HEMP

HISTORY:

Until 1870, Cannabis HEMP was the world's most cultivated crop and its fibre the most traded commodity on Earth. Cannabis fibre, the strongest natural fibre known to man, was produced to supply the world's navies with all their sailcloth and rigging needs. as well as much of the world's paper and clothing industry. The seed provided fuel oil and a non toxic vase for lacquers. paints and varnishes.

With the advent of stream power the need for cannabis declined. This was compounded by the lack of efficient hemp processing machinery, which made cannabis fibre expensive on world markets, Cheaper, though inferior fibres, such as jute and manilla hemp, were used as production costs were lower because of the exploitation of the cotton gin. In 1930 an efficient hemp processing machine, known as a decorticator, was developed and it became apparent that cannabis would again become a prominent crop in agriculture and commerce.

This development seriously threatened the new petrochemical industries whose synthetic fibre nylon, had just been developed and whose chemicals were uses to make wood pulp. Randolph Hearst, who owned the latest newspaper chain at the that time, began a smear campaign against hemp. They renamed the plant 'marijuana' and began moves to vilify and eventually criminalize the plant. Harry Ainslinger and his drug enforcement agency, then facing loss of funding and jobs due to the end of the alcohol prohibition were recruited. Racial hatred against Negroes and Hispanics, then the main recreational users of cannabis, was used to whip up public hysteria, and the prohibition was introduced destroying the once great hemp rope, cloth, oil and paper industries.

Prior to prohibition over 5,000 items of commerce were manufactured from different parts of the hemp plant. The American Medical Association vigorously opposed prohibition. but without success, as it would prevent them from using this plant to treat serious pain, nausea and muscular spasm. FIBRE: During the second world war, the United Stated Department of Defence, finding itself short of strong fibre after the Japanese occupation of the Philipines, began growing cannabis to provide this fibre for the war effort.

Throughout the war years hundreds of thousands of acres were cultivated annually to provide fibre for essential military and civilian products. A documentary film 'Hemp for Victory' was made to asost farmers grow this crop. described at that time by the U.S. Government as 'an ancient servant of mankind', The fibre. being stronger, is able to be recycled more times than woodpulp. Cannabis can produce three times as much fibre a cotton and without the need for paraquot and other toxic chemicals. which have been linked to leukemia and other cancers in cotton growing areas.

AGRICULTURE:

Cannabis is a very beneficial crop - few plants produce more biomass than HEMP. It is autocompatible and can increase the quality of the soil due to its deep tap root, which remains in the ground after harvest. It is naturally resistant to insects and is an efficient smother crop, able to clear a field of weeds without the need for toxic chemicals. It can produce twice to four times as much fibre per hectare as woodchipping and requires less chemicals treatment to pulp.

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The Chinese have used HEMP to make paper for thousands of years. Until the 20th Century the majority of the world's books, including Bibles and Encyclopaedias were printed on hemp paper. United States Department of Agricultural research has documented that HEMP can produce four times more paper than forests. HEMP paper can be processed without chlorine, so dioxins are not produced. 'Kraft' paper mills are now banned in Europe due to recognized and potential hazards, yet in Australia they are the main type of mill under planning. The Japanese controlled woodchip industry suppliers of chlorine and other pulping chemicals would be the main losers, if the Cannibis HEMP prohibition is repealed. The winners would be our farmers and the tens of thousands of people employed in this revived industry.

ECONOMICS:

The majority of unemployed and displaced workers from the timber and other failing agricultural industries, could be employed in a flourishing and viable HEMP industry. The woodchip industry is of no benefit to Australia. After logging to extinction large areas of native forest, the Forestry Commision has debts over $300 million. Cannabis fibre production would help alleviate the $700 million trade imbalance we have in processed paper goods. Australia spends over $340 million each year and criminalizes over 50,000 people to suppress a plant that has been used by humanity for at least 12,000 years.

The prohibition is of benefit only to the petrochemical companies, organised crime and to corrupt elements in the police force. After 50 years of chipping native forests, the Forestry Commision has nothing to show except scars on the landscape and debts of over $300 million, due to subsidies given to foreign companies and 'sweetheart' deals that have seen royalty charges not increase in decades. 200,000 hectares of hemp could completely replace the need for all woodchip, which is causing permanent damage to the ecology, whilst local production of non-polluting hemp paper would provide a real growth in employment.

The Cannabis Clothing Company intends to reinstate industrial cannabis to its proper place in commerce and agriculture. Non-wood fibre can be used to provide a boost to our rural sector; generate employment and help reduce our huge foreign balance of payments problem, now over $145 billion, with $1.2 billion added each year for paper products alone. Cannabis agriculture will assist in improving the quality of our soil and help reduce the accumulation of CO2, by incorporation into cellulose, to reduce the greenhouse effect. Remember, in the war on drugs the first casualty is truth.

References:

Drugs Policy - Facts, fiction and the future: Federation press, Russell Fox and Ian Mathews, 1991 United Nations Single Convention on Drugs, 1985, Article 28.2 No Marijuana: Plenty of Hemp, New Scientist, November, 1980 "Hemp for Victory": U.S. Department of Agriculture documentary film, Congressional Archives, 1941 Hemp: A War Crop for Iowa, U.S. Depart' Agriculture Bulletin, 1941 The New Billion Dollar Crop, Popular Mechanics, 1938 Revolutionizing an Industry, How new machinery is minimising hand labour in the hemp industry, Scientific America, June 1921 Hemp hurds as paper making material. U.S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin, No 404, 1916 .