::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::April/99
::: The Discordant Opposition Journal ::: Issue 4 - File 4 :::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 :Hemp, The Religion:
  RELM

Hemp, The Plant Religion. Five minutes ago I was sitting on IRC thinking of 
what I could write up for DoJ, I went browsing the web and checked out many
links after awhile I was about to give up and say screw it when I clicked a
link and there starring at me from my computer screen was a leaf. Not just 
any leaf, the leaf from the plant that gave our world some edge. This text 
will explain some FAQ's about hemp and maybe some other stuff I just threw 
in.

[What Is Hemp?]
Hemp is the plant called cannabis sativa. There are other plants that are 
called hemp, but cannabis hemp is the most useful of these plants. Hemp is 
a plant that has been used since the dawning of man. Fibre is the most well 
known product, and the word "hemp" can mean the rope or twine which is made 
from the hemp plant, as well as just the stalk of the plant that produced 
it. Cannabis Is mostly known as Marijuana and is widely used by people all 
around the globe.

[Where Did The Word "Marijuana" Come From?]
Marijuana is a Mexican slang term that came about around the 1930's. In 
the U.S hemp (root's, stalk and stems of the cannabis plant) is legal to 
possess. They can't arrest you for wearing hemp clothes or anything. There 
are fines and maybe a jail term sentences If you possess any Marijuana.

[Why was hemp made illegal?]
The United States Department of Agriculture first proposed making paper 
from hemp pulp somewhere around the 1930's. Production had to wait for a 
bit because they had to find a machine to separate the hemp pulp from the 
fibre. In the meantime, a bunch of companies, Dupont chemicals, Hearst 
paper and timber, and some others, came up with a new way to make whiter 
paper out of trees. Just when they had their patents and things worked out, 
someone came up with the hemp "decorticating" machine (which I'm intend 
to replace my computer with...hehe). 
Since the new hemp paper is cheaper to make, this threatened to put all 
of the tree paper making companies out of a job. A huge bit of the 
capital was tied up in producing tree pulp paper. Lots of the tree paper 
people were big guys and had some government connections. One of them even 
owned an entire newspaper chain so who do you think had a better chance? 
The Hearst newspapers played all the angles. Articles were written about 
"axe-murderers" and horrible crimes, of course they did this to scare the 
public about Marijuana and create a downfall for it.

[What Is Marijuana To Me?]
Marijuana is a drug but it isn't a bad one. The media has shaped it to be 
the evil that corrupts our children and destroys our values, but this 
isn't true. Sure Marijuana might impair your ability to function to the 
fullest extent but that's the risk you take in using Marijuana and its not 
that you can't think unless you've been smoking up all day. Hehe...

Well I'm not really sure what else to say. If you have any comment's please
feel free to e-mail me I would like to hear others opinion's on the subject.

Greetz to DEATH and the people at #hackerzlair on DALnet.

-RELM 
E-mail: relm6@hotmail.com  <-- No hate mail plz..hehe ;)