cannabisnews.com: The Demonized Seed The Demonized Seed Posted by CN Staff on January 17, 2004 at 08:43:49 PT By Lee Green, Special to The Times Source: Los Angeles Times As a Recreational Drug, Industrial Hemp Packs the Same Wallop as Zucchini. So Why Does the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency Continue to Deny America This Potent Resource? Call It Reefer Madness. On an otherwise unremarkable day nearly 30 years ago, in a San Fernando Valley head shop, an ordinary man on LSD had an epiphany. The one thing that could save the world, it came to him, was hemp. Thunderbolts come cheap on LSD, but this one looked good to Jack Herer even after his head cleared. The world needed relief from its addiction to oil and petrochemicals. From deforestation and malnutrition. From dirty fuels, sooty air, exhausted soils and pesticides. The extraordinary hemp plant could solve all those problems. Herer was sure of it. Thus began his journey as a heralding prophet.For 12 years, Herer expanded his knowledge of hemp, burrowing deep into U.S. government archives and writing about his discoveries in alternative newspapers and magazines. He self-published "The Emperor Wears No Clothes," an impassioned rant for the utilitarian virtues of cannabis sativa, the ancient species that gives us both hemp and marijuana, which are genetically distinct. Experts agree that in contrast to marijuana, cannabis hemp—or industrial hemp as it is often called—has no drug characteristics. Herer's book, quirky but substantive enough to be taken seriously, inspired thousands and became an underground classic. The author has issued 16 printings over the years, revising and updating his material 11 times. Today, Herer is widely credited with launching the modern hemp movement, a persistent campaign by an eclectic coalition of environmentalists, legislators, rights activists, farmers, scientists, entrepreneurs and others to end the maligned plant's banishment and tap its potential as a natural resource.Despite the book's over-the-top exuberance and occasional leaps of syllogistic fancy—or more likely because of them—it has sold 665,000 copies in seven languages. Or is it 635,000 copies in eight languages? The prophet isn't sure as he pads across the abused gray carpet of his two-bedroom Van Nuys apartment, a flower-child domicile to which the benefits of even the most rudimentary housekeeping remain foreign. Beard unkempt, hair askew, Herer matches the décor. "How can they make the one thing that can save the world illegal?" he asks, no less astonished by this paradox now than he was three decades ago. Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/herer.htmSource: Los Angeles Times (CA)Author: Lee Green, Special to The TimesPublished: January 18, 2004Copyright: 2004 Los Angeles TimesContact: letters latimes.comWebsite: http://www.latimes.com/Jack Hererhttp://www.jackherer.com/Emperor of Hemphttp://www.emperorofhemp.com/FTE's Hemp Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/hls.htmCannabisNews Hemp Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/hemp.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #33 posted by FoM on January 18, 2004 at 14:09:02 PT Virgil The third story down is one of our story. I found it because they mentioned the cheechandchong.com's web site on the radio station we listen to and thought it was cool. Here it is.http://www.cheechandchong.com/newsarchives/news_archive_page5.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #32 posted by FoM on January 18, 2004 at 08:53:36 PT Virgil - Comment # 28 I just thought everyone knew that is how I do it. I appreciate your mentioning it though.Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/herer.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #31 posted by jose melendez on January 18, 2004 at 04:58:51 PT Re: comment #24 I set up the same username (cannabisnews) and password (password) at nytimes. Please use this data to write more letters to newspapers. That and buying advertising space are two ways we can really make a difference. Even classified ads work. [ Post Comment ] Comment #30 posted by Dankhank on January 17, 2004 at 21:28:25 PT need no stinkin' registration .. hey, about that registration thing ...lie, obfuscate, imagine, fictionalize, equivocate, falsify, fib, palter, prevaricate, beguile, deceive, delude, misguide, misinform, misinstruct, mislead; distort, exaggerate, misstate [ Post Comment ] Comment #29 posted by E_Johnson on January 17, 2004 at 20:23:24 PT I have one more comment " "Let's not play dumb here," says America's reigning drug czar, John P. Walters of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy."Believe me, Mr. Walters, nobody would suspect you of PLAYING dumb, after reading this LA Times article. [ Post Comment ] Comment #28 posted by Virgil on January 17, 2004 at 19:50:32 PT Max, Max, Max Wake up Max. Most article that are snipped are available for reading at FoM's personal website- FreedomtoExhale.com The link will follow the word "snipped." One thing the newspapers do not do is put references to related works that can be viewed on the Internet. For people writing papers this is a valuable knowledge passed on from the wise to the ones that would like to be.Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/herer.htmSource: Los Angeles Times (CA) Author: Lee Green, Special to The Times Published: January 18, 2004 Copyright: 2004 Los Angeles TimesContact: letters latimes.com Website: http://www.latimes.com/Jack Herer http://www.jackherer.com/Emperor of Hemp http://www.emperorofhemp.com/FTE's Hemp Links http://freedomtoexhale.com/hls.htmCannabisNews Hemp Archives http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/hemp.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #27 posted by ekim on January 17, 2004 at 19:48:13 PT how do we get message out on Super Bowl Day can still remember the day i was passing out Cannabis info and was in a local Lawyers office and he said to me read this. It was a couple of pages of Ain't No bodys busness if I do. by Peter McWilliams. I thought man someone is writen books allright[[[[[. i wish i had a copy of Viriety when Peter bought a whole page. that must have cost a pretty penny. I wonder if Norml could get a whole page of the New Orleans biggest paper on Super Bowl Day. or better yet how about having Norml Board Member * Former NFL great Mark Stepnoski call the game How much would that cost. Com on Mr Soros.Please mark your calender and set your computer's browser to view and listen to the 'National NORMLcast' every Wednesday evening 10:00 PM (eastern).Webcast Info Wed. Jan. 7, 2004 10:00 pm EST http://av.mediavac.com/ramgen/encoder/gko/gko.rmTo receive the National NORMLcast you'll need Real Audio, to down load the latest version of Real Audio.click here - http://www.real.com/realone/index.html?lang=en&loc=usDL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5877Source: NORML Foundation (DC) Published: January 7, 2004 Copyright: 2004 NORML Contact: norml norml.org Website: http://www.norml.org/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #26 posted by Patrick on January 17, 2004 at 19:40:16 PT An excerpt from the above article Since taking root in the early 1990s, the hemp movement has made great progress around the world. Unfenced fields of the tall, cane-like plants flourish in Austria, Italy, Portugal, Ireland-the entire European Union. Great Britain reintroduced the crop in 1993. Germany legalized it in 1996. Australia followed suit two years later, as did Canada. Among the world's major industrial democracies, only the United States still forbids hemp farming. If an American farmer were to fill a field with this drugless crop, the government would consider him a felon. For selling his harvest he would be guilty of trafficking and would face a fine of as much as $4 million and a prison sentence of 10 years to life. Provided, of course, it is his first offense.This for a crop as harmless as rutabaga.And as I pointed out earlier killing someone gets you less time in jail??? Insanity??? Justice??? [ Post Comment ] Comment #25 posted by Max Flowers on January 17, 2004 at 19:37:29 PT Thanks for straightening me out ...on the importance of this being in the LA Times. I used to live down there but haven't since 1997. I guess I have forgotten how conservative it is down there. So I have to be happy for what happens. Up here in the bay area this article (or excerpt anyway) reads as timid baby steps on the subject. But steps are steps. If you say this is big I believe you.If the journalistic goal is to expose the issue of the potential of hemp and the suppression by the USG of the hemp industry, then I think more aggressive presentation of the facts would have done more. But ah yes, baby steps are good too... [ Post Comment ] Comment #24 posted by Patrick on January 17, 2004 at 19:31:20 PT Thanks jose melendez! Superman always flies to the rescue! Maybe we should nickname you Cannabisman!!! Here comes Cannabisman to save the day!!! Thanks for the ID and password. Now the LA Times won't get my buck fifty and I get to read the whole article for free! [ Post Comment ] Comment #23 posted by jose melendez on January 17, 2004 at 18:41:20 PT great article I registered the user name: cannabisnews with the password: password on the latimes site.Enjoy the great article at:http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-hemp03jan18,1,1658290.story?coll=la-home-magazine [ Post Comment ] Comment #22 posted by E_Johnson on January 17, 2004 at 18:09:55 PT It could easily happen again There was a wonderfully diverse media landscape in America before network TV news took over.People wanted free news, so they gave up their power to the TV networks.And a lot of that diversity vanished.It was terrible to watch for anyone in journalism at the time, except for the corporate behind kissers who wormed their way into TV news of course.I think the best journalism has always been print journalism, and we have to keep supporting print journalism financially, or deal with the terrible consequences of bad journalism.The decline of print journalism in the seventies and eighties has a lot to do with the growing predominance of drug war propaganda in the news feed of America. Propaganda is much better delivered by television than by print.That is very much why we are here now. [ Post Comment ] Comment #21 posted by Patrick on January 17, 2004 at 16:33:26 PT You can have cake and eat it responsibly! Example: The Coast News is a "free" weekly newspaper containing articles mostly written by locals with