Cannabis -- Why is this not used to its full potential?

:m:
I would like to discuss cannabis. It is a plant that seems too good to be true.

*Its seeds are one of the most nutritional foods on the planet (they contain one of the highest sources of protein in nature, and cannabis oil is the richest known source of essential fatty acids -- even more so than fish oil)...
The seeds can not only be used for human consumption, but for animals as well. It could be used for livestock bedding and feed, and so much more.

*It can be used to make paper. 1 acre of cannabis yields as much usable fiber as 4 acres of trees. The problem of dioxin contamination of rivers is avoided in the cannabis paper process, which does not use chlorine bleach, but instead safely substitutes hydrogen peroxide. Cannabis also grows ALOT faster than trees (cannabis reaches maturity in a season [4 months], and can get up to/over 15 feet tall).

*Its capabilities in the textile industry are phenomenal. Its fibers produce clothes 4 times stronger than those made from cotton, and clothes made from cannabis fiber do not shrink when washed. After the fiber has been removed from the plant, woody pulp remains, which is 77% cellulose, which can be made into thousands of products. 1 acre of cannabis produces the same amount of fiber as 2 acres of cotton, and cotton uses 50% of the world's pesticides, while cannabis grows naturally. 100% of the cannabis plant can be used commercially.

*Plastics can be made from cannabis. The plastics made from it would be biodegradable, unlike the plastics we use now.

*Cannabis can be used to make a concrete-substitute and can be used to make plywood or drywall. This would be easier on the trees, and would be alot more environmentally friendly.

*Female cannabis plants grow resinous trichomes that contain cannabinoids (chemicals that already occur in the human body, and interact with the cannabinoid receptors in our body). Cannabinoids include: THC, CBD, CBN, THCV, & CBC. THC is the primary psychoactive component. It relieves pain, nausea, spasticity, glaucoma, & movement disorders. It can be used to treat AIDS wasting syndrome, multiple sclerosis, and many other diseases/medical problems. THC can be used for appetite stimulation, is neuroprotective, and can protect from malignant tumors. It is impossible to overdose on THC, or any cannabinoid. THC is a very safe medicine.

*Cannabis can produce 10 times more methanol than corn. This fuel is pollution free. Not only that, but it is easy to make. It would take alot of cannabis to provide the world with cannabis-methanol as a primary fuel, which means the plants would "cleanse" the atmosphere of the carbon dioxide. Cannabis also does not take any pesticides to rid itself of herbivores (this is why the females grow resinous trichomes). Cannabis is a weed, and can grow in a variety of climates where other plants would not survive. All of this cannabis would also cleanse our soil. And, unlike fossils, cannabis is a renewable resource that grows very quick.

And just to clarify for some people who do not already know this: it does NOT kill braincells. Scientific research has PROVED it. THC is a naturally occurring compound already made in our body. THC reacts naturally with the body, because our body already has receptors for it. So please, get it out of your head that cannabis messes you up. It doesnt. Not at all...

What are YOUR thoughts on this miraculous plant?

 

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It's a plant. Lots of plants are useful.

 

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Why is it that it has not got its due then?

 

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Re: UltiTruth

First off, thanks for the replies.
It hasn't gotten its dues because the US Government is scared of losing money. Think about it -- Tobacco Industry=$, Alcohol Ind.=$, Controlled Substances Act/DEA/Anti-Cannabis Campaigns=$ (They spend billions of dollars to prevent cannabis from being legal), Synthesized Pharmaceutical Drugs=$, Oil=$, Coal=$, Natural Gas=$, Cotton=$, Timber/Paper=$, Petrochemical Industry=$...et cetera...
So, if cannabis were legal, all of those industries would be screwed. People would probably stop smoking cigarettes, people would switch from alcohol to cannabis, the DEA would be obliterated and the CSA would be publicly proven to be a failed system, the pharmacies would not want to sell it because anybody can grow cannabis right in their backyard, cannabis can be used as an alternative energy source, so oil would be screwed, along with coal and natural gas. Cotton and trees would be useless because cannabis dominates them in all aspects. The petrochemical industry would be screwed because cannabis would take over, because cannabis made plastics are biodegradable.
So, the government doesn't want it legal because they would lose alot of money.
This is why they made it illegal in the first place.
Cannabis was made illegal because of racism, fear, and money. If you wish to find out why cannabis is illegal, just follow the money trail.
I think it will someday be legal, because this generation of mine (I am 17) is very accepting of cannabis, and once we are at the age to do so, we will be in control of the government, and it will probably be legal very soon. NORML is doing a great job as well.

 

You're preaching to the choir as far as legalization of recreational marijuana. We shouldn't kid ourselves by encapsulating it within conveniently unrelated agendas.

As far as all that other stuff goes, the only place it's illegal is the United States. One could easily move outside the U.S, and make their fortune as a hemp baron.

With the other industries........people like making money, and they certainly aren't stupid. Just because they currently produce a certain product that would lose favor with hemp in the game doesn't mean they can't compete. Heck -- if anything, assuming hemp became the #1 profit maker, they would be in the best positions to capitalize on it since they already have a lot of money. The oil companies could easily set up their own hemp based biolfuel factories, and the tobacco growers could easily switch gears to produce commercial joints.
The fabric industries would be no exception. Does the average schmoe have the capacity to turn 1000 acres of raw material into a pair of jeans? Hell no.

IMO - the home growers wouldn't be anymore threat to industry than they are now with their tomato and herb gardens.

