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Congress just voted to legalize hemp
- bitxbitxbitcoin 8y agoSenator McConnell is not known for his support of medical or recreational marijuana legalization but I view this as a step in the right direction. Take that, DuPont!
- mc32 8y agoI'm glad that mr "say not to anything drugs at all costs" Sessions was fired. We need more sensible drugs laws. Not saying make everything legal, but all things in moderation and commensurate, including punishment.
- smhenderson 8y agoI agree but I don't think it will be much better if William Barr takes over. He was a big part of the War on Drugs when he served under G.H.W. Bush. It's been a long time since then and people can change but I am not very optimistic for now.
- yboris 8y agoWhat's wrong with decriminalizing every drug? I highly recommend the book Legalize This!: The Case for Decriminalizing Drugs (Practical Ethics Series) by Doug Husak https://www.amazon.com/Legalize-This-Decriminalizing-Practical-Ethics/dp/1859843204 https://www.amazon.com/Legalize-This-Decriminalizing-Practic...
- faoijef984jfj 8y agoI agree with you 100% Monopolization of the healthcare system and drug criminalization are two sides of the same coin. With headlines about opioid abuse epidemics, and looking back at how ridiculous the war on drugs is, and how ridiculous it is to have cannabis as a Class I substance, it's difficult to argue that the medical system is somehow functioning well when it comes to drug regulation. Take acyclovir, which is an important antiviral medication. Research has shown that it's safe for over the counter use, which review panels have acknowledged, but those panels have still recommended against OTR availability because they're afraid of "setting a precedent" with regard to OTR availability. Drug regulation really has not increased safety at all; it only increases the power of monopolies, legal or illegal.
- smaddox 8y agoI can't agree that drug regulation hasn't increased safety. Safety incidents are still quite common with unregulated "supplements". See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zicam https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zicam and https://www.nature.com/articles/ajg2014131 https://www.nature.com/articles/ajg2014131 . That being said, clearly the current system has flaws. Perhaps the FDA could alter their requirements for sale to approximate "does not cause harm", with additional classes for "provides more benefit than harm", etc. The problem is, how do you get drug companies to pay for effectiveness studies if they don't have to? This would actually disincentivize such studies.
- Nasrudith 8y agoThat already exists but for desperate subsets. Some chemotherapy drugs are themselves ironically carcinogenic - sometimes for the same area they are meant to treat. If they work better than the standard of care they get approved. Since if you already have cancer "might give you cancer in a decade" is an improvement over cancer now - especially since relapses are already a risk. I think the real issue with FDA regulations are monopolism related more than approval - not that they haven't made the occasional boneheaded move like being reluctant to approve superior sunscreens. Allowing reimportarion and government bulk purchase negotiations would cut margins and offer good safeguards against monopoly exploitation since if it is cheaper to ship something circularly you are getting ripped off.
- barrow-rider 8y agoSenator McConnell is not known for his support of anything that doesn't benefit him, his donors, or his party. If he's swinging this way it's because he's got an agenda and he's horse-trading, in the same way that Bismark was alright with reforms like public education since it quieted down the radicals and kids who knew Trig could make better artillery officers. Hell, McConnell's official memoir is titled "The Long Game." I'm reminded of a Vox analysis of McConnell behavior[1]: “The cardinal rule of McConnell is he will do anything to acquire more power, or to achieve an outcome he thinks achieves his political interest,” says Adam Jentleson, a former aide to ex-Democratic leader Harry Reid. “I don’t think he’s a conservative; I think he’s a transactionalist. I think he wants to keep the title of majority leader,” says Jason Pye of the conservative activist group Freedomworks. “His vested interest is taking power.” [1] https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/17/15970034/mitch-mcconnell-senate-health-bill https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/17/15970034/m...
- kennxfl 8y agoAt that age,he is still trying to get more money and power. Comical
- s_y_n_t_a_x 8y agoFor a Republican that article is a praise. Your article is not about how he's corrupt, it's how he can whip votes and control the senate. He's majority whip, it's his jobs to get votes, most of the time you have to make deals.
- ataturk 8y agoYeah, I mean totally unlike every other US Senator. I mean, compared to say Chuck Schumer? You really think McConnell is the biggest POS?
- RyJones 8y agoOne small step in the right direction.
- gammateam 8y agoThe regulated psychoactive cannabis is way too strong for me. As long as its treated differently in its own licensing regime and establishments I think some form of education should accompany it, for consumers. Given generations of bad information. Its come up with others here in California, the THC products are REALLY strong and offputting for us casuals. The hybrids have potential
- kylek 8y agoIt’s actually way, wayyy more nuanced than that unfortunately. THC is only one of a plethora of components at play (it’s been bred for higher and higher THC content for decades, mostly ignoring the other, more medicinal parts). Only recently have I started seeing products in dispensaries with cannabinoid/terpenoid profiles to give a more accurate picture of the effects, I think we’re going to start seeing more products that are essentially blends of pure THC/CBD/CBN/CBG/etc + specific terpenes to make very effective targeted medicines.
- gammateam 8y agooh okay "THC/CBD/CBN/CBG/etc + specific terpenes" what? what would be a good place to have a primer about this, what is the public's understanding of this currently, especially in recreational legalized areas how do we get to more holistic and broader knowledge for consumers. I agree that locking people up and taking their children isn't a productive use of the state in response to marijuana, and I can perceive this blanket legalization needs some fine tuning primarily with consumer education, something more akin to what you might see from a consumptive drug in the federal regulatory framework.
