
Congress just voted to legalize hemp - gdubs
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/12/12/18136408/congress-hemp-marijuana-legalization-farm-bill
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14
What a disconnect from the population. State after state legalizing marijuana
and congress moves to legalize hemp. At least at the state level people are
being left alone to their own bidding.

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redwood
Interestingly this will make it harder to grow high quality outdoor and even
indoor (pollination risk rising; one reason it became relatively easy to grow
high-quality outdoor is it the government ensured there were no males in
vicinity!)

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TheBeardKing
I recently learned from Narcos:Mexico that when drug cartels first created a
female breed, they moved to cultivate it in the middle of a desert to ensure
no cross-pollination.

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iamthirsty
Just an FYI, _cannabis sativa_ has been grown for thousands of years.

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Dowwie
There is already a wide variety of hemp strains and they are used for a
variety of applications. Taller strains are for fiber. Shorter, flowering
strains are used for CBD. There's a really wide range of applications for hemp
but I'm not sure how many are economically viable. Processing requires water,
energy, chemicals, etc.

This is an exciting time for discovery.

~~~
personjerry
Hemp's been used extensively in many industries for thousands of years, I
would hardly say it's a "discovery":
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp)

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ckluis
Fantastic news for construction: hempcrete -
[https://www.google.com/search?q=hempcrete](https://www.google.com/search?q=hempcrete)

~~~
gdubs
Particularly exciting given that concrete makes up close to 5% of global CO2
emissions.

~~~
goda90
I'm not sure hempcrete would be able to replace most concrete since it's
compressive strength is 1/20th of concrete, but it'll certainly help in some
applications because it has its own advantages.

~~~
CuriouslyC
Hempcrete makes a great component of alternative homes, where environmental
impact and low cost are important and structural strength/long term durability
are less of an issue.

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bitxbitxbitcoin
Senator McConnell is not known for his support of medical or recreational
marijuana legalization but I view this as a step in the right direction. Take
that, DuPont!

~~~
barrow-rider
Senator McConnell is not known for his support of anything that doesn't
benefit him, his donors, or his party. If he's swinging this way it's because
he's got an agenda and he's horse-trading, in the same way that Bismark was
alright with reforms like public education since it quieted down the radicals
and kids who knew Trig could make better artillery officers. Hell, McConnell's
official memoir is titled "The Long Game."

I'm reminded of a Vox analysis of McConnell behavior[1]:

“The cardinal rule of McConnell is he will do anything to acquire more power,
or to achieve an outcome he thinks achieves his political interest,” says Adam
Jentleson, a former aide to ex-Democratic leader Harry Reid.

“I don’t think he’s a conservative; I think he’s a transactionalist. I think
he wants to keep the title of majority leader,” says Jason Pye of the
conservative activist group Freedomworks. “His vested interest is taking
power.”

[1] [https://www.vox.com/policy-and-
politics/2017/7/17/15970034/m...](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-
politics/2017/7/17/15970034/mitch-mcconnell-senate-health-bill)

~~~
s_y_n_t_a_x
For a Republican that article is a praise.

Your article is not about how he's corrupt, it's how he can whip votes and
control the senate.

He's majority whip, it's his jobs to get votes, most of the time you have to
make deals.

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gammateam
The regulated psychoactive cannabis is way too strong for me.

As long as its treated differently in its own licensing regime and
establishments I think some form of education should accompany it, for
consumers. Given generations of bad information.

Its come up with others here in California, the THC products are REALLY strong
and offputting for us casuals. The hybrids have potential

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qwerty456127
> The regulated psychoactive cannabis is way too strong for me.

Why not just smoke a sufficiently small particle then?

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nugga
I can't believe you got downvoted for basically suggesting to people who think
50% ABV whiskey is too strong to drink shots of it, mix it down with something
or just drink beer.

Besides, it's leaving out a lot to say that today's weed is so strong and more
so than what hippies had in the 70s. Surely cannabis strains were bred and
cultivated back in the day and people with access did get the good stuff as
opposed to some seedy mexican brick weed with stems and leaves in it?

If the stuff now is 20% thc and the garbage in the 70s you remember having was
5% just smoke a quarter instead, no big deal. Scales are not illegal nor
expensive.

And if you desire a better THC:CBD ratio you only have to choose better,
thanks to a regulated market.

~~~
pessimizer
> Surely cannabis strains were bred and cultivated back in the day and people
> with access did get the good stuff as opposed to some seedy mexican brick
> weed with stems and leaves in it?

No, it was universally worse, because those strains hadn't been bred yet. What
you're doing is like assuming that some people in the 60s got to use the
"good" computers.

~~~
nugga
Of course you didn't have stuff like White Widow or whatever in the 70s but
getting better and stronger weed only requires you to grow enough plants and
get enough variety that you can start noticing characteristics and then
interbreeding and crossing strains to isolate them so your offspring express
them reliably. You do not need high tech lab equipment to see which variety
grows faster and produces more branching or bud sites or thicker buds or more
thc glands etc.

If you just sow a field full of random seeds and just forget about them until
harvest instead of maintaining them, removing the males, etc your quality will
be worse.

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kennxfl
Wouldn't have known about hemp and William R. Hearst if not for JRE podcast.

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RyJones
One small step in the right direction.

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greenbee1981
Hemp and bamboo can change the world! EcoPlanet Bamboo has been doing just
this in South Africa. www.ecoplanetbamboo.za.com - this farm is amazing to see
how bamboo can regenerate the soil and be used for innovative products. Well
managed hemp and bamboo plantations should be encouraged!

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pluma
As a non-American I'm a bit baffled. Does this mean hemp was previously
illegal?

In most of Europe cannabis is illegal but you can get hemp-infused drinks and
food (though I personally don't care much for the taste), even energy drinks.
Not to mention hemp-based textiles.

In Germany growing hemp is illegal for private individuals but commercial
growers can cultivate it if they exceed a certain minimum plantation size.
Sadly growing it for scientific use (rather than sourcing it from a large-
scale grower) also requires official permission.

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DennisP
We could get imported hemp products but our farmers weren't allowed to grow
it.

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fb03
DuPont is not gonna enjoy this.

