Seattle Hempfest is an annual event in Seattle, Washington, Founded in 1991 as the Washington Hemp Expo, a self-described “humble gathering of stoners” attended by only 500 people, and renamed the following year as Hempfest, it has grown into a three-day annual reunion of like minded people, political rally, concert, forum for industrial hemp and arts and crafts fair with attendance typically over 400,000
by MaryJanesGirl™#HHW18
Hemp History Week 2018 is officially here and this a great time to Inspire hemp legalization with all the festivals and gatherings happening summer. With several states now legalizing cannabis , the Industrial Hemp discussion is now more prevalent and relevant. It is a real reality, a real option that many people have been advocating for decades and now those people with the help of the “new” advocates that are being found and created now will have a better, stronger chance of reintroducing Industrial Hemp to our farms, our industries, our lifestyle.
To help Inform you I suggest you do some light reading about hemp and it’s varied history. This book: http://www.jackherer.com/thebook/ was a groundbreaking book in it’s day and it’s author Jack Herer is still revered as the godfather of hemp. Good, easy light reading. After you get sense of what hemp is, the benefits of hemp, some of the industrial uses of the hemp plant, then take the next step and share what you learned, Involve others about it:
*tell a friend about hemp while hanging out,
*post a hemp question or fact on a forum and get the discussion going,
*write a letter congress support hemp legalization;http://capwiz.com/votehemp/issues/?style=D
*buy hemp products, like food ( hemp seeds) , clothes( yoga pants), fabric ( shower curtain)
*create art about hemp or using hemp paper, canvas, or fabric
*wear Hemp clothes, hemp shoes, hemp hat and flaunt it
*change your profile picture to support hemp legalization….
Support : www.hemphistoryweek.com
~MaryJanesGirl
by MaryJanesGirl™4:20 or 4/20 is a term used in North America as a discreet way to refer to the consumption and/or support of cannabis and, by extension, a way to identify oneself with the drug subculture around cannabis. Phrases such as “420 friendly” sometimes appear in roommate advertisements indicating that the current occupants are tolerant of cannabis users.
Although many diverse theories exist to explain the origin of the term, one central root of the phrase stems from a group of teenagers at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, California in 1971; the teens would meet after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke cannabis at the Louis Pasteur statue. The term became part of their group’s salute, “420 Louis!”, and became popularized in the late 1980s by fans of The Grateful Dead.
Many North American cannabis users continue to observe 4:20 as a time to smoke communally. By extension April 20 (“4/20”) has evolved into a counterculture holiday, where people gather to celebrate and consume cannabis. In some locations this celebration coincides with Earth Week.
420 is also the title of a comic book series featuring the alternative superhero Captain Cannabis. Noting that “the national weed smoking day is 4/20
As a hemp activist, 4/20 is an ideal day to gather to celebrate & educate others about the benefits of the hemp plant. So wear your hemp shirts, skirts, and shoes … create art about hemp or even better using hemp products….change your social networking photos to a pro hemp image and/or write a post about industrial hemp, link to sites that promote hemp knowledge and industrial hemp products.
Help others Rediscover Hemp this April 20th!
~MaryJanesGirl
Just because the #hempweek is ending doesn’t mean the rediscovering and celebration needs to end as well.
Being a contributor to Hemp History Week 2015 I offer this timeline of industrial hemp history
* Download this free time-line of industrial hemp history and use it as a talking point, as a base to your research to verify if the information is accurate, as a reference to milestones and history of Industrial Hemp
history of hemp timeline on RediscoverHemp 2015 pdf
by MaryJanesGirl™With #hhw15 starting this week ( June 1st) this a great time to Inspire hemp legalization with all the festivals and gatherings happening summer. With both Colorado and Washington state legalizing recreational cannabis , the Hemp discussion is now more prevalent and relevant. It is a real reality, a real option that many people have been advocating for decades and now those people with the help of the “new” advocates that are being found and created now will have a better, stronger chance of reintroducing Industrial Hemp to our farms, our industries, our lifestyle.
To help Inform you I suggest you do some light reading about hemp and it’s varied history. This book: http://www.jackherer.com/thebook/ was a groundbreaking book in it’s day and it’s author Jack Herer is still revered as the godfather of hemp. Good, easy light reading. After you get sense of what hemp is, the benefits of hemp, some of the industrial uses of the hemp plant, then take the next step and share what you learned, Involve others about it:
*tell a friend about hemp while hanging out,
*post a hemp question or fact on a forum and get the discussion going,
*write a letter congress support hemp legalization;http://capwiz.com/votehemp/issues/?style=D
*buy hemp products, like food ( hemp seeds) , clothes( yoga pants), fabric ( shower curtain)
*create art about hemp or using hemp
*wear Hemp clothes, hemp shoes, hemp hat and flaunt it
*change your profile picture to support hemp legalization….
Participate in Hemp History Week 2015! www.hemphistoryweek.com
~MaryJanesGirl
by MaryJanesGirl™This is an older film, but still has valuable information on what industrial #hemp is and it’s varied uses. A good way to #rediscoverhemp
by MaryJanesGirl™The new, revised, up to date version of the classic “Hempology 101 textbook” is available for purchase now and the 3rd edition, which is a few years old now, is available to read for free on the website below. I’m not sure how long the 3rd edition will remain there for free but I advise all hemp enthusiasts to take a little time of of your day and read the book, whether your buy the new version or read the older one.
The author, Ted Smith, is very passionate and knowledgeable about hemp and I have been fortunate enough to have listened to several of his lectures a few years back in Canada and he is truly a hemp advocate and a bookworm, a great combination for activism.
http://www.hempology.ca/textbook/index.html
by MaryJanesGirl™
For three days in August, hundreds of thousands of people will descend on Myrtle Edwards and Centennial Parks on Seattle’s waterfront for the 23rd annual Hempfest, traditionally the largest annual gathering of pro-cannabis supporters in the world. This year, 2014, the first legal cannabis stores opened in Washington State, making this another hallmark year in the journey to re-legalizing hemp nation-wide.
What started out as a “humble gathering of stoners” in 1991, conceived during a peace vigil in opposition of the first Gulf War and attracting a crowd of about 500 people, has grown to a world-renowned 3 day “protestival” celebrating human rights, equality, freedom, and of course, cannabis.
Spanning 1.3 miles, two public parks, six stages, and more than 300 vendors and being staffed by over 1,000 volunteers, Hempfest isn’t just the largest annual pro-pot rally in the world — it is also one of the largest special events in the State of Washington. Past performers have included well known bands such as Potluck, the Kottonmouth Kings, Fishbone, Rehab, and countless others, with notable speakers including Jack Herer, Woody Harrelson, Rick Steves, and many local and national political figures and marijuana reform activists addressing the crowds.
Hundreds of arts, crafts, and political vendors stretch the expanse of both parks, and the event features a “Hemposium” replete with panel discussions and presentations, displays, and workshops.
Munchies, of course, are available from a wide variety of food vendors, but don’t expect to find any cannabis for sale; despite Washington’s relaxed marijuana laws, it is an enhanced felony to sell cannabis, cannabis food, or other drugs in a city park, with all penalties — including fines and jail time — doubled.
