5/5/2008

I believe a new rule should be developed.

The subject of this rule is: Rescheduling Industrial cannabis hemp

The rule will affect the following people: Washington State citizens

The need for the rule is:

The current schedule for marijuana includes Industrial Cannabis Hemp, which is totally benign, and harmless as a drug, underscoring the intent of scheduling marijuana, which is to prevent Competition, not save the public from harm. The current schedule for Industrial Cannabis Hemp is hindering the development of a dedicated fuel source that is mandated by RCW 80.50.020, and other environmentally safe products that are mandated by RCW 80.50.020. The current schedule for Industrial Cannabis Hemp will hinder the development of climate change policies outlined in RCW 80.80 that will be forced to limit lane miles in order to reduce emissions, which would force our state to continue to lose revenue from congestion related issues, and impose unreasonable costs.

Industrial Cannabis hemp is the only sustainable clean fuel source right now. We can reduce emissions without restricting lane miles or imposing unreasonable costs to the public. Industrial Cannabis Hemp is generally defined as having less than 1% THC with normal ranges under 5%.The THC levels of industrial cannabis hemp are so low that no one could get high from smoking it. In order to get a psychoactive dose from industrial cannabis hemp a person would have to rapidly smoke 10-12 industrial cannabis cigarettes. Even in the event that somebody tried to use that much industrial cannabis hemp for a psychoactive effect, the large volume of smoke would certainly be intolerable and the resulting headache would most likely prohibit any recreational user from continuing to obtain a recreational pleasure from smoking Industrial Cannabis Hemp. In addition Industrial Cannabis Hemp contains a countering cannabinoid called CBD which blocks the recreational psychoactive high.

Law enforcement can not point to any studies which will show significant arrest data of recreational use or smuggling of Industrial Cannabis Hemp. There is no need for the pharmacy board to determine dosage amounts or control Industrial Cannabis Hemp consumption to regulate any harm. Industrial Cannabis Hemp is absent a meaningful psychoactive effect, and does not belong in schedule 1.Therefore Industrial Cannabis Hemp should not be included with marijuana in schedule 1.

The Washington State Pharmacy Board must amend RCW 69.50.204 and reschedule Industrial Cannabis Hemp to schedule 3 or 4 as allowable under RCW 69.50.201, and put an end to the conflicts with RCW 80.80, and RCW 80.50.020, and prevent unreasonable costs to the Citizens of Washington State.

THE CASE FOR INDUSTRIAL CANNABIS HEMP

Our state will not meet the aggressive standards set by the new RCW 80.80 without imposing unreasonable costs, unless Industrial Cannabis Hemp is allowed to be used. Any renewable clean energy bill should include the rescheduling of Industrial Cannabis Hemp in the Washington State controlled substances act. Without Industrial Cannabis Hemp there are no sustainable bio fuel sources that can be used to seriously challenge the fossil fuel monopoly, and offer a free market alternative. Businesses are ready to invest in Industrial Cannabis Hemp Bio Fuel production but are prohibited by law. Washington State can reschedule Industrial Cannabis Hemp in the Washington State controlled substances act and permit the free market production of Industrial Cannabis Hemp products in order to meet the aggressive demands of RCW 80.80. Industrial Cannabis hemp Fuel can be manufactured locally at 36 cents a gallon and sustained by local farmers. The market for Industrial Cannabis Hemp fuels will produce state jobs, clean burning environmentally benign fuel, and allow for gas tax increases. Washington State must not be afraid to stand up to the federal government on this issue. Losing federal grants are the only factors that our state needs to be worried about. However, the Industrial Cannabis Hemp industry will provide 5 times the revenue that we receive from federal grants, while we create jobs, increase revenue, and protect the Washington State environment.

The current schedule of marijuana never should have included Industrial Cannabis Hemp. If Industrial Cannabis Hemp were produced at 36 cents a gallon, Investors would be willing to invest in its production, and it would bring the market prices down.

