By
Neal Smith
Microfibers. Small pieces of plastic fiber, usually smaller than the head of a straight pin, are being found along coastlines and riverbanks throughout the world, mostly from home washing machines. That means by washing synthetic, petroleum-based polymer clothing, we’re polluting our oceans.
Consider that if the oceans get screwed up, weather patterns will change drastically. An important source of food from the oceans will turn from healthy to poisonous, as some already have. According to a recent study done by University of Dublin researcher Mark Browne, the problem is likely to get worse. “…a large proportion of microplastic fibers found in the marine environment may be derived from sewage as a consequence of washing of clothes. As the human population grows and people use more synthetic textiles, contamination of habitats and animals by microplastic is likely to increase.” You can find this information at: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es201811s
It was, in part, the efforts of the DuPont Corporation in the 1930’s that made Hemp defacto illegal with the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. DuPont, a chemical and gunpowder producing company, had tied in with the petroleum industry to produce synthetic fibers. Rayon was first, followed by nylon. Meanwhile, with funding and lobbying by DuPont, the Rockefeller family, former Treasury Secretary and big banker Andrew Mellon, William Randolph Hearst and other major business people, Hemp, the plant the world depended on for several millennia, was essentially made illegal.
What would make a whole world suddenly stop using something they had used since before recorded history? A single word, a Sonoran, Mexican slang term for what we called “Sweet Hemp:” Marihuana (sic). The corporatists of the day linked this word with Hemp, as the two varieties of Cannabis are related, but not the same plant. They, particularly Hearst who purloined the word “Marihuana” (sic), started what we now know as “Reefer madness.” They played on America’s racism against, notably, African Americans and Mexicans, saying Marijuana made people lazy, and making Black men lust after White women. They claimed smoking Marijuana would drive you insane and cause you to commit heinous crimes. It wasn’t until hearings started on the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 that even the medical community, which favored Hemp as a medicine, realized the ruse.
The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 became law. It didn’t make Hemp or Marihuana illegal per se, rather imposing a tax on the end products. But the United States Department of Agriculture, who was charged in conjunction with the IRS, was supposed to issue the tax stamps. Very few were given out. Essentially, the Tax Act made Hemp and Marijuana illegal on a federal level. Most states had by then made Marihuana illegal, but rarely enforced their laws.
World War II changed the picture. America needed Hemp for the war effort, and the same USDA that refused to issue tax stamps, now encouraged U.S. farmers to grow 400,000 acres of Hemp. By the end of the war, most of the canvas, belts, packs, bags and even uniforms were being made from Hemp. The synthetic fibers were not quite ready to take on the wear and tear of combat. After the war, Hemp was again demonized and denied. The Boggs Act of 1951 made Hemp and Marihuana illegal per se.
Meanwhile, the synthetics market boomed. Plastics became commonplace, as did the idea of using something then throwing it in the trash. Most petroleum based plastics, whether used for bottles, or auto parts or TV’s and computers, or in our clothing, don’t biodegrade for thousands of years.
Now we’re seeing micro plastic fibers, those tiny little pieces of hardened petroleum oil, complete with full contingents of chemicals that are harmful to marine life. We eat those animals, then we become contaminated. Have you happened to notice the increase in cancer rates and other diseases, some of which don’t even have names yet, just numbers. Where do you think these diseases come from?
There is technology being developed to filter the fibers out of the water supply, but it’s apparently not on the horizon yet. So, what do we do? Keep on making or buying plastic clothing that will eventually contribute to poisoning the planet further, or go back to a good, natural, non-polluting fiber like Hemp?
There is no doubt we’re running out of usable petroleum. Hydro carbon pollution, sulfur pollution, spills, and other maladies surround our addiction to petroleum. Anything oil can do, Hemp can do better…and cleaner. And think of the economic boon to farmers and processers. We would be creating whole new industries and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs nationwide. Many of the current jobs would be saved as, generally, the only things that would change in production would be the raw material.
Hemp is the best choice for a sustainable future.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
I'm Not Voting for Obama.
This is in response to an email I received from the Obama campaign, seeking my support.
I’m not supporting President Obama. He has not supported what I and a lot of other Americans want, so I’m not supporting him.
First, Mr. Obama, while making some progress in health care reform that actually helps people, he sold us out on “Single Payer” and even the “Public option.” In the process, he’s given 30-40 million forced new customers to the big insurance companies. We’re the only industrialized nation without “Single payer.”
Next, I’ve seen nothing from the Administration in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. Yes, he has thrown a few small bones to Labor by rebuilding the NLRB, but I didn’t hear much out of the Administration during this past Spring’s labor battles.
