Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 1866, the “Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009.” It is a privilege to serve as your Representative in Congress. I welcome your thoughts on this important issue.
As you may know, H.R. 1866, introduced by Congressman Ron Paul from Texas on April 2, 2009, would grant states the authority to license and regulate the commercial production of hemp as an industrial and agriculture commodity, allowing hemp and hemp-containing products to be manufactured right here in the U.S. This bill legalizes industrial hemp by excluding hemp grown for industrial purposes from the definition of “marijuana” in the Controlled Substances Act. H.R. 1866 was referred to the House Committees on Energy and Commerce and the Judiciary where it awaits further consideration.
Cannabis sativa in this case referred to as “hemp,” is characterized by low levels of the primary psychoactive chemical tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC in their leaves and flowers, the same chemical that makes other similar strains of Cannabis illegal. Hemp is used in more than 30 countries as a source of fiber and oil seed for manufacturing of products for consumer and industrial use. Despite the original Marijuana laws enacted in 1937, hemp at one point was legal because it was thought to be harmless; however, the Controlled Substances Act in 1997, after discovering narcotic properties similar to marijuana in the substance, made cultivating hemp for industrial purposes illegal in the U.S. All hemp or hemp-containing products must now be imported or manufactured from imported hemp. However, despite physical differences that may exist between industrial hemp and traditional Cannabis, legalization of industrial hemp would weaken efforts to curtail marijuana abuse.
While I respect your support for the industrial benefits of hemp and generally agree that it is important to cultivate our natural resources rather than relying on imported goods and services, I am opposed to efforts to legalize the substance. I believe that raising hemp for fiber or oilseed would increase the likelihood of covert production of marijuana plants with a higher concentration of Tetrahydrocannabinol in fields of industrial hemp, hindering the Drug Enforcement Agency’s surveillance and enforcement activities, and sending the wrong message to the American public concerning the government’s position on drugs.
Marijuana impairs judgment and has proven links to fatal accidents and harmful injuries. Marijuana is addictive, adversely affects the immune system, and it leads to the use of other drugs, such as cocaine. Marijuana also causes other side effects such as cancer, respiratory diseases, and mental disorders. Babies born to women who smoke marijuana during pregnancy have an increased incidence of leukemia, low birth weight and other abnormalities. We must continue to safeguard our children and all Americans from harmful drugs and the criminal activities that surround their production.
Thank you again for contacting me. I look forward to serving you in the 111th Congress and hearing from you again soon. If my staff or I can do anything to assist you, please do not hesitate to contact my office. You can also visit my website at www.fleming.house.gov for further information.
Sincerely,
John Fleming, M.D.
Member of Congress
Loading ...
Forgot to mention the pharmaceutical drugs he prescribes to his patients. Doesn’t that send mixed messages to our impressionable children?
Here’s ‘what about the children’: what are you going to say to your kids when they come to you, assuming you haven’t been so stupid as to make them want to avoid coming to you, when they come across it at school, because the WILL come across it at school, and ask you about it. Are you going to shut down the delicate possibility of enjoying a dialogue with them about it by saying something stupid like, ‘Just say no!’ or might you be able to be more like a good, helpful, guiding parent in nurturing the dialogue by offering something constructive to contribute to it?
Yes, Smackie, you’re right: it seems little is more important to these people than money, e.g. selling drug testing kits, in forming attitudes and motivating action. This is why I’m against the recent push to use taxation as a reason for decriminalisation; it’s not about money.
I looked at his website. No wonder he’s a prohibitionist. It’s all “what about the children?”. At the bottom of his page there is a link to http://www.homedrugtestingkit.com. It’s hard to change the mind of those folks whose liveliness depends on prohibition.
It could be a perfectly honorable situation this guy is trying to uphold but in my opinion someone with an MD in back of his name is getting plenty of UNEARNED cash to be so stupid.
Personally, having had a good look at his site, I wouldn’t say this guy’s an asshole, just terribly mislead and frightened. The system is chock-a-bloc with these people maintaining the status quo. OK, so they’re assholes, but it’s not difficult to understand why.
