A Tribute to Jack Herer -- The Emperor of Hemp

A year later... we still miss Jack Herer... R.I.P. Old Friend

by via Cannabis Warrior
Friday Apr 15th, 2011 10:13 AM

Source: www.indybay.org

Jack virtually created the cannabis movement as we know it today. His infamous bus tours of the 80’s and 90’s spawned activists from across the nation to take up the cause. His book inspired people to not think of themselves as criminals, but crusaders in a fight for truth and justice. His welcoming presence created opportunities for people to learn about this incredible plant and Jack was always ready to teach.

jack-herer_signing.jpg

THANK YOU, JACK

On April 15, 2010 at 11:17 a.m. the cannabis movement lost a great leader and friend, as Jack Herer was pronounced dead in Eugene, Oregon. Cannabis has never has a more staunch advocate or dedicated soul to carry the torch of freedom. Everywhere you look in this great movement Jack is present. His influence has surpassed generations and he is a legend that will live forever. It is amazing to think of the many roads Jack traveled for the past decades educating people about hemp and cannabis. His book Emperor Wears No Clothes has sold hundreds of thousands of copies and has motivated activists around the globe to be active voices in the fight for cannabis freedom. In his last public speaking event at 2009 Portland Hempstalk he declared, “There is nothing better for the human fucking race than to have marijuana morning, noon, and night.” That was the message he had hammered home time and time again, year after year, event after event, fiery speech after fiery speech. The Hemperor will live on in the hearts and voices of cannabis activists forever.

Jack virtually created the cannabis movement as we know it today. His infamous bus tours of the 80’s and 90’s spawned activists from across the nation to take up the cause. His book inspired people to not think of themselves as criminals, but crusaders in a fight for truth and justice. His welcoming presence created opportunities for people to learn about this incredible plant and Jack was always ready to teach. Jack’s passion for hemp and marijuana transcended generations, and he dedicated his life to freeing the plant from the clutches of tyranny. He organized ballot initiatives like no other and inspired an army of cannabis activists to join him on his quest to make cannabis legal. Jack understood that the cannabis plant had unique powers. It was a renewable resource to produce food, fuel, fiber, and medicine. “Hemp can save the planet!,” Jack would scream to tens of thousands of supporters every summer at Seattle Hempfest. His passion for the plant was contagious. His words and his actions motivated the masses to stand up for their belief and to never be ashamed of their love for cannabis.

The great warrior spent over 200 days a year traveling to speak about hemp. The miles he logged for the cause are an incredible feat of courage and strength. His words touched so many of us and gave us a voice of our own to speak out about the injustices of cannabis prohibition. As we see the battles being won at city council meetings, legislative forums, and ballot boxes cross the nation and the world, we all owe a debt of gratitude to the man that gave a plant a voice; a man who defended cannabis day in and day out for decades, and gave his life to educating the world about its powers. Jack is the Moses of cannabis. He has lead us to the gates of the Promised Land and talked to burning hemp bushes most of his days. We must take the final steps of this journey without the leadership of this great man, but we will always remember who made this all possible. The incredible journey is what we cherish about this great leader of the movement. Thank you, Jack.

It is said that Jack believed when he started this quest that he would present the overwhelming evidence about the benefits of cannabis and that the plant would be re-legalized a short time later. That was the belief and conviction that Jack showed us all. He believed it was a simple argument. Cannabis was safe. Cannabis and hemp had innumerable benefits to society in the form of renewable resources. Hemp could save the planet. As the drug warriors tried to paint cannabis as an evil, addictive, dangerous substance Jack would yell, “Show me the bodies!” He knew there were none. It was simple.

Jack had a way of inspiring individuals to join the good fight. He was an instrumental part of getting dozens of initiatives on the ballot. He was sure that people, if given a rational argument and choice, would vote to save the planet. Jack did not grow up smoking marijuana. In fact he did not even try the plant that he would dedicate his life to until he was over thirty-years-old. “I was 30 and this girl I knew found out I had never gotten high. Nobody had ever told me about marijuana,” Jack recalled in an interview. “This girl wanted me to experience something I’d never experienced. She tried three times to get me high. Finally it worked, and I had the most incredible sex I’d ever had.” Jack may have been a late bloomer as far as cannabis was concerned, but he fell in love with the plant and never looked back. His passion would drive him until the day he passed away at 70, and he made sure that everyone he met knew about the benefits of marijuana. Thank you, Jack for your words of wisdom.

When Jack wrote Emperor in 1985 he most likely never thought that a quarter of a century later we would still be debating the subject. Although he began his advocacy in the midst of the “Just Say No” era, he refused to let the drug warriors demonize his beloved plant without a fight. Jack once offered $100,000 to anyone who could prove his book wrong. None ever took him up on the challenge, as while some of the factoids in the book may be hazy (no pun intended), the overall premise was right on target. His findings and writings changed the debate on the subject, and at the very least led people to question cannabis prohibition more deeply. His exposing of the core roots of prohibition, including greed and racism, lead his readers to think critically about why these laws were created and who they were really meant to protect. Jack wanted to expose the government and the big corporations and leaders that influenced them for the lies and deceit that they used to outlaw this most helpful plant. In his final speech at Hempstalk he stated, “I don’t want to give the fucking United States government one fucking dollar of taxes. I thought they should go to fucking jail for getting you and me and 20 million people arrested for pot; the safest thing you can do in the universe.” Jack believed not just that cannabis should be legalized, but that we were all owed a big fucking apology.

