Obama’s Betrayal of the Hemp Industry, American Farmers and Entrepreneurs

“The Obama Administration has worked in bad faith” protested Bronner at his display parked defiantly next to the White House on June 11th. “It has just been incredibly disappointing for us. We had such high hopes. As an Illinois Senator he voted twice for Hemp cultivation.”

So much for HOPE AND CHANGE. If Terry Jones were President he would work to legalize the growing of Industrial Hemp in the US.

We are not talking about marijuana or Cannabis Indica, the variety of hemp grown for medicinal or recreational purposes, with a high THC (Δ9- tetrahydrocannabinol) level. Industrial hemp is Cannabis Sativa. It is grown for fiber and seed all over the world, but may not be grown in the United States because the Federal government refuses to make the distinction.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) called the prohibition a “regulation that flunks the common sense test.” He and other lawmakers are fighting to remove this “outrageous restriction on free enterprise.”

That enterprise includes Dr Bronner’s successful and growing production of hemp based health products, but they must import all the raw hemp from Canada, contributing to our already huge trade deficit.

US trade deficit with Canada

Our biggest trade deficit is with China, and yes, being some of the most practical traders and manufacturers in the world, they grow the most Industrial Hemp.

US trade deficit with China

A 2009 article in gokunming.com describes China’s plans for hemp.

China looks to hemp for poverty alleviation

“After years of sometimes confused policy in which industrial hemp was lumped together with its psychoactive cousin marijuana, the Chinese government is now actively promoting hemp cultivation as a tool for lifting rural Chinese out of poverty.

China will build multiple hemp cultivation bases in Yunnan, Heilongjiang, Gansu and Anhui provinces as well as the autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia by 2020, a project that is expected to bring three million people out of poverty.”

Meanwhile in North Dakota, Bronner points out, “farmers are ready to grow hemp under North Dakota law. Canadians right across the border grow it,” but on the topic of legalizing industrial hemp at the Federal level, Bronner says the Obama Administration has “refused to meet with the North Dakota delegation from the Governor on down.”

Why do a majority of States want to grow hemp but the Federal Government insists on restricting it?

First of all, we are dying and drowning in bureaucracy, rules and regulations. Companies must be held accountable for the consumer’s protection, but the over-control and over-kill that we have is destroying our companies. If North Dakota farmers grow hemp, the DEA will come and raid their farms, overriding the state license and the ability of local law enforcement to police its own farmers. In 1937 the US government encouraged its growth, then in 1957 shut it down with these DEA raids, to please the anti-drug lobby.

It is not difficult to distinguish one type of hemp from the other. They look different and easy tests prove the difference in THC levels.

Image source: purdue.edu

The Federal government has become so overgrown and sluggish that the huge financial and political interests which have fed its growth will not be easily shifted, and certainly not by this President.

Obama does not care about the American people or his own previous promises or voting records. He does not care about American workers, American businessmen, American entrepreneurs. He cares about his vision of an America that will pay for its ‘sins’ as a world power and be crippled financially and economically, realigning its position in the world. Under his watch our National Debt has skyrocketed and our International Trade Deficit is unchecked.

Our corporate taxes are the highest in the world. Corporate taxes and government red tape must be reduced immediately in order to encourage people to start new businesses and existing corporations to expand, thus producing the jobs that are needed.

Simply cutting red tape, like the restriction on growing industrial hemp, costs nothing. States already have plans in place to support its growth while complying with restrictions on the growth of marijuana. Farmers would not want to grow both varieties of hemp on the same land anyway. Cross-fertilization from the industrial variety would quickly damage the potency of the marijuana plants, and industrial hemp grows so quickly, densely and easily that herbicides are not needed. It would overtake the growth of any marijuana grown in the same field.  

Hemp has the potential for massive job creation. Vote Hemp notes that “the U.S. hemp industry is valued at over $400 million in annual retail sales and growing.” This includes health care products, food products and paper. It can be processed into a building material which is ten times stronger than steel.  It can also be processed into a type of fuel which would replace our dependency on foreign oil.

Image Source: purdue.edu

So who would be hurt by the widespread growth of Industrial Hemp in America? The health care and pharmaceutical industries will suffer, not only from hemp products but from the growing awareness of effective alternate cures and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. It is as if another world exists with answers for an unhealthy America that doctors and hospitals do not want us to know about. The hemp industry is part of that world.

Potentially the import oil industry could be hurt. This industry is a powerful influence on our foreign policy makers. Our national security would not depend on the flow of this oil if we opened up our own resources, releasing our drilling and mining companies and our farmers from all the restrictions the government and environmentalists insist are needed.

It is ironic that the Obama Administration wants ‘sustainable development’ (ie. Agenda 21) but not Industrial Hemp which is one of the most sustainable crops possible. The difference is that Agenda 21 is not about free enterprise and liberty. It is about social control and a redistribution of wealth. This strategy has failed to produce economic growth and lift people out of poverty, and will continue to fail.

China has the best idea. Give their poor farmers hemp seed and let them compete in a growing lucrative (and sustainable) industry. Let North Dakota’s farmers compete with the Canadians across the border. Send the DEA to deal with real criminals and let our local law enforcement police our hard working, honest farming communities and businessmen.

The future look of Florida’s fields? We hope so….

Château de la Roche-Jagu. Vues générales du château, des jardins et du Trieux Labyrinthe de Chanvre au château de la Roche-Jagu. By Barbetorte

Terry Jones for President ~ Real American, Real Hope

www.standupamericanow.org