- majewsky 8y agoI remember learning about the difference between THC and CBD/etc. from Kurzgesagt's video on Marihuana: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP15q815Saw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP15q815Saw
- elhudy 8y agoI have to ask: is terpene an actual scientifically defined word? I've only ever heard stoners use it to describe different marijuana strain's scents. Googling it yields nothing but pot-related results. How have I made it through so many years of studying plethoras of high level scientific subjects and am just now hearing this word? Now on HN nonetheless...
- 14 8y agoWhat a disconnect from the population. State after state legalizing marijuana and congress moves to legalize hemp. At least at the state level people are being left alone to their own bidding.
- redwood 8y agoInterestingly this will make it harder to grow high quality outdoor and even indoor (pollination risk rising; one reason it became relatively easy to grow high-quality outdoor is it the government ensured there were no males in vicinity!)
- TheBeardKing 8y agoI recently learned from Narcos:Mexico that when drug cartels first created a female breed, they moved to cultivate it in the middle of a desert to ensure no cross-pollination.
- iamthirsty 8y agoJust an FYI, cannabis sativa has been grown for thousands of years.
- kakarot 8y agoWhen you understand that hemp's industrial value was the reason it was made illegal 100 years ago, and that now we have an exorbitant amount of politicians who truly believe the ilk their own kind shoveled out a century ago as a smoke screen, such as how getting high is so dangerous, and how we need to imprison blacks and mexicans for trying to alleviate themselves of the pain of manual labor, then it starts to make more sense. We're at a point where we can allow industries who have been silently increasing lobbying support for hemp legalization to begin to take advantage of its industrial applications while maintaining our system of slavery and socioeconomic subjugation.
- UI_at_80x24 8y ago>hemp's industrial value was the reason it was made illegal 100 years ago Do you have a source for this? I would like to investigate this angle further.
- Dowwie 8y agoThere is already a wide variety of hemp strains and they are used for a variety of applications. Taller strains are for fiber. Shorter, flowering strains are used for CBD. There's a really wide range of applications for hemp but I'm not sure how many are economically viable. Processing requires water, energy, chemicals, etc. This is an exciting time for discovery.
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- personjerry 8y agoHemp's been used extensively in many industries for thousands of years, I would hardly say it's a "discovery": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp
- ckluis 8y agoFantastic news for construction: hempcrete - https://www.google.com/search?q=hempcrete https://www.google.com/search?q=hempcrete
- specialist 8y agoCool, thanks for link. Tree hugger me keeps hoping bamboo and hemp sourced fibers displace most wood and plastic for most of modern society's short-lived tasks. Packaging, paper, hygiene, etc.
- shittyadmin 8y agoIsn't the whole bamboo thing just a sort of greenwashing? Sure, it grows fast, but it doesn't really grow more efficiently in terms of a resource consumption to output ratio than most other trees. Might have been here that I heard this: http://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-bad-environmentalism-is-such-an-easy-sell-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast-2/ http://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-bad-environmentalism-is-... Unfortunately, some of the links out from there on the topic now appear broken.
- specialist 8y agoEcoPlanet Bamboo claims to address the prior criticisms of using bamboo. Pretty cool if true. http://www.ecoplanetbamboo.com http://www.ecoplanetbamboo.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecoplanet_Bamboo_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecoplanet_Bamboo_Group http://www.ecoplanetbamboo.com/fsc-certification http://www.ecoplanetbamboo.com/fsc-certification
- gdubs 8y agoParticularly exciting given that concrete makes up close to 5% of global CO2 emissions.
- Nasrudith 8y agoDoesn't the CO2 eventually return to the concrete when it cures and hardens making it sorta the reverse of crops in long term neutrality? (Generates CO2 on creation but retrieves it eventually as opposes to capturing but returning eventually.)
- pluma 8y agoAs a non-American I'm a bit baffled. Does this mean hemp was previously illegal? In most of Europe cannabis is illegal but you can get hemp-infused drinks and food (though I personally don't care much for the taste), even energy drinks. Not to mention hemp-based textiles. In Germany growing hemp is illegal for private individuals but commercial growers can cultivate it if they exceed a certain minimum plantation size. Sadly growing it for scientific use (rather than sourcing it from a large-scale grower) also requires official permission.
- DennisP 8y agoWe could get imported hemp products but our farmers weren't allowed to grow it.
- Lev1a 8y agoAlso as a German, I think not having hemp used in the industry is not understandable. At home we've got a bundle of hemp fiber for plumbing (water, heating pipes etc.).
- jobigoud 8y agoI buy hemp milk at the grocery store in the US.
- kennxfl 8y agoWouldn't have known about hemp and William R. Hearst if not for JRE podcast.
- fb03 8y agoDuPont is not gonna enjoy this.
- greenbee1981 8y agoHemp and bamboo can change the world! EcoPlanet Bamboo has been doing just this in South Africa. www.ecoplanetbamboo.za.com - this farm is amazing to see how bamboo can regenerate the soil and be used for innovative products. Well managed hemp and bamboo plantations should be encouraged!