Because Hempfest is a free speech event in a public park, the passage of Initiative 502 will not change the event’s entrance policy to be 21+. Hempfest remains open to all ages, but organizers remind minors wishing to attend the event to discuss the matter with a parent or guardian.
In addition, Hempfest organizers would like to remind the cannabis community of the following:
Alcohol, narcotics and weapons are strictly prohibited
Dogs, with the exception of working service animals, are not allowed
Unauthorized vending is prohibited
Cannabis sales of any kind, including edible treats or medical marijuana sales, are not only prohibited at the event, but they also remain an enhanced felony in the park
No fireworks, spray paint, or handheld torches are allowed in the park
Genital nudity is prohibited at Hempfest
Overnight camping is prohibited at Hempfest, but there are several campgrounds within a short drive of Downtown Seattle
Bicycle riders must dismount and walk their bikes at all times for public safety
Please help keep the parks clean, put your trash in the trash bins
Click this link to SHF for more information about attending
Clink this link to Seattle Hempfest for information on volunteering for hempfest the week before, the weekend of SHF, and week after hempfest.
The legal “pot stores” in Washington State open to the public today. This is a historical moment that deserves mention. While I won’t be in the frenzy , it does feel so good seeing this “dream” come into actuality. Consume and enjoy safely….and don’t forget about Industrial Hemp…like that is the whole point of this site 😉 So read something, holla at me and ask a question about industrial hemp and why it is so damn good and important we incorporate back into our daily lives.
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Lines-form-as-legal-marijuana-sales-start-in-Wash-state–266211771.html
by MaryJanesGirl™
by MaryJanesGirl™Marching through Seattle urging people to change the laws, stop arresting adults, grow industrial hemp nation wide!
Starting at Volunteer Park in the front grass pavilion, live music by local artists and speakers from all walks of the activist community set the tone for the rally.
After speakers and music conclude here, we walk through the streets from Capitol Hill all the way Downtown Seattle to Westlake Park, for even MORE music and speakers.
For people who prefer to relax with a joint instead of a beer or martini , April 20th is a time to celebrate, especially if you live in the states of Washington or Colorado. Or the country of Uruguay. For those who don’t use cannabis of use hemp products it’s a time to stand up in support of their friends, family, and fellow citizens who face arrest for nothing more than what they put into their body. For the Drug Policy Alliance and the drug policy reform movement 4/20 represents something even bigger.
Fortunately, the tide is quickly turning against the war on cannabis & hemp. The movement to end cannabis prohibition is very broad, composed of people who love cannabis, people who hate cannabis, and people who don’t have strong feelings about cannabis use one way or the other. We all agree on one thing though – cannabis prohibition is doing more harm than good. It’s wasting taxpayer dollars and police resources, filling our jails and prisons with hundreds of thousands of nonviolent people, and increasing crime and violence in the same way alcohol Prohibition did. .
The war on cannabis won’t end, however, if everyone who supports reform stays silent. Maybe you smoke cannabis and are tired of being considered a criminal. Maybe you work in law enforcement and are tired of ruining people’s lives by arresting them. Maybe you’re a teacher or public health advocate tired of politicians cutting money for education and health to pay for the construction of new jails and prisons Maybe you’re a civil rights activist appalled by racial disparities in cannabis law enforcement. Or maybe you just don’t want your tax dollars wasted on ineffective policies.
Regardless of your motivation, April 20th (4/20) is a good opportunity for you to make a pledge to end cannabis prohibition. The Drug Policy Alliance is asking people to use 4/20 as the time to commit to doing something in 2014 to end the war on people who use cannabis. There are many ways to help end cannabis prohibition. Tell your elected representatives to end cannabis prohibition. Talk to your friends and family about why people who use cannabis shouldn’t be arrested. Wear hemp clothes and tell others about them. Twitter this. Change your Facebook status to announce your support for ending the war on cannabis. Stand up today with other Americans and get the word out there. This war will end; how soon depends, in part, on you
Legalizing marijuana is supported by clear majorities in Western, Eastern, and Midwestern states, and majorities in at least some Southern states such as Texas and Louisiana. 20 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical use. 16 states have eliminated criminal penalties for marijuana possession. Colorado and Washington have legalized marijuana like alcohol, with Alaska, California, Oregon and many other states likely to join them between now and November 2016..
http://www.drugpolicy.org/reforming-marijuana-laws
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/146412/don%27t_just_smoke_a_joint_on_4_20_–_take_action_against_cannabis_prohibition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/420_(cannabis_culture)
by MaryJanesGirl™
With Hemp History Week 2014 being just around the corner this a great time to Inspire hemp legalization with all the festivals and gatherings happening this 4/20 and summer. With both Colorado and Washington state legalizing cannabis last year, the Hemp discussion is now more prevalent and relevant. It is a real reality, a real option that many people have been advocating for decades and now those people with the help of the “new” advocates that are being found and created now will have a better, stronger chance of reintroducing Industrial Hemp to our farms, our industries, our lifestyle.
To help Inform you I suggest you do some light reading about hemp and it’s varied history. This book: http://www.jackherer.com/thebook/ was a groundbreaking book in it’s day and it’s author Jack Herer is still revered as the godfather of hemp. Good, easy light reading. After you get sense of what hemp is, the benefits of hemp, some of the industrial uses of the hemp plant, then take the next step and share what you learned, Involve others about it:
*tell a friend about hemp while hanging out,
*post a hemp question or fact on a forum and get the discussion going,
*write a letter congress support hemp legalization;http://capwiz.com/votehemp/issues/?style=D
*buy hemp products, like food ( hemp seeds) , clothes( yoga pants), fabric ( shower curtain)
*create art about hemp or using hemp
*wear Hemp clothes, hemp shoes, hemp hat and flaunt it 😉
*change your profile picture to support hemp legalization….
Support : www.hemphistoryweek.com
~MaryJanesGirl
by MaryJanesGirl™
This is the book that started the cannabis hemp revolution. Jack wanted this information to be available to everyone, so he published the text of the book on the internet for free. Though Jack Herer passed on from this life in 2010, his words, research, and influence continue to positively affect the hemp movement.
SEATTLE, WA — For three days in August, hundreds of thousands of people will descend on Myrtle Edwards and Centennial Parks on Seattle’s waterfront for the 22nd annual Hempfest, traditionally the largest annual gathering of pro-cannabis supporters in the world. But following last year’s historic passage of Initiative 502, which legalized the adult possession of marijuana in the state, this year’s Hempfest promises one thing that the previous 21 did not: a victory celebration.
What started out as a “humble gathering of stoners” in 1991, conceived during a peace vigil in opposition of the first Gulf War and attracting a crowd of about 500 people, has grown to a world-renowned 3 day “protestival” celebrating human rights, equality, freedom, and of course, cannabis.
Spanning 1.3 miles, two public parks, six stages, and more than 300 vendors and being staffed by over 1,000 volunteers, Hempfest isn’t just the largest annual pro-pot rally in the world — it is also one of the largest special events in the State of Washington.
With a Special Events permit requiring a $1 million insurance policy, emergency evacuation plans, and safety and security personnel, Hempfest is not a “pot party in the park”; it is a bona-fide political rally whose organizers work closely with city officials to ensure a successful — and peaceful — annual tradition.
