It makes absolutely no sense in the world to regulate a plant with a long history as a legal agricultural crop that is not psychoactive as a schedule I drug. But with industrial hemp that's exactly the current situation.
Industrial hemp comes from the same plant family as marijuana but there, the resemblance ceases. Hemp is useful as a fiber product which could materially contribute to the nation's economy without impacting our effort against truly psychoactive plants. It also produces a useful oil and can be used as a food product.
In fact, since industrial hemp grows wild and the DEA has an active eradication program against it, legalizing hemp would actually redirect more funds towards actual drug cultivation as money would no longer be wasted on the completely unproductive eradication of a plant that is useless as a drug.
Restoring hemp to its traditional place as an agricultural crop outside of DEA jurisdiction would improve our economy, increase the effectiveness of DEA spending, and restore the principle that agricultural crops are handled by the Agriculture Department, not a DEA that lies and misleads the public about the actual drug properties of industrial hemp.
Posted by TMLutas at January 19, 2004 01:25 AM