 

Actually, I disagree. You're implying that Marlboro could "easily" drop tobacco and switch to marijuana. Not true. Different processes mean different factories, which means the infrastructure of the company would have to be torn down and built from scratch, unless retrofitting it was plausible...but even then, it's a time consuming and extremely expensive process. In the meantime, what would they do?

Hemp ran into denim, and denim had more political power, and more money. Hemp was more cost-effective, more versatile, but it's that very reason that it got squashed. You didn't see the denim makers going "Wow, we needs to get in on that!" No, you saw them saying "Let's put them out of business before they hurt us".

Hemp is only illegal here because of the denim industry. Lee, if I'm not mistaken, was the one that got hemp criminalized.

 

Because human beings are idiots.

 

Speak for yourself, I feel that I'm not an idiot. Now I am a screwball, joker and gigolo...but never a true idiot!

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Got any links to that info?

....and why do you think these industries are "all or nothing"? Nobody says you have to eliminate your current product. It's not like the tobacco companies are allotted a certain amount of space into which they can either grow tobacco or hemp. Likewise with the companies that deal in cotton.

 

This is what we need, more ways to get stoned! I guess alcohol isn't enough for everyone to get stoned on so now lest's add pot into the mix as well and see what happens. :shrug:

 

Re:cosmictraveler

More ways to get stoned? Thats not what it's about. Its about the good of the planet, and the good of patients that NEED it as medicine. It shouldn't be illegal anyway.

 

I saw it on TV a few years ago. It's not like I made it up. Do the research if you're that interested.

I was going on the assumption that they were "switching" from tobacco to hemp, as was inferred in the previous post...but you're right, Marlboro could absolutely get into the weed business if it was legalized. I never said it was illegal because of tobacco companies anyway. I don't think they would be competing for customers anyway.

As far as hemp and denim goes, they were competing. And it was easier to get hemp criminalized than to invest in it.

 

Re:JDawg

Fa sho. I agree. Hemp competed, and so was shut down. It is pretty obvious that hemp would dominate in the textile industry. Actually, in just about any industry, but clothes for sure.
I will say it again: 1 acre of cannabis=2 acres of cotton; no pesticides for cannabis, 50% of the worlds pesticides for cotton; cannabis fiber is 4 times stronger than cotton fiber; cannabis made clothes do not shrink. That means domination. Hemp is miraculous, and would not just compete, but overrule, in my opinion.

 

If not the nuisance of cannabis users, the stench is as good a reason as any.

 

I don't smoke it, but it should be legal for no other reason than to unclog the damn court system. At the very least it should be decriminalized. Barack Obama actually made that one of his campaign promises. That he would decriminalize pot. Not make it legal, but at least make it so you don't get arrested for having half a damn joint in your ashtray.

And also, if booze is legal, than pot should be legal.

 

If he actually pulls that off I'll eat my hat. I'm thinking it'll end up as just another one of those forgotten promises that every politician makes while he's running for office.

Most drugs should be legal. They should all be sold like alcohol is now, in government regulated stores. They should all be taxed to pay for health and education programs for them. This would all but eliminate accidental overdose, funding for organized crime, stress on the court system, stress on the prison system and billions in wasted money each year. But it won't happen yet, maybe in a few more generations.

At the very least they should make it a lot easier to do scientific research with drugs.

 

It was the paper industry and the Herst newspapers that criminalized hemp. I am too lazy to find the story, do due diligence and a research...Basicly paper would have been much cheaper made out of hemp than from trees, but Hearst owned lots of forrests for paper...

 

I agree. Im not for the use of cocaine or heroine, but its called Freedom of Choice. If someone wants to shoot up some heroine, thats their right. If they want to destroy their body, thats their right.
Making drugs illegal only makes the problem worse. It creates a black market for the drug, and therefor throws violence and death into the picture. Organized crime develops as a result as well.
Now, I smoke cannabis, do psilocybin mushrooms, and smoke salvia divinorum on occasion, but nothing else. My use of those herbs does not affect anyone else but myself, and that is my right.

And Syzygys, you are absolutely right. Randolph William Hearst is his name, and I will never forget it. He owned alot of trees and paper mills, and when he got word of cannabis being the billion dollar cash crop, he joined in on the war against cannabis.
It was a combination of the paper industry, racism against Mexicans and African-Americans, the alcohol and tobacco industry, and the textile industry. Those are the only things that come to mind. I am sure there are MANY other horrible reasons it was made illegal. But the paper industry was pretty much the main one.

 

Dupont invented nylon and he was good buddies with the then president; up to then, hemp was the only material used in rope, sails and all good strong fabric materials. Dupont did not need the competition.

 

domesticated om, I re-read your post, and realized you misread what I meant to say. When I was talking about homegrowing, I wasnt talking about making textiles or anything. I was talking about growing female plants to smoke. Female cannabis plants are a medicine, there's no doubt. So why would the pharmacies want to adopt something that people can grow themselves in a very short amount of time? Im not saying I am 100% right, that is just my opinion. I can imagine pharmacies complaining about such a thing.
Why would someone want to pay 20 dollars for a gram of medicinal cannabis if they could just grow at least one plant that would yield around 3-4 ounces (1 ounce=28 grams), so the person is looking at 2 options... 1) pay $20 a gram at a local pharmacy, or 2) pay less than $100 for around 15 seeds, where each seed has the potential of over 80 grams -- so basically paying less than $100 for a minimum of 500 grams.
Smart people would go with option 2.