DEA Requesting Comments
on Spraying the Herbicide
Triclopyr on Industrial Hemp Across America
(Ed. note: The arrogance of the DEA never ceases
to amaze. This move by them to use an industrial herbicide on ditch-weed without proper
environmental studies is a slap in the face to environmentalists and farmers, much more
than to anti-prohibitionists. It will be interesting to see how these groups with their
vastly more powerful lobbies react to this. From a purely political point of view, I had
rather have the narks out there spraying than jumping out of helicopters with automatic
weapons. Wiping out ditch-weed is pointless, but a very real threat to farmers and the
environment.
Moreover, there is the very real risk that if spraying is done on mature plants, some
of them will reach the market with unknown health risks for the users. For all the talk of
saving teenagers from indoor grown marijuana, the fact is that the younger consumers are
the least knowledgeable and least affluent consumers, hence the ones most likely to buy
contaminated weed.
In other words, those who the DEA claims to be trying to save from a non-toxic herb are
the ones most likely to be harmed by their poison. Sound familiar. Below there is a list
of the times and places where public comment will be allowed.
Questions for the DEA: Has the effect of smoked Triclopyr on teenagers been tested? Can
they guarantee that none will reach the market? You know the answers.)
April 24, 1998
Author Unknown,
The DEA has proposed a new program for industrial hemp eradication titled
"Cannabis Eradication In The Contiguous United States and Hawaii," dated April
1998 and is available free at the DEA’s Arlington headquarters (301) 734-4839. [ CALL
THIS NUMBER!]
There is a potentially serious environmental problem with far reaching implications,
which need immediate action. The DEA has proposed a new program for industrial hemp
eradication titled "Cannabis Eradication In The Contiguous
United States and Hawaii," dated April 1998 and is available free at the
DEA’s Arlington headquarters (301) 734-4839. It is the DEA’s Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) which seeks clearance to spray "cannabis"
with the industrial herbicide, TRICLOPYR.
The DEA considers spraying Triclopyr so benign to the
environment, that they are not even considered doing a basic Environmental Assessment
beforehand and will not be going through the Environmental Impact Statement procedures.
The DEA has set a deadline of June 01, 1998 to send comments on their SEIS draft.
If implemented, this program will enable the DEA to harvest an economic windfall
through the wholesale eradication of hundreds of millions of otherwise inaccessible wild
industrial hemp plants. The program will also give the DEA the ability to greatly increase
the percentages of total industrial hemp plants eradicated far above present levels.
The figures from a Vermont Legislative study reveal that of the
$500 million allocated by the federal government for DEA’s Cannabis Eradication and
Suppression Program’s budget, 98% was used to destroy industrial hemp plants.
This report is available by calling the Vermont State Auditor at
(802) 828-2281.
[See April, 1998 issue of Hemp Magazine for a summary of this
report.]
(Note: For environmental reasons, Vermont has halted the spraying
of triclopyr along its railroad system.)
The DEA tried spraying twice before in the early 1980s with paraquat, but this time
they want to substitute paraquat with triclopyr, which is "supposedly"
considered less toxic to humans than paraquat. The question of
whether triclopyr may possibly be a neurotoxic like paraquat has not been addressed and
the DEA has not considered the environmental effects of triclopyr on migratory birds or
their habitat.
=-=-=-=-=-
[This was the cover letter that received with the 200+ page
report regarding the government’s attempt to make cannabis extinct in America. ]
U.S. Department of Justice
Drug Enforcement Administration
700 Army Navy Drive
Arlington, VA 22202
April 3, 1998
Dear Reader,
The U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), invites your
comments on the enclosed environmental document "Cannabis Eradication in the
Contiguous United States and Hawaii, Draft Supplement to the Environmental Impact
Statements, April 1998," (SEIS). This document was prepared for DEA, with the
assistance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS).
The SEIS was prepared to supplement the following environmental impact statements
previously prepared by the DEA: "Final Environmental Impact Statement, Cannabis
Eradication on Non-Federal and Indian Lands in the Contiguous United States and
Hawaii" (May 1986) and the "Final Environmental Impact Statement on the
Eradication of Cannabis on Federal Lands in the Continental United States" (July
1985).
The SEIS provides analysis on the following factors affecting the DEA’s Cannabis
eradication program: new scientific information regarding the
herbicides considered in the EIS’s, changes and improvements in the herbicidal
program delivery, and the consideration of another herbicide for potential use in the
program.
If you wish to provide comments, an original and three copies of your comments must be
received by close of business on June 1, 1998, at the following address:
Mr. Jack Edmundson
Project Leader
Environmental Analysis and Documentation
USDA, APHIS, PPD
4700 River Road, Unit 149
Riverdale, MD 20737-1238
In addition, five public meetings to hear oral public comments on the draft SEIS are
scheduled as follows:
Tuesday, May 12, 4-8 pm, Denver Colorado
Friday, May 15, 4-8 pm, Honolulu, Hawaii
Tuesday, May 19, Boise, Idaho
Thursday, May 21, Atlanta, Georgia
Wednesday, May 27, Washington, DC
If you plan to present oral comments at any of the scheduled meetings, you may register
at the meeting location between 3 and 4 pm on the meeting date. You can pre-register for
the meeting by facsimile at 301-734-3640 any time of day or by calling Ms. Vicki
Wickheiser, USDA, APHIS, at 301-734-4839 between 7:30 am and 3 pm EST. Pre-registrants
should provide their name, organization affiliation (if any), address, telephone number
(optional), and the meeting location that they will attend. Pre-registration ends at 3 pm
EST on May 7, 1998. Speakers are requested to provide an original and three copies of the
written text of their comments during registration at the meeting.
Sincerely,
James A. Woolley
Chief, State and Local
Programs Section
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