Archive-name: drugs/hemp-marijuana
Version: 1.0



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  Welcome to Frequently Asked Questions about Cannabis Hemp
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This document contains straight answers to tough questions
about hemp and marijuana.  Every effort has been made to
ensure their accuracy, and sources, if not provided, are
available by request.  BE WARNED -- this text has changed
minds.  The author and contributers do not take
responsibility for any change in outlook, new ideas, or
re-evaluation of one's relationship with current political
parties which may result from allowing photons to travel
into your eyeballs, even when said photons originate from a
cathode ray tube, backlit LCD screen, microfiche reader or
illuminated sheet of paper on which this document is being
displayed.  Unless of course you feel like showering us 
with fan mail and candy-grams.  In that case we'll take the
blame.





       Copyright (c)  1 9 9 4   by Brian S. Julin



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The following persons have contributed to this document at
some point in it's evolution: Laura Kriho
 (original list of questions),
Marc Anderson (fact finding), Paul L. Allen (LaTeX
formatting) ,plus some others who haven't said they want
their name put in.

This material is maintained and written by Brian S. Julin,
with help from several other individuals.  It is copyrighted
material.  The copyright is only there to prevent anyone
from editing or selling this material.  Feel free to
redistribute the material in any form as long as it is
unaltered in content, and no credit or money is taken for
the contents themselves.  Comments, questions, contributions
or ideas should be mailed to verdant@twain.ucs.umass.edu or
c/o Brian S. Julin at UMACRC, S.A.O.  Mailbox #2, Student
Union Building, UMASS, 01003

More information on the document is at the end -- wouldn't
want to bore you...   So without further ado:

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                   C  O  N  T  E  N  T  S
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1a)  What is hemp?
1b)  What is cannabis?
1c)  Where did the word `marijuana' come from?
2a)  How can hemp be used as a food?
2b)  What are the benefits of hemp compared to other food crops?
2c)  How about soy?  
      Is hemp competitive as a world source of protein?
3a)  How can hemp be used for cloth?
3b)  Why is it better than cotton?
4a)  How can hemp be used to make paper?
4b)  Why can't we just keep using trees?
5a)  How can hemp be used as a fuel?
5b)  Why is it better than petroleum?
6a)  How can hemp be used as a medicine?
6b)  What's wrong with all the prescription drugs we have?
7)   What other uses for hemp are there?

1)   How and why was hemp made illegal?
2)   OK, so what the heck does all this other stuff have to do 
      with hemp?
3)   Now wait, just hold on.  You expect me to believe that
      they wouldn't have thought to pass a better law, one that
      banned marijuana and allowed commercial hemp, instead of
      throwing the baby out with the bath water?
4)   Is there a lesson to be learned from all this?

1)   Doesn't marijuana stay in your fat cells and keep you
      high for months?
2)   But ... isn't today's marijuana much more potent than it
      was in the Sixties?  
      (Or, more often ... Marijuana is 10 times more powerful than 
      it was in the Sixties!)
3a)  Doesn't Marijuana cause brain damage?
3b)  If it doesn't kill brain cells, how does it get you `high'?
4)   Don't people die from smoking pot?
5)   I forgot, does marijuana cause short-term memory impairment?
6a)  Is marijuana going to make my boyfriend go psycho?
6b)  Don't users of marijuana withdraw from society?
7)   Is it true that marijuana makes you lazy and unmotivated?
8)   Isn't marijuana a gateway drug?  
      Doesn't it lead to use of harder drugs?
9a)  I don't want children (minors) to be able to smoke marijuana.  
      How can I stop this?
9b)  Won't children be able to steal marijuana plants that
      people are growing?
10a) Hey, don't you know that marijuana drops testosterone
      levels in teenage boys causing [various physical and
      developmental problems]?
10b) Doesn't heavy marijuana use lower the sperm count in males?
10c) I heard marijuana use by teenage girls may impair hormone
      production, menstrual cycles, and fertility.  Is this true?
11)  Go away.
12)  Isn't smoking marijuana worse for you than smoking cigarettes?
13)  Don't children born to pot-smoking mothers suffer from
      ``Fetal Marijuana Syndrome?''
14)  Doesn't marijuana cause a lot of automobile accidents?
15)  Aren't you afraid everyone will get hooked?
16a) Is urine testing for marijuana use as a terms of
      employment a good idea?  
      I want to make sure my business is run safely.
16b) Isn't all this worth the trouble, though, in order to
      reduce accident risks and health care costs?
17)  Wouldn't it be best to just lock the users all up?
18)  I heard that there are over 400 chemicals in marijuana...
      Wellllll...? 
19)  Doesn't that stuff mess up your immune system and make
      it easier for you catch colds?

1)   Why is it STILL illegal?:
2)   What can I do to bring some sense into our marijuana laws?
3a)  Where can I get more information?
3b)  Umm, I'm computer illiterate, so that just went way over
      my head.  Are there any good books I could go get instead?
4)   Do you have any advice for people who want to organize
      their own group?

Drug Policy Alliance