On Thursday, February 8, 1996 at 3:47:28 am CET, nespeca@SABLE.CC.VT.EDU wrote: >[...], but why would forest growers choose to experiment with hemp, >given the immediate association with marijuana? > As for hemp, I'll let the marijuana legalization crowd fight their own >battles. My interest is in natural resource production, not recreational >drug use. We should try not to confuse hemp as fiber-plant with the hemp varieties that are grown for the THC contents of the flowers. It has been demonstrated over and over again that the plants grown for fiber are absolutely useless as drug (unless you are wiling to spend a whole evening smoking, buzzing for five minutes, only to end up with a terrible headache). Besides, the argument not to use hemp because of its association with drugs doesn't hold pretty well. It would imply that (for instance) Virola trees in South America should not be used because of the associated drug-use. Or what about the associations between potatoes and wodka, grain and gin, barley and beer? So, let's give hemp a break, and not confuse fibers with doobies. Besides,think of all the resources that would become available if the " marijuana legalization crowd" is able to convince the legislators that there are much better ways to spend money than throwing it into the bottomless pit of (soft)drug-enforcement. But that's a totally different subject.. Jan den Ouden Department of Forestry Wageningen Agricultural University
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