OUTLINE OF THE ROLE OF HEMP IN CLIMATE MITIGATION
CANNABIS PROHIBITION, THE CRIME OF THE MODERN ERA
A potted history to set the tone-
There is no fury like a vested interest masquerading as a moral principle
As the Industrial age developed ever faster, cannabis began to lose favour.
Steamships replaced sail. Chemical and synthesised drugs replaced herbal
remedies. The invention of the cotton gin and all cotton’s concomitant
horrors of slavery and ecological disaster, replaced natural fibres and new
chemical processes were developed for pulping wood into paper.
The repercussions of each of these transformations have been tumultuous
and the reverberations they set of will continue to be felt for generations.
The challenge for processing cannabis was its labour intensity. In 1937, at
the same time as the ‘decorticator’ was invented for separating the hemp
fibres from the remainder of the plant, DuPont, one of the main rogues in
the gallery, invented a new bleaching process for wood pulp paper. At the
same time, DuPont also patented the process of making man-made fibres
from fossil fuels.
These two factors rang the death knell for cannabis.
To eliminate cannabis from the market place, DuPont conspired with media
moguls and corrupt US politicians.
The method used was to demonise cannabis. The first step was to replace
the words hemp and cannabis with the word marijuana, a Mexican
colloquialism, then, using Randolph Hearst’s massive media empire, set
about claiming marijuana caused the greatest violence known to humanity.
Furthermore, they tarred the great jazz players as degenerates, claiming
their music sexualised and scandalised those that heard it because they were
all ‘high’ on marijuana.
Some infamous films such as ‘Reefer Madness’ were made and shown on
general release to a gullible public. The ‘Killer Weed from Mexico’ was on the
hit list.
“A Puff, a Party, a tragedy” was the film’s tagline.
All the history of cannabis and man’s ancient and wonderful dance through
the ages was rapidly expunged.
The corruption was legion. The head of the Federal Bureau of narcotics,
Harry Anslinger, was appointed head of the FBN by Andrew Mellon,
Anslinger’s uncle and head of the Mellon bank, was also DuPont’s financier.
Anslinger was virtually unopposed when the Marijuana Transfer Tax Bill was
introduced in 1938, taxing the plant into oblivion. 1
Trees, the lungs of the planet and repository for the most numerous and
specialised flora and fauna on earth, continue to be felled in alarming and
unsustainable quantities for paper and building materials. Concurrently,
fuels are still being mined and burned with devastating environmental
consequences.
Developing countries are encouraged to grow hybridised and GMO crops
such as cotton and soya which consume huge amounts of water and
chemicals, in the case of cotton, and in the case of soy to feed greater
numbers of farm animals, a hopeless and unhealthy way to provide protein,
and the resultant environmental challenges this form of agriculture causes.
It is estimated cotton uses 30% of the total input of chemicals and fertilisers
in all agriculture. This effluent ends up in the oceans, cetaceans, all other
sea-life and our bodies.
The petro-chemical industry controls the global production of fibre.
The petro-chemical industry controls the global production of food.
Mass produced food is poisonous to us and poisonous to the planet.
Since the agricultural revolution, land has been the engine of wealth and the
measure, as it is still today behind all the bluster, of a country’s true wealth.
This wealth has now however, be vested in the hands of individuals hiding
behind multi-national corporations, whose motivation is solely profit, to the
detriment of all life on earth.
CANNABIS CAN SAVE THE PLANET
Cannabis is without equal the most versatile and beneficial plant resource
for humanity.
It has been in service to the world for millennia, pre-dating the Pyramids and
recorded in ancient China some 4000BC.
1 Almost immediately after pearl Harbour, President Roosevelt signed an Executive Order
overriding the Tax Bill as hemp is a strategic war crop. In Elizabethan times, it was of such
high strategic value that landowners were fined of they failed to grow it in the amount of 5
gold sovereigns. 1 acre in 60 under hemp was the law.
The plant provides food, fibre, construction materials, clothing, fuel and
medicine.
Hemp can replace every product presently produced by fossil fuels without
the concomitant problems and challenges the world now faces because of
rampant overuse of crude oil.
FOOD
The cannabis seed is one of the most perfectly balanced foods known to
man. Its ratio of Omega 3, 6 & 9 match the human brain, boosts the immune
system, rebuts illness. The seed contains all 8 essential amino acids and
easily digestible protein.
FIBRE
The ‘bast’ hemp fibres produce the strongest, most durable long lasting
fibres in the plant kingdom.2 They can be spun into twine, woven into cloth
or fine paper. The high cellulose content of the ‘hurds’ can be mixed with
lime to make a building material, brick or ‘hempcrete’ which is stronger,
lighter and more durable than concrete.3 It also releases considerably less
CO2 than normal concrete which at it’s worse releases tonne for tonne4.
