Good % of marijuana becoming legal in California

Bottle_of_Smoke

Idea for a new crop

Hi

First off I want to make it clear I am not a farmer. I have an uncle who has a dairy farm of around a hundred cows but that's the extent of my connection to the agricultural sector.

It looks as if cannabis is going to be legalised in California. It already is pretty much legal in many US states for medical purposes. I would imagine it won't be relatively long before it is legalised nationally in the US. Once that happens it won't be a big deal for Europe to follow suit.

Obviously Ireland doesn't have the same climate conditions but in the modern world plants like Cannabis can be grown in greenhouses or tunnels. As far as I know we're one of the biggest exporters of banana crops.

Perhaps Irish agriculture could be given a massive boost by growing and exporting cannabis.

I'm well aware there are plenty of hurdles, but the increasingly liberal stance being taken to cannabis use in the US is no doubt recession-fueled.

It will be a few years at least before it becomes legal in Europe but perhaps a reputable body like the IFA should do some lobbying on its behalf.

It goes without saying it is a taboo issue so I obviously don't expect any kind of concrete answer from you. I do however think it is worth discussing and considering.

Thanks for reading

ScumLord

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

As far as I know we're one of the biggest exporters of banana crops.

Sounds dubious at first glance given the size of Ireland compared to the countries where bananas can grow wild, although I have seen bananas growing in a fairly basic tunnel in Ireland.

PanchoVilla

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Idea for a new crop

Hi

First off I want to make it clear I am not a farmer. I have an uncle who has a dairy farm of around a hundred cows but that's the extent of my connection to the agricultural sector.

It looks as if cannabis is going to be legalised in California. It already is pretty much legal in many US states for medical purposes. I would imagine it won't be relatively long before it is legalised nationally in the US. Once that happens it won't be a big deal for Europe to follow suit.

Obviously Ireland doesn't have the same climate conditions but in the modern world plants like Cannabis can be grown in greenhouses or tunnels. As far as I know we're one of the biggest exporters of banana crops.

Perhaps Irish agriculture could be given a massive boost by growing and exporting cannabis.

I'm well aware there are plenty of hurdles, but the increasingly liberal stance being taken to cannabis use in the US is no doubt recession-fueled.

It will be a few years at least before it becomes legal in Europe but perhaps a reputable body like the IFA should do some lobbying on its behalf.

It goes without saying it is a taboo issue so I obviously don't expect any kind of concrete answer from you. I do however think it is worth discussing and considering.

Thanks for reading

Actually, Ireland has a pretty good climate for hemp production. Someone linked a report on one of the test sites in Ireland and the results were quite good. The only problem is the hemp was only used as an additive in the production of MDF and the process had some difficulties. This is a problem because hemp has a wide range of uses and would literally be a wonder crop in this country. We wouldn't have to rely on EU subsidies, we could grow another native textile industry alongside wool which would create thousands of new jobs, in the long run it could only be good for this country.

Edit: Here's an interesting PDF from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census regarding industrial hemp fiber importation into the U.S.

Imports of raw hemp fiber have increased dramatically
in the last few years, rising from less than 500 pounds
in 1994 to over 1.5 million pounds for the first 9
months of 1999 (table 1).

http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/ages001E/ages001Ef.pdf

TPD

Prop 19 defeated everywhere but san francisco sadly, and even there it only won by a hair. On a mobile so couldn't be bothered linking.

Maybe next time.

ScumLord

The illegal growers where awful bastards in this vote, just goes to show how criminals are benefiting so much from prohibition they'd rather remain illegal than pay taxes.

Shulgin

There is always next time.
It's getting closer!

Gunsfortoys

Supporters took the defeat in stride.
'The cannabis movement has been here, literally here in Oakland, since the 1960s and it's not going anywhere,' said John Decker, 26, a pizza restaurant worker.

Sea Sharp

Fail!

There will be loads of paranoid smokers in California blaming the result on a vote-rigging conspiracy.