Shostack + Friends Blog Archive

 

Are Things Out of Whack?

picking-stuff.jpg

In North Dakota, the state agricultural commissioner, Roger Johnson, has proposed allowing () farming, and has been working with federal drug regulators on stringent regulations that would include fingerprinting farmers and requiring G.P.S. coordinates of () fields.

“We’ve done our level best to convince them we’re not a bunch of wackos,” Mr. Johnson said.

The quotes, with a single word replaced by (), are from the New York Times story, “California Seeks to Clear Hemp of a Bad Name.” Whatever you happen to think about the criminalization of plants and their products, I hope it’s clear that when we’re talking about fingerprinting farmers in order to convince someone that “we’re not wackos,” something is out of whack.

Photo: “Picking Stuff” by Lynt.

4 comments on "Are Things Out of Whack?"

  • Chris says:

    What are they smoking out there?

  • Mary Jane says:

    So, the idea is to find a farmer you dislike who participates in this program and throw a bunch of seeds onto his land, thereby framing him?

  • Adam says:

    That’s a curious GPS IP address that “Mary Jane” is coming from.

  • David Brodbeck says:

    Well, if I recall correctly, the whole reason the growing of industrial hemp (which is unsmokable) is banned is because the DEA fears they wouldn’t be able to distinguish a hemp field from a marijuana field. I assume that’s the reason for the GPS coordinates, so they can tell their air units to ignore that suspicious looking field over there…

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