axelcat

50............

After Shock Media

Lastly marijuana was made illegal primarly for racial reasons. It was a drug of choice for mexicans and negros. They made a connection that they could seduce pure innocent white women with their evil plant in a few of the bible belt states.
You can still find the congress notes on this, which occured during the summer months. Keep in mind there was no AC or such so the hearing was very short. The paint companies caved since they had new oils to work with anyways, cotton had pretty much taken over the textial market, and the only hold out was of all things those that produced feed. This is why to this day you still can find steril hemp seeds inside of some bird feed.
Some of the transcripts are down right humorous. Like testing it out and flying about the room (no I am being serious). Also one doctor said he had extracted the active ingrediant (THC) and had injected it directly into the brain of a rat which died. The process to extract the THC was not to be invented for several years after that though, so whatever he did inject was not pure THC as claimed, and injecting nearly any foriegn substance directly into somethings brain is ussually fatal.

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SuckOnThis

I wish people knew what the fuck they were talking about before they put up shit like this. The rain forest in Brazil is being depleted by 2.7 million acres a year for the paper industry. At this rate it will completely gone in 40-50 years. Bush recently overturned a federal law which now will allow 58 million acres (over 30%) of our forests to be logged. Fuck man, get informed.

After Shock Media

When did Brazil become part of the US?

I am also very against Bush, though that federal law which you speak of is not as bad as what the propaganda suggests. Very simple thing people just do not seem to grasp. Our forests do better if they are logged, and when they are logged it is selective logging done in phases.
I actually am informed on this issue a great deal. I did not just listen to what the sides had to spin and did a great deal of research.

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Rich

Hemp is one of the easiest crops to grow, and one of the most efficient as well. How long does it take a grow a tree? That's not what they do, our paper doesn't come from tree farms, it comes from forests. You can grow massive hemp fields year after year, and it's one of the few crops that actually makes the soil more fertile every year.

It was outlawed shortly after dupont invented plastic, banks and corporations controlled the government back then just as they do today. The US pressured a lot of other countries to do the same. Imagine how much better the world would be if all the plastic products we use and throw away were made of completely biodegradable hemp. It would cut our landfills down by 3/4, and that's just the first benefit. Amazingly some people don't realize that plastic is made from oil, I guess they think it comes from a plastic tree.

The fact that marijuana prohibition has been allowed to last for so long proves just how weak and stupid we the people really are.

SuckOnThis

If you did research this you would know how the rain forests effect the climate of the planet. The US is not on a seperate planet. Rainforests are a key element of global weather systems. Destroying them alters the Hydrological Cycle-causing drought, flooding and soil erosion in areas where events were previously rare. The cutting and destruction of the Rainforests also changes the albedo or reflectivity of the Earth's Surface, which in turn alters wind and ocean current patterns, and changes rain fall distribution.

As far as our forests doing better if they are logged, I believe this to be total bullshit and a theory created by the logging industry. Have you ever even been in a forest? I have lived within minutes of some of the most prestigious forests in the country for the past 40 years and I can tell you they do just fine on their own. There was a reason why this law was in place, to protect our national forests. They do not do better logged, a forest is a natural habitat that is quite capable of taking care of itself without mans intervention.

Rich

You sir are an idiot. What does the discussion about paper have to do with potheads? You think if hemp were legalized people would have to create paper out of it themselves? And you're telling someone else to buy a clue? That's a fucking joke.

I'll spell it out for you, hemp paper isn't just for potheads. We'd ALL get cheap paper products that don't require 100 year old trees to be cut down. Understand now? You don't really think things through before you post, do you?

RRRED

Here's a quote from a site about how long it takes to grow "industrial hemp"

"Industrial hemp has substantial environmental benefits and could help preserve the earth's natural resources. Hemp is grown with little or no herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides commonly used by other crop farmers, which contaminate our nation's ground water. The crop's deep root system also aerates the soil so it functions as a great rotation crop. Hemp's rapid growth and dense foliage inhibits weed growth. In addition, hemp is a quickly renewable resource and can be harvested a mere 90 days after planting. Paper-producing trees have a slow growth rate, and take up to 70 years to grow. The facts speak for themselves as 10,000 acres of hemp can produce as much paper as 40,000 acres of trees."