Rather than forcing the rich to bear their fair share of the tax burden in this country, he pussy-footed around and showed no particular backbone in stopping action that maintains the burden on the middle class.
I haven’t seen a whole lot of initiative on the part of the White House to bring the bankers and investors to justice for their part in causing the economic crisis we’re still in.
Guantanamo Bay is still open for business with no end in sight. We still have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan still costs us a Billion dollars a week and continues to put our soldiers at risk.
Then Mr. Obama not only turns his back on medical Marijuana, but has the audacity to laugh at those working for reform. He claims to have ordered the Justice Department to leave state medical Marijuana programs alone, then allows that department to continue the raids and District Attorneys to unlawfully threaten state officials with prosecution if they cooperate in relegalizing.
In short, Mr. Obama is the best Republican President we’ve ever had. I want a President with the brass to stand up to the Republicans and to protect our freedoms, not someone who is going to appease those who would take our freedoms and rights away. So please remove me from this email list. Unless he turns the above things around, I’ll be voting Green.
Yours,
Neal Smith
Indianapolis, IN.
I’m not supporting President Obama. He has not supported what I and a lot of other Americans want, so I’m not supporting him.
First, Mr. Obama, while making some progress in health care reform that actually helps people, he sold us out on “Single Payer” and even the “Public option.” In the process, he’s given 30-40 million forced new customers to the big insurance companies. We’re the only industrialized nation without “Single payer.”
Next, I’ve seen nothing from the Administration in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. Yes, he has thrown a few small bones to Labor by rebuilding the NLRB, but I didn’t hear much out of the Administration during this past Spring’s labor battles.
Rather than forcing the rich to bear their fair share of the tax burden in this country, he pussy-footed around and showed no particular backbone in stopping action that maintains the burden on the middle class.
I haven’t seen a whole lot of initiative on the part of the White House to bring the bankers and investors to justice for their part in causing the economic crisis we’re still in.
Guantanamo Bay is still open for business with no end in sight. We still have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan still costs us a Billion dollars a week and continues to put our soldiers at risk.
Then Mr. Obama not only turns his back on medical Marijuana, but has the audacity to laugh at those working for reform. He claims to have ordered the Justice Department to leave state medical Marijuana programs alone, then allows that department to continue the raids and District Attorneys to unlawfully threaten state officials with prosecution if they cooperate in relegalizing.
In short, Mr. Obama is the best Republican President we’ve ever had. I want a President with the brass to stand up to the Republicans and to protect our freedoms, not someone who is going to appease those who would take our freedoms and rights away. So please remove me from this email list. Unless he turns the above things around, I’ll be voting Green.
Yours,
Neal Smith
Indianapolis, IN.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
I Remember Ben
By
Neal Smith
04-30-2011
One of the nation’s most active, visible and voracious fighter of freedom crossed over today from complications of lung cancer. Ben was 56.
I first met Ben in the late 1970’s, as a friend of Gatewood Galbraith’s in Kentucky. Ben travelled the country, preaching the gospel of freedom for all. I next saw Ben when Hemp Tour came through Indiana in 1989. When he spoke, and he usually did in a very laid back style, he made you think. He made you feel the pain of the oppressed, and he made you angry to think that humans could treat other humans that way.
Back in the days of the Freedom Fighters, the Council rarely made a decision without Ben’s input. Many was the time I sat in Council with him. He always spoke truth, and he always spoke from the heart.
I remember the Pine Lakes, Indiana show in the early 90’s when the Indiana State Police, in direct violation of law, entering private property in force just to see if there were any law violations. Ben organized a walking drumming, getting ahead of the pack of cops and drumming so everyone knew to conceal any possible illegal activity. Really pissed the cops off, but there wasn’t a thing they could do about it.
That’s the way Ben was. He would come up with creative ways of stuffing their attack, and of getting the message out. He went to jail many times for, what boiled down to, making monkeys out of officialdom. And doing it with flair!
His warrior spirit has gone on to better things. But he leaves us with a legacy of the thirst for personal freedom and the overwhelming desire planted in everyone he met, to make this a better planet for our having been here.
Ben, my brother, you are a true American patriot. Thank you for instilling the want and demand for our freedom and the courage to carry out our dreams.
Neal Smith
04-30-2011
One of the nation’s most active, visible and voracious fighter of freedom crossed over today from complications of lung cancer. Ben was 56.