stories that are relevant to my community and the other coastal communities north of San Diego where I live. I've been picking up a copy of this free paper nearly every Thursday for years and years. They don't charge a dime, never have and don't intend too. This paper has no more advertisements than the "big city" daily papers. Cannabis News is another great source of information that is free to the public. If it weren't free I would probably subscribe to it because I really like FoM's editorial view! No matter what the source of the information it is up to an intelligent being to analyze what that information means, how important it is, and if need be, acted upon. I think everyone also has an opinion about or tends to judge to a degree the actual source of the information and for good reasons. Compare the source of the Wall Street Journal to the National Enquirer or perhaps the LA Times to the National Review for example. I do agree with the premise that if every website were nothing more than the same corporate wire feed, all information would eventually narrow into one big corporate/patriotic black and white, good versus evil, two dimensional message, mind control experiment to create a new world order. Hey wait a minute. I imagine there are souls out there who have the time to read every single line of print in a paper. I don't. I scan the many sources of information available for a snapshot of the world I am in. If I want real depth on a topic I'll usually buy a book. I got a lot of books. However, I don't think these free media sources will go bankrupt because there is a never-ending supply of people willing to make the sources advertisers profitable indirectly through their wallets. Does the LA Times make more money off its advertisers or off of its subscibers? I don't know the answer to this but would be interested in finding out without paying a subscription! [ Post Comment ] Comment #20 posted by E_Johnson on January 17, 2004 at 15:02:43 PT It's like cake You can't have it and eat it too.You can't eat free information for too long or everyone will go bankrupt and your choices will steadily narrow until you're just reading the same corporate wire feed at every different web site you go to. [ Post Comment ] Comment #19 posted by Patrick on January 17, 2004 at 14:28:45 PT Sorry E_J To make you sad that is. Really I am. Life is brief and the future is always bright when there is hope. It has to be or the consequence is sadness and despair. The ups and downs of life are a normal consequence of being alive. Newspapers are in no danger of becoming extinct by any means. So I don't understand why my being happy about all the choices of information we have makes you so apprehensive about the future? [ Post Comment ] Comment #18 posted by E_Johnson on January 17, 2004 at 13:55:23 PT Then accept the consequences "The number of choices and sources for information has already reached mind-boggling proportions but I think that is a totally cool sort of thing. "If everyone made the choices you are making, none of that would exist. None of it. I am a former newspaper editor and you really make me sad and also very apprehensive about the future. [ Post Comment ] Comment #17 posted by Patrick on January 17, 2004 at 13:30:27 PT E-J I have another angle on it I just think it's funny how newspapers can print "Today's Headlines" yesterday or is it "Tomorrow's News" printed a day in advance? Hmmm. I prefer the Internet/TV/magazine medium for my news and information most of the time. Actually, I read Cannabis News first and branch off from here. I had a newspaper route when I was a kid. I collected the money from my customers on their doorstep every Friday evening, Today I am content to just bookmark the LA Times homepage and read what they have for free. I don't mind buying their paper from the newsstands on occasion and I agree doing that does help the paper and the people employed working to distribute it. I just prefer not to subscribe to a pile of papers and evening phone pitches anymore. I prefer electronic folders and files and the TV remote. The LA Times wants me to register online and provide my email address and I would be ok with that. However, they also require my phone number and I am not ok with that. The number of choices and sources for information has already reached mind-boggling proportions but I think that is a totally cool sort of thing. Everything and every source, in my opinion, will always be slanted to its own particular viewpoint or outlook on things. And those sources that attract the most numbers seem to always prosper. [ Post Comment ] Comment #16 posted by E_Johnson on January 17, 2004 at 12:31:58 PT Patrick one way to look at it CNN and Fox give you their news for free without registration -- but who wants it?By paying for newspapers and by registering at their sites, we reward newspapers for being what CNN and Fox are not. [ Post Comment ] Comment #15 posted by FoM on January 17, 2004 at 11:59:55 PT Patrick I know registration is annoying but most of the big papers require it anymore. Many of the papers charge money now too. That's where I draw the line. [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by Patrick on January 17, 2004 at 11:48:58 PT FoM Thanks for the link to the LA times. That article is a