And a few interesting facts...

"-Industrial hemp is drug-free
-Under federal law it is illegal to cultivate hemp with out local and Federal permits in the U.S. but it is legal to import it. "Sterile hemp seeds are specifically not excluded from the definition of 'marijuana' and are not controlled substances under federal law." Public Law 91-513, section 102 (15).
-Hemp seed oil is one of the richest sources of essential fatty acids, essential amino acids and other nutrients responsible for healthy skin and hair.
-George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were hemp farmers.
-Henry Ford used hemp to build and fuel early Ford automobiles.
-The first drafts of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were printed on hemp paper.
-Even though the U.S. government encouraged American farmers to grow hemp for WWII and had even accepted it as payment of taxes in Colonial America, it is now prohibited to grow hemp in the United States.
-The first pairs of Levi's jeans were made of the durable hemp fiber.
-The writings of Confucius and Lao Tsu were transcribed on hemp paper.
-For centuries, Bibles and illuminated manuscripts were printed on hemp paper.
-The hemp seed, like the soybean, can be processed into many nutritious food products.
-Hemp seed is a nutritious food source, high in protein, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium and Vitamin A.
-Twenty-nine countries including France (Alterna's hemp seed oil source), Canada, England, Germany and China legally produce industrial hemp.
-All members of the Group of Seven Industrialized Nations permit hemp cultivation except one-the United States.
-The cultivation of industrial hemp could help to preserve the earth's natural resources.
-Hemp is a quickly renewable resource in compariso n to trees (90 days vs. 70 years in some cases.)
-10,000 acres of hemp can prod uce as much paper as 40,000 acres of trees.
-The process of turning hemp into paper requires fewer caustic and toxic chemicals than paper production from trees, thus reducing pollution.
-Hemp requires no herbicides or pesticides for cultivation and naturally re-fertilizes the soil for future crops."

After Shock Media

What I spoke above was US forests, what happens in other countries who do not practive proper management and so on is indeed sad. I was not speaking about other countries and that is why I made sure to say US when typing it.

I can not alter someones beliefs on a subject. Forests however do indeed do better when properly logged.
Now have I even ever been in a forest? Did you bother to take a look at my location? I have also lived in and around forests most of my entire life.
Laws may have reasons at the time they are put into place. This does not make them true nor absolute.
Natural forests have a nasty tendancy to burn without mans intervention. If we allow forests to grow without selective logging and replacement they litterally turn into a disaster waiting to happen. What is also funny about many of those national forests, when they do catch fire which they often do what are we allowed to do? Oh yeah just let them burn out on their own. Small hint when the forest burns to the ground it has to be restarted which take a great deal of time naturally.

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SuckOnThis

Yes but the US is the largest importer of lumber from Brazil, so we do play a part with supply and demand.
Forest fires are a natural and healthy cycle of a forest. They actually benefit from it. Been to Yellowstone since the 1988 fire? The forest is in the best condition its been in our lifetme.

Rich

Sometimes I wonder.

Rich

I can't believe there are still people who believe that outside of grade school.

After Shock Media

I am not defending nor talking about what happens with brazil. That can be dropped.
I have been to Yellowstone since the 1988 fire as well as several other areas since major fires. I can say without a doubt that after seeing how Yellowstone looks compared to logged forests that also caught fire is dismal at best. Most of the old growth in the area of Yellowstone that I visited was gone due to the fire. Yet in forests near here where controlled logging happens on a regular bases along with natural fires the forests look many times better in less time and a great deal of the old growth is still intact despite the forest fires. Primarly due to the fact that most of the dead fuel had been removed and the trees given enough spacing.

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After Shock Media

Show me I am wrong then without just saying you believe.

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