Hemp Issue Now Ready for
the Big Time; New Law Suits and Political Support;
The DEA Is In a No-Win Position
See May 15, 1998 In the last six months the hemp issue has come to life much more rapidly than I had
dared to hope, raising it to a much more prominent position in the public agenda. Much credit goes to our Canadian neighbors and their decision to grow hemp. This made
it possible for The New York Times to endorse ending the ban on hemp cultivation, even
with a few barbs thrown at the DEA. This morning the Times carried a very straightforward news story about a new lawsuit
brought by Kentucky farmers against the DEA. New York attorney and NORML Legal Committee
member, Michael Kennedy, who is also the lawyer for High Times, and who forced the DEA to
petition HHS for a review of the scheduling of marijuana, is representing them. The Lexington Herald Leader gave the story sympathetic front-page coverage. (Although
the AP carried the story, the Washington Post did not.) I have heard of a similar suit, which has been filed in New Hampshire. We are certain
to see many more. Even Ralph Nader has come out in favor of hemp cultivation. This is a
signal to the tort bar that this is a ripe area for litigation. The DEA has moved accordingly into the stall phase of resistance. It has now issued a
set of rules for growing hemp that no farmer can possibly meet, such as experience in
producing controlled substances. The alternative for them is to acquiesce to the eventually inevitable, and let farmers
start growing hemp under realistic regulations. These farmers are not going to become
born-again anti-prohibitionists, but they are certainly going to be much less susceptible
to the reefer madness party line that sustains marijuana prohibition. For example, if you are a hemp farmer, what are you going to think about the medical
use of the plant? The same applies to all of the people in the more technical areas of the
hemp processing industries. The proliferation of hemp products at retail is also "subversive." The reason
that prohibitionists try to close down "head-shops," but sometimes allow them
operate as "tobacco" shops, is to eliminate any outlet for anti-prohibitionist
information. Hemp is not marijuana, but it can be a proxy for it on the public agenda.
This is the reason that narks sometimes risk lawsuits by raiding perfectly legal hemp
retailers. California narks have even said that they don’t care if people use
marijuana medically, so long as they keep quite about it. They do not fear marijuana or
hemp; they fear the truth. Thus, as with medical marijuana, they are in a double bind. If they continue to
suppress hemp, they look bad, but if they free the hemp industries, they lose their
ability to suppress discussions of cannabis and demonize the plant. Even if the DEA were to cave in tomorrow, and it won’t, it will take several years
for the domestic hemp industry to grow beyond a blip in the huge American economy, but the
hemp issue is about ready for Broadway. The longer that the prohibitionists suppress it
the bigger the issue will be. The cat is out of the hemp bag.
Kentucky Farmers’ Suit
Against DEA -- BACKGROUND MEMORANDUM
From Michael Kennedy, Esq.
and
New York Times and
Lexington-Herald Leader Report on Farmers’ New Lawsuit Against the DEA
Analysis
See
Hemp Cultivation
in DEAland Endorsed By The New York Times!!
See
Ralph Nader Joins
Drive To End US Ban On Industrial Hemp Cultivation – Forces Shift In DEA Line?
Various state legislatures have had hearings on the issue. The Sierra Club has kicked the
environmentalist out of the closet on hemp.
Consequently, the DEA is facing a variety of sophisticated opposition and powerful
agricultural interests in the heartland. In Kentucky it is the tobacco farmers who are
hurting. In the plains states, many wheat farmers are losing their farms. They know that
if Canadian farmers can grow hemp, certainly it would be profitable for them.
See
Drug Enforcement
Administration Issues Press Release on the Industrial Use of Hemp;
The Stalling Phase Begins
This has a downside for them, however. The longer they stall and lie, the more they hurt
their credibility with a very socially conservative constituency. It will also give
Canadian and other nations’ farmers an even greater lead, and allow the hemp markets
to develop even more. It may also anger and embolden the environmentalists.
See
Sacramento County
Makes Public Use of Medical Marijuana Subject To Six Months In Jail -
AIDS Patient Defiant!
The Hemp Page of Marijuananews.com is edited by John E. Dvorak, Hempologist & Managing Editor, Hemp Magazine.
John was born in Fort Worth, Texas, but is an eight year resident
of Allston/Brighton, MA, where he is the proprietor of the Boston Hemp Co-op and Managing
Editor of Hemp Magazine. He is a member of the Hemp Industries Association, the
International Hemp Association, and Mass/Cann NORML.
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hempmag@lconn.com
713-523-3199
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boston.hemp@pobox.com
617-254-HEMP