Jamaica loosing billions in ganja revenue

[Sir X]

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/id...21206?irpc=932

The money saved from criminalising individuals in society, the money earned from taxing and ticketing it, the money earned from tourism.

[Hortical]

Tell dem fi me X! Jamaica is way behind the curve when it comes to decriminalizing ganja. There are less restrictions now in Massachusetts & Connecticut for medical reasons, also California & Colorado as well..... joke ting. Gov't need fi tek a step back & tek a deep breath.

[Gamma]

this is one of the few points upn which we have agreed over the years!!

those short sighted and stiff necked fools!!!!! it is inevitable, we get on board now and "reap the benefits". I heard one guy on cnn this morning say people are going to stop going to amsterdam and jamaica and go to colorado and washington!

[Sir X]

Its ridiculous, the way around it as others have done is cost effective and it doesnt violate our treaties with the USA as I have argued like other states nations with said treaties, the perception that it cannot be decriminalised in jamaica without damaging consequences is a myth , others with said treaties have done just that , the thing is , its not legal for export in those nations with the treaties.

Even the Taliban in paki stan kasmir uses it as part of its cultural mores , the indians use it in its cultural festivals (decriminalised but illegal for export) the list could go on.This madness of criminalising individuals because it will tun dem mad (zombies) have been debunked by the indians for over a 1000 years , india is a progressive developmental nation whose economy we and others envy.

The billions we could get from fines would out weigh anny B.S sanction, think lets say we throw a 100 dollar us ticket Ja $9,000 on 4gms of weed to double the fines as per the weight of the weed , enact laws like in washington to mirror the the alcoholic laws, and fine violators ? Now thinking like that takes individuals with commonsense - progressives.Then we can target the niche tourist ganja market !

Debt wipe out ! , the US gives us an estimated 10 million us (chicken feed) to fight a B.S war on drugs , that 10 million cost us a 100 million us in lost revenue yearly , with enforcement and man power.

PEOPLE THINK ! We cannot hide no more the mask is off and reality bitch slaps us every day another state legalises it , but i say look to the Asia & S. Ameriac for a solution on how to Tax the weed while decriminalising it.

[Sir X]

Ahhh gamma mi nuh say yuh too smart long time, the cost in human resources and monetary loss is mind boggling.

Wi neck pass stiff it hard.

[Sir X]

Hemp: Could the US rekindle its love affair?
By Jon Kelly
BBC News Magazine, Washington DC

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In today's Magazine

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Hemp, once a major US crop, has been banned for years because of its close association with cannabis. But several states now want to resume hemp farming, and two states voted this month in favour of legalisation of cannabis. Could change be in the air?

There's an all-American plant that weaves its way throughout the nation's history.

The sails of Columbus' ships were made from it. So was the first US flag. It was used in the paper on which the Declaration of Independence was printed.

Today, however, industrial hemp is effectively banned by the federal government, damned by association with cannabis, its intoxicating cousin.

While hemp cannot be grown in the US, it can be imported and used to manufacture paper, textiles, rope, fuel, food and plastics.

Its advocates say it is a hugely versatile crop which is already popular with US consumers - a 2012 report by the Congressional Research Service estimated that the annual US retail hemp market could exceed $300m (£188m) in value.

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Made from hemp


Food (flour, oil, roasted seeds, salad dressing, wine, beer, cheese, biscuits)
Paper (books, envelopes, newspapers, magazines)
Furnishings (blankets, carpets, napkins, rugs)
Cosmetics (hair conditioner, lip balm, shampoos, soaps)
Textiles (clothes, bags etc)
Source: Hemp Industries Association
Hemp's problem is that, like marijuana, it contains tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive chemical, albeit in much smaller doses than its better-known relative.

While the US federal Drugs Enforcement Administration (DEA) adopts a zero-tolerance policy towards THC, hemp advocates say one would have to smoke a telegraph pole-sized joint of hemp to get high from it.

But advocates of its legal cultivation believe the winds of change are blowing.

States such as Oregon, North Dakota, Vermont, Montana and West Virginia have backed its legal cultivation.

