Plants that rule!

[nappydread]

Try to picture one plant that rules the world today...

Here is mine....with some characteristics...:)
This plant would help people in pain and those suffering. This plant would be abundant in hospitals and doctors offices. Doctors, pharmaceutical companies and governments would profit off the supplies of this plant...the rich get richer, while the sick demand it. They depend on it and are controlled by its supply.

Now picture the same plant working on the lower-class people of society. Drug abusers, junkies if you will. They lose their dreams, lose their families and give up everything just to have this plant. They depend on it and are controlled by its supply.

And lastly, picture the same plant used by practically everyone else in society. Your bones ache, take this! You have a head ache, take this! You can't sleep at night, take this! They depend on it and are controlled by its supply.

I wonder why no wars have been fought over the supply and control this plant in the last century. Wars have been fought to 'control' exclusive regions where this plant grows. Yet, through all these wars there is never any mention of this plant. I find it strange because this plant controls so many people...it is seen as 'good' for the sick, 'bad' for the junkies and 'good' for the general population...yet its supply is controlled by so few.
Hmmm....I pick the elusive opium poppy :bandit:

peace

[toman]

Not to mention it's a plant that most anyone can grow with little or no skills or attention. Pretty much just toss some seeds out there, and they grow...

[delta9]

At first I thought you might be describing my "plant that rules". That is, hemp. Before I get into why it rules, I'll just point out that a war was fought over opium just very recently - ever heard of afghanistan? Yeah, there's most of the world's opium supply at the moment. There's also another war involving opium I will get to later.

Hemp (Cannabis sativa), however, is just as powerful and useful - if not more so than opium poppies (Papaver somniferum).

Hemp (medical strains, marijuana) as a medicine can be used to take away head aches, alleviate bone aches (even arthritis), insomnia, stimulate the appetite, and much much more. Unlike opiates, hemp products are difficult to overdose (opiates are comparitively easy to do so). Unlike opiates, hemp products do not produce strong physical dependence.

There is a war that has been going on for decades involving opium and hemp. The Drug War. The first beginnings of the drug war started when the government began clamping down on the patent medicine business which sold medicines made from hemp, opium, cocaine, and many more substances. This war is being fought explicitly for control of these substances. Cannabis/hemp/marijuana is a schedule I substance, meaning it has "no recognized medical benefit", despite much research to the contrary. Opium is schedule II, meaning it has some recognized benefit, along with opium extracts and derivitives such as oxycodone, morphine, and so one. Opium preparations - 100 mg/100 ml or gm ( Parepectolin, Kapectolin PG, Kaolin Pectin P.G.) are schedule V.

Every pharmecuitical company subsidizes the government, handsomly. Every pharmecuitical company is a drug dealer. Every drug dealer *knows* the money is in the come back. Opiates have a high addiction potential because they can produce such strong physical addiction. Someone going cold turkey from a heavy (and I do mean heavy) opiate addiction can physically die from the withdrawal. Hemp, on the other hand, does not produce such physical dependence.

Hemp is also a much more versatile plant. Industrial hemp can be used to make foods - hemp nuts are better for you than soy nuts. Hemp can be used to make cloth and other textiles (like rope) - and it is better than cotton because it is stronger, longer lasting and it can be grown in certain ways to produce fiber just as soft as cotton. Hemp can be used to make paper - one acre of hemp can produce as much paper as 4 acres of forest trees (and in a fraction of the time). Hemp can be used to make fuel, called biomass fuel, which are cleaner burning than fossil fuels and just as good. Hemp can be used to make bio-plastics. Hemp can be used to make construction materials.

Hemp is ecologically sound. Hemp grows almost everywhere. Hemp is easy to grow. Hemp is cheap to grow. Hemp can be grown continuously without the need to set fields fallow because of the root structure which goes deep and wide and then is left behind after harvesting, reinvesting the soil with nutrients. Hemp does not require pesticides, which are bad for the enviornment and for humans and animals.

