By Max Lindberg •
May 30, 2008
State Joins North Dakota in Seeking Permission from Feds to Grow Hemp
The Hemp for Vermont Bill was allowed to become law by Governor Jim Hughes on May 29th, without his signature. The bill overwhelmingly passed both the House and Senate several months ago, setting the stage for Vermont’s entrance into the industrial hemp arena.The non-profit advocacy organization Vote Hemp made the announcement, saying the new law regulates growth of industrial hemp by Vermont farmers. The interest in Vermont is for using hemp in food products and bedding for some of the state’s 140,000 cows.
If you’ve read any of my submissions about hemp, you know I’m a staunch supporter of legalizing industrial hemp in this country.
It has many uses, but I’d never thought of decorative until seeing the story about the “Pastie Lady”. You want to publicize hemp and other natural resources, take a cue from 32 year old Jennifer Moss of Ojai, California.
That’s her on the left, decked out in a g-string, skirt and pasties, all made of hemp. Now, who could turn down a better reason for letting our farmers grow hemp, and establishing an infrastructure to produce such interesting clothing items?
It points up the urgency of Congressman Ron Paul’s latest legislation to decriminalize medical marijuana.
The latest case in point comes from Seattle, where a man was denied a liver transplant, after a University of Washington Medical Center committee denied him a place on the liver transplant list.
His crime? Using medical marijuana, even though it is authorized under Washington state law.
The victim, 56 year old Timothy Garon was authorized by his doctor [...]
Earlier, I had written a story on Rep. Ron Paul’s new legislation that would make medical marijuana legal in states that wish to offer it to patients who are suffering extreme pain. As it stands, six states have legalized the use of marijuana for that reason, but the feds still believe people are using the law as a means to legally receive marijuana, without having an issue with pain.
As a result, federal [...]
By Max Lindberg •
April 28, 2008
Texas Congressman Ron Paul today released a statement urging public support for a House Bill advocating the government stay out of the medical marijuana business and allow state sanctioned clinics the freedom to dispense pot without fear of being raided.
Paul has introduced the “Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act”, H.R. 5842, which would bar the Federal Government from intervening in doctor/patient relationships that violate no state law. This, by the way, is the second legislation co-sponsored by Congressman Paul dealing with the cannabis plant. More on that later.
As a physician, Paul states his position that doctors and patients should make health care decisions, not politicians or federal agents. His legislation would call off the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) “dogs” that regularly hassle state-sanctioned clinics and their patients.
By Max Lindberg •
April 22, 2008
Anyone See The Irony Here?
You’ve probably read the story about an estimated 10,000 people gathered on the University of Colorado’s Norlin Quadrangle Sunday, puffing joints till the air turned blue. University police stood by to maintain order, but no one was busted for smoking pot.
In the meantime, the DEA is staunchly defending its policy against American farmers legally growing industrial hemp, citing the law that says all hemp is marijuana.
How’s your war on drugs coming along, anyway, DEA? The sun is shining, and if you’d pull your heads out, you’d see it. Pot is here, lots of it available, if this number of people can show up and get loaded on just one day in one city and no one is arrested.
Hoping that a new administration in Washington could lead to changes in U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration laws, the Vermont House of Representatives has approved a bill clearing the way for farmers to grow industrial hemp. The measure now moves to the state Senate for consideration.
Photo courtesy of Aleks via Wikimedia Commons.
By Max Lindberg •
October 30, 2007
I love David and Goliath stories, and the recent news from North Dakota is just that: two farmers and a publicly funded land grant university sticking it to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). As you know from an earlier article on Green Options , and my subsequent podcast Greening the Golden Years Podcast: Hemp, The North Dakota Story, two North Dakota farmers, State Rep. Dave Monson and Wayne
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By Max Lindberg •
October 18, 2007
Today’s podcast is a follow-up of my earlier article, Opinion: California Governor Nixes Industrial Hemp While North Dakota Moves On. I felt it necessary to further investigate the North Dakota story and help bring you up to date on other activity around the country.
Twenty-eight states have introduced hemp legislation and fifteen have passed legislation; seven, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, West Virginia and North Dakota have removed
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By Max Lindberg •
October 16, 2007
Well, California’s "Fearless Fosdick" Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger has again stifled any hope of bringing the industrial hemp industry to California and the United States. Unlike his more forward-thinking and courageous counterpart in North Dakota, Schwarzenegger bowed to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and useless fears that industrial hemp will get you high, and vetoed Assembly Bill 684 which would have allowed a four-county, five-year pilot program of industrial hemp
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Whenever I read an online article about alternative energy and scroll down to the reader comments below, I’m already thinking, "Here come the hemp people." No news or feature story about biofuels or sustainable agriculture can go by without supporters of industrial hemp crawling out of the woodwork to tout their wonder crop. My reaction has generally been to say, "OK, we’ve made our obligatory hemp post. Let’s get on with the real debate
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