In Congress, an unlikely coalition of lawmakers ranging from right-wing Republicans to liberal Democrats are pushing for reform.

And votes in Colorado and Washington state to legalise, regulate and tax marijuana could, supporters believe, open the door of the drug's less potent relative.

After all, within living memory, fields of hemp abounded in Kentucky and the Midwest.


Hemp crop in Fayette County, central Kentucky, 1942
"If you go back to the 1940s, the US was a very large hemp producer," says Isaac Campos, an expert on the drug trade at the University of Cincinnati. "It was more profitable than corn and soya beans."

As far back as 1607, the crop was produced in Virginia. From 1619, all planters in the colony were required by law to grow it.

Continue reading the main story
Marijuana in the polls

In ballots held on 6 November, residents of Colorado and Washington voted to legalise the possession and sale of marijuana for recreational use.

Measures to approve the medicinal use of marijuana were on the ballot in three states, including Massachusetts, which passed the proposal.

However, cannabis remains an illegal drug under federal law. This clash could set the DEA and the states against each other in the courts.

Read more: Marijuana legalisation in the US
Founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both cultivated hemp on their land. The cord around the US Constitution was reputedly made from hemp.

It was seen as an important crop relatively recently, too.

During World War II, it was so crucial to the military that farmers who grew it and their sons were exempted from military service. It was celebrated in a 1942 public information film, Hemp For Victory, which has since gone on to achieve cult popularity among latter-day generations of stoners.

In 1941, that most iconic of American industrialists, Henry Ford, produced a car whose plastic frame was partially made of hemp and whose engine could be powered by hemp fuel.


Henry Ford, right, with a car made of farm products such as soy, hemp and flax
"A lot of this was written out of history," says Eric Steenstra, president of the Hemp Industries Association. "But this was a historically significant crop."

Continue reading the main story
Why I want to grow hemp


Wayne Hauge, 54, who farms 2,400 acres of arable land in North Dakota, campaigns for the legalisation of industrial hemp.

I've been a farmer for over 30 years. Both of my great-grandfathers were farmers. I don't exactly fit the stereotype of a pot-smoking dude. I don't want anything to do with smoking cannabis. I've never touched the stuff.

I just think industrial hemp would be profitable to grow. It's an easy crop to cultivate - practically a weed. With all crops, you need rotation. Industrial hemp merely provides another option.

I'm 50 miles from Canada. There are people not far north of here growing hemp. It seems logical to conclude it would work down here too.

At state level industrial hemp is widely supported. But when politicians get to federal level it seems their priorities change.

Around the turn of the 20th Century, hemp faced two obstacles, however.

One was the decline of the shipping industry, which meant demand for hemp ropes and sails fell.

The other was guilt by association with a substance which became the focus of an American moral anxiety.

"In Mexico by the 1890s, marijuana was believed to cause madness and violence," says Campos. "By the 1910s that idea was quite established in the US.

"There was just so much enthusiasm among the prohibitors to ban cannabis and hemp was caught up in that."

The Marihuana (sic) Tax Act of 1937 effectively banned all varieties of the plant cannabis sativa, although farmers were temporarily exempted from this while they were encouraged to grow hemp during wartime. The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 explicitly outlawed cannabinoids.

Advocates for the crop never entirely went away, however. Because hemp requires much less irrigation, and around half as much land as cotton to produce the same amount of textile, supporters of legalisation say it is much more environmentally friendly. Hemp seed and its oil, too, are championed by health food enthusiasts.

Canada's decision in 1998 to legalise the growth of hemp under licence appears to have spurred on legislators south of the border.

Since 2005, the libertarian Texas Republican Ron Paul has introduced four bills to the House of Representatives aimed at making hemp farming lawful. The most recent of these, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011, attracted 22 co-sponsors.

In August 2012, Mr Paul's son, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, co-sponsored a bill with Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden in the upper chamber which would exempt Hemp from the Controlled Substances Act.