Cotton uses HALF of the pesticides in the United States - and requires a lot of fertalizer. Trees take years to grow. Fossil fuels are running out.

I do believe, sir, that Cannabis sativa trumps Papaver somniferum as the royal Emporer of Plants.

:hippie:

[nappydread]

Ah...yes...I can't argue with such good logic delta!!!:D

Ofcourse I agree with your hemp theory "on paper"...and hopefully your ideas will become mainstream to everyone very soon. The emporor wears no clothes after all:D

But I actually like to think of TODAY.
Today, in the minds of governments, pharmecuetical companies and doctors....after all these are the real puppet-masters. They make the laws, they tell us whats good and whats bad.

hemp products do not produce strong physical dependence

This is one reason why hemp does not rule the world today. Governments, doctors, pharm co's NEED this dependence if they want to maintain control. If they want to make HUGE profits!!!
You bring up an excellent point about the "schedule I" versus "schedule 2" substances and perhaps if hemp could generate; 1)the profits of opium and, 2) the addiction...then it too would become a schedule 2...so that it could be given to literally everyone. Everyone would depend on it and be controlled by it!

As for wars...No one has come out saying that that the attack on Afganistan was fought over opium supply. You and I may know that. The general public does not know that. After all, that was the begining of the "War on Terror"...not the "War on Opium"....It is known that Afganistan produces 2/3 of "illicit" opium, while India and Turkey are the dominant producers of legal opium.
I also believe that Vietnam (...and all golden triangle operations) taught the United States so very much about not only controlling global supply and demand of all opiates...but controlling the masses...both enemies and allies alike.

Here is a good link describing how nixon wanted to eradicate global poppy production. (actually the whole book is a good read!):
http://edwardjayepstein.com/agency/chap17.htm

...on that note, i wonder if someone will start a global eradication program for cannabis seeing as it technically has "no recognized medical benefit"
...hehehehe....:)


peace

[delta9]

There already is. Cannabis used to grow everywhere all over America. The DEA has a Marijuana Eradication program:
Marijuana is the most widely used and readily available drug in the United States. It is the only major drug of abuse grown within United States borders. The DEA is aggressively striving to halt the spread of marijuana cultivation in the United States. To assist in accomplishing this, the DEA initiated the Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program (DCE/SP), which is the only nationwide law enforcement program that exclusively targets marijuana.

[nappydread]

BHWAHAHAHAHA!!!:D

Seems like a great waste of money!!!

watch out folks...coming soon to a country near you!!!! :mad:

peace

[delta9]

The entire war on drugs is a massive waste of time, manpower, and most especially money... But you know that and that isn't what this thread is about :)

[nappydread]

...oh yeah!!!
You my friend are clouding the "plants that rule" topic with your pot-smoking hippie ideals :hippie: ...kudos to you!!!:D
:cheers:
Have a great day!

peace

[PEACE FROG]

And here I thought you were going to post a thread celebrating the medicinal qualities of the Aloe Vera plant. Anyways, it is strange that in Afganistan they bomb the BEEjesus outta everything 'cept them poppy fields. They say "war on drugs" yet think its more prudent to fill our prisons with junkies and other related non-violent offenders. When destroying the fields would make more sense? :confused: Is our Government being less than forthcomming reguarding its role in the cultivation and distribution of controlled substances? :confused: Is G.W. a pimp daddy? :D ;)

[nappydread]

Is our Government being less than forthcomming reguarding its role in the cultivation and distribution of controlled substances?

...how could you suggest such a thing???:D

...celebrating the medicinal qualities of the Aloe Vera plant...
...alright;) tell me more!!!....are you addicted?
hehehe...i love aloe...and it cures slight pain and mild suffering:)....i'd like to see Them...just try to eradicate all of these plants!!!
:bandit:
peace

[kermit]

Poison oak :D