I first met Ben in the late 1970’s, as a friend of Gatewood Galbraith’s in Kentucky. Ben travelled the country, preaching the gospel of freedom for all. I next saw Ben when Hemp Tour came through Indiana in 1989. When he spoke, and he usually did in a very laid back style, he made you think. He made you feel the pain of the oppressed, and he made you angry to think that humans could treat other humans that way.
Back in the days of the Freedom Fighters, the Council rarely made a decision without Ben’s input. Many was the time I sat in Council with him. He always spoke truth, and he always spoke from the heart.
I remember the Pine Lakes, Indiana show in the early 90’s when the Indiana State Police, in direct violation of law, entering private property in force just to see if there were any law violations. Ben organized a walking drumming, getting ahead of the pack of cops and drumming so everyone knew to conceal any possible illegal activity. Really pissed the cops off, but there wasn’t a thing they could do about it.
That’s the way Ben was. He would come up with creative ways of stuffing their attack, and of getting the message out. He went to jail many times for, what boiled down to, making monkeys out of officialdom. And doing it with flair!
His warrior spirit has gone on to better things. But he leaves us with a legacy of the thirst for personal freedom and the overwhelming desire planted in everyone he met, to make this a better planet for our having been here.
Ben, my brother, you are a true American patriot. Thank you for instilling the want and demand for our freedom and the courage to carry out our dreams.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Exploding the Myths: Marijuana Slavery
By
Neal Smith
4-3-2011
Why, in the face of reams of evidence against their position, does the U.S. government still oppose free access to Cannabis/Hemp/Marijuana? In spite of a recent poll showing 74% of Americans want medical Marijuana, the U.S. government still maintains a “Zero tolerance” position. After spending Trillions of our dollars over the past 80 years of prohibition, why does government even refuse to conduct or permit or accept accurate, peer-reviewed and replicated studies that show Marijuana is safer than, as DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young stated in 1988 “…many of the foods we commonly consume?” Why, even after 2010’s block buster study by the University of Connecticut showing the viability of Hemp fuel, does the government refuse to even consider its use? One word: Control.
We have a major problem with our political system. For the last 100 years, maybe longer, our political system has been subjected to constant attack from a small group of business people who have, over several generations, been nibbling away at the democracy we’re supposed to live under. At the root, extreme greed has driven these corporations to gain untoward influence on society’s major institutions such as education, media, religion, healthcare, food supply, fuel supply and government.
There’s big money to be made propping up prohibition, to be sure. Law enforcement, even in the smallest towns, now have their own supply of paramilitary equipment like AR-15 rifles, “Flash bang” grenades, helmets with video cameras, special optical tools, tasers. Some even have their own armored vehicles. Someone has to build and sell this stuff, and a multi-billion dollar business has grown up to supply the tools to “Fight drugs.”
The drug testing industry is another multi-billion dollar business, with the majority of businesses still conducting at least pre-employment testing for banned substances and law enforcement trying to trap drug users. The U.S. Department of Labor has seemingly tacit connection with the Drug and Alcohol Testing Association:
DATIA provides information about drug-testing technologies and products and gathers and publishes statistics about drug testing. It also represents the business community regarding drug and alcohol testing legislative and regulatory issues. DATIA’s more than 1,000 members represent a range of drug and alcohol service providers, such as collection sites, laboratories, consortiums/third party administrators (TPAs), medical review officers (MROs) and testing equipment manufacturers.
See http://www.dol.gov/asp/programs/drugs/nationalresources/NationalResource-1632.htm for more.
With the rise of the number of drug arrests comes the industry of private prisons, with a ready supply of workers who have no choice but to be unwilling employees of a private company. Ostensibly, privatized, for-profit prisons are more efficient than government run institutions…but:
It is well-known that public prison employee unions constitute a powerful constituency for tough sentencing policies that lead to larger prison populations requiring additional prisons and personnel. The great hazard of contracting out incarceration "services" is that private firms may well turn out to be even more efficient and effective than unions in lobbying for policies that would increase prison populations.
When we add to the mix the observations that America already puts a larger proportion of its population behind bars than does any other country (often for acts that ought to be legal), and that the US already spends an insane portion of national income on the largely non-productive garrison state, it is hard to see the expansion of a for-profit industry with a permanent interest in putting ever more people in cages as consistent with either efficiency or justice.
You can read more of this article at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/08/private_prisons . Consider that in addition to the numbers, the private prison industry is the biggest backer of mandatory minimum sentencing. More fodder for their plan of mass indentured servitude.
