Let's Return Hemp To American Soil

[Jim Finnel]

In 2008, the Vermont Legislature passed a bill into law that legalized the growth of industrial hemp by Vermont farmers. Industrial hemp is a crop that hasn’t been grown on any large scale in the state since the 1820s and 1830s, just before merino sheep became the dominant feature of our working landscape. It was this farming “fad,” however, that led to the invention Thaddeus Fairbanks’ platform scale: invented in St. Johnsbury, still used the world over, and originally designed for the weighing of agricultural hemp.

A few centuries later, Vermonters are still upholding a proud tradition of farming. For those struggling to make a living as farmers in an era of low milk prices, limited access to land, and a crumbling infrastructure, hemp has the potential to be a viable and profitable alternative. Hemp is a fast-growing, easy to manage crop that helps to eliminate weeds with its shade, and is therefore a rotational crop that can easily be grown organically. It can be made into fuel, construction materials, rope and cloth, animal feed and human food, too -- virtually everything we make from petroleum, we can make from hemp. Vermont farmers have a chance to be at the vanguard of re-introducing this crop to American soil.

Unfortunately, Vermont's pro-hemp law is void due to a federal ban on the growing of hemp which has been in place since the 1930s. I hope you'll get in touch with Sen. Patrick Leahy and ask him to support the effort to legalize industrial hemp farming by introducing a bill into the Senate to repeal the federal regulations currently in place.

The week of May 17-23, volunteers around the state and across the country participated in Hemp History Week, holding events where you can learn more about industrial hemp and this campaign. Check in with businesses that carry hemp products in your area, and discover for yourself the myriad uses of industrial hemp! For more info about Rural Vermont's hemp campaign, visit Rural Vermont or call 223-7222.


NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: burlingtonfreepress.com
Author: Emmeline Cardozo
Copyright: 2010 Burlington Free Press
Contact: Contact Us | The Burlington Free Press |
Website: My Turn: Let's return hemp to American soil | The Burlington Free Press | Burlington, Vermont

 

[harryo]

I cant for the life of me figure out why our govmnts usa&canada are,t growing industrial hemp on a huge scale for paper textiles yarns plastics bio fuels building materials helping solve the co2 problems improving soil quality some of the most nutricious food and oils available on the planet poor jack tried for years trying to get the feds out of denial about all the positive properties of hemp

 

[hempcat]

Unfortunately, Vermont's pro-hemp law is void due to a federal ban on the growing of hemp...

With all due respect, I must inform you that the reverse is much closer to being correct. Remember, the founders of this nation were hemp farmers. Their sails, clothing, flags, rope, state constitutions and Declaration of Independence were all made from hemp. When they declared independence from Britain, they also formally recognized the incontrovertible fact that ANY LAW WHICH VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS IS A LEGAL FICTION. (1) Growing hemp was a right which they exercised routinely. The authors of the constitution would never have even considered granting the federal government the authority to prohibit agriculture! The very idea would have been inconceivable, and patently absurd. However, they did conceive of the possibility that a corrupt congress would try to usurp power from the states through legislative acts. When the states created the federal government, they attempted to prevent this abuse of power by clarifying in writing that the states and the people would retain all powers which are not expressly delegated to the federal government. (2) This separation of powers is a fundamental aspect of American jurisprudence and it is the supreme law of the land. FEDERAL STATUTES CANNOT VOID STATE RIGHTS SECURED BY THE CONSTITUTION, (3) so any attempt to enforce this ban in Vermont is a criminal trespass punishable by state law. If you want to grow hemp without being terrorized by federal agents, it is your responsibility to elect sheriffs, judges and prosecutors who will pledge to obey the law and protect your property rights. Although the congress may mock human rights and perjure their oath of office, the states are still perfectly capable of enforcing the law within their own borders. So if the people want hemp to bolster this failing economy, it must become the deciding factor in local elections.
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(1) "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - The Declaration of Independence

[In other words, you have the right to do whatever you please, so long as it does not infringe upon the rights of others.]

(2) These delegations of authority are expressed in Article I of the US constitution.

(3) "The powers not delegated to the United States [federal government] by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." - The Bill of Rights