Seven Maine families were recognized by the Serve Maine Awards on July 23, 2015. Thomas Jefferson said that the best way to help our country was to introduce a new useful agricultural plant species. These families braved social and family stigma to serve Maine and it’s people by resisting and changing unreasonable and unjustifiable statutes to reintroduce the “most profitable and desirable crop that can be grown” (USDA 1914). Eighty years ago the Federal ban on cannabis hemp was falsely codified by trickery, hysterical hearsay and racist emotional pleas. Science and medicine played no role in outlawing the most versatile plant known; for it’s fiber, cellulose, protein, oil, and medicine from the free agricultural market. The recipients, the Christens of Starks, the Browns of Starks, the Listers of Athens, the McCarriers of Belfast, the Bishops of Morrill, the Lewis’s of Manchester and the Melnicks of Cape Elizabeth received the awards from the Business Alliance for Commerce in Hemp.
Robert Stuart,
Lincoln
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less