Then there’s the pharmaceutical industry and the medical community. In addition to supplying massive amounts of drugs including drugs to counter the side effects of other drugs they like to push, big pharma has a set of lobbyists on all levels of government that is bigger than most other special interests. Former pharmaceutical industry representative Gwen Olsen, who has become a whistle blower on pharma, sums it up quite nicely in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFCHtZ2rSNo&NR=1
At the turn of the 20th century, the burgeoning automobile and aircraft industries needed fuel and engine lubricants for their new technology. Petroleum became king. Additionally, scientists developed additional products based on petroleum like plastic and synthetic fibers. When it was discovered Hemp could supply the same things in a cleaner, more economical fashion, the move was on to ban Hemp. The oil moguls and their financiers undertook the effort to remove Hemp, the world’s oldest cultivated plant. They did so by creating one of the biggest set of lies history has seen, using America’s racism and blind trust of government against any and all opponents. With Hemp out of the way, nothing stood in the way of the petrochemical industry from becoming the big dog in the yard.
When these and other industries discovered the amount of money to be made by keeping Cannabis/Hemp/Marijuana illegal, they conspired to influence the government to help keep it that way. Over the years, these businesses and industries have done whatever is necessary to ensure they can force their dominance on the people through lobbying, campaign contributions, control of the stock markets and influence on laws that keep their cycle of business going strong.
These businesses have gained control of government to the point that key politicians from the President on down consult business leaders before taking any action on a variety of issues, and going so far as to create their own “Truth.” When it comes to Cannabis issues, in spite of an immense amount of properly conducted studies showing Marijuana’s efficacy as a medicine and safety as a recreational drug, the federal government still cranks out mostly lies and half-truths about Marijuana. Is it too far of a stretch to imagine that businesses which would have to go to the trouble of realigning their mission to the benefit of people not profits fight any efforts at reform? Is it unbelievable that business, now legally determined to be “Artificial persons” and unbridled in their ability to make political contributions to their friends, would do so and to hell with anyone not on board with their destruction of freedom and democracy? Don’t think it’s happening? This article, one of many, shows just one way business is influencing politics.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-reelection-campaign-expected-to-tap-big-dollar-donors/2011/03/26/AFKPO0wB_story.html
Even a simple search on the internet will turn up many articles about how business is influencing political leaders, far outstripping what we as Marijuana reformers, patients, other issue organizations and even Labor are able to spend. Essentially, business is buying politicians. Do you think business is not going to expect their will to be done if their candidate wins? If we were to play that sordid political game to get Marijuana taxed and regulated like alcohol, wouldn’t we expect the politicians we buy to do our bidding? Such influence shouldn’t be allowed, for them (or for us). Public policy based on lies and politics is poor public policy. We have nothing to fear from the truth.
Hemp/Marijuana is a lynch-pin issue. Pull the pin and a lot of other cards come tumbling down. But for the future health and wellbeing of the majority of people in this country, that pin has to be pulled. The lies and influence buying have to stop. Otherwise, we cease being a free people.
Neal Smith
4-3-2011
Why, in the face of reams of evidence against their position, does the U.S. government still oppose free access to Cannabis/Hemp/Marijuana? In spite of a recent poll showing 74% of Americans want medical Marijuana, the U.S. government still maintains a “Zero tolerance” position. After spending Trillions of our dollars over the past 80 years of prohibition, why does government even refuse to conduct or permit or accept accurate, peer-reviewed and replicated studies that show Marijuana is safer than, as DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young stated in 1988 “…many of the foods we commonly consume?” Why, even after 2010’s block buster study by the University of Connecticut showing the viability of Hemp fuel, does the government refuse to even consider its use? One word: Control.
We have a major problem with our political system. For the last 100 years, maybe longer, our political system has been subjected to constant attack from a small group of business people who have, over several generations, been nibbling away at the democracy we’re supposed to live under. At the root, extreme greed has driven these corporations to gain untoward influence on society’s major institutions such as education, media, religion, healthcare, food supply, fuel supply and government.
There’s big money to be made propping up prohibition, to be sure. Law enforcement, even in the smallest towns, now have their own supply of paramilitary equipment like AR-15 rifles, “Flash bang” grenades, helmets with video cameras, special optical tools, tasers. Some even have their own armored vehicles. Someone has to build and sell this stuff, and a multi-billion dollar business has grown up to supply the tools to “Fight drugs.”
The drug testing industry is another multi-billion dollar business, with the majority of businesses still conducting at least pre-employment testing for banned substances and law enforcement trying to trap drug users. The U.S. Department of Labor has seemingly tacit connection with the Drug and Alcohol Testing Association:
DATIA provides information about drug-testing technologies and products and gathers and publishes statistics about drug testing. It also represents the business community regarding drug and alcohol testing legislative and regulatory issues. DATIA’s more than 1,000 members represent a range of drug and alcohol service providers, such as collection sites, laboratories, consortiums/third party administrators (TPAs), medical review officers (MROs) and testing equipment manufacturers.
See http://www.dol.gov/asp/programs/drugs/nationalresources/NationalResource-1632.htm for more.
With the rise of the number of drug arrests comes the industry of private prisons, with a ready supply of workers who have no choice but to be unwilling employees of a private company. Ostensibly, privatized, for-profit prisons are more efficient than government run institutions…but:
It is well-known that public prison employee unions constitute a powerful constituency for tough sentencing policies that lead to larger prison populations requiring additional prisons and personnel. The great hazard of contracting out incarceration "services" is that private firms may well turn out to be even more efficient and effective than unions in lobbying for policies that would increase prison populations.
When we add to the mix the observations that America already puts a larger proportion of its population behind bars than does any other country (often for acts that ought to be legal), and that the US already spends an insane portion of national income on the largely non-productive garrison state, it is hard to see the expansion of a for-profit industry with a permanent interest in putting ever more people in cages as consistent with either efficiency or justice.
You can read more of this article at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/08/private_prisons . Consider that in addition to the numbers, the private prison industry is the biggest backer of mandatory minimum sentencing. More fodder for their plan of mass indentured servitude.
Then there’s the pharmaceutical industry and the medical community. In addition to supplying massive amounts of drugs including drugs to counter the side effects of other drugs they like to push, big pharma has a set of lobbyists on all levels of government that is bigger than most other special interests. Former pharmaceutical industry representative Gwen Olsen, who has become a whistle blower on pharma, sums it up quite nicely in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFCHtZ2rSNo&NR=1
At the turn of the 20th century, the burgeoning automobile and aircraft industries needed fuel and engine lubricants for their new technology. Petroleum became king. Additionally, scientists developed additional products based on petroleum like plastic and synthetic fibers. When it was discovered Hemp could supply the same things in a cleaner, more economical fashion, the move was on to ban Hemp. The oil moguls and their financiers undertook the effort to remove Hemp, the world’s oldest cultivated plant. They did so by creating one of the biggest set of lies history has seen, using America’s racism and blind trust of government against any and all opponents. With Hemp out of the way, nothing stood in the way of the petrochemical industry from becoming the big dog in the yard.
When these and other industries discovered the amount of money to be made by keeping Cannabis/Hemp/Marijuana illegal, they conspired to influence the government to help keep it that way. Over the years, these businesses and industries have done whatever is necessary to ensure they can force their dominance on the people through lobbying, campaign contributions, control of the stock markets and influence on laws that keep their cycle of business going strong.
These businesses have gained control of government to the point that key politicians from the President on down consult business leaders before taking any action on a variety of issues, and going so far as to create their own “Truth.” When it comes to Cannabis issues, in spite of an immense amount of properly conducted studies showing Marijuana’s efficacy as a medicine and safety as a recreational drug, the federal government still cranks out mostly lies and half-truths about Marijuana. Is it too far of a stretch to imagine that businesses which would have to go to the trouble of realigning their mission to the benefit of people not profits fight any efforts at reform? Is it unbelievable that business, now legally determined to be “Artificial persons” and unbridled in their ability to make political contributions to their friends, would do so and to hell with anyone not on board with their destruction of freedom and democracy? Don’t think it’s happening? This article, one of many, shows just one way business is influencing politics.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-reelection-campaign-expected-to-tap-big-dollar-donors/2011/03/26/AFKPO0wB_story.html
Even a simple search on the internet will turn up many articles about how business is influencing political leaders, far outstripping what we as Marijuana reformers, patients, other issue organizations and even Labor are able to spend. Essentially, business is buying politicians. Do you think business is not going to expect their will to be done if their candidate wins? If we were to play that sordid political game to get Marijuana taxed and regulated like alcohol, wouldn’t we expect the politicians we buy to do our bidding? Such influence shouldn’t be allowed, for them (or for us). Public policy based on lies and politics is poor public policy. We have nothing to fear from the truth.
Hemp/Marijuana is a lynch-pin issue. Pull the pin and a lot of other cards come tumbling down. But for the future health and wellbeing of the majority of people in this country, that pin has to be pulled. The lies and influence buying have to stop. Otherwise, we cease being a free people.
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