Letter to the editor of Evansville Courier & Press

Now this is the kind of post I really like to put up: one on a hemp advocate writing in to a paper - this time the Evansville Courier & Press - to express the truth about hemp. As if often the case, a journalist has done a story, like the one by Trip Gabriel in the New York Times on 13 Feb (posted here mid Feb) - and has either filled it with misinformation or has left out crucial facts; we need to address this, and Charles V. Waller of Henderson, Kentucky, did just that in a very well written letter to the editor. Letters to the press and to the politicians are what we need and so few hempsters take the time to do this, yet complain when the issue is given very little support.
It's time we all stop being armchair activists and take more time to write a letter like the one below, well done Mr. Waller:



Why does The Gleaner put a story about a cruise ship on the front page, while relegating a truncated article about the Kentucky Senate passing a bill to establish the framework for industrial cultivation of hemp to the back page of the first section? I can only guess it’s because of the vast number of Kentuckians affected by the first subject.
The article about the hemp cultivation bill left out several important facts which Mr. Comer has already addressed on “Kentucky Tonight” with KSP Commissioner Brewer participating and “One on One” with Bill Goodman — as well as while testifying in front of the Senate committee which approved the bill for a Senate vote.
Mr. Brewer is being disingenuous when he claims officers cannot tell the difference between hemp and “marijuana.” Observing from 500 feet overhead in a helicopter might be the reason, because any intelligent person can tell the difference simply by appearance. Hemp grows tall, up to 18-24 feet, with little to no branching. Hemp is cultivated in large, densely sown fields.
Male hemp plants will pollinate other cannabis varieties, lowering the value of the flower crop, or “marijuana” as some insist on calling it. Hemp is the common name for cannabis; marijuana is the common name for the cannabis flower crop.
Mr. Comer has also assured Mr. Brewer his agency has the equipment and knowledge to field test crops for approximately $20 per test.
Hemp is not only a viable commercial crop, it is also high in cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive cannabinoid with enormous health benefits. Medical research is currently confirming previous research dating back to 1975 which demonstrates cannabinoids have medicinal benefits. That is why the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services holds a patent on cannabinoids for antioxidant, neuro-protectant and ANTI-TUMOR properties. These properties have been demonstrated repeatedly in research around the world.
There is an obvious disconnect from reality in the United States regarding cannabis. Cannabis prohibition has failed, just as the Volstead Act did. Only those threatened by the reintroduction of “the most beneficial plant known to mankind,” according to former DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge Francis Young when he ruled against the DEA in 1988 and ordered cannabis removed from the list of Controlled Substances.
The DEA ignored his ruling, as it has ignored all scientific evidence which does not support the classification of cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug. Only an idiot would believe cannabis is more dangerous than cocaine and methamphetamine, but that is exactly what the DEA insists. How many must suffer for how much longer before this ridiculous situation is corrected?
Cannabinoids kill cancer cells — in test tubes, in animals and in human trials — without harming healthy cells. These are facts. What do you believe?
The writer is a Henderson resident.