CANNABIS HEMP FOR CLEAN FUEL
Corn, tree pulp and Industrial Cannabis Hemp are sources for clean-burning alcohol, methanol and methane gas. These 'biofuels' contain no sulfur, the pollutant that causes acid rain. Growing the fuel also produces oxygen, to balance the oxygen consumed during combustion. Engines stay cleaner and the air remains much cleaner.
Industrial Cannabis Hemp may be the most profitable and productive fuel crop that can be grown in many areas of America. Hemp can produce about 1000 gallons of methanol per acre, four times as much as can be produced from trees. Fuel can be produced locally, reducing transportation costs. The production process, called biomass conversion, is safe and clean. It would create a domestic fuel industry, freeing us from Middle East oil dependency, providing jobs and keeping our currency at home.
Industrial Cannabis Hemp fuel needs no taxpayer subsidies, as oil receives. The Department of Energy estimated that fuel could be produced from hemp for about 36 cents per gallon. In New South Wales, Australia the Minister of Energy told the parliament they should consider burning confiscated hemp to produce electricity. "It burns at extremely high temperature, produces a lot of power and is cheaper (and much cleaner) to burn than coal."
• Growing and harvesting Industrial Cannabis Hemp has much less environmental impact than procuring oil.
• Hemp fuel is biodegradable; so oil spills become fertilizer not eco-catastrophes.
• Industrial Cannabis Hemp fuel does not contribute to sulfur dioxide air poisoning.
• Industrial Cannabis Hemp fuel is nontoxic and only a mild skin irritant; anybody who's ever cleaned out an old carburetor with gasoline can confirm the same
• Other noxious emissions like carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons are radically slashed by using "biodiesel."
• Growing Industrial Cannabis hemp for fuel would be a tremendous boon for Washington State farmers and the agricultural industry, and would go a long way in replacing the lost timber industry jobs.

INDUSTRIAL CANNABIS HEMP LAW

Add these Amendments to the Washington State controlled substances act:

1. No legal Washington State corporate, or private entity shall be arrested or prosecuted, be denied any right or privilege, nor be subject to any criminal or civil penalties for the possession, cultivation, transportation, distribution, or consumption of cannabis hemp marijuana, including:

(a) Cannabis hemp industrial products.

2. Definition of terms:
(a) The terms "cannabis hemp" and "cannabis hemp marijuana" mean the industrial variety of cannabis, including any industrial hemp derivative, concentrate, extract, flower, lea particle, preparation, resin, root, salt, seed, stalk, stem, or any product of industrial cannabis with a minimum of THC content.
(b) The term "cannabis hemp industrial products" means all products made from cannabis hemp that are not designed or intended for human consumption, including, but not limited to: clothing, building materials, paper, fiber, fuel , lubricants, plastics, paint, seed for cultivation, animal feed, veterinary medicine, oil, or any other product that is not designed for internal human consumption; as well as cannabis hemp plants used for crop rotation, erosion control, pest control, weed control, or any other horticultural or environmental purposes, for example, the reversal of the Greenhouse Effect and toxic soil reclamation.
(c) The term "commercial production" means the production of industrial cannabis hemp products for sale or profit under the conditions of these provisions.
3. Industrial cannabis hemp farmers, manufacturers, processors, and distributors shall not subject to any special zoning requirement, licensing fee, or tax that is excessive, discriminatory, or prohibitive.
4. The manufacture, marketing, distribution, or sales between Industrial cultivators of equipment or accessories designed to assist in the planting, cultivation, harvesting, curing, processing, packaging, storage, analysis, or transportation of industrial cannabis hemp plants, and
industrial cannabis hemp products, shall not be prohibited.
5. No Washington State law enforcement personnel or funds shall be used to assist or aid and abet in the enforcement of Federal cannabis hemp marijuana laws involving acts which are hereby no longer illegal in the State of Washington.
6. Any person who threatens the enjoyment of these provisions is guilty of a misdemeanor. The maximum penalties and fines of a misdemeanor may be imposed.
I. Repeal, delete, and expunge any and all existing statutory laws that conflict with the provisions of this Amendment.

2. The legislature is authorized upon thorough investigation, to enact legislation using reasonable standards to:

I. Pursuant to the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, the people of Washington State hereby repudiate and challenge Federal cannabis hemp marijuana prohibitions that conflict with this Amendment.
II. Severability: If any provision of this Amendment, or the application of any such provision to any person or circumstance, shall be held invalid by any court, the remainder of this Amendment, to the extent it can be given effect, or the application of such provisions to persons or circumstances other than those as to which it is held invalid, shall not be affected thereby, and to this end the provisions of this Amendment are severable.
III. Construction: If any rival or conflicting initiative regulating any matter
addressed by the Amendment receives the higher affirmative vote, then all
non- conflicting parts shall become operative.
V. Purpose of Amendment: This Amendment is an exercise of the police powers of the
Washington State controlled substances Act to enable the environmental laws of the
State of Washington to meet the environmental standards required by those laws.

It is here by declared that the subject matter of this Amendment involves, in the highest degree, the ecological, economic, social, and moral well-being and safety of the State and of its entire people.

All provisions of this Amendment shall be liberally construed for the accomplishment of these purposes to promote tolerance, and to end cannabis hemp prohibition for Industrial purposes.