I was talking with my friend on the legalities of marijuana in the US. As far as I know, it is legal to buy and own the seeds as long as you don’t plant them. He thinks it might be illegal to actually buy the seeds.
What are the facts?
Hemp seeds? I don’t think there’s a problem. Cannibus Sativa? Yes, that would be illegal.
If you get ahold of HEMP seeds, however, use an oil extractor on them. The oils contain nutrients in near perfect quantities to human dietary needs. The remaining whatnot after you extract the oils can be fed to birds, they love them.
–Tim
I wondered about that too. I figured since I saw them for sale often at Ebay, they must be legal either that or the Ebay people are too lazy to monitor all their auctions.
I think some people still think marijuana and hemp are the exact same thing. They’re not.
I know that it’s legal to own the seeds of the opium poppy, so it wouldn’t surprise me if marijuana seeds were legal. But it probably depends on how much active ingredient (THC) is in the seeds.
What species is your typical domestic hemp? I thought it was sativa as well. It’s a strain that hasn’t been bred to be high in THC, and the way they cultivate it doesn’t do anything to maximize potency (no culling of male plants or harvesting of buds), but I’m pretty sure it’s the same plant.
I don’t think it’s legal to posess any detectable amount of THC.
From what I’ve read, seeds are legal as long as they’re sterile. IIRC, an exemption to this rule is made for the birdseed companies.
Recently the DEA decided that any seeds that contained any THC were subject to confiscation, the law be damned. They seized 17 truckloads of hemp seed bound for a birdseed company. Your tax dollars in action. :rolleyes:
And yes, hemp is Cannabis Sativa, same species as its smokable, more THC-laden cousin. Cannabis Indica is also smoked, but not used for hemp. As far as I know, the other Cannabis species, Ruderalis, isn’t used for anything.
Hemp seeds are identical to cannabis seeds (hemp is cannabis, cannabis is hemp). Hemp seeds are usually imported, after being treated as to not sprout. The US government does not readily recognize the fact that field grade hemp cannot grow smokeable marijuana, the THC is generally way too low and almost non-existent compared to cultivated “marijuana” plants (the name marijuana was adopted in the 1930’s to help demonize cannabis, because apparently everyone knew what cannabis was, since it was in most medical extracts, but no one really understood what marijuana was).
Hemp seeds are a preferred bird food, but check to make sure the seeds are not poison-treated first. There is a growing hemp movement in the US, to make it legal to grow for fiber to make fabric and clothes, and seed oil to make cosmetics (it was formerly used to make paint and lacquers and this industry was the only one that protested outlawing hemp, according to Jack Herer in his popular manual on the subject, The Emperor Wears No Clothes).
Many feel hemp was unfairly (and racistly) demonized via Jazz music, and outlawed in 1937 at the behest of timber interests, afraid of a better paper-making source due to much publicized newer fiber stripping techniques that would have made it commercially viable. If so, it is the conspiracy of the century, and the government still grew hemp all throughout WW2 for industrial purposes (cordage, etc). Hemp was formerly used to make all rope and sails throughout history for thousands of years, and our founding fathers all grew it in quantity, but it was always unsmokeable for effect due to miniscule amounts of THC (hemp needs to be oil processed into hash to make it smoke-worthy, if at all possible).
Note: Hemp is 77% cellulose and is a far superior renewable resource per acre for making higher quality paper using less acid. Also, field grade hemp is harvested before it “buds” into flowers (which must be female plants) and even if it was high grade marijuana, it would remain unsmoke-worthy, since the flowers contain almost all of the desired THC. The fan leaves are never smoked without getting a splitting headache and no high.
Cecil on the hemp conspiracy nonsense.
That was the worst Cecil column I have ever read. It didn’t even address paper-making and timber-baron WR Hearst’s involvment in cannabis demonization, first as a violence causing drug, and later as a tool of pacificism. Jack Herer was correct in saying that it was flushed through Congress via the House Ways and Means, and there was no scientific testimony to support outlawing it, only racist-based fears–addiction wasn’t even the main concern, apparently. It would be nice if Cecil quoted an expert or two. Are we now pretending that 1930’s science on pot was preciently correct?
Cecil smugly reminds me of Ann Landers and other manner-mongers here, telling people over and over that cannabis is dangerous and to report their loved ones to the police or to an addiction center. Cecil has the nerve to imply that hemp is worthless. Then what about the fact that cotton requires most of the pesticides used in the US and is notoriously soil depleting? What about hemp seed as feed? What about a rotation crop top soil stabilizer? Hemp has too many uses to be casually dismissed. Outlawing hemp, when it cannot be smoked for effect, is the smoking gun itself.
I certainly didn’t intend this thread to be yet another of the many debates on the legalization of marijuana or the miraculous (sp?) benefits of hemp, (though I know just the appearance of the word “marijuana” in a thread title is usually more than likely going to be one).
It’s not that I mind these debates necessarily, but can someone please answer the OP (with facts)?
Yesterday me and a friend were noticing a large amount of sites on the internet (both within and outside of the US) that sell pot seeds, advertised based on potency and yield (in other words, clearly for the purpose of recreational marijuana use).
We were curious to know how the government lets them stay in business, or do they? Is the buying and selling of the seeds themselves illegal?
BTW Brian I think Cecil’s column was as fair and unbiased as any. I don’t think he ever came close to “imply[ing] that hemp is worthless”. All he said was that it wasn’t a miracle plant that has the potential to save the planet, as many claim.
It is illegal to sell viable seeds in the US. Also, Cecil wasn’t even informative, let alone fair. He not only stereotyped pot-smokers, he accused them of disingenuity, and neglected to mention that most environmentalists support hemp to halt deforestation, caused by paper-making (even cross implying that environmentalist hemp supporters were pot-heads). The timber industy wasn’t cutting down entire western forests left and right in the 1930’s to make paper. Now they are. Hemp is more efficient for paper making, per acre (by far) according to the USDA, and we are not talking about some hair-brained scheme to try to replace gasoline with vegetable oil (but you wouldn’t know it from reading Cecil’s column).