Past performers have included well known bands such as Potluck, the Kottonmouth Kings, Fishbone, Rehab, and countless others, with notable speakers including Jack Herer, Woody Harrelson, Rick Steves, and many local and national political figures and marijuana reform activists addressing the crowds.
This year’s event will have a distinct theme for each day of the weekend. On Friday, the festival will focus on No Federal Schedule (the End Game), followed by Harm Reduction, Youth Use & Dependency on Saturday and Voter Power: Your Vote and Democracy on Sunday.
Hundreds of arts, crafts, and political vendors stretch the expanse of both parks, and the event features a “Hemposium” replete with panel discussions and presentations, displays, and workshops.
Munchies, of course, are available from a wide variety of food vendors, but don’t expect to find any cannabis for sale; despite Washington’s relaxed marijuana laws, it is an enhanced felony to sell cannabis, cannabis food, or other drugs in a city park, with all penalties — including fines and jail time — doubled.
McPeak also points out a few important changes to this year’s event.
Most notably, handheld canister propellant torches and butane torches are no longer allowed in the park under a new city law aimed at preventing wildfires. While this may put a damper on dabbing, “we need to warn the community that those devices will be absolutely restricted by Seattle law,” McPeak says.
With the completion of the Stephen Colbert Bridge to Somewhere, accessible at 3rd Ave West and West Harrison Streets, a third entrance to Hempfest will now be open, which organizers hope will reduce some of the crowding and long lines that can sometimes form at the North and South entrances.
Because Hempfest is a free speech event in a public park, the passage of Initiative 502 will not change the event’s entrance policy to be 21+. Hempfest remains open to all ages, but organizers remind minors wishing to attend the event to discuss the matter with a parent or guardian.
In addition, Hempfest organizers would like to remind the cannabis community of the following:
Alcohol, narcotics and weapons are strictly prohibited
Dogs, with the exception of working service animals, are not allowed
Unauthorized vending is prohibited
Cannabis sales of any kind, including edible treats or medical marijuana sales, are not only prohibited at the event, but they also remain an enhanced felony in the park
No fireworks, spray paint, or handheld torches are allowed in the park
Genital nudity is prohibited at Hempfest
Overnight camping is prohibited at Hempfest, but there are several campgrounds within a short drive of Downtown Seattle
Bicycle riders must dismount and walk their bikes at all times for public safety
Please help keep the parks clean
—————————————————————————————–
The Seattle Police Department issued an FAQ about what people can and can’t do with their pot as a result of the passage of I-502.
http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2012/11/09/marijwhatnow-a-guide-to-legal-marijuana-use-in-seattle/
by MaryJanesGirl™It’s the final day of the official Hemp History Week 2013 and a good reminder that whether you use words, images, music or performance pieces, there are many ways to involve yourself in being an active activist for the causes you believe in. It may take just a few moments or a few weeks…it can be simple or complex, small or huge, all efforts add up, what matters is that you attempt to affect change.
~mjg
by MaryJanesGirl™
June 3-9, 2013 is the 4th annual Hemp History Week. Now in its forth year, Hemp History Week (www.hemphistoryweek.com) is the largest national, grassroots marketing and public education effort to renew strong support for hemp farming in the U.S. and raise awareness about the benefits of hemp products. Hemp History Week is an opportunity to have our voices heard in support of bringing hemp back to U.S. farms.
Hemp is a traditional American crop, grown by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Despite the fact that industrial hemp has no drug value, misguided federal policy criminalized the cultivation of industrial hemp in the U.S.. This outdated policy has created a missed opportunity for American farmers and consumers alike.
U.S. consumers are demanding U.S. grown hemp. Today, millions of consumers know hemp as a healthful source of plant-based protein and Omega 3s and 6s. They are purchasing hemp clothing, using hemp paper, and may even live in an energy efficient home being built with hemp. The Hemp market is rapidly growing where SPINS marketing data from 2012, showed up $156 million in retail sales of hemp-based foods, nutritional supplements, and body care products. The Hemp Industries Association has reviewed sales of clothing, auto parts, building materials and various other products, and it estimates the total retail value of hemp products sold in the U.S. in 2012 to be over $500 million.
Hemp is an untapped opportunity for American farmers and this is a crop that pays. Industrial hemp has been grown in Canada since 1999. Today, Canadian hemp farmers net an average $200-$400 per acre for hemp grown just north of the U.S. border. Hemp farming supports not just farms, but secondary businesses such as processing and manufacturing, creating jobs and building the health of local economies.
During Hemp History Week, our U.S. Senators need to hear from us on behalf of industrial hemp. The campaign is leading a drive to collect 100 letters to Senators in each of the 50 states in support of industrial hemp farming legislation. Write a letter at http://www.hemphistoryweek.com/takeaction
There are many compelling reasons for lawmakers to support industrial hemp. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) explains: “There are several successful businesses in my state who are manufacturing healthy and sustainable products made from hemp. Currently these companies are forced to import their raw materials from Canada and other countries. Changing federal policy to allow American farmers the right to grow hemp right here at home will help these companies thrive, while creating new economic opportunities in Oregon and across the country.”
Support for hemp is building. Hemp History Week is a diverse campaign that includes farmers; prominent natural foods and products sponsors; grassroots organizers; college students; restaurants; and as many as 800+ participating retail stores, including most Whole Foods Market locations in the U.S. By hosting events, educating communities, offering promotions, and spreading the word, together these groups are expanding the base of support for industrial hemp. Farmers play a key roll in this conversation. There are many ways that you can support this campaign. To learn more and find out how you can get involved visit http://hemphistoryweek.com/getinvolved.php and check out the Hemp History Week Farmer Toolkit for helpful resources on hemp farming. http://hemphistoryweek.com/eventkit.php
by MaryJanesGirl™Cannabis Freedom March In Seattle, Wa where Cannabis was legalized last year. This is a good time and opportunity to share with others what you know about hemp or your chance to learn more about hemp
Don’t Just Smoke a Joint on 4/20 — Take Action Against Marijuana Prohibition
By Bill Piper
The movement to end cannabis prohibition is very broad, composed of people who love cannabis, people who hate cannabis, and people who don’t have strong feelings about cannabis use one way or the other. We all agree on one thing though – cannabis prohibition is doing more harm than good. It’s wasting taxpayer dollars and police resources, filling our jails and prisons with hundreds of thousands of nonviolent people, and increasing crime and violence in the same way alcohol Prohibition did. Police made more than 750,000 arrests for cannabis possession in 2008 alone. Those arrested were separated from their loved ones, branded criminals, denied jobs, and in many cases prohibited from accessing student loans, public housing and other public assistance.
The war on cannabis won’t end, however, if everyone who supports reform stays silent. Maybe you smoke cannabis and are tired of being considered a criminal. Maybe you work in law enforcement and are tired of ruining people’s lives by arresting them. Maybe you’re a teacher or public health advocate tired of politicians cutting money for education and health to pay for the construction of new jails and prisons Maybe you’re a civil rights activist appalled by racial disparities in cannabis law enforcement. Or maybe you just don’t want your tax dollars wasted on ineffective policies.
Regardless of your motivation, April 20th (4/20) is a good opportunity for you to make a pledge to end cannabis prohibition. The Drug Policy Alliance is asking people to use 4/20 as the time to commit to doing something in 2011 to end the war on people who use cannabis. There are many ways to help end cannabis prohibition. Donate to a drug policy reform organization. Tell your elected representatives to end cannabis prohibition. Talk to your friends and family about why people who use cannabis shouldn’t be arrested. Twitter this. Change your Facebook status to announce your support for ending the war on cannabis. Stand up today with other Americans and get the word out there. This war will end; how soon depends, in part, on you.
by MaryJanesGirl™Hemp History Week is next month (May) and now is a good time to start brainstorming and solidify how you want to contribute to HHW 2013. Taking a picture and adding your words ( or someone else’s, just remember to give credit ) to spread the message and get people talking may be one of the easiest ways to be an activist online.
Right now images speak volumes. Make it count!
by MaryJanesGirl™free poster by a dope artist. check out their website and help spread the thought, the idea, the message.
Rediscover Hemp!
by MaryJanesGirl™
The hemp plant was one of humankind’s first cultivated plants and there is quite a lot to educate oneself about this greatly historical plant. With the help of the hemp plant we, as a society could eliminate smog from current fuels, create a cleaner energy source that can replace nuclear power, remove radioactive waste from the soil, and eliminate smog from our skies in more industrialized areas. The hemp plant could assist in eliminating non-biodegradable plastics and cars by reintroducing Henry Ford’s 100 year old dream of building cars made from hemp with a plastic hemp car body that can withstand a blow 10 times as great as steel without denting, weighs 1 thousand pounds less than steel, hence improving gas mileage, can run on a vegetable oil based all natural hemp fuel, and has a completely biodegradable body. Nationwide hemp production could eliminate deforestation by converting current paper to hemp paper which can be recycled up to 8 times where as our current wood pulp is only recyclable up to 3 times, and we could thrive from eating hemp seeds and feeding it to our animals and livestock.
Industrial hemp can make our future roads, highways and freeways from hemp based concrete, which lasts for centuries. Society can benefit from the hemp plant’s attributes such as oxygen production, hemp’s dense root structure, and hemp’s nutrient and nitrogen production back into the soil. Chemicals in cannabis can be used in medicines and are estimated to treat around 250 diseases and illnesses, from which studies have shown inhibits the growth of cancer cells in rats, as well as a long list of other ailments. Finally, we could make an estimated 50,000 products ranging from building composites, cellophane, dynamite to shampoo, textiles, twine and yarn. If the US grew industrial hemp it could stop wars, save the environment, boost our economy, improve general health and well being, virtually end our reliance on any foreign entity, and save humankind from itself. But wait, wait, wait. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning.
Studies have shown that hemp’s biomass can be converted into energy and could replace nuclear power and our current fossil fuels.[Belle, Mika] Just by farming 6 percent of the US’s acreage this could be achieved. “Hemp grown in biomass could fuel a trillion-dollar-per-year industry, while at the same time create more jobs, clean our air, and distribute wealth to our communities and away from centralized power monopolies.” Hemp’s biomass can be converted into gasoline, methanol, and methane at a fraction of the current cost of oil, coal, or nuclear energy.
An article from Montana State University states, “When burned in a diesel engine, bio-diesel replaces the exhaust odor of petroleum diesel with a smell something akin to french-fries. Bio-diesel is 11 percent oxygen by weight and contains no sulfur, so instead of creating sulfur-based smog and acid rain as by-products, it produces 11 percent oxygen instead. Bio-diesel can be made from domestically produced, renewable oilseed crops such as hemp.” The hemp grown through government farming and regulation is called “industrialized hemp” and contains no more than 0.03 percent THC content, which is not a high enough percentage for drug use. Canada, China, and England are examples of countries who have never prohibited, but instead have responsibly grown, produced, and thrived off of industrialized hemp [Hemp].
Imagine being able to dump our nuclear waste somewhere that wouldn’t have any adverse effects on the surrounding environment. The hemp plant can help with that as well. A nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Russia had a meltdown April 1986 and experiments have shown that the hemp plant can help remove the toxicity in the soil. “There is an estimated 30,000 sites in the United States are estimated to be needing hazardous waste treatment” and the hemp plant is the answer to this terrible environmental issue.[The McGraw Hill Companies].
Henry Ford had a dream of “cars made from the soil” and created the first bio-fueled car and also, a car made from hemp. The body of the car was made out of veggie-plastics made from flax, wheat, hemp, and spruce pulp.[Davis, Richard M] As an experiment, Ford struck the door with an ax in the dead of winter and it didn’t leave a dent. The material was “ten times” stronger than steel and yet one-third the weight, hence saving on gas mileage. “Popular Mechanics Magazine, Vol. 76, No. 6, December,1941. Title: Auto Body Made of Plastics Resists Denting Under Hard Blows.“[Carver, George Washington] Henry Ford’s dream was saving American lives, human lives. The car was completely bio-degradable and so with that Henry Ford achieved his dream of “a car made from the soil.”[Malmo-Levine, David] Fords cars were in my definition: the poor person’s car. A car you could sustain on your own, distilling your own alcohol, or hemp and creating your own fuel in your own backyard while saving your family thousands of dollars per year. Hemp oil was even used, as grease to lubricate parts within the car’s engine. [Malmo-Levine, David]
Ford’s dream materialized before me, as I learned how he made a car grown from the soil, a car made out of and run off of hemp, and a plastic that is scientifically documented to be ten times stronger than steel and one thousand pounds less in weight. If this were our implemented into current day driving would be like bumper cars and getting into a crash might no longer be such an intensive insurance matter. If all the cars on the road were made with hemp the injuries and deaths would become considerably less. Industrial Hemp must again become our main crop producer and be used in the making of every single car produced in America. The hemp plant could saves millions of American lives. “Car accidents involving other moving vehicles accounted for the large majority of accident deaths in California in 2004 with 1,336 deaths due to collisions with other vehicles. This accounts for about 35% of all fatal car wrecks throughout the state. Telephone poles, palm trees, street signs and other stationary objects accounted for another 1,072 auto accident deaths in 2004.” [Resource 4 Accidents]
Despite Industrial Hemp having 50,000 uses, Dupont, Rockefeller, Hearst, Mellon and their constituents cornered the industrial and medicinal market with political propaganda. Dupont created Nylon, owned General Motors and was “one of the top ten U.S. based petroleum and natural gas producers and refiners.”[DuPont] Rockefeller owned Standard Oil and was soon known as the “richest man in modern history.”[Rockefeller] This is a political science paper and can be viewed at one of my Blogs here at http://marijuana-tax-act-1937.blogspot.com/. But lets not get off topic, so big business and capitalistic politics thrived and outlawed the hemp plant that had sustained the United States of America, since the days of our founding fathers and all for someone else’s selfish monopolistic goals.[Malmo-Levine, David] Henry Ford achieved his dream, but he was denied any true public recognition and any further industrial hemp progression. Every citizen of America was denied Henry Ford’s hemp dream of a car made from the soil.
In 100 BC, hemp paper was invented in China using hemp and mulberry. Since 100 AD, when the Romans wrote a guide to farming hemp it has since been farmed all over the known world. From the Germans, Franks, Vikings, Chinese (who have never prohibited the use of hemp all-throughout history), English, Canadians, Egyptians, and even Americans all grew, produced, and thrived off of hemp. In 1150 AD, Muslims created the first paper mill and for the next 700 years hemp paper was what most civilizations wrote upon.[Schaffer, C.] Civilizations around the world and for example; during the Napaleonic Era, ship’s sails, ropes, and sailor’s clothing were made from hemp.
Hemp paper can be recycled up to eight times while the current pulp wood fiber can only be recycled three times. By farming hemp throughout the United States and even the world it could assist in reducing deforestation by 50 percent, or more.[Hemphasis] George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were two examples of historical spokespersons for growing hemp and in 1619 the Virginia Company made hemp cultivation mandatory, which increased commerce with England and helped the American economy thrive. Our Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper and our first American Flag was made out of hemp. [Schaffer, C.] These historical economical and industrial concepts and examples can easily be applied to present day.
“Hemp seeds contain beneficial omega fatty acids and amino acids, more than any other source.” The seeds can be used in a number of food dishes in baking, prepared as tea, any type of food like ice cream, and milk. Cultures all over the world have consumed hemp seeds in times of famine to prevent starvation which has saved millions of lives.[Saunders, Clare] The nutritional facts astounding, for example; hemp seeds contains 20 percent complete and highly digest-able protein.[Earth Friendly Network] Canadian Hemp seed exports surged 300 percent a few years back and China, and other eastern countries have to this day never prohibited hemps cultivation and use it extensively. [Hemp]
“Only 1 acre of hemp is said to produce more oxygen than 25 acres of current forest.” [Bryon, Alan D.] Theoretically, if our cities had greenhouses on top of all the office buildings, like in Los Angeles, filled with hemp then the massive output of oxygen would be a massive intake of carbon dioxide. This in turn should make our cities skies once again blue, healthy and smog free. Methane is one of the main producers of green house gases and one of the many major causes for dramatic global climate change. [Hopwood, Nick, and Jordan Cohen] Therefore, our farmers can grow hemp in our cow pastures, so the hemp plants can have first hand absorption of methane gases via cow farts, and burps. The cows can also eat directly from the hemp plants around them, which would eliminate the need to use hormones and steroids, due to hemp’s nutritional facts.[Earth Friendly Network]
Hemp has a superior connection with the earth compared to other plants. When you plant hemp in an area that is infested with Canadian Thwack Grass, or Canadian Thistle Grass, the hemp plant’s dense root structure will smother out these invasive weeds and make that land again arable.[West, D.P.] Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to Congress back when the colonies were first founded that requested that the government grow hemp instead of tobacco.[Hemp] Tobacco drains all nitrogen and nutrients from the soil, which leaves the land less arable, or harder to farm upon. Hemp restores nutrients and nitrogen back into the soil. [Davis, Richard M.] Another attribute is that hemp is drought and disease resistance, which gives hemp the added advantage of being able to be grown in even the most dry to wet climates and has little-to-no need for pesticides, because the hemp plant is highly resistant to plant diseases, illnesses, and pests. Hemp’s dense root structure helps prevent mudslides, erosion, and natural catastrophes. The hemp plant is one of the only plants that can be harvested year-around in states like California, or Florida for example, due to the harsh climates in those regions.[Davis, Richard M.]
In France there are bridges centuries old made out of a mixture of hemp and lime. This process is called Iso’Chanvre and is another great example of possible industrial innovations regarding the hemp plant.[Rawganique] Society could build roads and bridges that wouldn’t require continuous repairs and wouldn’t require endless tax payer dollars each year. Clothes, pottery, shoes, jewelry, shampoos, pies and so much more can be made from hemp and no part of the plant would go unused. From hemp’s roots, stems, leaves, and even what might be considered waste from the hemp plant can be produced into any of the estimated 50,000 products.
Our current education doesn’t teach us that Columbus sailed across the Atlantic with the rope on his ships, the caulking and rigging, and yes the sails, all were made from hemp.[Schaffer, C.] There was also no mention in our history books of the endless crates of hemp seeds Columbus and the other ships brought with them. Not only did they survive by eating the hemp seeds, but they planted the seeds in America and overtime, hemp now creates an estimated 50,000 products.[Carver, George Washington] The hemp plant’s most common product is it’s fiber, especially the bast fibers which are extremely strong and durable.
Hemp can also be used in building composite material such as beams, studs, fire resistant building materials, fiberboard and even such things as paint, varnish, ink and carpet. There seems to be a consensus that hemp building composite materials are stronger, more durable and flexible than our currently used wood pulp composite building material. “In 1935, two years before being outlawed, 116 million pounds of hemp seed were used in the United States to produce paint and varnish.”[Robbins Pet Care] Is there anything hemp can’t be made out of? Hemp wood composite is fire durable, which would benefit those who lived in fire sensitive areas.
Regarding marijuana: You can avoid the whole problem of growing hemps psychoactive counterpart cannabis aka marijuana by growing the plants in a controlled environment and exposing the female plants to male plants. When the female plants are pollinated by the male plants their (THC) or Tetra-hydra-cannibanol level begins to drop. The longer the plants are held in these pollinating and harsh conditions, the THC level will continue to drop and you can maintain the THC percentage to stay below 0.03 percent making it impossible to use the plant as a drug.[Innvista] If other countries can responsibly produce and cultivate hemp for industrial uses then there is no reason why America cannot responsibly produce and cultivate the hemp plant too. Unless we aren’t a responsible nation?
Archaeologists have found evidence linking hemp and its psychoactive counterpart marijuana back to 8,000 BC when agriculture and hemp textile industries began in Europe and Asia [Medical Cannabis]. By 3725 BC, Shen Nung Pen Ts’ao of China wrote of cannabis in the world’s first medical text and Ts’ao declared cannabis as “a superior herb.”[Schaffer, C.] Cannabis sativa have been used for medicinal purposes for 4,800 years and has been prescribed for over 250 illnesses and diseases, for example: Asthma, insomnia, often used to treat pain in childbirth, migraines, used for AIDS and Cancer patients allowing them to have an appetite, glaucoma, relieves anorexia in Alzheimer’s patients, mental health, it can be used as suppositories for relieving the pain of hemorrhoids, and depression are just a few examples of the many conditions that cannabis alleviates.[Medical Cannabis] Recent studies in Italy have shown that a chemical found in marijuana, inhibits the growth of cancer cells in rats. THC pills, or Marinol, synthetic THC, are made with the ingredients necessary for the specific treatment of those disease, or illness, but some patients cannot swallow these pills, due to their condition and that is when smoking the plant is applied. There are countless other examples of marijuana’s beneficial medicinal properties, but here are two final and thought provoking examples to contemplate over: Medicinal marijuana is used to treat alcohol addiction and other drugs such as heroin and is used to treat post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in war veterans.
With the facts and knowledge acquired, it is apparent that hemp is humankind’s savior and that hemp must be re-implemented into our countries way of life. General George Washington stated, “Grow it everywhere, hemp is greatly viable for winning the war and sustaining a future fantastic for America.”
Are we at war with nature, or perhaps is nature at war with us? Hemp is grown by almost every civilized country and hemp benefits those countries economies and their countries citizen’s health. To not take the scientific approach in making the decision to legalize and produce industrial hemp is dooming humankind to more needless sufferings and perhaps even another Ice Age. Our current dramatic, devastatingly, unpredictable weather breaks records each year and these violent weather patterns are the first signs of nature’s end means. If the icebergs of the world melt, the sea level will raise by 20 feet, or more and force extinction upon millions of animal and plant species, and kill and displace millions of human beings worldwide. The Philippines, Hawaii, Florida and countless other countries, cities and homes will all be underwater if this were to occur.[Climatecrisis.net] Can you imagine watching the sunset with your child and as the low tide rolls out it reveals the rooftops of houses now underwater.
Only by the legalization of Industrial Hemp and its removal from Schedule 1 of The Controlled Substance Act, can we start working immediately towards the one thing that can save humankind from itself.[110th Congress] America would have a cleaner fuel and energy source, we would dispose of nuclear waste more efficiently, we’d create cars that could reduce traffic fatalities and are completely biodegradable, we’d have a paper product that can be recycled up to 8 times, instead of just 3 times, we’d reduce deforestation by 50 percent nationwide and eventually, worldwide, we’d have an endless supply of food products, livestock bedding, livestock feed and the benefits of the endless nutritional facts backing hemp. imagine roads, freeways and highways that wouldn’t require monthly repairs and endless taxpayer dollars, preventing landslides and improving our farming industry by using hem, as a crop rotator, having an estimated 50,000 industrial bio-degradable products, and regarding medicinal marijuana, having over 250 medicinal uses that could ease the suffering of so many people who simply can’t afford the proper care, or treatment.
The facts and history of hemp show boldly how important it is to humankind that we should all support hemps production and usage for our countries economical and health related benefits. With the debate of global warming over and as I like to call it, “dramatic global climate change” fast approaching we need someone, or something to save us from humankind’s destination. There are many facts and products that haven’t been discussed here and there is so much more relating to the history and benefits of the hemp plant for humankind. Only with relentless and patient education and constant communication can society overcome the propaganda and misperception surrounding the hemp plant. These fallacies have masked the history and extraordinary uses and benefits of the hemp plant. We, as a society, must continue learning and teaching others about the hemp plant and we must always network what we learn to others. If you’ve learned something from reading this article that you hadn’t known before you can help by spreading this knowledge of hemp to anyone and everyone. Can you imagine the gold mine waiting in everyone’s backyards, or empty fields, or, those thousands of acres of unused land nationwide, or along the sides of our freeways and highways?
The hemp plant is humankind’s savior and the more society knows, the sooner we can put into action what we have learned and the better off our future generations will be. There are an estimated 50,000 industrial uses that can benefit every aspect of our daily lives from this one humble and misunderstood plant, and the facts can’t be denied any longer. I think I see a light at the end of this long, dark tunnel.
So remember to Seek the facts, Confront the truth, and Pass it on.
by MaryJanesGirl™http://www.hempstersthemovie.com/master.html
by MaryJanesGirl™
An explosion at a nuclear reactor on April 26th, 1986 in Chernobyl, Ukraine created the world’s worst nuclear disaster – so far.
The blast heavily contaminated agricultural lands in a 30 km radius around the reactor. The few people still living there must monitor their food and water for radiation. However the combination of a new technology (phytoremediation) and an old crop (industrial hemp) may offer the Ukraine a way to decontaminate it’s radioactive soil.
In 1998, Consolidated Growers and Processors (CGP), PHYTOTECH, and the Ukraine’s Institute of Bast Crops began what may be one of the most important projects in history – the planting of industrial hemp for the removal of contaminants in the soil near Chernobyl.
CGP is an ecologically-minded multinational corporation which finances the growing and processing of sustainable industrial crops such as flax, kenaf, and industrial hemp. CGP operates in North America, Europe and the Ukraine.
PHYTOTECH (see webpage: www.phytotech.com ) specializes in phytoremediation, the general term for using phyto (plants) to remediate (clean up) polluted sites. Phytoremediation can be used to remove radioactive elements from soil and water at former weapons producing facilaties. It can also be used to clean up metals, pesticides, solvents, explosives, crude oil, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and toxins leaching from landfills.
Plants break down or degrade organic pollutants and stabilize metal contaminants by acting as filters or traps. PHYTOTECH is conducting feild trials to improve the phytoextraction of lead, uranium, cesium-137, and strontium-90 from soils and also from water.
Founded in 1931, the Institute of Bast Crops is now the leading research institution in the Ukraine working on seed-breeding, seed-growing, cultivating, harvesting and processing hemp and flax.
The Bast Institute has a genetic bank including 400 varieties of hemp from various regions of the world.
“Hemp is proving to be one of the best phyto-remediative plants we have been able to find,” said Slavik Dushenkov, a research scienst with PHYTOTECH. Test results have been promising and CGP, PHYOTECH and the Bast Institute plan full scale trials in the Chernobyl region in the spring of 1999.
Industrial hemp is not a drug. Unlike its cousin marijuana, industrial hemp has only trace amounts of THC – the chemical that produces the high. In 1973, the Department of the Interior and Department of Health and Agriculture of the former USSR issued an ultimatim to the Institute of Bast Crops – either create non-psycoactive varities of hemp or stop cultivating hemp. So, scientists at the institute created an industrial hemp plant containing only minute traces of THC. Modern testing in Canada confirmed the low THC content of the Bast Institute’s hemp.
New technologies in hemp harvesting and processing are also being developed at the Institute whose library contains more than 55,000 volumes mainly on hemp-growing and flax-growing.
Chernobyl may seem distant, but the EPA estimates that there are more than 30,000 sites requiring hazardous waste treatment throughout the U.S. including Hanford and Three Mile Island.
Phytoremediation with industrial hemp could be used at many of these sites. Unfortunantly, the U.S. government refuses to legalize the cultivation of industrial hemp and clings to the obsolete myth that it is a drug.
source: http://www.hemp.net/news/9901/06/hemp_eats_chernobyl_waste.html
© Central Oregon Green Pages
by Elaine Charkowski
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, news clippings are made available without profit for research and educational purposes.
by MaryJanesGirl™There aren’t many things upon which long-haired radical Ben Masel, state Department of Agriculture official Erwin “Bud” Sholts, agronomy researcher Pat LeMahieu and corporate head George Tyson can be expected to agree. Among them: kicking puppies is mean, Drano should not be taken internally, and hemp – commonly known as marijuana – could become a major cash crop for Wisconsin.
According to these and other participants in a, ahem, budding scientific discussion, the hemp plant could be cultivated not just for such traditional uses as rope and fabric, but also as a readily renewable resource for making paper, construction materials, high protein food, and safe, clean fuel.
Masel, director of the Wisconsin Chapter of NORML, (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), in 1990 spoke in more than 50 US cities on the potential uses of the pot plant. Scientific American last December published an item on the nascent “grass-roots” movement in support of hemp; Masel was just interviewed by the Wall Street Journal for an upcoming article on the same.
A primary organizer of Madison’s annual “marijuana harvest” festival, the oft jailed Masel says his goal is “to relegalize this useful plant for its paper, fiber, fuel, food, medical and recreational value.”
Sholts, director of the state ag department’s development and diversification program, affirms part of Masel’s message: that hemp grows well in Wisconsin, even on soil not good for much else.
“My father raised it on his farm,” Sholts recalls of the time during WWII when farmers were encouraged to grow hemp for the war effort. (Masel, citing old US Department of Agriculture reports, says Wisconsin was once the nations leading producer of hemp, in some years accounting for more than half the nation’s total crop.)
Because hemp grows quickly and has a high per-acre yield, Sholts says “It’s a very, very prime product for biomass” -organic material that can be converted to fuel. Hemp is also seen by “people with expertise” as preferable to kenaf, (aka ambry) a warm weather fibrous plant, for making paper and other products.
But alas, Sholts points out, hemp has one big problem: With its current properties its illegal.”
LeMahieu, director of operations for Agrecol, the Agricultural research division of Madison-based W. T. Rogers Co., has a solution in mind: the development of a strain of hemp that is “socially acceptable.” In other words, hemp that has been genetically engineered to remove the alkaloids that get people high.
“It’s feasible,” insists LeMahieu, formerly a leading agricultural researcher at the UW-Madison. “Any trait can be bred out of a plant with recombinant DNA.” Engineering a strain of hemp with the desired traits for mass cultivation will require “massive amounts” of money and commitment, says LeMahieu, who thinks Wisconsin- which has “the top plant-genetics research groups in the nation, maybe in the world” – is ideally suited for the task.
“It truly is an amazing plant” says LeMahieu of hemp. “If you look at all the possible products that could be made from the hemp plant, it makes you wonder why we haven’t pursued this.”
Tyson, chairman of the board of Xylan Inc., a biomass research firm in the University Research park, takes the point beyond wonder to rage. “We have the technology now to convert biomass into the fuel we’re fighting for in the Persian Gulf,” he says, asserting that the United States could eliminate its dependence on foreign oil simply by growing high-biomass crops like hemp on the acreage it now pays farmers to keep fallow.
“It just seems silly to be paying farmers $26 billion a year not to produce something that would replace something that we are importing at the cost of over $100 billion a year.
“This,” Tyson asserts, “is a national disgrace.”
GRASS ROOTS
Throughout most of U.S. -and indeed human- history, hemp has been domestically cultivated for a variety of uses, including textiles, rope, and paper. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp on their farms; the rigging and sails of the U.S. Constitution were all made from hemp (some 60 tons worth; Betsy Ross used hemp cloth to make the first U.S. flag; hemp canvas (the word “canvass” comes from cannabis, Latin for hemp) covered the pioneers’ wagons and prairie schooners; Abraham Lincoln used a hemp-oil lamp to study law.
Hemp was also used to make fine linen and underwear. Masel has a friend in Hungary [actually Germany] who still uses his family’s hemp tablecloth – made in 1820. According to Jack Herer’s pro-hemp manifesto, The Emperor Wears No New Clothes, the word “towel” comes from its original material-hemp tow, a silk-like textile professedly four times as absorbent as cotton.
There is little historical record of people smoking hemp grown for rope or fabric. Masel, who testified as a marijuana expert in a 1988 court case, says plants used for such purposes would be harvest before flowering, and thus be more likely to cause headaches than highs, Still, some hemp grown for seed was smoked for its psychoactive and medicinal properties-a use no one seemed too bothered by until the plant became a threat to U.S. petrochemical companies.
As outlined in Herer’s history of hemp, super-efficient fiber- stripping machines invented in the in the 1930s promised to do for hemp what the cotton gin did for cotton, Corporations like Du Pont and industrialists like William Randolph Hearst feared hemp would compete with their pulpwood paper and synthetic products.
The Hearst chain of newspapers declared hemp and other drugs Public Enemy No.1. Hemp, renamed “marihuana,.” was blamed for crime and car accidents and linked to black jazz musicians and Mexican revolutionaries. “Marihuana makes fiends of boys in 30 days,” screamed the headlines of one Hearst story, which claimed that hemp “goads users to blood lust.”
Du Pont, which had just patented a new process for making pulpwood paper and was at work on a petroleum-based synthetic it later named nylon, behaved similarly. Banker Andrew Mellon, Du Pont’s chief financial backer and President Herbert Hoover’s Secretary of the Treasury, tapped his nephew-to-be, Harry Anslinger, to head the newly formed Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Anslinger, backed by the Hearst papers, crusaded for pot prohibition. (Among his favorite slogans, “If the hideous monster Frankenstein came face to face with the monster marihuana, he would drop dead of fright.”) Such efforts resulted in the “Marihuana Tax Act of 1937”-the apparent death knell of legal hemp.
As it happened, however, the government was unable to keep a good weed down. Hemp was still needed for a variety of uses, especially naval ones (hemp being the only natural fiber that can withstand saltwater for long). When World War II began and Japan blocked U.S. imports of Indian hemp, the government called on the nation’s “patriotic farmers” to resume growing the monster marihuana.
A 1942 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) film entitled “Hemp for Victory” evoked hemp’s historical usefulness (“For the sailor, no less than the hangman hemp was indispensable,”), noting that the plant – “now little known outside of Kentucky and Wisconsin” was sorely needed for war items ranging from tow lines to the webbing of parachutes.
“In 1942, 14,00 acres of fiber hemp were harvested in the United States,” the narrator proclaimed amid strains of patriotic music. “The goal for 1943 is 300,000 acres. “The film also touted hemp’s agronomical virtues: “A dense and shady crop, hemp tends to choke out weeds. Here’s a Canada Thistle that couldn’t stand the competition, dead as a dodo. Thus hemp leaves the ground in good condition for the following crop.”
When Asian markets reopened after the war, domestic hemp production again came to a halt. Well, sort of: State agriculture official Sholts notes that, as a result of its erstwhile cultivation, hemp still grows wild over much of Wisconsin – including on his father’s farm, 11 miles south of Madison.
Observes Sholts, “It’s a very prolific plant.”
At this point, no one knows just how prolific or useful hemp may be-because, unlike such crops as corn, hemp has not benefited from modern agricultural techniques, including plant genetics.
Although Agrecol (the company’s name, like its mission, blends agriculture and ecology) has had impressive results test-planting kenaf, division head LeMahieu says hemp has higher-quality fiber, more potential uses, the ability to withstand cold better, and possibly higher yields: “If it weren’t for the alkaloids [psychoactive ingredients] in hemp, we wouldn’t even be talking about kenaf.”
Masel, who last September garnered 11,230 votes in a pro-hemp Primary challenge to Gov. Tommy Thompson, is especially fired up about the potential as a renewable source of paper and other products traditionally made from wood. One advantage of hemp over trees, says Masel, is that it contains significantly less lignin, a natural adhesive whose content must be lowered in the papermaking process.
Roger Faulkner, a UW research specialist who works at the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Products Lab in Madison, adds that annual growth plants including hemp generate four to five times as much biomass yearly as trees. The disadvantage is that trees can be cut and stored until needed, but annuals not immediately processed or properly warehoused will degenerate. A “polymer scientist,” Faulkner is part of a team of Forest Products Lab researchers studying the feasibility of using high-fiber plants to make “structural components.” Within the last year, the group has made high-density construction boards using both kenaf and hemp-the latter from “ditch weed” (low-grade wild marijuana) that Tyson brought in. By blending plant fibers and polymers – compounds of high molecular weight – Faulkner thinks the same techniques can be used to make hemp and kenaf auto-body parts. (Hemp is already being used in some wallboard made in Germany.)
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that hemp’s one of the best fiber crops there is,” says Faulkner, “Certainly, it’s the best-adapted plant for Wisconsin.”
Faulkner further laments that both the Forest Service and private industry seem more interested in timber than annual-growth plants – although the USDA is funding a mill in Texas that will make paper from kenaf. Cultivating fiber on farms, he argues, is ecologically preferable to growing “monocultural” forests for pulp. What’s more, it would allow fallow farmland to be put to use without adding to surpluses of existing crops.
Another potentially useful hemp product is seed, which can account for 50% of the weight of plants grown for this purpose. Hemp seed, Says Masel, is about 16% protein and contains eight amino acids, compared with just four in soybeans. Masel has made cake from imported hemp seeds (legal if sterilized to make them “incapable of germination”) and envisions their use as a high-protein food or animal feed. (In China, hemp-cake was used to feed animals for centuries.)
Hemp-seed oil, at least 35% of seed content by weight, can be used as a lubricant (as it was in World War II fighter-plane engines), a cooking and salad oil, or even as a diesel fuel. Gatewood Galbraith, a Democrat running for governor of Kentucky on a pro-pot platform, last fall campaigned with singer Willie Nelson from Lexington to Louisville in a diesel Mercedes powered with 25% hemp-seed oil. The engine, says Masel, would have run on straight hemp-seed, but Galbraith didn’t have a big enough supply.
Masel, who sells $35 dollar hemp T-shirts and $10.00 hemp product sampler kits through an outfit called Wisconsin Hemp Products Inc. (P.O. Box 3481, Madison 53704), also thinks the hemp plant’s “Styrofoam-like stalk” could be used as an insulator, or to make biodegradable fast-food clamshells. Can Masel see the day when McDonald’s sells hamburgers in containers made from hemp? “I can see the day when they will be paying me royalties on the patent.”
HARVESTING THE SUN
Perhaps the most exciting us of hemp is as biomass fuel. Through process called pyrolysis-the application of intense heat in the absence of air-hemp and other organic material can be efficiently converted to charcoal, oil, gas, or methanol.
Hemp is a favored crop for biomass-organic material-because it grows very rapidly in a variety of climates. Indeed hemp has been called “the world’s champion photosynthesizer,” capable of converting energy from the sun more readily than any other plant.
Biomass boosters further claim that pyrolytic fuels would be good for the environment. Pyrolysis charcoal, said to have the same heating value as coal, is virtually sulfur-free, unlike coal or other fossil fuels, a key cause of acid rain. What’s more, hemp and other high-growth plants produce beneficial oxygen when grown- and take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere equal to the amount they release when burned. Thus, hemp hounds assert, if biomass replaces fossil fuels, the amount of acid rain and smog will be reduced and the trend toward global warming – the so-called greenhouse effect – will have a chance to reverse.
“We’re fighting in the Middle East for the right to pollute ourselves,” hemp guru Herer told Al Giordano of Massachusetts’ Valley Advocate newspaper. “We have a plant that can win a war. We have a plant here that can save the planet.”
James Converse, chairman of the Department of Agricultural Engineering at the UW-Madison, says university researchers hav done some work converting biomass material – corn, primarily – to ethanol. But he thinks the day when it makes sense to talk about biomass fuels replacing fossil fuels is a long way off: “Biomass will hold possibilities only when the price of fuel or the availability of fuel becomes such that you can make a profit with [biomass.]
Tyson, whose company develops and licenses rights to emerging biomass technologies, disagrees. “These people [the UW scientists] are ten years behind. They don’t know the current state of the art,” he says. “We are much closer than that.”
Still, Tyson stresses the need for “a national policy” to develop the technology and build the refineries to convert biomass to fuel. “Bring the troops home and put them to work to build this infrastructure,” he urges. “That will scare the daylights out of that part of the world. When [oil exporting countries] see we don’t need them anymore, oil prices will come down. More importantly, we will not have to go to war for this reason anymore.”
“Let’s harvest the sun through the process of photosynthesis,” continues Tyson in a tone reminiscent of the narrator in Hemp for Victory. “Let’s harvest solar energy into clean, safe fuels.”
OBSTACLES
The revival of hemp and the development of other promising non food uses for fallow cropland will be discussed at an April 5 conference in Middleton organized by Sholts and other state agricultural officials. Gov. Thompson, outgoing federal Small Business Administration head Susan Engeleiter, and representatives of agribusiness will attend the all-day affair, which is open to the public for a $20 fee.
Tyson, who is now focusing on “demonstration projects” to prove the viability of biomass technology, hopes Wisconsin can get the ball rolling by genetically engineering a strain of hemp that lacks psychoactive properties. “It can be done,” he says unreservedly. “We can make anything we want to now.”
Agronomist LeMahieu agrees, saying the goal should be to create “a whole new plant” that lacks alkaloids and doesn’t look like ordinary marijuana – ostensibly to foil folks who might wish, as Masel puts it, to “sneak a few” smokeable specimens alongside those grown for fiber or biomass.
But LeMahieu frets about the legal roadblocks to any use of hemp. “State laws would have to change, federal laws would have to change, and we have international agreements that prohibit it.,” he says.
Jim Haney, assistant to state Attorney General James Doyle, notes that the state Controlled Substances Board can issue permits allowing possession of otherwise illegal drugs “for purposes of scientific research, instructional activities, chemical analysis, or other special uses.” However, rejoins Masel, the wholesale cultivation of hemp would still be illegal under state and federal laws-which define marijuana in terms of plant parts, not alkaloid content.
Ultimately the psychological obstacles to renewed hemp production may prove more formidable than legal ones. UW researcher Faulkner is uneasy even discussing the plant’s potential, sensing “widespread opposition to and repression of the whole idea that hemp may have other uses.”
Masel is more optimistic. “I think [domestic revival of hemp] could happen surprisingly quickly,” he says. Whenever one state moves the others are going to follow, rather than see that state make all the money.”
Does Wisconsin, which in 1990 seized and eradicated 849,324 domestic marijuana plants, 97% of which were wild plants no self respecting marijuana smoker would want, have the gumption to become that first state? Put it another way: Is making billions of dollars while helping save the environment and achieve domestic energy independence a strong enough incentive for officials like Thompson to let a long-haired radical like Ben Masel say “I told you so”?
by MaryJanesGirl™I came across this during my research on hemp and it’s affects on topsoil, and I must say that I am very impressed, grateful and inspired by the time and detail put into it, on top of the fact that it is offered as a free read. This is the kind of activism that moves me and reminds me of why I do what I do.
Thank you to the authors and contributers!
by MaryJanesGirl™