General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSenate Appropriations Committee Voted For Hemp Amendment
Committee Approves FY 2015 CJS and THUD Appropriations BillsWashington, DC (Thursday), U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), Chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, announced that the Full Committee has approved the fiscal year 2015 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill unanimously with a vote of 30-0 and the fiscal year 2015 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill with a bipartisan vote of 29-1. Both measures will be reported to the full Senate for consideration.
The Hemp Amendment Passed 22-8
Kentucky plans to test hemp in the Louisville area as a phytoremediator - i.e. to clean up industrial sites in the city.
Committee Members Are:
Democrats
Barbara Mikulski - Chair
Patrick J. Leahy
Tom Harkin
Patty Murray
Diane Feinstein
Richard Durbin
Tim Johnson
Mary Landrieu
Jack Reed
Mark Pryor
Jon Tester
Tom Udall
Jeanne Shaheen
Jeff Merkley
Mark Begich
Chris Coons
Republicans
Richard Shelby
Thad Cochran
Mitch McConnell
Lamar Alexander
Susan Collins
Lisa Murkowski
Lindsey Graham
Mark Kirk
Dan Coats
Roy Blunt
Jerry Moran
John Hoeven
Mike Johanns
John Boozman
I read about this on huffpo and the person said the hemp amendment vote was 22-8.
If I were a cynical sort, I would almost think McConnell had grandstanded with the DEA to garner support for changes in the DEA by using his ally's disdain for federalism and "overreach" to make sure he could get this legislation approved...not to mention he gets to be on teevee for this while facing a Democratic challenger.
Who knows. Doesn't matter, ultimately. What matters is that this is the first time since cannabis prohibition that the two legislative bodies in the U.S. may lessen rather than increase restrictions on any cannabis plant material.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/06/05/6461189/high-times-for-hemp-in-senate.html
DEA is a bit of a lost rogue agency. They just dont get it, said Eric Steenstra, the executive director of the Hemp Industries Association, a trade group that represents hundreds of hemp businesses. Theyve been continuing to sort of have a hard time accepting the new reality.
Craig Lee, a board member of the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association in Lexington, said hemp provided a big opportunity for his state, especially with the troubles facing the tobacco industry. But he said it made little sense to have federal drug enforcement agents thwart efforts to revive the crop, which thrived in the state decades ago.
We need to stop the DEA, Lee said. That organization needs to be taken down at the knees and disbanded. Get totally rid of it and throw it in the grave with Richard Nixon.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Yes, let's grow toxic cannabis in urban areas. What could possibly go wrong?
On the plus side, they may find out there is a ready supply of volunteer cultivators, some of whom have their own electrified concertina wire to, uh, guard against interference with the, uh, experiment.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)Phytoremediation has already been used for toxic sites in places like Japan and Russia. Sunflowers can also be used for this.
The plants that seem to work the best for this have long, hollow stalks. I've never grown cannabis, but I've grown lots of sunflowers.
The hemp is not, then, consumed or used for other purposes.
The sites will, no doubt, be labeled - these are pre-existing industrial sites, and not disturbing the soil does the least to release toxins - but the plant only pulls out toxins down to the level of root growth.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Is that people sometimes get strange ideas. Yes, if you out up a sign saying "Hemp Phytoremediation Pilot Project #17", it's a sure bet that some curious misinformed persons are going to want to have a look at this hemp.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)as I saw online when searching for info about this ...but as if this is something so... weird!!!!! hemp is healthy for the earth! weird. it's cannabis! LOL.
But surely only an idiot would think hemp, with so little THC it cannot be considered psychotropic, would be something to use to get high.
Of course, there are idiots in this world, but we cannot engineer an idiot-proof world...
I would hope they would have TOXIC SITE signs posted very visibly. After that... well, again, there are idiots in this world... if they want to poison themselves with heavy metals, after warnings... that sounds like a future Darwin Award Winner.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Ah, then thank his noodley appendage for the absence of idiots among us.
Betting on stupid is almost always a winner.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)Well, that explains my life, since I assume people are capable and sincere in what they say and do.
Which brings me back to your quote... do my assumptions mean someone should bet on me? hmmmm.
It's like a riddle wrapped in an enigma of paradox.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)There are a lot of people. Every day is somebody's worst day.
Let me ask you this:
Have you already made the worst decision in your life, or do you think you haven't made it yet?
And if you haven't made it yet, then is there a way to avoid making it?
Or, to put it another way, if you have a group of 365 people and up, then the odds improve that every day, one of them is going to do the dumbest thing they'll do all year!
Cha
(296,775 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Heartening news indeed.
Happy to rec for others to see.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)for a hemp industry in the U.S. and for an end to DEA overreach.
Thanks for the rec!
I'd say better late than never but seriously why did this take so long?
RainDog
(28,784 posts)If you hear what the politicians opposed have to say - they're spouting the same nonsense, with different language, that Hearst and Anslinger used during their propaganda campaign to get cannabis products prohibited in the first place.
It took so long for the same reason that the U.S. is the only western democracy without universal healthcare - because of the power of the right wing in the U.S., including a press that is part of this right wing and coddles and pretends their arguments are equally valid.
It took so long because the U.S. relies upon fear rather than common sense to create policy, over and over again.
And, ultimately, it took so long because the initial law was grounded in racism and the current law allows racist targeting of minority groups to continue.
WhiteTara
(29,692 posts)That's great because I'm running on a green job platform and this is good news.
Uncle Joe
(58,272 posts)http://www.activistpost.com/2014/05/tennessee-governor-signs-law-to.html
Yesterday, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill which some supporters consider the strongest pro-hemp legislation in the country. House Bill 2445 (HB2445), introduced by Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby), would mandate that the state authorize the growing and production of industrial hemp within Tennessee, effectively nullifying the unconstitutional federal ban on the same.
The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 28-0 and the House by a vote of 88-5. It reads, in part:
The department shall issue licenses to persons who apply to the department for a license to grow industrial hemp.
Mike Maharrey, communications director for the Tenth Amendment Center, noted that one word strengthened the bill considerably. By including the word shall in this legislation, it has a great deal of impact, he said. This means that rather than keeping it open-ended like other states have done, hemp farming will be able to move forward in Tennessee whether the regulatory bureaucrats there want it to or not.
Shall is a legal term which creates a specific requirement far stronger than a word like will. The former is more closely interchangeable with the word must, while the latter allows leeway for the object of the term to delay. In this case, the bill states that the Tennessee department of agriculture will have a mandate to license farmers for growing hemp.
Thanks for the thread, RainDog.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)would you mind posting this as an OP in the drug policy forum? thanks!!