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Dear Reader,
There are some things that money can't buy.
Getting a story with a picture on the front
page of The New York Times is one of
them. Thanks to the hard work of Adam Eidinger,
Vote Hemp's Communications Director, the
story "Sober North Dakotans Hope to Legalize
Cannabis Without the Kick" appeared on the
Times' front page on
Saturday, July 21. The online version (with a
slightly
different headline) is
our Featured Article this week.
Steve Robertson, a special agent for the DEA,
is quoted as saying "We're an enforcement
agency. We're sworn to uphold the law." We
debunked this lie in our press release "Vote
Hemp Exposes ONDCP and DEA Lies about Hemp
Farming" this past February. My
quote from the release started with "It's
interesting that Special Agent Robertson
pretends that the DEA is purely a law
enforcement entity, as they are not." Telling
the same lie over and over again is an
effective propaganda technique — unless you
are repeatedly called out on it.
Just as effective is the use of an underlying
drug storyline. In reporting on
hemp, the media often resorts to this tactic,
especially on television. Often they do
it unwittingly by using what Hawaii State
Representative Cynthia Thielen commonly referred
to as "the giggle factor." Some reporters and
editors have still not gotten over these easy
pot shots. So, this week Vote Hemp has called
the media out on this in our press release
"Television
Coverage of Industrial Hemp Confused by Puns
and Drug References."
Correcting misconceptions about hemp in both the
media and the law takes a lot of time,
effort and money. We believe it's worth it,
though.
Please make a contribution
to Vote Hemp today to help us continue fixing the
situation here in the U.S.
We need and truly appreciate your support!
Best Regards,
Tom Murphy
Weekly News Update Editor
| California Hemp-Legalization Bill Faces Law Enforcement Criticism |
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By Alison St. John, Guest Host
"These
Days"
KPBS Radio
July 17, 2007
Maybe you've seen the hemp cereals in the
Whole Foods store, or the hemp and cotton
clothes in the boutiques. But you won't see
hemp growing in the fields, not in California.
Hemp is banned from agricultural production
in the United States because it looks too
much like marijuana. Law enforcement
officials are adamantly opposed to legalizing
hemp cultivation, in spite of the fact that
its fibers, seeds and oils are already being
legally imported to make numerous products
sold in U.S. stores.
Are American farmers being denied the chance
to grow a legal cash crop that is making
money for farmers in Canada and Europe?
Alison's guests for the show are: California
State Assemblyman Mark Leno, co-sponsor of AB
684; John Lovell, legislative lobbyist for
the California Narcotics Officers
Association; and Patrick Goggin, California
counsel for the Hemp Industries Association
(HIA) and member of the board of directors
for Vote Hemp.
Click
here to listen to the show online (mp3 file).
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| Industrial Hemp Receives Injection of Capital |
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Green Building Press
July 19, 2007
Low Carbon Accelerator Limited (LCA) is an
investment company set up to encourage and
facilitate investments in a range of fast
growing low carbon businesses. The company
has announced that it has made an investment
of £1,088,000 in Hemcore Limited for a
30% equity stake. The investment was part of
an overall £2.6 million funding round
led by LCA.
Hemcore is the UK's largest grower and
processor of industrial hemp, with around
1,000 hectares being farmed under contract.
No agro-chemicals are used in its production.
Hemp was once grown widely across the UK to
produce fiber for sails and rigging. Hemcore
produces low carbon raw materials for a wide
range of industries, including green building.
The investment from Low Carbon Accelerator
and the other investors will enable Hemcore
to increase its range of products, in
particular the recently-launched natural
fiber insulation product being sold under the
"Breathe" brand name.
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| Soy It Isn't So |
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By Terri Coles
Reuters
July 16, 2007
TORONTO — Hemp, a fast-growing plant
best known for being a cousin of marijuana,
is becoming increasingly popular for its
impressive nutritional profile.
But despite industrial hemp's nutritional
benefits and popularity, it's still illegal
to grow or process it in the United States.
Industrial hemp and marijuana are varieties
of the same plant, Cannabis sativa L., but
hemp has almost none of the delta-9
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that gives
marijuana its mind-altering properties.
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Sober North Dakotans Hope to Legalize Hemp |
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By Monica Davey
The New York Times
July 21, 2007
OSNABROCK, ND — David C. Monson seems
an improbable soul to find at the leading
edge of a national movement to legalize
growing hemp, a plant that shares a species
name, a genus type and, in many circles, a
reputation, with marijuana.
As Mr. Monson rolls past his wheat, barley
and shimmering yellow fields of canola, he
listens to Rush Limbaugh in his tractor. When
he is not farming, he is the high school
principal in nearby Edinburg, population 252.
When he is not teaching, he is a Republican
representative in Bismarck, the state
capital, where his party dominates both
houses of the legislature and the governor is
a Republican.
"Look at me — do I look shady?" Mr.
Monson, 56, asked, as he stood in work boots
and a ball cap in the rocky, black dirt that
spans mile after mile of North Dakota's
nearly empty northern edge. "This is not any
subversive thing like trying to legalize
marijuana or whatever. This is just practical
agriculture. We're desperate for something
that can make us some money."
[More...]
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