Sunday, February 24, 2013

Hemp is a vastly underrated energy resource

By S.G. von Schweinitz
Source: chronicle.augusta.com



Former tobacco growers in Kentucky and elsewhere want to convert their tobacco acreage to growing hemp. Hemp is a very useful high-fiber plant grown around the world, including our country until the 1950s.
It’s an ideal plant for crop rotation and reaches 8 feet to 10 feet tall. Growing hemp requires little or no chemical and pesticides – meaning no toxic runoff into our rivers. This large biomass serves many useful purposes, including plastics for automobiles bodies, carpeting and even hemp oil.
This plant has a very low THC level of up to 1 percent, compared to the marijuana plant of perhaps 10 percent. So our government’s paranoia about this variety of cannabis is not justified and counterproductive. The “greens” ought to love this plant because it consumes carbon dioxide and even reduces our dependence on oil.
Reasonable and self-disciplined Americans ought to resent the government’s attempt to lead us by the nose to show us what’s good for us and what is not. Of course common sense would lead us to legalize marijuana with certain controls, just like alcohol, and save billions of dollars.
Let’s not waste the usefulness of this wonderful plant like we do with our other energy resources.





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