Let’s grow and tax hemp - David Bearman, M.D.
We all agree that we need to generate tax dollars and pump money into the economy. Here is an idea as old as America itself. It should strongly appeal to local agricultural interests, those who wish to promote economic growth, and people who support made in America products. It follows the logic of Lanny Ebenstein’s recent News Press piece where he urged increased local oil production. He felt that we should look for increased tax and private profit dollars to the resources available right here in Santa Barbara County. My suggestion is much less controversial and more environmentally friendly than increasing oil production - Grow Hemp.
If hemp were grown here we would join the roughly thirty-five (35) counties in the world where it is legal to grow hemp. Sixteen (16) of these United States have legalized the growing of hemp. A North Dakota rancher, who is also a Republican state legislator there, has sued the federal government to allow him to grow hemp pursuant to North Dakota’s hemp law. He has been quoted as saying that it makes no sense to him that Canadian ranchers 35 miles from his ranch, just over the Canadian/U.S. border, are growing hemp and profiting from it, while he can’t.
There are compelling economic interests for legalizing it. Hemp can be one of the pillars for lifting us out of our current economic doldrums. That hemp is commercially viable is no secret. In the late 1930s Henry Ford built nearly an entire car from hemp. In WW II hemp was so vital to the war effort that if you were a farmer who grew hemp, neither you nor your sons could be drafted. Over 25,000 products can be made from hemp. For those who care, you can’t get high from hemp because it contains very low levels of the euphoriant THC and high levels of the antieuphoriant CBD. Not only does CBD block some of THC’s euphoria, but it is a non-euphoric, medicinal cannabinoid.
Hemp has played a key role in American history. The British navy was so reliant on hemp, that hemp was legally required to be grown in almost all of the American colonies. For 1,000 years, until the 1880s, hemp was the most profitable ag crop in the world. In 1916 the U.S. Department of Agriculture, because of a new modern harvesting device, encouraged farmers to once again grow hemp as a profitable plant. In 1938 Popular Mechanics ran an article entitled "Hemp the New Billion Dollar Crop." And that was when a billion dollars was a lot of money.
Historians are well aware that the passage of Marijuana Tax Act had nothing to do with marijuana and everything to do with hemp. This is one of many reasons why the AMA opposed the Marijuana Tax Act. The AMA testified that cannabis had medicinal use (cannabis was in the USP from 1854-1941) and that the "AMA knows of no dangers from medicinal cannabis." More telling, the AMA had contacted the Bureau of Prisons, Children's Bureau, Education Department, USPHS Pharmacy Division, plus at least 2 or 3 other federal agencies. Not one of them had one iota of evidence that cannabis was harmful and no government official or any person even testified at those hearings to any harms from hemp. Yet somehow it is illegal to grow hemp.
No, it wasn’t marijuana (or cannabis as the AMA insisted this product should be called), it was Lamont Dupont and the Dupont Corporation who historians generally finger as being the prime mover behind the Marijuana Tax Act. Why, you ask? This is because Dupont feared the competition hemp, with new, cheaper ways of harvesting and preparing for industrial use, would bring to it’s major products – nylon, rayon, tetraethyl lead, cellophane, and sulfide for paper making. Dupont was also a major shareholder in General Motors and Ford’s biofuel powered hemp car was a threat to their automobile empire. Why they might have to change their engines to run on biofuel or this new Ford might appeal to some of GM’s customers and beef up Ford as a competitor.
This is a no brainer. It’s time to stop out-sourcing products that can be made in the U.S. Let’s grow and tax hemp in California. Hemp production will help agricultural interests, create jobs, increase our tax base and hemp has nothing to do with the recreational use of marijuana.
Who's Who in Medical Cannabis - Glenn Smith
Glenn Smith was born in Los Angeles, California He lived in Glendale, Calistoga, Pleasant Hill, grew up mostly in Fresno and Saucelito CA and lived in Grover Beach CA, Negril, Brighton and Little Bay Jamaica JWI, and am currently living in Oklahoma City, Ok.
Education:
Graduated from Roosevelt High School, Fresno, CA and attended Fresno City College, Fresno, CA
Employment:
Disc Jockey for KFIG Radio and KEAP radio in Fresno CA
Driver, roadie and general gopher for Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show, Saucelito, San Fransico, CA
Driver for U.P.S, Driver for Yellow Freight System until I suffered a severe back injury in 1996. Fresno, CA
Co-owner operator of Bullwinkle's Grill, with my ex-wife and business partner and daughter in Pismo Beach, CA
Currently work with hospice patients for an OKC hospice.
Personal:
I was a 1997 Medical Cannabis patient and member of the Oakland Cannabis Club and also the Los Angeles Resource Center in West Hollywood, two of the first medical clubs in existences as a result of prop 215.
Divorced, a grown step daughter with one grand son.
