Q - Canna bible myths and facts

---------------------- C O N T E N T S ---------------------- Part 1: What's all this fuss about hemp? 1a) What is hemp? 1b) What is cannabis? 1c) Where did the word `marijuana' come from? 2a) How can hemp be used as a food? 2b) What are the benefits of hemp compared to other food crops? 2c) How about soy? Is hemp competitive as a world source of protein? 3a) How can hemp be used for cloth? 3b) Why is it better than cotton? 4a) How can hemp be used to make paper? 4b) Why can't we just keep using trees? 5a) How can hemp be used as a fuel? 5b) Why is it better than petroleum? 6a) How can hemp be used as a medicine? 6b) What's wrong with all the prescription drugs we have? 7) What other uses for hemp are there? Part 2: So why aren't we using hemp, then? 1) How and why was hemp made illegal? 2) OK, so what the heck does all this other stuff have to do with hemp? 3) Now wait, just hold on. You expect me to believe that they wouldn't have thought to pass a better law, one that banned marijuana and allowed commercial hemp, instead of throwing the baby out with the bath water? 4) Is there a lesson to be learned from all this? Part 3: Does it? Doesn't it? Is it true that? 1) Doesn't marijuana stay in your fat cells and keep you high for months? 2) But ... isn't today's marijuana much more potent than it was in the Sixties? (Or, more often ... Marijuana is 10 times more powerful than it was in the Sixties!) 3a) Doesn't Marijuana cause brain damage? 3b) If it doesn't kill brain cells, how does it get you `high'? 4) Don't people die from smoking pot? 5) I forgot, does marijuana cause short-term memory impairment? 6a) Is marijuana going to make my boyfriend go psycho? 6b) Don't users of marijuana withdraw from society? 7) Is it true that marijuana makes you lazy and unmotivated? 8) Isn't marijuana a gateway drug? Doesn't it lead to use of harder drugs? 9a) I don't want children (minors) to be able to smoke marijuana. How can I stop this? 9b) Won't children be able to steal marijuana plants that people are growing? 10a) Hey, don't you know that marijuana drops testosterone levels in teenage boys causing [various physical and developmental problems]? 10b) Doesn't heavy marijuana use lower the sperm count in males? 10c) I heard marijuana use by teenage girls may impair hormone production, menstrual cycles, and fertility. 12) Isn't smoking marijuana worse for you than smoking cigarettes? 13) Don't children born to pot-smoking mothers suffer from ``Fetal Marijuana Syndrome?'' 14) Doesn't marijuana cause a lot of automobile accidents? 15) Aren't you afraid everyone will get hooked? 16a) Is urine testing for marijuana use as a terms of employment a good idea? I want to make sure my business is run safely. 16b) Isn't all this worth the trouble, though, in order to reduce accident risks and health care costs? 17) Wouldn't it be best to just lock the users all up? 18) I heard that there are over 400 chemicals in marijuana... 16b) Isn't all this worth the trouble, though, in order to reduce accident risks and health care costs? 17) Wouldn't it be best to just lock the users all up? 18) I heard that there are over 400 chemicals in marijuana...

Wellllll...? 19) Doesn't that stuff mess up your immune system and make it easier for you catch colds? Part 4: Why is it still illegal? 1) Why is it STILL illegal?: 2) What can I do to bring some sense into our marijuana laws? 3a) Where can I get more information? 3b) Umm, I'm computer illiterate, so that just went way over my head. Are there any good books I could go get instead? 4) Do you have any advice for people who want to organize their own group? ---------------------- P A R T O N E ---------------------- WHAT'S ALL THIS FUSS ABOUT HEMP? 1a) What is hemp? For our purposes, hemp is the plant called `cannabis sativa.' There are other plants that are called hemp, but cannabis hemp is the most useful of these plants. In fact, `cannabis sativa' means `useful (sativa) hemp (cannabis)'. `Hemp' is any durable plant that has been used since pre-history for many purposes. Fiber is the most well known product, and the word `hemp' can mean the rope or twine which is made from the hemp plant, as well as just the stalk of the plant which produced it. 1b) What is cannabis? Cannabis is the most durable of the hemp plants, and it produces the toughest cloth, called `canvass.' (Canvass was widely used as sails in the early shipping industry, as it was the only cloth which would not rot on contact with sea spray.) The cannabis plant also produces three other very important products which the other hemp plants do not (in usable form, that is): seed, pulp, and medicine.

The pulp is used as fuel, and to make paper. The seed is suitable for both human and animal foods. The oil from the seed can be used in as a base for paints and varnishes. The medicine is a tincture or admixture of the sticky resin in the blossoms and leaves of the hemp plant, and is used for a variety of purposes. 1c) Where did the word `marijuana' come from? The word `marijuana' is a Mexican slang term which became popular in the late 1930's in America, during a series of media and government programs which we now refer to as the `Reefer Madness Movement.' It refers specifically to the medicine part of cannabis, which Mexican soldiers used to smoke. Today in the U.S., hemp (meaning the roots, stalk, and stems of the cannabis plant) is legal to possess.

No one can arrest you for wearing a hemp shirt, or using hemp paper. Marijuana (The flowers, buds, or leaves of the cannabis plant) is not legal to possess, and there are stiff fines and possible jail terms for having any marijuana in your possession. The seeds are legal to possess and eat, but only if they are sterilized (will not grow to maturity.) Since it is not possible to grow the hemp plant without being in possession of marijuana, the United States does not produce any industrial hemp products, and must import them or, more often, substitute others. (There is a way to grow hemp legally, but it involves filing an application with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the DEA very rarely ever gives its permission.) This does not seem to have stopped people from producing and using marijuana, though. In many of the United States, marijuana is the number one cash crop, mostly because it fetches a very high price on the black market. 2a) How can hemp be used as a food? Hemp seed is a highly nutritious source of protein and essential fatty oils.

Many populations have grown hemp for its seed -- most of them eat it as `gruel' which is a lot like oatmeal. The leaves can be used as roughage, but not without slight psycho-active side-effects. Hemp seeds do not contain any marijuana and they do not get you `high.' Hemp seed protein closely resembles protein as it is found in the human blood. It is fantastically easy to digest, and many patients who have trouble digesting food are given hemp seed by their doctors. Hemp seed was once called `edestine' and was used by scientists as the model for vegetable protein. Hemp seed oil provides the human body with essential fatty acids.

Hemp seed is the only seed which contains these oils with almost no saturated fat. As a supplement to the diet, these oils can reduce the risk of heart disease. It is because of these oils that birds will live much longer if they eat hemp seed. With hemp seed, a vegan or vegetarian can survive and eat virtually no saturated fats. One handful of hemp seed per day will supply adequate protein and essential oils for an adult. 2b) What are the benefits of hemp compared to other food crops? Hemp requires little fertilizer, and grows well almost everywhere.

It also resists pests, so it uses little pesticides. Hemp puts down deep roots, which is good for the soil, and when the leaves drop off the hemp plant, minerals and nitrogen are returned to the soil. Hemp has been grown on the same soil for twenty years in a row without any noticeable depletion of the soil. Using less fertilizer and agricultural chemicals is good for two reasons. First, it costs less and requires less effort. 2c) How about soy? Is hemp competitive as a world source of protein? Hemp does not produce quite as much protein as soy, but hemp seed protein is of a higher quality than soy. 2c) How about soy? Is hemp competitive as a world source of protein? Hemp does not produce quite as much protein as soy, but hemp seed protein is of a higher quality than soy.