... for your protection

[Tiassa]

Okay ... I really do feel like I'm starting to, uh, dominate this particular forum. I promise that this is not my intention.

Anyway, my latest drug-related complaint is a little bit of a laugh. From the same place as always:

Late last month, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) set in motion plans to bar hemp-based foods and other hemp products that can enter the human body, such as lotions and creams. On November 30th, it quietly published a notice of the proposed "Interim Rule" in an obscure federal publication called the Unified Agenda.

The proposed rule change has three parts: First, the DEA proposes to change its interpretation of existing law to bring hemp products within the purview of the Controlled Substances Act; second, it would change DEA regulations to agree with the new interpretation; and third, it would establish an "interim rule" exempting traditional hemp products that are not designed for human consumption, such as paper and clothing, from being subject to the Controlled Substances Act.

In the DEA's own words, "... in order to protect the public health and safety, the interim rule will not allow 'hemp' products that result in THC entering the human body. In this manner, it will remain clear that the only lawful way THC may enter the human body is when a person is using a federally approved drug or when the person is the subject of federally approved research."

An interim rule becomes law once it is published in the Federal Register, which can be done without public comment.

Presently, http://www.drcnet.org/wol/#hempembargo is the address.

For the record, it might be argued that this sort of back-end maneuvering isn't as bad as it could be. I noticed that hemp paper wasn't targeted; heaven knows, you might cut your finger and get a hemp-related molecule in your bloodstream.

A quick note from the article: To justify barring hemp products for human consumption, they have claimed that consuming the products will "confound" drug testing for marijuana.

* DRCNet seems to disagree, and offers this address for information: http://naihc.org/hemp_information/content/THC_emp_drug_testing.html

* http://www.norc.uchicago.edu/new/drugwork.htm is an address I have posted before which leads you to a .pdf of the study Drugs and the Workplace by John Hoffman and Cindy Larison. From page 9 of that study:

As a policy option, drug testing has several possible drawbacks .... [Drug-tests] may havecast a net of deterrence that is too broad and discourages many otherwise capable workers from applying for jobs. Furthermore, the costs of drug testing programs may exceed any benefits of deterrence.

Your tax dollars at work ....

thanx,
Tiassa

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Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths.--Denis Diderot

[This message has been edited by tiassa (edited December 28, 2000).]

 

[Bowser]

Tiassa,

You're not getting any argument regarding your complaints about the drug war. Maybe we are in agreement here?

 

[Tiassa]

I'll be honest, Bowser ... that rarely occurs to me. On the other hand, if I don't say anything ... ah, the mind-boggling decisions of what's important.

In that sense, it's weird, eh? I've used drugs for 10 years, and have known and experienced religion my whole life. Strangely, the one that's illegal is the one that, comparatively, is the positive factor.

If I go down for my sins against society, I'd like to think it's for something more harmful than the martinis and cigars the lawyers had for lunch. When "the Man" comes for me, if they ever do, sure I'll fight it tooth and nail. Sometimes I feel guilty about browbeating my neighbors and associates with some of my sentiments, but do they feel guilty when they tell me that cutthroat greed is the only morally sound behavior?

Dunno ... I noticed nobody's arguing. Interesting, that. I guess I could just keep a single running thread like an old stranger-than-fiction newspaper column because if nothing else, we should be able to laugh at how stupid a Giuliani or McCaffrey or a Bob Weiner is. You know, the Legal Comedy Review? Warrior-Lampoon?

But, yes, I did notice.

thanx,
Tiassa


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Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths.--Denis Diderot

 

[Bowser]

I think it is good that you are verbal with your opinions concerning this issue. Silence will serve nobody, but maybe there is a better place to share that voice, someplace where it will draw more attention. You need to lob those ideas at the opposition. Shooting them here seems like a waste of ammo.



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It's all very large.

 

[Malaclypse]

we need to know these things.

stuff liek this get s not press.