If 2012, 2020 or our time, e.g. 1969, 2000 or some other date calculated as significant by any number of soothsayers, is a fulcrum or the beginning of something, like ‘The Age of Aquarius’ – which doesn’t come to pass simply overnight with a big bang, like a nice, tidy newclear war – then there must be remnants of the past resisting change. Take a good look at this guy’s pictures, particularly the ones with other like-minded people, on his website: you can see painfully forced artificial smiles which can show you more about these people’s intense desire – perhaps even ‘need’ – to be accepted and considered in control than they can about their feelings of righteousness and security. They don’t look very happy to me.
Fortunately, unless you have an emotional skin as thick as rhino hide and an intellect to match, it’s difficult to deny that our time is significant. Whether it’s a fulcrum after which humanity might get better, or ‘The End of Times’ as depicted by so many Holygood films…? Whatever it is, it must be terribly difficult for those struggling to maintain a status quo. Even more fortunately, for those of us who understand the importance of cannabis, the end to this aspect of the status quo – prohibition – is imminent, ensured by the assholes who allowed their lives to be sucked into the mechanism that took such evil advantage of it for so long.
It is a waste of time trying to convince this Rep. He author a book “Preventing Addiction:” plus there is his website http://www.johncfleming.com/
Nothing can undo what has been done, but ending prohibition now is the only just thing to do. Maybe it is just a first step, but it is the first step.
-ED
Now might be a great time for citizens in your state to search out information about how much value the hemp crop added to the economy of your state. Maybe NORML can help here. Then, point out how much more it might be worth in today’s economy. Kentucky must be pretty flush if it can turn aside that kind of cash injection. I guess you can leave it up to the California, Oregon (maybe), and the Dakotas. I can envision great new industries built around the production of hemp and derivative products. Will Kentucky lead, or try to catch up? It depends on who you elect to public office. Make them take a stand before you cast your vote.
-ED
Well of course hemp is dangerous. Didnt you know that they used to use it to execute people?
My god, what about the children?
OMG, this is the same letter I got from my Senator, about Hemp, I had it but I cant find it anymore Ill have to write him again. Mitch Mcconnell(asshole) (R)KY, he may be the one telling them to send these stupid letters. Bunning the other senator from KY is not running for re election simply because Mitch is such a dick and forces other republicans to say things and do things like this letter, its so out there none of it makes since. Thing is, his own state was one of the largest growers of hemp for the war, he wont tell you that though!
Once again all of them need to go, its people like Mitch and John Flemming that have kept all the changes we need to happen from happening. So vote these dinosaurs out and lets get some folks that really want to make things better for us and everyone!
I’m very sad to say I live in this moron’s district. I have written numerous letters to him regarding medical cannabis, hoping to appeal to him as a physician.
Unfortunately, he responded (once…to several letters) by quoting reefer madness theories, even going so far as saying making medical cannabis available in Louisiana would “send the wrong message to our children that drugs are good”.
Interestingly, he forgot to mention the pharmaceutical drugs he prescribes to his patients. Doesn’t that send mixed messages to our impressionable children?
Tell your kids drugs aren’t good, then take this prescription to your druggist.
Law enforcement, poor law enforcement! Even though nearly every squad car is equipped with a drug kit to test pills, powders, and other contraband, there appears to be no way for them to tell dreaded pschoactive marijuana from benign industrial hemp. That’s like saying they can’t tell water from moonshine, so we need to outlaw water.
hard to say anything good about these people when thier decissions kill people and stiffle our economy
He’s right here, though: “…raising hemp for fiber or oilseed would increase the likelihood of covert production of marijuana plants with a higher concentration of Tetrahydrocannabinol in fields of industrial hemp, hindering the Drug Enforcement Agency’s surveillance and enforcement activities, and sending the wrong message to the American public concerning the government’s position on drugs.” If you change the word ‘wrong’ to ‘right’ then he could be on to something.
