Hemp is a Threat to US Corporatocracy

By on March 11, 2013 in News 18

Abby Martin takes a look at the real reason why hemp is illegal in the US- the truth might surprise you.

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  • WTFMFWOMG

    She gets some of it right. The market for tree paper chemicals is the thing most threatened by legalizing cannabis. According to Jack Herer’s research from the 1980s, something like 80 percent of DuPont’s rail-car shipments of chemicals are for making tree paper. http://www.jackherer.com/thebook/

    • moremisinformation

      Here’s an interesting website that takes a huge dump all over Jack Herer’s “research”: http://hemphoax.org/

      • WTFMFWOMG

        Yes, that site sure has a lot of references. Looks legit (not). The disinfo keeps flowing, and we will see more acts of desperation by those threatened by the prospect of legalization. I guess those hemp farmers in other countries need to be educated. If hemp is shit, why does it have to be illegal? If it is just another lousy plant, why not let the free market determine whether or not it is useful?

        • Ittabena

          Ahem! The Free Market doctrine may only be invoked on approved products and industries, and then only when they are doing well.

        • moremisinformation

          There’s nothing at that site about whether it should be illegal – the author of the website doesn’t think it should be and feels that it should be grown by whomever and wherever they want to. There’s nothing there about whether it’s “shit” or “lousy”. No need to set up straw men to knock down. It simply calls into question the, “hemp-as-world-problem-solver meme that runs in some circles. Setting up a website for discussion is hardly an act of “desperation”.

          Also, the credentials of the site’s author are readily available. One can also go find his complete dismantling of Jack Herer’s seminal work of disinformation on the Amazon page for the book.

          • WTFMFWOMG

            You get 5/10 for making me respond.

            Of course it isn’t a “world problem solver.” That is up to the bipedal apes who try to tell each other what to do, telling us what to grow or not to grow at gunpoint. This website is publishing disinfo and half-truth in order to discourage the 27 people who actually read it from looking any further.

            From the site: “the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 did not outlaw hemp growing and had nothing to do with the demise of the American hemp industry.”
            Wrong. Testimony from Matt Rens of the Rens Hemp company indicates that, according to strict interpretation of the Act, the hemp farmer would have to collect all of the leaves from the plant, weight them and be taxed by the weight of the leaves: “It will cost a million.”

            Mr. Rens: Such a tax would put all small producers out of the business of growing hemp, and the proportion of small producers is considerable… the real purpose of this bill is not to raise money, is it?
            Senator Brown: Well, we’re sticking to the proposition that it is.
            Mr. Rens: It will cost a million.
            Senator Brown: Thank you. (Witness Dismissed)

            A friend of a friend of mine owns a large company that makes millions in profits from importing, then packaging and selling hemp seeds, grown in Canada. Why can’t the American farmer make money on hemp? Why is the USA the only country that does not make a distinction between the drug and non-drug varieties?

          • moremisinformation

            Well, thanks for responding in a mostly productive and civil manner – not always the case at disinfo (even though the 5/10 was an insult, barely lurking under the surface). You’ve stated that the website is publishing disinfo and half-truth, yet provide something from the website and then a non sequitur (though you may have one, you provide no references, which, if you forgot, you castigated earlier), I suppose, as rebuttal? .

            You may also be aware that, even if only 27 people read a website, that has zero bearing on the information presented. Truth is not affected by fallacious appeals to popularity. The popularity of “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” is testimony to that.

            As I said, no comment was made as to the notion that people in the US should not be able to grow hemp – or even smoke cannabis. Neither myself nor the author of the website believe this. So we don’t disagree on that.

            If anything, I suppose my posting the website was out of place because the post was about the threat to corporatocracy, which I agree with. But it doesn’t change the heavy misinformation, if not disinformation put out by the save-everything-with-hemp crowd. Herrer did the movement no good by being full of shit.

  • BuzzCoastin

    I’m all for hemp, but it’s gonnna make growing pot outdoors challenging.

  • BuzzCoastin

    I’m all for hemp, but it’s gonnna make growing pot outdoors challenging.

    • WTFMFWOMG

      Correct. The pollen from an industrial seed-growing operation can travel for miles, contaminating any sinsemilla crop nearby. You’d think that, for this reason, the drug warrior types would be all for the growing of industrial hemp. The fact that all forms of cannabis are opposed is proof that the real “menace” was and still is industrial hemp; uses for it dwarf the drug applications of the plant.

    • WTFMFWOMG

      Correct. The pollen from an industrial seed-growing operation can travel for miles, contaminating any sinsemilla crop nearby. You’d think that, for this reason, the drug warrior types would be all for the growing of industrial hemp. The fact that all forms of cannabis are opposed is proof that the real “menace” was and still is industrial hemp; uses for it dwarf the drug applications of the plant.

    • echar

      That’s what hydroponics, CO2, and Mylar are for.

      • BuzzCoastin

        I grew some hemp by accident once. Clued me in to the diff right away.

        But growing indoors is really energy intensive and I think hydroponics, CO2, and Mylar are for when there’s no sun to be seen in the sky for long periods. They have their place as emrgency tools.

        I’m pretty sure growers could find ways to adjust; it would be a nice problem to have.

        • echar

          Even though the light is free, growing outdoors poses issues. As you noted with pollination from hemp; But also deer, bugs, poachers, helicopters, hydration (lack of or too much), and more. A controlled environment may positively effect the overhead, the yield, and the potency.

          • BuzzCoastin

            sure, it works great
            and as long as you get $10 a gram it’s economically feasible
            if you’re growing yer own it might be too
            and if you’ve tried growing inside, it’s no picnic
            spider mites, fungus gnats, just the right humidity & temp & lights
            I’ve spent more money on growing indoors with no luck
            than I woulda spent of street priced pot for the same yeild

          • echar

            That’s the gospel truth. There’s certain tools, and organic doesn’t really fly indoors.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kurt-Webb/53801531 Kurt Webb

    What’s Russia’s hemp crop look like?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kurt-Webb/53801531 Kurt Webb

    What’s Russia’s hemp crop look like?