Industrial hemp is grown in Europe, but China is the biggest producer
Some 17 states have passed hemp-related legislation and 10 (Colorado, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont and West Virginia) have approved bills to remove barriers to its production.

The obstacle remains the federal authorities. Hemp cannot be grown without a DEA permit and it remains opposed to its cultivation.

"'Hemp' is simply a term used by some to create the false impression that so-called 'hemp' is not the same as marijuana," a DEA spokesman says. "In fact, under federal law, all cannabis plants (that is, all plants of the genus cannabis) are marijuana."

Opponents of legalisation say it would be extremely difficult for the authorities to tell whether illicit varieties of cannabis sativa were being surreptitiously grown amid fields of the industrial hemp crop.

However, according to Randy Fortenbery of Washington State University, who has studied the economic viability of hemp production, the voter initiatives in Washington and Colorado may make this a moot point.

"A lot of the resistance was about not being able to tell the difference between commercial hemp and crops grown for marijuana," he says.

"But if marijuana becomes more acceptable then this isn't an issue any more."

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[Willi]

Can this get Ministers Benz SUVs? If not, stop wasting our time. LoL

[Time]

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/id...21206?irpc=932

The money saved from criminalising individuals in society, the money earned from taxing and ticketing it, the money earned from tourism.

Who will support changing the law?,m
No the church
Not the police
Not the drug trafficers!!!

[Jangle]

X, I cannot believe that this is you arguing so intelligently. I may be high.....lol. Xman, this is one of your best ever post.

[Gamma]

ok ... time for some diplomacy ... just tell the church that they are agreeing with the drug dealers, tell the drug dealers that they are agreeing with the police and then tell the police that they are agreeing with the church ... (i was going to say drug dealer but then .... ) and they will all change their minds!

[Bricktop]

People don't really come to Jamaica for high grade weed anymore...the guys I know in the US actually bring their own with them when they come here on vacation...the indoor stuff is much more potent than ours...

[Sir X]

Your pady dem brave fi violate international laws fi smuggle in dem own, anyway there are those who arent that brave , to smuggle in or out , BTW legalising it ,would more than likely decrease the export market.

"Henry Ford's first Model-T was built to run on hemp gasoline and the car itself was constructed from hemp. On his large estate, Ford was photographed among his hemp fields. The car, 'grown from the soil,' had hemp plastic panels whose impact strength was 10x stronger than steel" — Popular Mechanics (1941)

Hemp seed oil can be used to produce ORGANIC non-toxic diesel fuel, lamp lighting, household detergents, stain removers, printing inks, paints, varnishes, lubricants, resins, and oils. Because hemp seeds account for up to half the weight of a mature hemp plant, hemp seed is a viable source for these products. In industrial 'chemicals', hempseed oil is similar to linseed oil. Superior quality paints and varnishes were made from hemp seed oil until 1937.

Testimony before Congress against the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act: "58,000 tons of hemp seeds were used in America for paint products in 1935" — Sherman Williams Paint Co.

"Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?" — Henry Ford

"Make the most you can of the Indian Hemp seed and sow it everywhere." — George Washington 1794.

Hemp Fuel !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2N4EZxAJ4s

[HL]

I get the impression that if ganja becomes legal in jamaica--the situation would get 'over-the-top'.

Meaning, ganja smoking would be flaunted in public places--out of control. The levels of disrespect by weed smokers would impinge on the public's rights.

Is jamaica we talkin' about now......

[Sir X]

I get the impression you didnt read none of the articles about regulation, none !
So we dont have a clue in how to regulate and tax ? considering the taxing measures Jamaica currently lives under ? the more they flaunt is the more you fine.

1st time offender a $100 us for smoking in public

2nd time $500

3rd time $1500 us

Money deh deh fi mek !

Mek dem keep it in di privacy of dem home, only liscened shops should sell it . A fine , a simple fine.

Create a hemp police , like NY have a DMV ticketing police .Like a say is common sense wi a deal wid progressives, ow India deal wid it , a booming developing nation?

[HL]

X-man there was a reason why i ended my post with: " is Jamaica you talking about....

It's the land of the lawless..(want me to give some examples? )