Honestly, all of these points are valid points.
Marijuana, though, (eaten, smoked, whatever) is no more addictive then television... Sure, television is addicting... but it also hasn't been around since the beginning of time and isn't a valuable resource!
Benefits of hemp & herbal cannabis:
Ships & Sailors
Ninety percent of all ships’ sails (since before the Phoenicians, from at least the 5th century B.C. until long after the invention and commercialization of steam ships, mid-to late-19th century) were made from hemp.
Textiles & Fabrics
Until the 1880s in America (and until the 20th century in most of the rest of the world), 80% of all textiles and fabrics used for clothing, tents, bed sheets and linens,* rugs, drapes, quilts, towels, diapers, etc., and even our flag, “Old Glory,” were principally made from fibers of cannabis.
Fiber & Pulp Paper
Until 1883, from 75-90% of all paper in the world was made with cannabis hemp fiber including that for books, Bibles, maps, paper money, stocks and bonds, newspapers, etc. The Gutenberg Bible (in the 15th century); Pantagruel and the Herb pantagruelion, Rabelais (16th century); King James Bible (17th century); Thomas Paine’s pamphlets, The Rights of Man, Common Sense, The Age of Reason (18th century); the works of Fitz Hugh Ludlow, Mark Twain, Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas; Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (19th century); and just about everything else was printed on hemp paper.
Rope, Twine & Cordage
Virtually every city and town (from time out of mind) in the world had an industry making hemp rope. Russia, however, was the world’s largest producer and best-quality manufacturer, supplying 80% of the Western world’s hemp from 1640 until 1940.
Art Canvas
Hemp is the perfect archival medium. The paintings of Van Gogh, Gainsborough, Rembrandt, etc., were primarily painted on hemp canvas, as were practically all canvas paintings.
In fact, the very world canvas comes from the word "cannabis".
(Middle English canevas, from Old French and from Medieval Latin canavsium, both ultimately from Latin cannabis, hemp; see cannabis.)
Paints & Varnishes
For instance, in 1935 alone, 116 million pounds (58,000 tons*) of hempseed were used in America just for paint and varnish. The hemp drying oil business went principally to DuPont petro-chemicals.
Lighting Oil
Hempseed oil lit the lamps of the legendary Aladdin, Abraham the prophet, and in real life, Abraham Lincoln.
Biomass Energy
In the early 1900s, Henry Ford and other futuristic, organic, engineering geniuses recognized (as their intellectual, scientific heirs still do today) an important point, that up to 90% of all fossil fuel used in the world today (coal, oil, natural gas, etc.) should long ago have been replaced with biomass such as: cornstalks, cannabis, waste paper and the like.
Henry Ford smashing (to no avail) his car made out of durable hemp fibers.
Medicine
From 1842 through the 1890s, extremely strong marijuana (then known as cannabis extractums) and hashish extracts, tinctures and elixirs were routinely the second and third most-used medicines in America for humans (from birth, through childhood, to old age) and in veterinary medicine until the 1920s and longer.
The U.S. Pharmacopoeia indicated that cannabis should be used for treating such ailments as: fatigue, fits of coughing, rheumatism, asthma, delirium tremens, migraine headaches and the cramps and depressions associated with menstruation. (Professor William EmBoden, Professor of Narcotic Botany, California State University, Northridge.)
Food Oils & Protein
Hempseed can be pressed for its highly nutritious vegetable oil, which contains the highest amount of essential fatty acids in the plant kingdom. These essential oils are responsible for our immune responses and clear the arteries of cholesterol and plaque.
Building Materials & Housing
Because one acre of hemp produces as much cellulose fiber pulp as 4.1 acres of trees,* hemp is the perfect material to replace trees for pressed board, particle board and for concrete construction molds.
*Dewey & Merrill, Bulletin #404, United States Dept. of Agricultural., 1916.
Smoking, Leisure & Creativity
The American Declaration of Independence recognizes the “inalienable rights” of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Subsequent court decisions have inferred the rights to privacy and choice from this, the U.S. Constitution and its Amendments.
Many artists and writers have used cannabis for creative stimulation, from the writers of the world’s religious masterpieces to our most irreverent satirists. These include Lewis Carroll and his hookah-smoking caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland, plus Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas; such jazz greats as Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Gene Krupa; and the pattern continues right up to modern-day artists and musicians such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Eagles, the Doobie Brothers, Bob Marley, Jefferson Airplane, Willie Nelson, Buddy Rich, Country Joe & the Fish, Joe Walsh, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lola Falana, Hunter S. Thompson, Peter Tosh, the Grateful Dead, Cypress Hill, Sinead O’Connor, Black Crowes, Snoop Dogg, Los Marijuanos, etc.
Economic Stability, Profit & Free Trade
We believe that in a competitive market, with all facts known, people will rush to buy long-lasting, biodegradable clothes, made from a plant without pesticides or herbicides. Some of the companies who have led the way with these products are Ecolution, Hempstead, Marie Mills, Ohio Hempery, Two Star Dog, Headcase, and in Germany, HanfHaus, et al.
It’s time we put capitalism to the test and let the unrestricted market of supply and demand, as well as “Green” ecological consciousness, decide the future of the planet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tenchu
When someone tells me weed is not addictive, I know they're wrong. What are you saying? I should ignore the logic and listen to the "science"?
Of course I have faith in science. But it does not mean all things under the title "science" are correct.
|
But Tenchu, you're experience with marijuana is very jaded... you were 13. You can't trust science, but you can trust the effect of a drug on an ADOLESCENT?
Drinking a cup of coffee at 13 is not good for you, as well as addicting, let alone smoking. And believe it or not, Caffeine has
actually been the direct cause of death in some cases, unlike Marijuana (From stress, ulcers, and triggering irregular heartbeats, etc.) Tenchu, SHOW ME ONE DOCUMENTED CASE OF DEATH DIRECTLY CAUSED BY MARIJUANA... I'll save you the research (which you fail to do anyway), because according to international documentation, there isn't one official death attributed to cannabis.
But what I find interesting is that at first you claim it has no medical benefit, you claims it kills people, you can't fathom how people break the law, then you say you wouldn't mind trying a "hash cookie"... this is
very hypocritical.
Also, Tenchu, it's hard for me to "wrap my mind" around a law that is blatantly impossible to uphold -- not only that, but the "law" was created back in the 30's by a group of DuPont whack jobs who sent out mass propaganda, letting people know that marijuana was evil and made you kill you mother... and this misinformation is still being spread around by people like you.