cannabisnews.com: Illinois Cannabis Education!  





 Illinois Cannabis Education!  
Posted by FoM on March 20, 1999 at 09:50:21 PT
 Hemp bill passes out of committee
The Illinois Senate Agriculture Committee convened to hear testimony relating to Senate Bill No. 49 relating to industrial hemp. The measure was sponsored by Senator Evelyn Bowles (D) of Edwardsville and passed on a voice vote without dissent. The bill now advances to the full Senate.
The bill, if made law, will create a task force, a cooperative effort between the Illinois Department of Agriculture and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Agricultural Extension.The Chairman of the St. Clair County Soil & Water Commission and a two year member of the North American Industrial Hemp Council, Ray Hollermann, provided testimony regarding the benefits of hemp, as well as a display of oils, soaps, shampoos, candles, and belts all manufactured in Canada. His testimony was provided while dressed in hemp from cap to shoes and most everything in-between. The St. Clair County Soil & Water Commission operates a 98-acre research farm.Research from the University of Kentucky study was presented showing the benefit of hemp used in rotation with soybeans to reduce the presence of nematodes and increased bean yields by 20%. This is particularly relevant as farmers increasingly move toward no-till farming practices.Further, hemp raised for seed can produce a value of $605 per acre. Mr. Hollermann also spoke to the moves in other State legislatures from Hawaii to Vermont, as well as Missouri and Minnesota. The Minnesota Senate recently passed an industrial hemp measure supported by Governor Ventura.Mr. Hollermann’s related a story from 1947 involving his father. He had to haul his soybeans all the way to St. Louis, because local grain elevators did not want to handle a novelty crop. But now, this seems odd, as half of the farmland in the cornbelt is routinely seeded with soybeans. Likewise, hemp can play an important and profitable role. Given the properties of hemp oil, it is likely to be more important to the farm community in fifty years than soybeans are today. In 1997, the Illinois Farm Bureau County Boards all, save one, supported industrial hemp. Mr. Hollermann also testified that hemp could be distinguished from the air from marijuana plants. Given that hemp would hurt the marijuana potency by pollinating it, illicit growers would not cultivate amongst the hemp fields. He further stated that law enforcement was paid to destroy 28 hemp plants left over from World War II for every one marijuana plant they destroyed in Illinois last year. Farmers hope industrial hemp is made legal, if for no other reason than they wouldn’t have to mow down the wild ditch weed.Speaking after the hearing, Mr. Hollermann stated the Hemp Council had made good progress working with federal agencies in Washington, D.C. and felt that they had been close to lifting federal bans on hemp cultivation. However, US Drug Czar General McCaffrey is still adamantly opposed to hemp and marijuana in all its forms. Sponsors for a companion bill in the House are needed. Further, Senators need to be contacted to know of your support for this legislation. For contact information go to http://www.state.il.us/legis/Illinois Cannabis EducationWho we areSeveral people in Central Illinois, representing diverse backgrounds and age groups and talents, have been meeting regularly to discuss local and state-wide avenues of cannabis policy reform. Illinois Cannabis Education was formed to advance reform by promoting public dialogue and defeating the pernicious myths about "marijuana" with the well-documented facts about cannabis and hemp.ICE is planning public meetings, lectures and book-signings by national drug policy activists and other community events in Central Illinois. We will be raising money for advertising and speaker honoraria. Some of our members are building a student organization at the University of Illinois at Springfield, but we need more student members to accomplish this. We want to build alliances with other organizations working on issues of social justice and the environment. Various ICE members are already members of NORML, Amnesty International, the Sierra Club and the Libertarian Party, making ICE a truly diverse bunch.With our headquarters in the capitol city, we are well-positioned to make our voices heard in the Illinois General Assembly. We are also becoming a news source as evidenced by our maiden story above.What we're sayingThe need for alternatives to the current failed drug control policies is not being adequately addressed by state and local government in Illinois. Harm reduction strategies represent a significant and worthy alternative to our current policies. Drug policies that create more harm to society than drug abuse itself need to be abandoned.At the center of the drug policy debate is the question of cannabis, which is by far the most widely used illegal substance. Take away cannabis and Illinois' drug problem is reduced to much more manageable and less alarming proportions.  Cannabis prohibition was imposed upon our society earlier in the 20th Century based upon hysterical propaganda by moralistic crusaders who claimed the herb represented a threat to society. The "Reefer Madness" claims of these prohibitionists were discredited long ago, yet the erroneous and racist notion that minorities are more likely to be involved in drugs is still quite prevalent. The claims of the dangers of cannabis to health have now fallen in the face of the Institute of Health report supporting the health benefits of cannabis and last summer's announcement by the National Academy of Science that the cannabinoids are powerful antioxidants providing significant neural protection. The nonsensical prohibition of cannabis is driving the War on Drugs, rendering needless and horrific harms to society while simultaneously robbing the sick of a life-saving medicine and robbing farmers of a valuable crop.Please join with us to reform cannabis laws in Illinois. Together, we can make an important difference in the lives of all Illinoians.http://www.fgi.net/~lstevens/ice/ice.htm
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