08/05/2007 16:00:00
Industrial hemp for the world's ills?
---
When Paul Von Hartman talks about hemp, he is not speaking of getting
high. What Hartman is referring to is industrial hemp, which he claims
is one of the most valuable resources on the planet, capable of easing
everything from global warming to malnutrition.
Hartman made a presentation at the Stage Door in Mount Shasta April 3 to
a full house.
Hemp is illegal in the United States for any purpose, being classified
with marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug along with heroin and crack cocaine.
As part of his work with the California Cannabis Ministry, Hartman said
he creates “sanctuaries” where he claims hemp should be immune from
federal law.
He is also aligned with Project PEACE (Planet Ecology Advancing
Conscious Economics), whose primary mission “is to help heal fundamental
imbalances being induced by prohibition of the world's most useful
organic agricultural resource, Cannabis, a.k.a. hemp.”
Hemp is differentiated from marijuana in that the plant has low levels
of THC, the intoxicating substance in marijuana, grows with more stalk
and less leaves, and can be harvested for a variety of industrial purposes.
“Hemp is below .03 percent THC,” Hartman said. “There is no narcotic
effect.”
The film, “Hemp and the Rule of Law,” was shown at the Stage Door,
detailing the history of hemp in the United States, from its value as a
major crop in early American history to its classification as a narcotic
in the 1930s.
Hartman and the film claim hemp can be used to make medicines, paper,
biodiesel fuel, biodegradable plastic, building materials, nutrition
supplements, cloth and high protein flour.
The film depicts earlier eras during which hemp was a required crop in
colonial times, was used for cordage in World War II, and was used by
Henry Ford to make car bodies.
The film shows modern farmers petitioning the federal government to
allow them to grow hemp as a valuable cash crop, a request the federal
Drug Enforcement Agency continually denies.
Farmers claim hemp is good for the fields as a rotational crop with soy
and corn, providing needed nutrients to the soil and being sold for a
profit for its many uses. Farmers also claim hemp requires virtually no
pesticides or herbicides to grow.
Hartman says the hysteria over marijuana has wrongly halted hemp
production and that it should be removed from the drug classification.
He claims the United States is the only industrialized nation in the
world that does not take advantage of hemp, citing the example of
Mercedes Benz, which makes 35 percent of its car bodies out of hemp.
Hartman said hemp-based biodiesel fuel produces few carbon emission,
takes far less fossil fuel to grow and sequesters high amounts of carbon
as it grows.
He said, “You've seen ‘Inconvenient Truth,' I call hemp the convenient
solution. Cannabis can help global warming.”
Hartman and Project PEACE say hemp is unparalleled as a food, having the
highest protein content of any vegetable while being the only plant that
contains all of the essential fatty acids necessary for good health.
Calling for the legalization of cannabis, Hartman said, “We have entire
economic systems based around prohibition with prisons, prison guards
and police. Hemp is a critically determinant resource.”
For more information, visit the Project PEACE website at
www.webspawner.com/users/projectpeace.
Hartman's website is at www.californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12541
Author:
Mount Shasta Herald via UKCIA
|