If Hemp Is Outlawed, Why Not the Poppy?

Let’s nip this hemp threat in the bud (“The Demonized Seed,” by Lee Green, Jan. 18). If we let farmers grow industrial hemp, won’t everyone rush out to get stoned? I propose that we immediately outlaw our state flower, the golden poppy, because other varieties can produce opium. And how can we ever control psychedelic mushrooms unless we raid every shiitake and portabello farm? Seriously, let’s get beyond the paranoia and make use of this important resource.

John Clement

Arleta

*

Green’s article was outstanding. He wrote: “Yet from the 1930s through the 1980s, many countries, influenced by U.S. policies and persuasion, banished cannabis from their farmlands.” This includes Italy, where hemp, a flourishing industry since Roman times, disappeared after World War II.

There is much more than “reefer madness” involved in the U.S. government’s opposition to hemp; there is a lot of heavy lobbying. Many big industries fear hemp: textiles, paper, oil and energy, plastics, chemicals and pesticides. Their powerful lobbies contribute millions of dollars to political parties on a regular basis. This explains why the stance against both marijuana and hemp is common to Republican and Democratic administrations.

Giovanni Borla

Milan, Italy

*

This enlightening article points out how truly stupid governments can be. The history of the banning of hemp goes back to the 1920s and ‘30s, when William Randolph Hearst, who had vast holdings in the pulp and paper industry, fought for the ban because of the threat hemp posed to his empire. The relation to marijuana was just a handy excuse. If hemp can compete with oil and logging interests, do you think it could be legalized? Not likely. In a shortsighted way, the government knows what it’s doing.

Doug Buis

Long Beach

*

I want to commend Green and The Times for allowing this article to be printed at a time of media censorship and fabrication.

Ashley Ritter

Via the Internet