Strong, durable, chemical free plastic can be made from hemp.
FUEL
The rapid growth and annual harvest of hemp provides one of the highest
yields of biomass. The biomass is easily converted into solid, liquid or gas
fuels.
MEDICINE
The flowers of the cannabis plant produce resins with numerous therapeutic
applications. This is at the forefront of modern medicine, particularly as the
recent discovery of the Endocannabinoid system in the human body has
been isolated as being as vital as breathing, the lymphatic system, the
vascular system and nervous system. The nervous system depends on THC
for its efficient function and it is synthesised in the body. There are over 400
cannabinoids in cannabis, of which very few have yet to be explored for their
therapeutic uses.
In short, cannabis replaces EVERYTHING presently produced using fossil
fuels, and more.
Cannabis sequesters more than 4 times the amount of CO2 per acre than
vigorously growing trees and is grown annually.
2 The Royal Navy enabled its centuries of success by having access to the finest hemp grown
in England (Hempshire, Hemel Hempstead) upon which it fought its battles, providing the
strongest sails, rope, gun cotton, caulking, uniforms and food.
3 The Pont d’ Avignon is made of isochanvre (hempcrete).
4 Modern French and German cars have a high proportion of hemp cellulose in the
dashboards and fascia’s.
In short, cannabis can save us, and the earth and oceans from our
rapacious behaviour if we turn to it in abundance NOW.5
This whole sorry saga begs the questions:
Why is a plant which grows naturally all over the world, and has been of
such benefit to mankind, including smoking thereof for pain relief and
seeing the world in another way, proscribed?
On whose authority is such a birth right consigned to the court house and
prison?
Who has a continued interest in this state of affairs?
If only for the benefit of the oceans, it is essential petrochemical based
plastics are eradicated and replaced with cannabis resin plastics
immediately.
If governments, the UN and other global entities such as the WWF are serious
in their endeavours to clean up the oceans_
START BY GROWING CANNABIS IN HUGE QUANTITIES
• Hempen materials have been found in tombs dating back 8000 BCE
• Columbus sailed to America with hemp sails
• George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp
• Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag from hemp
• Levi Strauss made the first pair of jeans in CA from hemp
• Denim derives from de Nimes, a town in France where hemp was used
for clothing
• The 1st draught Declaration of Independence was written on hemp
paper, 28th June 1776
• The 2nd draught Declaration of Independence was written on hemp
paper, 2nd July 1776
• The Guttenberg Bible, King James Bible, Alice In Wonderland all
written on hemp paper.
• Petrochemicals to maturity – millions of years
• Trees to maturity – hundreds of years
• Hemp to maturity – 3-6 months
• 1 acre of hemp for paper production is the equivalent, per tonne than
5 acres of trees
• Hemp is cultivated without the use of chemicals and fertilisers
• Hemp conditions the soil in preparation for the next crop
5 With thanks to Cannabis in Avalon.
An Outline for a UK Hemp Strategy
By
John Hanson
A scan of the is piece written for The Ecologist magazine in the Oct/Nov
1980 is as relevant now as it was 27 years ago. Hanson arranged for the
entire edition to be printed on hemp paper by a method he himself
invented. In addition, he republished Marcondier’s ‘Treatise on Hemp’
1765, still the go to guide for successful growing and processing of
hemp. This too was entirely printed on hemp paper. It remains unique
and a tour de force.
Hanson was an unsung hero in the cause of hemp, dedicating the last 20
years of his life, to the great detriment of his health, to getting the plant
noticed and reintroduced.
While this piece is written for what he hoped would be a nascent hemp
industry in the UK, the salient facts apply globally.
The conclusion is worth reproducing here-
By its versatility, diversity and nature hemp provides us with a
powerful symbol and practical means to achieve a post-industrial
renaissance in Great Britain.
Mankind is massively sick. The whole planet is ailing as a result. Hemp
provides both a weapon and a cure – a massive remedy of impressive
degree – against the cancer of teknosis and the politics of pollution. We
must overcome these evils, or perish.
USEFUL LINKS
Click to access deeleythesis.pdf
http://www.hempreport.com/downloads/RPCD_Afghanistan_SA_200
4.pdf
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3704878.stm
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2017/06/plasticpollution-
in-the-ocean-is-alarming-experts-say/
https://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/un-says-its-timetackle-
plastic-pollution-aggressively.html
Nib's Nature Notes 