From: chelf@lunatix.uucp (Chad Helfenberger)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Marijuana article in local paper
Date: 13 Dec 92 22:29:09 GMT
Organization: Lexington Public Access Unix. -KY- (606) 255-9121

I'm posting this for all to see, because I plan to start a mass meg. mail 
flow to the local newspaper (The Herald Leader) stating how erroneous their 
2-3 page story on pot was.  I'll reprint a substory (along with a histogram 
[extremely biased, in my opinion] of marijuana).  I'd appreciate any 
comments, especially factual information and sources I can use when shooting 
down their inane bull.  Thanks.

`Kentucky Bluegrass' A POTENT HOME-GROWN FAVORITE
By Bill Estep (Herald-Leader staff writer)

This is not your grandfather's hemp.

The marijuana that gives Kentucky such notoriety among dope smokers today 
compares to old-time hemp like a tiger compares to an alley cat:  They're 
from the same family, but one has a lot more bite.

For one thing, today's "Kentucky's Bluegrass" is not descended from the hemp 
that farmers once grew for rope [what was it descended from, hops? :)].  
Soil and climate conditions lend a Kentucky flavor to the pot, but the seed 
stock is from Colombia, Mexico, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Growers boosted the quality of their pot with tips from books and High 
Times, a magazine devoted to marijuana.  They experimented with different 
seeds [who doesn't].  They learned how to sprout plants indoors for a 
healthy start, and how to apply a slow-release fertilizer early in the 
season, then follow with a high-phosphourous additive at the budding stage.

But the real breakthrough was learning how to increase the drug content of 
pot dramatically--by identifying and discarding male plants so the females 
can't get pollinated.

When the long days of summer began giving way to the cool nights of early 
autumn, the female plant pumps more and more resin to its buds to try to 
catch the pollen and reproduce before it dies.  That gives the buds more 
tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC--the chemical in pot that gets people high.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Adminstration says that the average THC content of 
domestic pot in 1970 was 1.5 percent, but that the average had jumped to 7.6 
percent in 1991.  But tests have shown pot can top 20 percent THC, and it's 
likely Kentucky pot has reached THC levels above 10 percent.

If the female plant is not pollinated, the plant will not have seeds.  
Marijuana produced that way is called sinsemilla, Spanish for 'without 
seeds.'

Kentucky pot sometimes is so full of resin that smokers have to cut up the 
buds with scissors before they can roll it and smoke it.

These improvements earned Kentucky pot a reputation as some of the most 
potent in the country.  

Maurice Christon, a convicted drug dealer from Detroit, said he came to 
Richmond in 1990 to buy 2 pounds of Kentucky marijuana.  He paid $3,000 for 
it and sold it for $6,000 to $7,000.

His Michigan customers liked Kentucky pot so much that he could get $3 to $5 
for a single joint, or cigarette.

The normal price these days is $2 to $3 a joint, Detroit police said.

"I could've made a bag [so small] you only get two, three joints out of it," 
Christon said.  "They [would] tear my door down."

<my fingers getting tired at this point :)>

"Marijuana Milestones" -- a history of pot

1775--Kentucky's first recorded crop of marijuana--then known as hemp--was 
grown near Danville by Archibald McNeill.

Late 1700s-1800s: Hemp is the leading cash crop in Kentucky [chelf-still 
is.] The fibrous plant is used for making rope, bagging, twine, sailcloth 
and other products.

1861-1865: Civil War disrupts Southern markets for Kentucky hemp, and 
production begins to decline.  By 1929, only five Kentucky farms grow hemp.

1937: U.S. Government makes marijuana illegal.

1942: Japan's conquest of the Phillipines causes a serious fiber shortage.  
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture encourages Kentucky farmers to grow hemp for rope.

Late 1940s-late '60s: Hemp grows wild in Kentucky, but few people cultivate 
it to smoke.

Late 1960s: Marijuana smoking becomes popular.  Kentucky soldiers who smoked 
pot in Southeast Asia return home and grow their own with Asian seeds.

1970s: Kentucky marijuana is inexpensive but is considered inferior to 
costlier varieties from Mexico, Colombia and Jamaica.

1978: Joseph Califano, U.S. secretary of health, education and welfare 
alarms US pot smokers by saying the herbicide paraquatj, which the US has 
helped spray on its marijuana fields, could cause serious lung damage.

Late 1970s-early 80s: US government intensifies war on imported drugs, 
creating opportunity for domestic production to surge.  Kentucky growers 
help fill the demand by developing higher-quality pot, and the state's 
lenient laws attract growers from other states.

1982: Ky. General Assembly makes it a felony to grow 25 or more marijuana 
plants.  By then, however, Kentucky is a top pot producer.

1983: US Drug Enforcement Administration sprays paraquat on several 
marijuana patches in Clay County, but stops after public outcry and 
complaint from 5th District US Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Somerset), that he had not 
been notified.  Also, state police officers begin teaching National Guard to 
spot patches by helicopter on training missions.

1984: Congress authorizes government to confiscate property used in a drug 
crime.

1986: National Guard and state police begin limited aerial searches to 
eradicate pot.  Congress authorizes Forest Service to join this fight, and 
Ky's Daniel Boone National Forest soon ranks No. 1 among the 156 national 
forests in number of pot plants destroyed.

1988: General Assembly makes it a felony to grow five or more marijuana 
plants.

1990: Governor's Marijuana Strike Task Force is formed, uniting local, state 
and federal agencies in effort to destroy marijuana.

1990-92: National Guard helicopter crews spend summer and fall helping 
destroy hundreds of thousands of marijuana plants.

1992: The year's biggest marijuana case in Kentucky involves Mexican pot.  A 
federal grand jury charges that 24 people conspired to import tons of pot to 
Kentucky, then ship it other [sic] states.  More indictments are expected.

$8 MILLION CRACKDOWN

The effort to destroy Kentucky's marijuana crop cost more than $8 million in 
1992.

Most of it was federal money, including $5.2 million from October 1991 to 
September 1992 for the Kentucky National Guard; $1.6 million for the state 
Justice Cabinet and state police; and more than $900,000 for the US Forest 
Service. 

The $8 million figure does not include salaries of state police officers 
switched to pot eradication.

Well, there it is (at least the part i'm willing to type in.)  The rest only 
addresses the reasons that hillbillies rely on pot to eat, live, and 
breath.. Thanks for any input.  Pick it apart, please.


-- 
Chad Helfenberger
(chelf@lunatix.uucp) 
Newsgroups: alt.drugs,rec.pets.cats