That doesn’t mean I’d ever vote for either one of them, not in a million years. But they are right on this issue, and may even garner a few votes from the hippie-left-but-not-really-paying-too-much-attention contingent. If they do, it’s the Democrats own damned fault, for not leading on an issue that most of their supporters are solidly in favor of.
The issue is the legalization of hemp. It is a substance traditionally used in the making of rope and canvas, for sails and tents and stuff. As a cloth, it’s kind of like a softer denim, or a sturdier cotton. Very comfortable. It has a lot of other uses too.
Hemp – It’s Like Marijuana’s More Respectable Older Brother
It is absolutely not a drug and does not get you high, no matter how much you smoke it.
I can vouch for that. Once, when I was about 17 I think, me and a friend were out walking beans on his cousin’s farm, to get some spare spending cash, when we spied a row of plants along the roadside. Well, the whole reason hemp is illegal is because it looks just like marijuana, so we were fooled. Filled a couple of garbage bags full, and thought we were going to be the most popular kids in school. Got it back to his basement and smoked about a dozen joints – big, fat ones – with a growing sense of frustration and dread, until eventually we had to admit it – it was worthless.
Let me just repeat one line out of the last paragraph: The whole reason hemp is illegal is because it looks like marijuana. It’s as if they made laundry detergent, or sugar, illegal because they look so much like cocaine. It’s as if they made aspirin illegal because it looks almost exactly like LSD.
It doesn’t even make any sense for marijuana to be illegal, so the prohibition against hemp is just piling stupid on top of stupid. I’m sorry it took a couple of right wing nutjobs to get the ball rolling but – at least on this – they deserve support.
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