premium service that wants you to register and in doing so asked me to cough up way more information than I care to give that newspaper. I'll go and get the article from the newstand.When I clicked the link I got redirected to:http://www.latimes.com/services/site/premium/access-registered.interceptI love the game of football and the defense just intercepted your touchdown pass to me for 6 in the endzone! Are you ready for some football!!! GO Carolina [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by ekim on January 17, 2004 at 11:37:59 PT you are right E but its a insult that Dennis was not in that class picture. http://www.kucinich.us [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by FoM on January 17, 2004 at 11:33:23 PT Patrick Here's the link. I think they released it to the Internet before it hit the newsstands.http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-hemp03jan18,1,1658290.story?coll=la-home-magazine [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by Patrick on January 17, 2004 at 11:29:24 PT E_Johnson Thanks for the tip. It's like a buck fifty I think for Sunday? I quit getting that paper years n years ago. I do have a cool book with front page headlines for a hundred years from the LA Times. Is Sunday's edition already on the newstand cause today is Saturday? [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by E_Johnson on January 17, 2004 at 11:24:00 PT It's in the Sunday magazine It's in the Sunday paper so it's gonna cost you more than 50 cents Patrick. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by FoM on January 17, 2004 at 11:23:56 PT Patrick The publish date is tomorrow the 18th. It should be in the SUNDAY PAPER! That's really great! [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Patrick on January 17, 2004 at 11:19:46 PT Virgil Is this article in today's LA times Jan 17? If so, I will get off my butt and give money to the LA Times (I'd rather not) but this article sounds way more worth the $.50 the LA Times will get from me. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Virgil on January 17, 2004 at 11:03:59 PT Holy Miracle Plant, It is a very powerful article Call It Reefer MadnessThe article is five times or more as long as the snipped portion on Cnews. This is a huge deal coming from the LA Times. It's big. It's bigger than big. When it said "Call it Reefer Madness", I knew I was in for a treat. Damned that was a treat in itself.Yes, Virginia, there is a Reefer Madness and it is the USG that has it. The guys are nuts. They are crazy. They need committing. Their mind is gone. How screwed-up can you get. Why not outlaw tomatoes, they make such terrible stains. They are more than bonkers, the buggers are eat up with Reefer Madness. Yes, Virginia, and Maryland too, they say cannabis causes Reefer Madness, but that is why they are known as the Great Inverters of Truth-GIOF for short.It is hard to convey a thought in an article without words, and here the LA Times breaks the silence with what appears to be 4,356 words. Then you can add three words for the powerful title- The Demonized Seed That is more than the WP has used on reporting cannabis in maybe 4 or 5 years. Even a ballot iniative in D.C. is lucky to get 100. Here we have words and lots of words, focused and informing. Where medical Miracle Plant shows the cruelty and vicious and malicious nature of the USG attack on cannabis, the hemp prohibition shows a stupidity that is incredible to believe if you regard it as policy. Of course the USG does not have a real policy towards anything cannabis. It has attitude. I have not even read the whole article because of its length. It as if the LA Times does not want to sacrifice its reputation at being a reliable mouthpiece for the inverse reasoning the USG wants repeated on anything cannabis. It is very important in presenting the back-assward ways of the USG. They are saying the government is wrong. They are saying the government is demonizing the seed. They are saying the government is mad on reefer. But more than just saying all of that, they are admitting to it.Now, some people might not know why some people here almost always say cannabis. They even explain that with these words. Because they're often used interchangeably, the terms cannabis, hemp and marijuana can be confusing. While cannabis encompasses all varieties of the species, hemp, often called industrial hemp, has come to mean a few dozen nonintoxicating varieties of cannabis bred and cultivated for commercial ends: clothing, paper, food, biofuels, biodegradable plastic, building materials, automobile parts, insulators, paints, lubricants—the list of possibilities goes on.Marijuana, on the other hand, refers strictly to the cannabis drug plant, of which there exist endless varieties differentiated by the amount of intoxicating substances they contain, notably tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by E_Johnson on January 17, 2004 at 10:51:24 PT I am BLOWN AWAY The LA Times letting the DEA sound like the idiots that they are.People who aren't in LA maybe don't realize what a big deal it is for this to be in the LA Times. