed on hemp.

1776: Declaration of Independence drafted on Hemp paper. The U.S. Constitution was also printed on hemp paper fourteen years later.

18th Century: Betsy Ross sews first American flag out of hemp.

1791: President Washington sets duties on Hemp to encourage domestic industry. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp on their plantations.

Make the most of the hemp seed. Sow it everywhere. –George Washington

Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth and prosperity of the nation. — Thomas Jefferson

1801: Canada, on behalf of the King of England, distributed hemp seed free to farmers.

19th Century: Hemp became the first crop to be subsidized in Canada.

1802: Two extensive ropewalks were built in Lexington Kentucky. There was also announced a machine that could break “eight thousand weight of hemp per day” a huge quantity for the time.

1812: War of: Sailors outfitted and propelled the U.S. frigate Constitution “Old Ironsides” with more than 60 tons of hempen rope and sail.

Early 19th Century: The advent of steam and oil powered ships reduced demand for hempen rigging.

19th Century: Center of hemp production shifted to the Midwest

1835: Hemp spreads to Missouri. Hemp grown at Californian missions.

1850: The United States Census counted 8,327 hemp plantations growing it for cloth, canvas, and other necessities.

After 1850: Hemp lost ground to cheaper products made of cotton, jute, sisal and petroleum. Hemp was processed by hand, which was very labor intensive and costly, not lending itself towards modern commercial production.

1863: Abraham Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation under light of hemp oil lamp.

1875: Hemp is introduced to Champaign IL, Minnesota by 1880, Nebraska by 1887, California by 1912, and Wisconsin and Iowa by the early 1920s.

Late 19th Century: The American west was tamed with hemp lassos and hemp canvas covered wagons. Hemp oil was used extensively in lighting oil, paints, and varnishes.

Late 19th & early 20th centuries: Increasing labor costs encouraged a gradual shift away from hemp to cotton, jute, and tropical fibers which were less labor intensive. Hemp was used only for cordage and specialty products like birdseed and varnish.

1892: Rudolph Diesel invented diesel engine, intended especially for vegetable and seed oils.

1915: California outlaws Cannabis.

1916: Recognizing that timber supplies are finite, USDA Bulletin 404 calls for new program of expansion of Hemp to replace uses of timber by industry.

1917: American George W. Schlichten patented a new machine for separating the fiber from the internal woody core (”hurds”), reducing labor costs by over 90% and increasing fiber yield by 600%. That, combined with new technology to fashion paper and plastics from hemp-derived cellulose, gradually breathed new life into the industry.

1919: Texas outlaws cannabis.

1920-1940: Economic power is consolidated in hands of small number of steel, oil and munitions companies, such as Dupont, which became the US’s primary munitions manufacturer. Dupont developed and patented fuel additives such as tetraethyl lead and other petroleum based products like nylon, cellophane and plastics during this time. Mexican rebels seize prime timberland from land belonging to newspaper magnate, paper and timber baron, William Randolph Hearst.

1920-1970: Oil Barons Rockefeller, Standard Oil, and Rothschild of Shell, etc., realized the possibilities of Henry Ford’s vision of cheap methanol fuel, so they kept oil prices at between one dollar and four dollars a barrel (almost 42 gallons in a barrel), so that no other energy source could compete with it, until 1970, after all competition was erased, when the price of oil jumped to almost $40/barrol over the next 10 years.

1931: Andrew Mellon, The Treasury Secretary, and Head of Bank of Pittsburgh, which loaned Dupont 80% of its money, appoints his niece’s husband, Harry J. Anslinger, to head newly formed Federal Bureau of Narcotics (later becoming the DEA).

1930s: Following action by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and a campaign by William Randolph Hearst, propaganda is created against hemp from companies with vested interest in the new petroleum-based synthetic textiles. Even though hemp reinvented itself, thanks to new technology that eased processing and expanded its use, the timber (Hearst) and oil interests (Dupont, Anslinger, Mellon) crushed competition from plant-based cellulose by demonizing marijuana, and paralleling its use to Mexican immigrants and later Black jazz musicians. The effects of marijuana are demonized with such movies as “Marijuana: assassin of youth,” Devil’s weed,” and “Reefer Madness.” Throughout this assault hemp’s link to marijuana is exaggerated.

1937: DuPont Corporation patents processes for making plastics from oil and coal. The Marijuana Tax Act is passed, a prohibitive tax on hemp in the USA, effectively destroying the industry. Anslinger testifies to congress that ‘Marijuana’ is the most violence causing drug known to man. The objections by the American Medical Association (The AMA only realized that ‘Marijuana’ was in fact Cannabis or Hemp two days before the start of hearing) and the National Oil Seed Institute are rejected.

1937 - late 60s: US government understood and acknowledged that Industrial Hemp and marijuana were not the same plant.

1938: Popular Mechanics magazine, nearly at the same time as the Marijuana tax act goes into effect, touts hemp as first “billion dollar crop” and lists over 25,000 uses.

In 1938: Canada prohibits marijuana, and thus hemp production, under the Opium and Narcotics Control Act.

1940: World production of hemp peaked at about 832,000 tons of fiber.

1941: Popular Mechanics Magazine reveals details of Henry Ford’s plastic car made using hemp and fueled from hemp. Henry Ford continued to illegally grow hemp for some years after the Federal ban, hoping to become independent of the petroleum industry.

Now lets Fire up This Funk and Get thangs Rollin Mr President

You Tell’em Willie - a Billion Dollar Industry;

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