Last edited Tue Jul 1, 2014, 02:59 AM - Edit history (1)

Byrd was a staunch segregationist when segregation was what the white, southern democratic voter wanted. when the civil rights act was passed, he had a change of heart.

by the time of the Iraq war vote, simply because he opposed it, people here wanted to send him flowers.

I'm probably not very good at politics because I could never get that earlier political stance out of my mind, though I did appreciate his stance against the Bush war policy.

He was a democrat who could take that stance with little political blowback.

It will be nice when some who have vigorously opposed medical marijuana can say "I made a mistake." It's somewhat understandable, considering the time, but really did not reflect the will of the Democratic voter, even then. Ever since CA's medical mj law passed, a majority of Americans supported the same for their states, and, by extension, federally.

But I know the bureaucracies dedicated to this 70 year old war on American people have a lot of influence in both parties.

What "amuses" me is Kevin Sabet (teamed with Patrick Kennedy and David Frum) in his statements about alcohol. He tries to dispute adding marijuana to a list of legal substances by noting that alcohol is part of American tradition (and implying that marijuana is not.)

The reality is that Jefferson left instructions to separate female and male plants - and the only reason for this is for the use of cannabis as an intoxicant. eta: I'm wrong about that statement. If Jefferson wanted to maximize seed yields, he would get rid of male plants so that the females would not compete for sunlight, nutrients, etc.

Sabet pretends that only Irish, Italian and German people have tradition related to intoxication that matters (alcohol), ignoring and erasing history, including the history of Latin Americans, and the history of people from various backgrounds throughout the early and mid-20th century (much less the era when taxes could be paid with hemp.)

Anyway, it's good to see Clinton back off of his drug warrior stances. I always thought they were sort of political calculations anyway, because he's smart enough to know marijuana use is no more harmful than alcohol.

reminder, RD.

"The reality is that Jefferson left instructions to separate female and male plants.." You're talking Thomas Jefferson? wow.. did know that. Bless his heart. yeah, I think those who are so vehemently against Medical MJ are on the wrong side and will be left in the dust. Grass has had such a bad rap all those years.. the Alcohol industry doesn't want to take the hit.

The last paragraph, toward the bottom, notes "...prick/pick about a dozen seeds (or hemp) into each hill in different parts of it (like a hill for cucumber plantings). when they come up thin them to two. as soon as the male plants have shed their farina (?), cut them up, so that the whole nourishment may go to the female plants. every plant thus tended will yield a quart of seed...

males are pollinators and females bear buds with seeds.



Traditional marijuana farming would include handling the plants. The seeds are held in the resinous bud heads. In videos of practices of ancient cultures that are still practiced (available online), I watched as farmers in India (and Jamaica, for that matter) still pluck marijuana buds growing "in the wild" - i.e. with seeds, not seedless, still in the ground, not picked and dried, who take a bit of a flower and roll it in their hands. Their hands become coated with a sticky resin that contains THC, CBD. This is the basis for a type of hash called charas. It has been made in this same way for more than 3000 years - tho now other methods are used with dried plant material.

Charas is often combined with tobacco.

It was known among the population that was brought to Jamaica during the middle passage, from the late 1600s to the late 1700s, that also brought slaves to all the west indies and south america from both west and east africa.

East Africa has a long archeological history of cannabis use in medicine (Egypt included). When Egypt and Nubia (now part of Sudan and partly underwater because of the Aswan dam project) were two of the most advanced civilizations on earth, people were using cannabis as medicine for migraines, tumors, eye problems, to help women give birth (they would have women inhale cannabis to help uterine contractions... and no doubt it would've helped with the pain of childbirth b/c it's an analgesic.

So, this was part of the folk medicine of upper Africa, that we know about, 3000 years before the christian calendar began. It was also part of the culture of Zanzibar, which was a major slave trade center between Africa and the Arab world - and cannabis moved from Persia and central asia to India, to Arab nations, to Africa - all with trade in other goods. Zanzibar is in close proximity to India, as well, as are Ethiopia, the current Sudan, etc.

Even tho cannabis is not indigenous to South Africa, dagga pipes, used to smoke cannabis, have been found there dated to the 1600s - and there's one account of a Dutch slaver who talks about cannabis use among people in South Africa.

iow, it would be far less likely that Americans, especially those brought here under duress, did not know about cannabis medicine. But white people "found out" about it during the time of Queen Victoria, and, before that, when Napoleon invaded north Africa. Soldiers brought back hash and plants from their time in north Africa. So, that's from the early 1800s.

Iow, we have archeological evidence from the 1600s to 1800s that indicates cannabis use by people Sabet claims have only an "alcohol" history. His claim is so racist, I laughed when I read it.

Monticello home when I was still on the mainland.

Thanks for the thread, RainDog.