Nature's Remedy - Legalizing Cannabis Sativia

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The federal government has been looking for a way to take American industry and farming back to its glory days of being able to provide for the American people. Again nature has provided the federal government with the answer… Cannabis Sativa L., also known as hemp, the industrial plant of Cannabis Sativa. Cannabis Sativa L. is associated with strong fibers and oiled seed’, containing less than 0.3% of the active psychoactive drug THC than its sister plant marijuana contains (Report on Hemp, 2012). Hemp contains an estimated 30 thousand different uses and potentials; this is why the American import bill on hemp runs the American public an estimated 70 million dollars a year (Ecological Agriculture Project, 1996). The American government could save and redistribute these funds to other programs such public education. Industrial hemp could also create revenue as well, for one acre of hemp a farmer can earn up to 600 dollars, and one hemp paper processing plant could potentially create 800 full-time jobs (Ecological Agriculture Project, 1996). American consumers are eager to buy products that are not only biodegradable, and recyclable, but also invest back into the American worker. The legalization of industrial hemp gives the American consumer all three. Industrial hemp produces stronger, more durable, absorbent, warmer, and mildew resistant fabric than traditional cotton does. Hemp also produces with a higher yield rate at 1,000 lbs. per acre (Ecological Agriculture Project, 1996). For an example of how durable and strong hemp products are, all one has to do is look at the first Guttenberg Bible, as it was written on hemp paper over 600 years ago, and is to this day still in good condition. Another example would be Henry Ford’s use of hemp in 1941 to produce plastic for the fenders and doors for his automobile empire. He found that the hemp plastic “proved to be more resistant to sledgehammer blows than steel bodied cars” (Kaplan, Kolosov, & Pitt, 2013, p.3). Every aspect of the industrial hemp plant can be used to produce products, including the seed. A fully mature hemp plant can contain up to half its dry weight in seeds. Hemp seeds have an oil content of 34% more than any other seed, and can be used to create biomass fuel (Ecological Agriculture Project, 1996). The biomass fuel created can provide for all of America’s gas, oil, and coal consumption, ending its dependency on fossil fuels. Upon extraction of the hemp oil the remaining seed cake is an excellent source of protein and nutrition, as it can be used to make food for humans and animals that naturally helps repair tissue and promote lean muscle mass (Kaplan, Kolosov, & Pitt, 2013). California Representative Dana Rohrbacher believes that “industrial hemp cultivation would make the U.S. more self-reliant saying… to restrict our society’s use of hemp with its valuable attributes in order to prevent people from smoking marijuana in their backyards; makes no sense”, echoing the belief of the American farmer and industrialist (Kaplan, Kolosov, & Pitt, 2013, p.3).

The environment is the world’s life-support system that provides people with water, air, food, and shelter. Human beings are ravenously depleting nature’s raw materials on a daily basis. Over half of the world’s cultures have rapidly developed into an industrial society, thriving on materialism and consumerism. With the world’s population estimated around 7 billion people the planets raw materials have been over consumed, for they were treated as a blank check. According to Dr. Md. Zulfequar Ahnad Khan “humankind seems to be the only species that knowingly continues to foul its own nest” resulting in our environment screaming symptoms of crisis at the world’s population (Khan, 2013, p. 147). Dr. Khan points out that according to the NRC of 2008 the major and more “obvious symptoms of the crisis are:

- Resource use, that has risen by more than 100 times during the twentieth century;

- Habitat clearance, that is in less than 200 years more than 6 million square kilometer of forest have been removed (deforestation);

- Air pollution;

- Ozone layer depletion;

- Water pollution and water resources;

- Soil erosion and conservation

- Global Warming” (Khan, 2013, p.148).

The growth and cultivation of Cannabis Sativa L. (hemp) is nature’s remedy to significantly cut down the effects of these environmental issues. Grouping some of these symptoms will allow a deeper look into how hemp cultivation is the key to a cleaner environment.

Resources, Deforestation, & Global Warming

Tropical forest make up roughly 6% of the worlds forest and is considered one of Earth’s most important biome as it helps to regulate the world’s weather pattern, river flooding, greenhouse effect, and soil erosion. However, since the 1940’s the rate at which the world’s tropical forests are being cut down is alarming, leaving only 60% of the world’s rainforest still standing today (Khan, 2013). Earth’s forests are being destroyed for the thousands of products that trees can produce such as paper and building materials. Nature knowing how essential the forests are to the life of the planet it produced another plant that is capable of producing almost everything a tree does. Nature gave the world Cannabis Sativa L. (hemp). Hemp can be cultivated in almost any climate zone, as it is drought and high UV radiation resistant. Hemp plants can grow up to 16ft. with a grow period of 90-110 days. Used as a rotational crop, hemp can produce two crops a year with each acre yielding the same amount of pulp material found in 4 acres of trees. With tree farming it takes a crop of trees anywhere from 20-50 years before they are ready to be cultivated (Ecological Agriculture Project, 1996). The pulp material found in hemp can produce stronger and more durable paper, canvas, and building materials. Hemp can produce almost everything one would need to build their home: bricks, plaster, carpet, paint (made from the seed oil), and hemp lumber. Hemp can even produce concrete, and unlike traditional concrete it has an environmental bonus, it absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen (Kaplan, Kolosov, & Pitt, 2013). Hemp paper is also eco friendly; because of its durability hemp paper can be recycled up to eight times, while wood paper can only be recycled up to four (Ecological Agriculture Project,1996).

Air & Water Pollution, Ozone Layer Depletion

The production of hemp paper not only saves the trees allowing