Source: canada.com
Members of Vancouver Island University's Hempology 101 club held a symposium Sunday to explain the medicinal and other benefits of hemp.
The purpose of the second Cannabis Convention at VIU was to try to educate the public about misinformation the club believes is disseminated to the public.
VIU hempology club president Amie Gravell said many people think of hemp, or cannabis, as something that people use recreationally or medicinally. She would like the public to know of the natural benefits hemp offers. "There are myriad of ways that hemp can be used - from medicinal marijuana to increasing an individual's Omega 3 fatty acids by eating hemp seeds," Gravell said.
Hemp can also be used for making long-lasting strong ropes, she said.
"What this conference is about is to provide a space for the public to learn how beneficial hemp can be."
It was also about exposing media bias and how the mainstream media reports RCMP press releases about marijuana arrests as fact.
To argue this, the VIU hempology club brought in Andrew Brown, the editor of Cannabis Digest and a former VIU student.
Brown, who graduated from VIU with a degree in journalism and creative writing, started smoking pot when he was a teenager. He founded the hempology club at VIU while he was a student.
He said one of his main concerns is how arrests from marijuana-growing operations are reported.
"You can tell that the journalist is just taking the police at their word without really investigating, anytime you see that a growop raid netted the cops 1,000 pot plants worth $100,000 you should be skeptical. There's no way it's worth that much.
"The story doesn't say how mature the plants were."
He strongly urged the approximately 50 audience members at VIU to fight the federal government's C-10 - the so-called omnibus crime bill - that will make growing six cannabis plants a criminal offence.
Ted Smith, another speaker at the convention, is the president of the International Hempology 101 Society.
He said the society continues to grow.
"We have clubs on campuses across the country from New Brunswick to B.C.," Smith said.
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