Industrial Hemp-The Truth!

Hemp is one of the many species of the Cannabis plant. It is a herb native to Asia that has been grown and cultivated for thousands of years. It has been the staple diet of many different cultures throughout history including the colonial settlers. It is an environmentally friendly crop that may be grown in most climates and requires very little pesticides and fertilisers. It is of the same breed as marijuana, the psychedelic drug, but usually has less than 0.3% of the psychoactive ingredient that produces the 'high'.

I think hemp should be given an acceptable place in society. It is a strong durable fibre with products from the plant including paper, more than 5000 textiles, building materials, food, medicine, paint, detergent, varnish, oil, ink and many more. It is also possible to run a diesel engine on hemp without modification, reducing harmful emissions into the atmosphere.

There are several reasons why it has not been accepted. The cotton growing states in America would have lost out because cotton is a less durable fibre than hemp, it is the most pesticide intensive in the world with 28% of all pesticides produced being applied to it and it grows less than 2 feet tall in a season. Hemp grows 15 to 25 feet tall in a season, kills off other weeds thus requiring virtually no pesticides and produces 12 times as much textile fibre in a season than cotton. The petrochemical industry also saw a threat from the hemp plant. The capital-intensive nature of this industry means only a few of the biggest companies in the world have a stake in the market. It takes millions of dollars to drill the earth for crude oil and then process and crude oil is also a finite resource.

My second argument concerns the environment. Some studies indicate that an acre of hemp, in addition to its fibre production, will produce 300 gallons of oil that can produce either food or fuel. Because hemp takes in carbon dioxide when it grows, carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere during combustion can be discounted. Fossil fuels on the other hand have taken millions of years to form and the rate at which we are using them upsetting the natural balance in the atmoshere and is though to be the key contributor to global warming.

My third argument is that according to Dr Udo Eramus' recently revised doctoral thesis "Fats and Oils" (which has been used as a text book at many colleges and universities), "hempseed oil is the most perfectly balanced source of plant nutrition available." It was the staple crop of the colonial settlers (who also used it to make water pipes that lasted for more than 200 years underground) and nowadays the Galaxy resturaunt in Manhattan offers waffles flecked with hempseeds and mesculn with a vinaigrette of hempseed oil. The Gruel spoken about in pre 1900 stories and musicals such as Oliver Twist was also made from hemp, and as we pump excessive amounts of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere, fertilizers and pestacides into our rivers we are neglecting hempseed protien, the healthiest and most productive food crop on Earth.

Hemp is an efficient and economical crop with a relitivly short growth cycle of 120 days. Anywhere it has been grown it has boosted the local economy. With new technologies, the cost of hemp had dropped from $0.50 per ton down to $0.005 per ton.

Anti-marijuana groups fear that permitting the production of industrial hemp would lead to the legalisation of its hallucinogenic cousin. It would be very easy to hide a small crop of plants containing the psychoactive ingredient amounst fields of waving hemp plants.

Considering the fact that cannabis is not physically addictive, has the potential to ease the suffering of victims of back pain and MS and is already smoked by millions of bongheads regardless of the law, would it honestly be a mistake to completly legalise it? Policemen could stop wasting valuble time writing pointless reports on dope smokers and go and catch some real criminals and victims of traumatic illnesses could relieve their suffering without being branded as criminals. This is why it should be given an acceptable place in society. It is benificial to our ecconomy, the environment and our society in general.