So, to add to the equation, the question is, ‘What is of greater value – the money pharmaceuticals gain or don’t lose as a result of cannabis being illegal, or the money that could be made by using hemp?’
What’s the price on loss of face: having told all and sundry for many, many moons and half a dozen decades what a terrible thing IT was and how horrible THEY were, how they could never prevail, how it could never be used for medicinal purposes, how they could never be proven, how it MUST do some harm, how they could never be taken seriously… To turn around and say, ‘Oh, I’m, I mean we’re (I mean it was his/her fault.) are so terribly sorry. We were so sincerely convinced we were right and you were wrong that we went to the lengths of ruining countless lives in attempts to prove it (to ourselves). But we were wrong and we just can’t apologise profusely enough for the stupidity of our mistake.
Now, what do we do with all of those nice people, who we once thought were bad and did everything within our not inconsiderable power to try and force to align with our misaligned selves; languishing in prisons or leading lonely broken lives of broken marriages and abuse of substances in search of medicine? Let them all out! Set them all free! Give them all jobs as quality testers in cannabis factories or farmer/growers on cannabis farms? In what other way can the damage done by prohibition be compensated? Can anything compensate the harm that’s been done by cannabis prohibition?
And what about the murderers and thieves among them? How many of those people were put away for cannabis infractions, not because that was the worst thing they did, but because that was the best thing the prosecuting authorities could get them on. You look at their records and say, ‘Oh, look: just three offences for cannabis.’ but you can’t see how desperate the police were to get them out of harm’s way as quickly as possible when they apprehended them, because they knew there was no other way they could stop them and they would almost certainly do something bad (again) soon. What do you do with them?
But more importantly and urgently: how do you find them? They’re hardly likely to volunteer the information, are they?: ‘Oh, look, yeah, I know I probably shouldn’t say now, but as everyone who had never been convicted of anything other than cannabis is due to be released imminently, I thought I’d better speak now or forever hold my peace, so I’m speaking up to say: ‘Yes, although I was only ever convicted of cannabis offences three times, I did, or rather do, actually have a far more vivid criminal history. Other than drug crimes, I am actually guilty of fraud, murder, rape and identity theft, criminal damage, criminal negligence, reckless behaviour and many other offences. I know the police knew and they knew I knew they knew, but we all knew I just had to be taken out of harm’s way before I did something really bad… (Again.) So, there you go: I’m a really nasty piece of work and certainly no better for the time I spent inside and now I’m going to be released with a load of stoners, because I didn’t get caught for anything else, and the five years I got for the cannabis in my car seemed good enough to the DA and police to get me out of their hair so they could fry bigger fish. It added to the number of arrests and sped up someone’s promotion, anyway.’ So, having cleansed my soul by coming clean of all that, can I still go home with the stoners, or should I wait here in prison a little longer? Oh, the number of cases demanding review far outweighs the capacity of the system to deal with them? All prisoners convicted of only cannabis offences are now free to go without having their cases reviewed? How kind!’ And may the Lord have mercy on our souls?!
You see, if you just follow this guy’s line of thought (above)…
It’s never a good sign when they start off with a bullshit history lesson.
I’m appalled at the incredible amount of reefer-madness this guy fits into so little space.
It’s time we punish these criminals – politicians who tell bald-faced lies to us in order to perpetuate prohibition to line their pockets with our tax money.
This guys should literally be arrested and prosecuted for putting this incredibly harmful disinformation in print.
These outrageous lies are causing harm to our children, and irreperable damage to the credibility of all law enforcement in this country, and our image in the world.
We are becoming a laughing-stock, ridiculed even by other countries in the Americas, who’ve begun to disregard our bullying tactics. They’re not buying our lies; why should we?
2010 seems like a good year for a “Top-down” reform of hemp and cannabis policies in this country, so that we can once again be proud to be Americans.
We must protect children from hemp….lol
Hemp has “narcotic” properties? what a dumbass…