HEMP SCAM

Janet D. Lapey, M. D.

At a news conference on December 30, 1996, top federal officials exposed the medical marijuana scam.  The pro-drug legalization lobby, which includes physicians, had massively funded initiatives in California and Arizona to legalize ``medical marijuana," despite the fact that marijuana has never been proven scientifically to be a safe, effective medicine.  Drug Czar General Barry McCaffrey displayed a chart of 26 conditions for which the pro-marijuana physicians were recommending marijuana, including writer's cramp, corn removal, and recalling forgotten memories! McCaffrey declared that this is not medicine, it is ``a Cheech and Chong show."  Our nation's top public health official, Dr. Donna Shalala, pointed out that marijuana is not a soft drug. It is a dangerous drug which damages the heart, brain, lungs, and immune system. It impairs learning, judgment, memory, and coordination. The National Institute for Drug Abuse reports that hundreds of thousands of Americans have had to enter drug treatment programs because of marijuana addiction. Tragically, the California and Arizona initiatives passed because the public was deceived by a multi-million dollar fraudulent advertising blitz which falsely portrayed marijuana as a ``safe medicine."  Actually, as reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, April 17, 1997, marijuana makes sick people sicker, it depresses the immune system, it increases the incidence of bacterial and fungal pneumonia, and it hastens the progression to full-blown AIDS in HIV-positive persons.

Another scam which is being perpetrated on the American people by the marijuana lobby in an attempt to legalize drugs is the hemp scam.  The drug legalization lobby is currently targeting farmers, such as tobacco growers, in an attempt to persuade them to grow hemp, a crop which would not be profitable.  This is a cruel hoax similar to the legalizers' efforts to persuade sick patients to smoke marijuana as a ``medicine."  These legalizers are spreading the myth that hemp (Cannabis sativa) is a profitable, useful, environmentally safe crop with no potential for diversion into the illegal drug market.  They are wrong on all counts. The Cannabis plant has no economic usefulness as it cannot compete with forests for paper, corn for ethanol fuel, cotton for textiles, or synthetics for rope. Furthermore, a hep crop can be diverted into illegal use in many ways.

The pro-hemp lobby contends that hemp grown for fiber is not psychoactive. However, fiber hemp, like all Cannabis sativa plants, does contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, in amounts of 0.1-0.6% and even up to 1%.  Indeed, US homegrown marijuana smoked in the 1960s was only 0.5-1% THC, and marijuana as low as 0.25% can have psychoactive effects.  By selectively harvesting the buds and excluding the large leaves, a higher THC product can be obtained form the fiber crop.  Also, through cross-pollination, higher THC plants may even develop naturally. Finally, it is very easy to extract THC from the plant with ethanol to obtain a very high THC product. For instance, one can turn 0.1% THC into a ``chaw" of 40% THC.

Since it is impossible to determine THC content with the naked eye, it is easy to illegally blend high THC plants into a ``fiber" crop, and this has been happening in Europe. For instance, in Switzerland, hemp was supposedly being grown for fiber stuffing for cushions. However, IN December, 1995, hemp plants were seized by the Swiss government after forensic tests showed that the THC content was 4.0-5.5% THC and not 0.5% as claimed.  It is clear that legalizing hemp in the US would seriously compromise aerial surveillance and other anti-drug measures by drug enforcement officers.

This hemp issue was studied in 1995 by the Kentucky Governor's Task Force which concluded that hemp would not be an economically viable crop.  Also, studies in 1997 by Valerie L. Vantrese at the University of Kentucky's Department of Agricultural Economics and by the Agribusiness Development Corporation in Honolulu, Hawaii, both concluded that the government should not encourage farmers to grow hemp.  For instance, it was found that the international market for hemp is contracting.  According to Ms. Vantrese, world hemp fiber exports in the 1960s were $14 million, and today they total only $5 million. The volume of hemp fiber produced today is one-fourth the volume in the 1960s. The hemp fiber trade is dominated by cheap fiber from China, India, and the former Soviet Union. Similarly, 70% of hemp seeds are produced by low-cost labor in China, and trade volume has dropped in half since the 1960s. Because hemp is not profitable, European hemp crops must be heavily subsidized by their governments.

Furthermore, very expensive security and surveillance measures are necessary to prevent diversion to the highly profitable illegal drug market. Permits to grow Cannabis sativa must be obtained form the Drug Enforcement Administration and are limited to very small plots for research or forensic analysis.  Strict security is required including high fences, video surveillance, alarm systems, and 24-hour guards.

Nor is hemp agriculture safe for the environment.  Unlike modern well-managed forestry which replaces tress and preserves the land, hemp is an annual crop which can be destructive to the soil. Cannabis growers have been found to use large amounts of fertilizers, pesticides, and rodenticides.

Currently, pro-hemp propaganda is rampant on the Internet, in pro-drug magazines, and at marijuana rallies. For instance, 50,000 people, including children, were lured to Boston Common for a free rock concert sponsored by marijuana-leglization organizations on September 21, 1996. Booths sold hemp clothing, hats, and T-shirts, adorned with marijuana leaf logo, marijuana jewelry, and other promotional gear. Young people smoked marijuana openly, listened to rock music extolling the joys of marijuana, and heard speeches claiming that marijuana is a ``safe medicine" and that hemp will save the universe.  It was not surprising then that The Boston Globe, May 15, 1997, reported that the use of marijuana by the youth in Massachusetts is skyrocketing. Now, the majority of students in grades 9 - 12 have used marijuana.  Such high usage by students has become the norm rather than the exception.  This is just what the legalizers want.