Hobbies - scuba diving, photography, traveling, gardening and horticulture, indoor and outdoor gardening projects and most of all, music. Some of the best years of my life have been around the music industry.
Life highlights - Growing up in California during the late 60s and 70s, living in Jamaica from 2003 to 2006, trip to Amsterdam in 2004 for the Cannabis Cup, the years spent in the music industry, most of the years of my marriage, photographer for numerous reggae concerts all over Jamaica and the 10 years I spent enjoying the ocean view in Grover Beach. I have truely been blessed.
Glenn Smith is the AAMC Oklahoma director.
What's New
Alabama: Considering a medical marijuana law.
HB642 - The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act of Alabama
Arkansas: Considering a medical marijuana law.
Connecticut: Considering a medical marijuana law.
Florida: Medical marijuana petition drive underway.
Idaho: Considering a medical marijuana law.
Illinois: Considering a medical marijuana law.
Bill Status of SB1381
Indiana: Considering a medical marijuana law.
Iowa: Considering a medical marijuana law.
Kansas: Medical marijuana petition drive underway.
Marijuana Bill Reaches House
Cannabis Compassion and Care Act
Maryland: Considering a medical marijuana law.
Bill Status of SB 627
Massachusetts: Considering a medical marijuana law.
Minnesota: Considering a medical marijuana law.
Missouri: Considering a medical marijuana law.
HOUSE BILL NO. 1670 - An Act relating to the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes
Cottleville Mayor Don Yarber hopes Missouri legislature passes medical marijuana law
New Hampshire: Considering a medical marijuana law.
New York: Considering a medical marijuana law.
North Carolina: Considering a medical marijuana law.
North Carolina Medical Cannabis Act
Ohio: Considering a medical marijuana law.
HB 214
Pennsylvania: Considering a medical marijuana law.
HB 1393
South Carolina: Considering a medical marijuana law.
South Dakota: Medical marijuana petition drive underway.
Tennessee: Considering a medical marijuana law.
Texas: Considering a medical marijuana law.
Wisconsin: Considering a medical marijuana law.
The Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act
Featured Recipe - Pot Roast by Jay R. Cavanaugh, PhD
It was inevitable. Any Cannabis cookbook just has to have "Pot" Roast. Yikes, what took me so long to put this recipe together and run it through it's paces? This is not a particularly easy recipe and takes the better part of a day to cook.
This roast is delicious. If your family is like mine a roast (and its leftovers) can last nearly a week. Made without the better bud butter, the roast is more than suitable for school lunch sandwiches.
Ingredients:
3-4 pound chuck roast-tied
8-16 oz of fresh baby carrots
2-3 pounds small white rose potatoes-washed and quartered
½ stalk of celery- chopped
3 medium sweet onions-chopped
1 8oz package of frozen peas
1\3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 ½ cups good red wine (try Zinfandel)
3-4 cups beef broth
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1-teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons of Lea and Perrins
1-2 bay leaves (remove before serving)
1-2 cups seasoned flour (pinch of salt/pepper/ plus a teaspoon of "essence"
3 tablespoons of kief butter or better bud butter
Dr. Jay's "Essence":
2Tbl cracked black pepper, 1Tbl paprika, 1Tbl salt, 1Tbl onion powder, 1Tbl cayenne pepper, 1Tbl granulated garlic, 1Tbl kief (eat your heart out Emeril)
Directions:
Heat the oil and sauté the onions until clear in a large and deep flame proof pot. Roll the roast in seasoned flour shaking off the excess and set aside. Deglaze the pot with some of the red wine and bring back to high heat. Brown the roast on all sides (takes about 5-7 minutes) in the cooked onions, wine, and flour.
Add the beef stock, wine, garlic, vegetables, Lea and Perrins, and spices. Make sure the liquid just barely covers the roast. Bring up to heat then reduce the heat down to about as low as it will go. Cook covered for one to one and half hours or until the vegetables are fork tender, turning the roast every 30-60 minutes. Remove vegetables and set aside warm for later (if you leave them in you get veggie mush).
Add the better bud butter or kief butter, cover again and cook for an additional 2-2 1\2 hours or until the roast is fork tender. Remove roast and set aside for 15 minutes. If you carve the roast before it "sets" the juices will run out.
Now, you can make gravy out of the cooking liquid by adding a mixture of 4 tablespoons of flour with 4 tablespoons of dairy butter cut into the flour. Personally, I used the liquid to cook buckwheat grouts. We'll save that recipe for another time since the grouts didn't work out very well except for Frannie our dog who loves them. Frannie gets none of the roast.
Slice and serve the roast surrounded by vegetables and covered with gravy.
Recommended beverage:
A big red wine. Kendall Jackson Zinfandel is wonderful or any good Cabernet Sauvignon will do.
