General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFirst Hemp Crop in 60 Years
http://www.koaa.com/news/new-law-allows-colorado-hemp-crop/Springfield farmer Ryan Loflin is now watching over one of Colorado's first industrial hemp crops in almost 60 years.
According to the Denver Post , Loflin began planting 60 acres on acreage previously used to grow alfalfa on Monday. He and business partner Chris Thompson also are installing a seed press to produce hemp oil.
http://hempforyou.com/industrial-hemp-a-new-crop-with-new-uses-for-north-america/
NaturalHigh
(12,778 posts)My history professor told our class how important hemp rope was to the shipping industry before the "big ban."
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)Its history as a crop is intimately intertwined with American history:
http://www.hemphasis.net/History/harriedhemp.htm
RainDog
(28,784 posts)In 1619 the Virginia Assembly passed legislation requiring every farmer to grow hemp. Hemp was allowed to be exchanged as legal tender in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland.
Domestic production flourished until after the Civil War, when imports and other domestic materials replaced hemp for many purposes. In the late nineteenth century, marijuana became a popular ingredient in many medicinal products and was sold openly in public pharmacies.
Hemp became illegal because Mexicans migrated to the U.S. after the Mexican Revolution. From 1910 until 1920-ish, this was the impetus to ban cannabis.
California was the first state to enact prohibition against cannabis in reaction to immigration.
After the 1920s, African-Americans, particularly musicians, were targeted for arrest for possession of marijuana because, at this time, music was uniting blacks and whites in urban areas. White men's fear of black men was a big part of the reason for Anslinger's actions - he stated, outright, that the chief reason was to punish African Americans (and keep white women away from them.)
SunSeeker
(51,697 posts)sofa king
(10,857 posts)http://cen.acs.org/articles/91/web/2013/05/Energy-Storing-Nanomaterial-Made-Hemp.html
That could be a really, really big deal... or a pipe dream.
rdharma
(6,057 posts)RainDog
(28,784 posts)But hemp as insulation is one of the most popular ways to use the plant. Hemp insulates better than many other materials, such as cotton or wool. Hemp insulation is a composite material, in which the plant's fibers are bound with another substance. It has a low U-value, a measurement which gauges how much heat passes through a particular material. The lower the U-value, the better the material insulates. In fact, Hemp insulation has a U-value of .040, which is comparable to the U-value rate of 8-inches of fiberglass insulation [source: The Hemp Company and Combustion Research].
Hemp's R-value, which measures a material's resistance to heat flow, is also good and similar to other fibrous insulation products -- about R-3.5 per inch of thickness [source: U.S. Department of Energy]. The more the material restricts the flow of heat, the higher its R-value.
Hemp also absorbs moisture, which reduces humidity and condensation of the surrounding air, and inhibits the growth of mold [source: The Hemp Company]. While hemp insulation can help a homeowner save money on energy, its real advantage is that the plant is environmentally friendly. It takes very little energy to grow and process hemp into insulation. In addition, hemp scrubs the atmosphere of greenhouse gases [source: The Hemp Company].
Recursion
(56,582 posts)There's supposedly a religious freedom case that's being prepared about this.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)I'd love to see it.
Is that why Snoop Dog converted to Rastafarian?
Recursion
(56,582 posts)K Street is a small town, really...
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)To the DEA, hemp = marijuana. There is no difference.
When Albert White Plume tried to grow hemp on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the first year, the DEA came and stomped down his crop. The second year, the got an injunction against him. That injunction still stands, and there is no hemp on the rez.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)People from around the nation could take turns creating a human shield to make a fucking point about govt. overreach.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Holder is not to be trusted.
otohara
(24,135 posts)fuck that shit!
formercia
(18,479 posts)It's even healthier than Olive Oil.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)better than flaxseed or borage.
Hemp seed could help fight world hunger.
grahampuba
(169 posts)the restriction of our freedoms and abilities to be self-sufficient.
how you have the qualifications to head a governmental agency but lack the ability to distinguish between the properties of hemp and psychoactive marijuana.
100% criminal and a crime against humanity and the planet.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)when I started reading up on this issue - I was just dumbstruck. This is surely one of the most corrupt political practices of the 20th (and now 21st) century.
ENTIRELY destroyed my belief in rational political possibilities - to see what LaGuardia said about this, and doctors, lawyers, scientists and so on every decade since.
TOTAL CORRUPTION of American political ideals to pursue racist policy.
DiverDave
(4,887 posts)It was a pretty through indictment of the government and that skunk ainslinger...and he WAS a skunk.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)Henry Ford's famous (for some of us) hemp protype car that ran on hemp fuel - all grown on his land.
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)Farmer is arrested, threatened with 40 year term. All bank accounts seized.
Bankers prosecuted for letting him have an account.
Let freedom ring.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)because this issue crosses traditional political lines. this is a bipartisan issue - people want the feds to stop lying.
70 years of lies and propaganda is enough.
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)I do not think the federal government has gotten the message, though.
DCKit
(18,541 posts)Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)The Feds genuinely are threatening bankers under money laundering regs if they do business with med marijuana supply houses or growers. I mean, if I were that farmer's banker I genuinely would be crapping my britches and calling my bank counsel, and I have to tell you that the farmer may find his banking accounts cut off on advice of counsel.
So, here's the scoop. If you are a big wig at MF Global, and you steal more than a billion dollars of your customer's money out of their segregated accounts, which happens to be a flagrant violation of US law, DOJ decides no crime, no prosecution.
If you are a poor stupid guy in a credit union who fails to ask enough questions about one of your customers who has a little store and it turns out he has something to do with med. marijuana, your regulator may cut off your balls and feed them to you on a plate (MOU -- you admit wrong and thank the agency for allowing you to give them all your money)
It's been going on for several years now.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2011/mar/16/feds_squeeze_banks_bid_freeze_ou
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/justice-department-targets-banks-medical-marijuana-crackdown/story?id=14811540#.UZVIMcpu-ls
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_22751888/colorado-pot-businesses-cannot-bank-and-no-solution-is
RainDog
(28,784 posts)Lawrence Lessig did a good TED talk about the lack of equity in our laws and, most importantly, in the shaping of our very government because of the special treatment the wealthy receive because they fund elections.
We don't have a democracy. We have a kleptocracy.
dreamnightwind
(4,775 posts)DiverDave
(4,887 posts)wizzen by at 65, I THOUGHT that was weed.
Talked to a truckstop waitress and danged if it aint.
Got away from the farmers in the 20's-30's and grows wild.
No THC to speak of, just hemp.
Thats cool that they can finally make some cash off of it.
rdharma
(6,057 posts)OneGrassRoot
(22,920 posts)duhneece
(4,117 posts)Great products, usually sold in salons I've been told. I'm trying to find the local source so I can reward them by buying some at their store.
I'm so glad to hear this. The hemp industry could be the answer to many farmers' prayers. Thanks for sharing, RD.
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)It made me so happy to read about this.
Here's to a better tomorrow....