Thursday, September 25, 2008
Should I smoke this or make it into a necklace?
It’s not a question I hear often, but after reading The University Daily Kansan’s story on the marijuana debate (Debate over marijuana tries to clear the air, Sept. 16), I’m surprised I don’t.
Hemp is not the same thing as marijuana. It seems that “hemp,” “marijuana” and “cannabis” were used interchangeably by debaters.
What’s one reason marijuana should be legalized? Hemp is good for the environment. One reason you should eat more apples? Because orange peels make good air freshener. The first comparison may seem more reasonable than the second, but it’s not.
Because producing hemp is illegal in the United States, maybe the government doesn’t see the difference either.
Both marijuana and hemp come from the Cannabis sativa plant. Marijuana contains more of the chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which gets you high. Commercial marijuana has an average THC-content of 4 to 6 percent, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, while hemp has a THC content of less than 1 percent.
The health risks that justify the illegalization of marijuana aren’t present in hemp. According to a Congressional Research Service Report, DEA officials are concerned that commercial cultivation of hemp would increase the likelihood of covert production of marijuana and this would “send the wrong message to the American public concerning the government’s position on drugs.”
The reason the U.S. can’t produce hemp — a cost-effective, environmentally friendly crop — is because the public will think it’s an endorsement for weed? That must be why we import hemp products from other countries, where hemp-inspired drug use is less of an issue, and subsidize less eco-friendly crops like corn and cotton.
Hemp can be used to produce more than 25,000 products including bio-fuel, concrete, insulation and diapers. Production of hemp requires six times less energy than polyester fiber, according to the Reason Foundation, a non-partisan public policy research group. And because hemp can grow with few pesticides, it’s also a sound substitute for cotton, a water- and pesticide-intensive crop.
The marijuana debate is intriguing and complicated.
The hemp debate that has become intrinsically linked to it is ludicrous and unsupported.
For two different substances, a single regulatory law is not appropriate. You can’t use marijuana and hemp interchangeably, so why discuss them and legislate them as though they’re the same?
English is an Overland Park junior in journalism and economics.
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Comments
JConnor (anonymous) says...
This is a well-written, well-though-out editorial that makes a very good point. I was in attendance at the marijuana debate and was wondering why Mr. Hager was going on about hemp when the topic was legalization of marijuana. I guess that's what you get when you have a speaker who has done drugs for the last 30+ years.
However I would like to question the author about one statement. You said "The health risks that justify the illegalization of marijuana aren’t present in hemp." Are you saying the health risks of marijuana do justify its criminilization, or simply that there are no health risks with hemp?
September 26, 2008 at 11:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mildgreens (anonymous) says...
The legal regulation of cannabis (ie: adult choice) and the intrinsic argument for its continued prohibition remains a barrier to ecological hemp. The drug law reform debate may appear seperate to 'prohibitors and their kin' in terms of perceptions of 'hemp' harms vs ingested/inhaled harms but it still begs the question "why" in both cases. It is a matter of historical fact that both uses were made illegal against a paucity of public debate and for the same dumb-arse reasons. That New Zealand allows low THC hemp but conditional on a 'nil by mouth' protocol is testimony to the absurdity.
September 27, 2008 at 6:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sonya (anonymous) says...
JConnor- My opinion is that it's ridiculous that hemp is illegal in this country. Marijuana, though, I can at least see as a two-sided debate. That's all I mean here. Marijuana is illegal because of health risks - whether that's right or wrong is another question. Hemp is illegal... basically because marijuana is illegal, which doesn't seem to me to be a true justification at all.
Thanks for the question, I hope that clarifies the point.
Sonya
September 28, 2008 at 12:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JConnor (anonymous) says...
Sonya, thanks for your response.
September 29, 2008 at 11:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )