The Wake

It’s the most controversial plant in existence and a subject with no clear right or wrong. Some believe the topic is completely taboo. Others find it absurd that there is any controversy at all. Your church youth leaders might like you to think of it as poison for both the body and soul, and your school administrators fashion it as the fast track to ruining your life. Ricky Williams thought it was worth walking away from fortunes in the NFL. And one of the’08 presidential front-runners, Barack Obama, is an admitted former user. One set of parents will send you straight to boot camp for coming home with a pair of red eyes and a smoky sweatshirt while another will recognize it as simply a part of growing up. Whatever your opinion, Café Scientifique: The Cannabis Controversy, was an event welcoming and ready to inform.

The lecture/discussion led by George Weiblen took place at the Varsity Theater in Dinkytown. The walls were hidden by red drapes and dark shadows cast from the unique arrangement of lights. There were tables in the middle of the floor and couches and sofa chairs on the sides. The floors were sleekly adorned with exotically patterned rugs. The faces of the excited audience were lit by the soft light of the evenly dispersed, mood-setting lamps. The crowd shuffled in at an appropriate pace, old bones considered. We were all greeted pleasantly by the distinct melodies of Simon and Garfunkel, and the soft beauty of the Kings of Convenience.

Weiblen is a graduate of Reed College in Portland and earned his Ph.D at Harvard University. His presentation started with a brief history of the plant, Cannabis sativa. He covered topics ranging from Utah’s involvement as the first state to pass a law against it to Thomas Jefferson’s promotion of hemp, which was a continued theme in government through World War II. This transitioned into our current problem, which is the inability to distinguish between hemp and marijuana. Once deep into this issue, Weiblen began to intensify his presentation, both in terms of his own delivery and the elevated choice of words. He reeled off all the different uses for hemp: it’s sturdier and easier to process than cotton, easier to produce than current paper and in many ways superior, and it’s a renewable resource for oil-based plastics. Yet due to the fact it is quite difficult for the police to distinguish hemp from marijuana, we can’t use it. Since the Controlled Substance Act of 1970, all hemp products have had to be foreign imports.

Despite the fact that I am the only kid in my hall not taking some form of an economics class, I felt I had comprehended all this to the fullest. It wasn’t until Weiblen started tossing out words like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidol (CBD), and glandular trichomes that things began to get a touch hazy. Basically, he explained how the THC-to-CBD ratio is directly proportional to how funny your friends are and how mind-blowing that guitar solo really just was. In marijuana, the percentage of THC to CBD is far greater than one, but in hemp it is less than one. He compared a type of marijuana from Holland (I believe you know which city), called Skunk #1, to some hemp from Minnesota and Canada. The Skunk #1 was 7.08 percent THC and 0.02 percent CBD while the hemp from Minnesota was 0.11 percent THC and 1.31 percent CBD. He also talked about the steps several states have taken to begin decriminalizing marijuana use. The punishment in Minnesota for being caught with 42.5 grams or less has been lowered to a $200 fine with a potential drug education class to follow. Even the ever conservative state of North Dakota is making strides. It was reported just last week that North Dakota will make a serious effort to persuade the United States Congress to repeal the anti-hemp law. They see it as a cash crop which could be vital.

Weiblen was unable to mask his growing frustrations when discussing the inability for those in his field to receive funding. C. sativa, undeterred by its illegal status, is by far our country’s greatest cash crop (a $35 billion a year industry). How can a plant of such enormous impact go almost completely unstudied? Six years ago, when Jesse Ventura was in office, things were moving in the direction of studying marijuana. “There was legislation proposed to increase funding back then,” Weiblen says, “and we’re starting to head back in that direction again. Things are being proposed that weren’t possibilities two years ago. There are big businesses that are getting out of oil … that could mean some really big things.” Considering our dependency on foreign oil is a problem with both economic and national security implications, the hemp issue could become a more serious contender.

I was really looking for a more candid discussion. After the applause subsided, a group of eight or nine audience members sought further explanations. Two appeared of college age; others looked a bit more seasoned. Two gentlemen in particular appeared unabashed contributors to the counter culture era. One managed to ask five separate questions throughout the Q and A session. He often times entirely neglected the Q and A format, electing instead to make off-topic statements demonstrating his prowess as a weed aficionado. “That ain’t true man,” corrected the large mustache-touting, hemp-apparel-supporter, “they’ve had weed that good around since the ’70s man, trust me.” His brother in experience walked straight to Wieblen, unimpressed by the notion that he might wait until the current conversation has ended. “I tell you what man; I had to smoke two or three times the amount of weed I smoke now man. It’s that hybrid stuff man.” Despite their lack of consideration for orderly questioning, they did help to loosen things up.

You may be a die-hard fan of the stoner comedy classic Half Baked. Or you might be totally opposed to marijuana use in any way. Maybe you’re somewhere in the middle, and you just really liked Kevin Spacey’s character in American Beauty. With marijuana use as a moral issue, I doubt if there will ever be a move toward consensus. But as an economical issue, it looks like hemp is on the rise.