Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Letters: What about cannibis?

By W.J. Hinrichs
Source: benningtonbanner.com

What about cannabis?
A recent letter to the Banner proclaimed that Vermont should legalize, tax and regulate cannabis (marijuana). In his book "The Emperor Wears No Clothes," Jack Herer lays out all there is to know about cannabis and has offered $100,000 to anyone who can find an error in "the book," as it has come to be known. That alone might make it worth reading! Get it free atwww.jackherer.com/thebook
Cannabis was outlawed in 1937, mainly due to the efforts of two men who were then building personal empires. William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper magnate, didn't like hemp (a cannabis variety used for making fiber that has no psychoactive properties) because it was a competitor to the thousands of acres of trees he owned for making fiber for his newspapers.
The other magnate was Henry DuPont, whose company had just invented several types of synthetics. Petroleum plastic was one. It was hard and durable. Another was nylon which was soft and pliable. Hemp oil could also produce similar products but without the sulfites and sulfates that petroleum plastic needed. Much of which found its way into local waterways.
These two men financed a slander movie, through one of their churches, called "Reefer Madness," which basically shows people smoking dope, getting crazed, joining death cults and committing homicides. When they showed it to the U.S. Congress in 1937, Congress was outraged, as was Hearst and DuPont's intent, and said, "Write us a bill and we'll see that it gets passed!" So these two men wrote it up and were sure to put in "Hemp" as well as "Marihuana." Based on lies about cannabis they got their hemp-fiber competitor outlawed. Congress passed "The Marihuana Act" in 1937. 
From that moment on cannabis has been considered as bad as heroin, methamphetamine, opium and cocaine. A stepping stone into darkness, addiction and ruin.
But heroin is not cannabis. Many people enjoy a joint or a pipe of cannabis one or two times a week. Some take it up more regularly. Putting heroin and cannabis in the same category not only does a disservice to cannabis' medicinal properties but has created the impression on a lot of folks that if they can handle cannabis they can also handle heroin. I mean, how bad can it be right?
Wrong, because heroin and cannabis are very different in their effects on the mind and human body. Wrong, because people make decisions on false information. Wrong, because people are letting heroin into their sacred bodies. Heroin is never good. I hold the government partially responsible for the recent outbreak of heroin use in Bennington County and all across this country.
One more little item from the book: "Of the 3-million plus edible plants that grow on Earth, no other single plant source can compare with the nutritional value of hempseeds. Both the complete protein and the essential oils contained in hempseeds are in ideal ratios for human nutrition."
Decide for yourself. If you don't believe everything in "the book," try to collect on Mr. Herer's $100,000 offer.
W.J. Hinrichs, Arlington


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