ECONOMIC SABOTAGE

09 Mar ECONOMIC SABOTAGE

“ATTITUDE IS A LITTLE THING THAT MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE.”

Winston Churchill

     In a time when the economics of our state are at a crossroads it is disappointing to me that an opportunity for a change is being killed by an attitude that pits those we say we support against others that we support.  This would be our law enforcement and our farmers, manufacturers, and marketers.

     In a move that surprises me and saddens me the Sheriffs and Police associations in Kansas have come out against the legalization of the growing, manufacturing, and handling of commercial hemp.

      In several other states the law enforcement has the knowledge and willingness to know the difference between the hemp plant and its cousin marijuana.  Commercial hemp was a crop that was grown in Kansas and was stopped in the 1940’s.  It is the emotional baggage that comes with even the suggestion that the plant is related to pot and it is not POT!

     A good idea is being killed by knee jerk reactions.  Commercial Hemp is a plant that has thousands of uses and was grown in Kansas up until the 1940-50 anti pot rage.  You can smoke a bale of hemp and get nothing but clogged lungs.  There is not the THC in hemp that makes marijuana plant get you high.

      The crop is an important crop for farmers to have more diversity in their crop rotations.  The bill being considered makes growing, handling, and manufacture products from the hemp plant legal.  You have to have a way to raise a crop, market it, and manufacturers to make products out of it for retail.  An none of this involves a pipe.

     Commercial Hemp has been grown in Canada for decades and you can buy legal hemp products on retailers shelves in Kansas right now, AND IT IS LEGAL.

     One complaint that has been made is “that it is still the devils weed”.  For heaven sake what part about it not being pot don’t you understand?  This is not a recreational pot bill.  It is a bill about a plant that has many uses and and is good for everyone.  Connecting pot to hemp is like connecting wheat to fescue.  Both belong to the grass family but you don’t make bread out of fescue flour.

      It is possible for all sides to come together and agree on something.  Especially when it is good for farmers, manufacturers, retailers, and people.  Lets keep this discussion out of the realm of legalized pot and pass it for what it is.