Pubdate: Mon, 14 Dec 2009
Source: Topeka Capital-Journal (KS)
Copyright: 2009 The Topeka Capital-Journal
Contact:  http://cjonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/455
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n1073/a12.html
Author: Debby Moore

GROW HEMP

I enjoyed reading George Will's recent column on  medical marijuana 
and have asked my local planning  department where it would zone 
property for medical  marijuana dispensaries.

Cannabis Sativa L. Hemp has been documented as medicine  for more 
than 2,000 years. The slang name, marijuana,  was introduced in the 
early 1930s.

I personally hope the state will stand up and change  its laws 
regulating cannabis. Legalization of cannabis  would provide enormous 
agri-business advantages for  Kansas, one of the states chosen by the 
federal  government to grow hemp for the World War II Hemp For 
Victory campaign.

Hemp once was so vital in the Kansas economy that when  the Capitol 
was constructed in Topeka, hemp leaves were  painted around the 
murals at the top of the rotunda.

Should Kansas engage in economic development of  cannabis hemp, the 
profits of the labors produced from  cultivating this plant would 
stay in the state. Kansas  could grow its own protein, paper, fiber 
and fuel. The  state would not need to import these raw fiber  resources.

Other countries build shipping crates, fiber board for  building 
supplies, solvents to restore centuries-old  wood framing and 
plastics for the automobile industry  from their hemp crops.

Why not Kansas?

DEBBY MOORE,

director of research,

Hemp Industries of Kansas,

Wichita
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom