THC is fat soluble, and it gets stored in your fat cells.

Cleaning it out of your lipid tissue is very difficult. Many herbal products claim to clean out your system, yet they do nothing to remove THC byproducts from fat cells. A study was done in Germany in 1993 on 50 of the most common herbs used by people trying to pass the test. All 50 herbs failed to cause a negative. Unfortunately, this rumor will not die.

Goldenseal (plant) is useless; yet it's the most common thing for people to use. The only way to extract THC from fat cells is to exercise. Fat cells secrete fat with THC metabolites at a constant rate, regardless of what herbs you consume. You may be able to temporarily clean THC metabolites from your bloodstream, or dilute your fluids to yield a larger urine/THC ratio, but your bloodstream will continue collecting THC metabolites from fat. Your urine will continue collecting THC metabolites from your bloodstream.

"Make the most of the Indian hemp seed."

No, that's not a quote from a half-baked hippie at Mellow Mushroom.

That's George Washington speaking.

There is a foolish misconception rampant in today's society that hemp and marijuana are synonymous terms.

While marijuana, like industrial hemp, is indeed a byproduct of the cannabis sativa plant, the latter is a nearly tetrahydrocannabinol ( THC )-free, soil-enriching, multi-faceted resource" which the United States doesn't grow.

It didn't always used to be that way.

Actually, during World War II, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a propaganda film titled "Hemp for Victory," which encouraged farmers and citizens alike to plant hundreds of thousands of acres of hemp for the war effort.

In 1970, lawmakers and bureaucrats started humming a different tune and passed the Controlled Substances Act, which prohibited the cultivation of hemp in the United States.

How can the government go from being staunchly pro-hemp to anti-hemp in the span of 28 years?

If the drug movement of the 1960s is to blame, then I suppose lawmakers forgot to read their history books because industrial hemp does not produce any of the effects of marijuana.

The THC levels in industrial hemp are less than 0.05 percent, according to votehemp.com.

Basically, if you smoked industrial hemp, all you would get is a massive headache.

Lawmakers are aware of this, but their concern is that THC-heavy strands would be hidden among the industrial hemp plants.

However, marijuana must be grown away from industrial hemp plants because the high levels of CDC in hemp plants would counteract and taint the THC in the marijuana plants, leading to a much lower-quality drug that would have little or no street value, according to Hemp and Marijuana: Myths and Realities by Dr. David West of the University of Minnesota.

The hemp stalk is a valuable source of fiber, which is used in a plethora of products around the world.

Fiber produces greater resiliency and breathability than cotton, which accounts for 25 percent of pesticides sprayed on the world's crops, according to industrialhemp.net.

Even Mercedes-Benz uses a bio-composite of hemp to make stronger, cheaper door panels.

And speaking of cars, as the price of a barrel of oil creeps over $100, hemp seeds produce oil that can be used as a biodiesel alternative.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, hemp as a biomass fuel producer requires the least specialized growing and processing procedures of all products.

Hemp can also be used as an alternative to timber for the production of paper. According to the Hemp Industries Association, hemp produces more pulp per acre than timber on a sustainable basis, and can be used for every quality of paper.

Thomas Jefferson actually drafted the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper.

If that's not irony, I don't know what is.

Growing hemp in the United States is technically legal, but farmers must receive a DEA permit in order to grow the plant which is about as easy as getting permission from a cop to drive his or her car.

So if we hold our forefathers in such high esteem, and I'm starting to think for multiple reasons that we don't, how can our government not see the benefits of hemp production in the United States?

With the agricultural economy in the shape that it is in, continuing a hemp ban seems like one illogical slap in the face to the farmers of America.

It shouldn't even be a debate.

Early colonists and Americans were actually required to grow hemp.

Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain all cultivate hemp for a variety of uses. Even our steadfast ally Great Britain lifted its hemp ban 15 years ago!

Thomas Jefferson once said, "The greatest service which can be rendered by any country is to add a useful plant to its culture."

Oh, how foolish we would look to our forefather today.

Source: Appalachian, The (NC Edu)
Copyright: 2007 Appalachian State University
Website: The Appalachian Online - Offline

Charles Monson was awakened at 7 a.m. on Oct. 30 by a loud pounding at the door of his Orange home. The quadriplegic couldn’t get out of bed to answer it himself, so his care provider responded.

Unknown to his provider, Roger Mondragon, a dozen or so Orange Police Department officers and detectives waited impatiently on the other side, search warrant in hand.

The door opened, and the officers flooded in and soon had Mondragon and another care provider, who didn’t want to be named for this story, on the ground. Their real target: Monson’s marijuana.

Monson, who was the subject of an OC Weekly cover story ("Roll Player," Aug. 24) for his work helping fellow quadriplegics get wheelchairs when they’ve been denied them by Orange County’s Medi-Cal agency CalOptima, says the police confiscated 16 immature pot plants and some 3 ounces of weed (about a month’s supply).

Monson says he showed the officers his prescription to no avail: They charged him with felony cultivation but didn’t take him to jail. However, they did arrest Mondragon and, according to Monson, turned him over to the INS. As Mondragon was in the country illegally, he was deported to Mexico.

The Weekly’s Nick Schou has written extensively on the continued medical marijuana related confiscations, arrests and prosecutions in Orange County by various police agencies and the sheriff’s department. Although Monson did have 10 more plants than he’s legally allowed, he says he was growing a "collective garden" for eight other people, including quadriplegics, paraplegics and arthritis sufferers. It is unclear why the police decided on an early-morning raid.

Contacted by the Weekly, the detective in charge of the case, Miguel Cuenca, says he’s not cleared to discuss it until it is adjudicated. The search warrant given to Monson was sorely lacking in detail; Cuenca requested that the information that led to the issuing of the warrant be sealed, a move that usually is made to protect confidential sources.

The district attorney’s office, headed by Tony Rackauckas, who famously said medical marijuana users just want to "escape from the realities of life and get high for a while," declined to pursue charges against Monson. However, a DA’s office representative told Monson the office has up to three years to file charges against him if they receive additional evidence against him.

Monson, who broke his neck at age 16 while swimming in the ocean at Newport Beach, says for him, marijuana is a legitimate and irreplaceable medicine. Until he began smoking pot, he says, he was unable to sleep through the night due to muscle spasms. Although he doesn’t feel normal pain below his spinal injury, he says, marijuana also helps reduce pain signals his body sends, known as neurogenic pain, such as profuse sweating. Other prescription medications either interfere with the few motor skills he has left or have dangerous side effects, he says.

Monson, who has begun jokingly to refer to himself as "Kingpin Quad", says that despite the threat of charges being revived in the future, he’s not going to be quiet. He plans to address the Orange City Council to possibly seek a settlement and try to recoup the $2,000 cost of the equipment that was taken from him. Monson says the episode has made him a medical marijuana advocate in addition to wheelchair advocate.

But even though he lost his medicine, he had the daylights scared out of him, and his friend and care provider was deported, he credits the Orange P.D. as some of the "most courteous" law-enforcement officers he’s ever had to deal with.

Monson says when he informed the cops they were taking all his medicine, one said, "I’m sure if you look hard enough, you’ll find something."

He did find something, he says. They didn’t take one small jar containing about 2 grams of marijuana. About a day’s worth for Kingpin Quad, he says.

Source: Orange County Weekly (CA)
Copyright: 2007, O.C. Weekly Media, Inc.
Website: Orange County Weekly - Home