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by The GCW on January 17, 2004 at 10:42:02 PT "The Emperor Wears No Clothes," exposed the government, when I read that book.I gave it away... and bought another. I will always have that book.Since then I have only grown.Thank You Jack! Before the internet, the book that Jack wrote, was the key for many. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by FoM on January 17, 2004 at 10:28:51 PT Life of Illusion We are talking about Hemp and Jack Herer and listening to the radio and the song Life of Illusion is playing. That might not be the name but it was one of the main songs in the Emperor of Hemp movie! Just love that song! [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Max Flowers on January 17, 2004 at 10:14:40 PT Will someone please explain it to Mr. Lee Green - As a Recreational Drug, Industrial Hemp Packs the Same Wallop as Zucchini. So Why Does the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency Continue to Deny America This Potent Resource? Call It Reefer Madness. - No, let's not call it reefer madness, once again (5,000th time in the last year??), a journalist cheapens the issue by calling up a silly sounding cliche*. This is deadly serious business. We here at these forums understand exactly why the USG and DEA and FDA etc. continue to deny America this resource.Will someone please write to Mr. Green and point him to the vast stores of information which detail who benefits from the suppression of the hemp industry---from pharmaceutical giants to logging concerns to the fuel oil refining cartels to the... well you get the idea. Plus the simple fact that is probably at the bottom of it all: if hemp is allowed to be grown, the petty puritanicals with guns and badges and judges' robes and prosecutors titles are afraid that someone could sneak a plant or two of "marijuana" in amongst the legal hemp, a fear that itself is absurd because to do so would risk contaminating the hemp genetics with a drug strain which would threaten their entire acreage.*I do appreciate the article's appearance in general, it's a tiny step in the right direction, but why oh WHY must all these "journalists" be so ignorant when they release these articles? Why do they pose questions that they could have easily found the answers to with a modicum of research? They almost just make it worse with things like this. Journalism used to mean intelligence, research, resourcefulness, and informing the public; not just asking questions we could ask ourselves. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by ekim on January 17, 2004 at 10:10:15 PT China only one of over 30 Nations able to grow gee it reads like another poor soul named Albert Einstein. we have many examples of those who were above there times. such a shame today when so many claim to care about endangered species but lack the understanding needed because all the USA.Hemp History has been erased before our eyes. Mr. Green please do some research on this subject so you can truly inform us. Like how much does China make now on Hemp if it was 1.2 billion over two years ago. Why arent we allowed to have jobs and products with this great plant. Here in MI another plant Electrolux left for Mexico today taking 2700 more jobs. http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread11260.shtml Xia Jingyuan, a senior official with the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture in charge of the extension of agricultural technology, said that the annual output of Chinese linen is worth over 10 billion yuan (about 1.2 billion US dollars). According to Xia, the ongoing upgrading of China's agricultural industry has given Chinese hemp a great opportunity. Environmentally friendly, high value-added and versatile, Chinese hemp products could be a major money-maker in market both here and abroad, said Xia. For example, ramie, once used as forage, could provide a new type of vegetable protein for livestock and boost stockbreeding of southern China. Red hemp used in paper making could prevent the felling of forests while clothing made from hemp is particularly comfortable to wear and poses no health hazard. Being one of the earliest fabrics used in China, hemp's heyday can date back 4,000 years when only nobles and royal families could afford to wear finely spun linen while coarse linen were favored by commoners. The production technology of linen has undergone constant improvement. In 1984, the country made a breakthrough in the degumming technology, bringing worldwide attention to linen products. Analysts say that to establish a modern linen manufacturing and processing system with Chinese characteristics, China should double its efforts in scientific research and international cooperation, because each breakthrough in relevant technology will greatly boost the sector's upgrading.Source: People's Daily (China) Published: Sunday, November 04, 2001 Copyright: People's Daily Online Website: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/home.html FB: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/other/feedback.html http://www.thehia.org [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on January 17, 2004 at 08:48:25 PT Jack Herer I was thinking about Jack Herer just a day ago and all he has done and it's really great to have an article about him. We all love Jack even if we've never met him. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment