Can Hemp Help Create A Green Economy?

[Jim Finnel]

Is hemp our future economic stimulus? A recent article on Alternet.org written by Dara Colwell suggests so. Industrial hemp has 25,000 known applications. From paper (our Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written on hemp paper ), to clothing (your hemp pants will last forever ), to food products (according to this article, the Wall Street Journal stated that hemp is the fastest growing new food category in North America). Add in construction and automotive materials and you have a very sustainable green economy start-up.

But as most of you know, growing hemp in the United States is still illegal. The Drug Enforcement Administration has grouped this low-THC plant with its relative, marijuana. We are the only industrialized country on earth to prohibit hemp production. Canada even legalized growing hemp in 1997.

An exception to cultivating industrial hemp came during World War II, when the armed forces experienced a fiber shortage and the government encouraged all farmers to grow hemp. But after the war and with the introduction of nylon, hemp production disappeared. The history of hemp is fueled with propaganda and corporate greed. If a farmer in North Dakota chose to grow this incredible crop today, they would be guilty of trafficking and would face a fine of up to 4 million dollars and a prison sentence of 5 – 40 years.

Hemp has enormous benefits as a crop. It is environmentally friendly, requiring no pesticides or herbicides, it is the perfect rotation or rest crop because it detoxifies and regenerates the soil and it grows quickly.

More and more health advocates are realizing that as a food hemp is rich in essential omega-3 fatty acids. The hemp plant’s cellulose level is about three times that of wood and is the ideal raw material for plant-based plastics. Henry Ford himself manufactured a car from hemp-based plastic in 1941 and ran it on clean-burning hemp-based ethanol fuel.

28 states have introduced hemp legislation. Isn’t it time that we seriously look at something that could solve many of today’s problems?


News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: creativeloafing.com
Copyright: 2009 creativeloafing.com
Contact: Daily Loaf
Website: Can hemp help create a green economy? | Daily Loaf

 

[michaelkaer]

Ok, if medical pot is made legal and that kind of forces pot in general to legalized because the old decrim - model is not working, there should be no reason for a ban on hemp. The hundreds of thousands of jobs just waiting and all the small Mom&Pop businesses that are poised to jump into the market when hemp has been freed again means economic super growth.The flip side is much lower taxes and less people in prison and less wasted court time. The savings plus the earnings would get the entire world back on track. Lets stop wasting time and just get it done.

 

[Propa Gator]

Yo, Michaekaer from Canada, hemp is a legal crop for you and your countrymen. What you need to get done, is to do it. You can spend winters in Arizona or wherever, but if home is where you say, grow it and sell it to us. We still have a few dinero to buy good stuff with for your profit. That's the kind of model we understand. I believe profits are available to you with hemp, and the many byproducts possible from this agricultural source. Americans in Missouri say "Show me".

 

[michaelkaer]

Yes, hemp is legal to grow up here. the problem is not everyone has the freedom to do it. It is very expensive to set up since you need a location that has to have high fences then you have to have hundreds or thousands of acres for it to be viable the way the laws are set up. You also have to pay a hefty fee and pay for government testers to come on your property to test the samples. I have asked several times for a license to grow it in my back yard for food, or research. The line I get back is no, we don't do that. They feel enough research has been done on it and I do not have hundreds of acres in my back yard. When I do get my farm I will be growing hemp(and raising goats).

 

[Propa Gator]

Sir, thankyou for the clear data, seems there's a way to go yet up your way. We all have work to do to end this harmful prohibition. I sincerely hope you get your farm sooner than later, and that it will be productive and profitable. As the climate changes, viable farms may be found further north. Good Luck

 

[michaelkaer]

Thanks for that gator. I feel like I am in a worse form of hell as far as Hemp is concerned because, like Moses, I can see the promised land but feel destined never to get there. If I won any sort of lotto or came into some money some other way, I would buy up a chunk of land so fast it would make your head spin. After all the reading and practice I have done around my home, I could see me getting in 2 crops in a year (starting the seedlings indoors, get them hardened and then in the ground as soon as possible). The second crop would start from seed outdoors. I am working on getting my medical MJ card so I can grow my medicine at home. With some land I would have the best of both worlds, hemp for food and such and the cannabis for medicine. I would have to set up a grow spot away from the hemp , most likely a separite green house.

 

[michaelkaer]

I wanted to add another comment about the economy. It would also mean much lower taxes if we did not have to pay the billions to hunt down and incarcerate the millions that have gone to jail over this. Taxes going to the government and taxes not needed to be spent means a plus economy. then add the job creation possibilities that unfettered hemp production as well as medical cannabis production would create. At last the world would be able to sit down and chill out. That means less war which also means less taxes. There is no downside to this that the benefits can not handle once it is up and running. Yes for a short while you will get a spike in use just due to the novelty of it, after that I expect use to go down ( like the netherlands).

 

[Propa Gator]

Preaching to a member of the choir. There is more, and like you say, it's all good. Unless you're the one loosing market share because of hemp.