that in 2007, 873,000 people were arrested for marijuana offenses in the U.S., and 90% of them were just for possession?
Did you know
that the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper and that hemp used to be a major agricultural crop in the United States?
It took courageous people to stand up and question the prohibition against alcohol.
Rick Steves
The U.S. Government distributed 400,000 pounds of cannabis seeds to American farmers in 1942 to aid the war effort.
In 1937, Mechanical Engineering magazine declared hemp, "the most profitable and desirable crop that can be grown".
Henry Ford built a plastic car made of fiber from hemp and wheat straw in 1941.
The Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp (CRRH) goal is to educate people about the medicinal and industrial uses for cannabis in our global society in order to restore hemp cultivation and end adult cannabis prohibition.
Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp (CRRH) and Oregon NORML have finished gathering the 1000 sponsorship signatures needed for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2010 (OCTA) & Oregon Cannabis Tolerance Act 2010 (OCTA Light) petitions. These were turned in to the Oregon Secretary of State's office on September 21, 2009. We are currently waiting for official ballot titles from the state and should have them in the next few weeks. After polling, we will begin circulating one of the petitions across Oregon. We will need 100,000 valid signatures by July, 2, 2010 to qualify for the November 2010 election.
Activists had previously filed OCTA in 2008, but withdrew it when polling showed antipathy about the previous version placing cannabis sales in existing state liquor stores. Activists went back to the drawing board and came up with two versions.
One version, which was pushed by activists in the Oregon state legislature, edited industrial hemp provisions out to support the industrial hemp- only legislation that passed through the Oregon legislature this year. This version is called the Oregon Cannabis Tolerance Act.
The other version, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, would set aside two percent of the profits from the sale of cannabis in cannabis-only stores for two state commissions that promote industrial hemp biodiesel, fiber, protein and oil.
Both would legalize the sale, possession and personal private cultivation of marijuana. People who want to cultivate and sell marijuana, or process commercial psychoactive cannabis, would be required to obtain a license from the state. Adults could grow their own marijuana and the sale of all cannabis strains' seeds and starter plants would be legalized with no license, fee nor registration. The profits from the sale of cannabis to adults would go to pay for state programs and drug treatment.
Oregonians can take the first steps for the rest of our country toward an energy source based on sustainability, life and growth, as well as naturally based food, medicine, sacrament, and recreation. Industrial Hemp will save many farms and cannabis will be regulated and sold through adult-only stores, with the proceeds generating millions of dollars toward public finances, and thus ending the unjust war on cannabis.
In order to be successful, this mission will require key assistance from volunteers across Oregon. Please tell ten friends about our website & get involved!
CRRH's Cannabis Tax Acts (CTA)would comprehensively reform marijuana laws by regulating and taxing adult sales; licensing the cultivation of the drug for sale in adult-only businesses; allowing adults to grow their own and farmers to grow industrial hemp without license; and letting doctors prescribe untaxed cannabis to patients suffering from a variety of illnesses and injuries.
OCTA was carefully crafted over a period of years, with the input of dozens of people. The first third of the text, or Preamble, is a finding by the people, giving the reasons we are breaking from federal drug scheduling.
When it is passed, this groundbreaking legislation will:
Protect children! This is the real Protect Our Children initiative. The Cannabis Tax Act (CTA) will take the lucrative marijuana market out of the blackmarket where children and substance abusers often control it today, and place it in stores, where the age limit of 21 and older is strictly enforced.
Help farmers! We will license farmers to cultivate cannabis for both medicinal and adult private use. Farmers will be able to grow industrial hemp without a license, for paper, fabric, protein and oil.
Allow doctors to prescribe untaxed cannabis through pharmacies, so patients won't have to grow their own or buy medicine illegally.
Raise millions of dollars in new public revenue, lowering the tax burden on all and saving you money. Take the profit out of crime.
Restore industrial hemp, the most productive agricultural source of fiber protein and oil. Hemp seed oil is diesel fuel. The first cordage, cloth and paper were invented from hemp fiber.
Wipe out the black-market. The CTA allows police and the courts to concentrate on real criminals that hurt others, not arrest, prosecute and jail harmless, productive adult cannabis users. Stop our government from tearing families apart. Let's show real family values and end cannabis prohibition.
Willie Nelson talks to Art Bell about the uses of cannabis and hemp in society. It's time to start telling the truth about marijuana. Get Involved.
Why should farmers grow hemp? Because hemp is the ultimate cash crop, producing more fiber, food and oil than any other plant on the planet.
According to the Notre Dame University publication, The Midlands Naturalist, from a 1975 article called, "Feral Hemp in Southern Illinois," about the wild hemp fields that annual efforts from law enforcement eradication teams cannot wipe out, an acre of hemp produces:
1. 8,000 pounds of hemp seed per acre.
When cold-pressed, the 8,000 pounds of hemp seed yield over 300 gallons of hemp seed oil and a byproduct of
6,000 pounds of high protein hemp flour.
These seed oils are both a food and a biodiesel fuel. Currently, the most productive seed oil crops are soybeans, sunflower seeds and rape seed or canola. Each of these three seed oil crops produce between 100 to 120 gallons of oil per acre. Hemp seed produces three times more oil per acre than the next most productive seed oil crops, or over 300 gallons per acre, with a byproduct of 3 tons of food per acre. Hemp seed oil is also far more nutritious and beneficial for our health than any other seed oil crop.
In addition to the food and oil produced, there are several other byproducts and benefits to the cultivation of hemp.
2. Six to ten tons per acre of hemp bast fiber. Bast fiber makes canvas, rope, lace, linen, and ultra-thin specialty papers like cigarette and bible papers.
3. Twenty-five tons of hemp hurd fiber. Hemp hurd fiber makes all grades of paper, composite building materials, animal bedding and a material for the absorption of liquids and oils.
4. The deep tap root draws up sub-soil nutrients and then, when the leaves fall from the plant to the ground, they return these nutrients to the top soil for the next crop rotation.
5. The residual flowers, after the seeds are extracted, produce valuable medicines.
Our farmers need this valuable crop to be returned as an option for commercial agriculture.
While marijuana is prohibited, industrial hemp will be economically prohibitive due to the artificial regulatory burdens imposed by the prohibition of marijuana. When marijuana and cannabis are legally regulated, industrial hemp will return to its rightful place in our agricultural economy.
Hemp may be the plant that started humans down the road toward civilization with the invention of agriculture itself. All archaeologists agree that cannabis was among the first crops purposely cultivated by human beings at least over 6,000 years ago, and perhaps more than 12,000 years ago.
Restoring industrial hemp to its rightful place in agriculture today will return much control to our farmers, and away from the multinational corporations that dominate our political process and destroy our environment. These capital-intensive, non-sustainable, and environmentally destructive industries have usurped our economic resources and clear-cut huge tracts of the world's forests, given us massive oil spills, wars, toxic waste, massive worldwide pollution, global warming and the destruction of entire ecosystems.
Prohibiting the cultivation of this ancient plant, the most productive source of fiber, oil and protein on our planet, is evil. In its place we have industries that give us processes and products that have led to unprecedented ecological crisis and worldwide destruction of the biological heritage that we should bequeath to our children, grandchildren and future generations.