Jack was a master of the spoken word. Even after a stroke in the year 2000 that affected his ability to speak clearly, he was always one of the most passionate and moving speakers at every event. His call for people to “vote the scumbags out of office” always riled a passionate response from the onlooking crowd. His voice was filled with conviction that pierced the soul of those listening. He could make you understand that you were not an innocent bystander in this war on cannabis. That because you were there listening to him speak, that you had already taken your first step as a foot soldier in Jack’s army of cannabis enthusiasts. I remember after my raid Jack was one of the first to approach me at the 2007 NORML Conference and tell me he was sorry for what “the lousy bastards” did to my family and me. He looked me in the eye and said, “You’re not a fucking criminal. They are the fucking criminals.” He let me know that some day I would be a hero for my actions. Then he showed me how his cool double barrel pipe worked. Jack was always on. For those kind words that helped me to know I was not alone in my fight I thank him.

What can you say about a man who spent almost 40 years in the trenches fighting for my right, your right, all of our rights, to smoke cannabis. Jack will live on in all of us. We owe him a debt of gratitude for his tireless work and his inspiration to the nation. Jack was a one-of-a-kind. There will never be another Jack. When you smoke a joint of Jack Herer (Skunk #1, Northern Lights #5, and Haze) know that you owe that man big thanks for the work he did to make it possible that you could even take a toke of greatness. Take a moment and thank Jack for the work he did for us all. Lord knows where we would be without this legendary warrior. I promise you, Jack that I will not stop fighting for cannabis freedoms until the job is done or we are in heaven together smoking a fat one laughing at all of this silly shit here on earth. May you be in heaven an hour before the devil knows your dead. Thanks again for the inspiration, the knowledge, and the example of how to be a great leader. Thank you, Jack

http://cannabiswarrior.com/2011/04/15/a-ye...

Renfrew County farmers looking ahead

Source: www.yourottawaregion.com

Peter Clark  April 14, 2011
Renfrew County hemp farmers looking ahead

NDP hosts farmers roundtable

Gaining knowledge. From left, Ian McGregor, Jennifer Doelman and Reuben Stone spoke at the April 2 conference in Cobden. Peter Clark, Renfrew Mercury

Renfrew County (Ottawa, Canada) farmers looked ahead to the future and what improvements they and the industry can make during a roundtable forum held April 2 at the Cobden Agricultural Hall. 

Reuben Stone, Jennifer Doelman and Ian McGregor spoke to the gathering of 25-30 people in the event hosted by Eric Burton of the New Democratic Party.

The day was an opportunity to get points of view out on the table, and to see what the provincial and federal governments can do to support the future of agriculture in Renfrew County, Burton said. 

“We have some dynamic producers in Renfrew County,” co-chair Bob Dobson said before introducing the three guest speakers.

Stone Farms – Valley Bio
Reuben Stone of Stone Farms near Cobden and CEO of Valley Bio is a fourth-generation farmer. His dad was a beef father and his grandfather dealt in dairy before him. Rueben Stone focuses on industrial hemp and said hemp is a growing industry. Stone Farms is Eastern Canada’s leading hemp producer, he pointed out. “We grow two per cent of the Canadian market,” Stone said, adding they also produce about one per cent of the entire world’s production of hemp.

To get a licence to grow hemp, you go through Health Canada, Stone noted. It is a free process, but you must have a criminal record check and proof of certified seed. Stone said their are many advantages to the crop, which includes rare to encounter insect or wildlife damage, it’s an effective break crop to disturb the life cycles of pathogens, it generally will leave the field clean and there is no need for regular herbicides or pesticides. It can help farmers increase efficiency and profits, Stone added. It provides work and earnings for the combine and other machinery between cereal and soybean crops.

“Hemp is easy to transport. It’s a high-value crop,” Stone said. “I can ship hemp from here to Europe cheaper than I can send a load of corn to Prescott.”  He said there is another advantage. Because of regulations, “Americans can’t grow it. They can buy it, but they can’t grow it,” he said. Stone adds, for someone still young in the business, hemp is the way to go. “Hemp is here to stay. As a young farmer, this is the way I want to participate in the industry. It’s all food products.”
Stone Farms hemp products are grown pesticide free or are fully certified organic.

Hemp Fest returns to Moscow with food, music and information

Source: www.dnews.com

Hemp, hemp hurray

Hemp Fest returns to Moscow with food, music and information

By Alan Solan Daily News Staff Writer

Posted on: Thursday, April 14, 2011

Photos:

+enlarge    purchase

Geoff Crimmins/Daily News

+enlarge    purchase

Geoff Crimmins/Daily News

Apparently, even in this day of instant communication and endless information as close as a cell phone, there still are people who think hemp is the stalk and stems of a harvested marijuana plant.

In fact, hemp is a strain of the cannabis plant that has no psychoactive properties and that for much of its long history primarily has been used to make rope. It also can be used to make paper and clothing.

According to the North American Industrial Hemp Council website, hemp has been grown for industrial purposes for more than 12,000 years, U.S. founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp, and the draft of the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.

"The country has really gone backward on hemp," said Arlene Falcon, owner of Tye-Dye Everything in Moscow, who has been coordinator of the hemp festival since 2006.

Falcon and other organizers of the 15th Annual Moscow Hemp Fest, which will take place Saturday in East City Park, hope visitors will walk away from the event with more accurate knowledge about both hemp and the issue of medical marijuana.

Idaho Sen. Tom Trail, who has so far been unsuccessful in his efforts to make industrial hemp production legal in Idaho, will be at Saturday's festival to give an update on Idaho House Bill 19, the medical marijuana legislation he has sponsored in the Idaho Legislature.

Other speakers will include emcee Steve Phun, a Seattle Hemp Fest activist, local medical marijuana activist Adam Assenberg, and several members of the Boise and Pullman chapters of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

This year's festival also will include the northern Idaho launch of a signature drive for the Idaho Medical Choice Act, a petition that was drawn up by the Boise NORML chapter. Representatives from the organization will be on hand Saturday to help initiate the signature drive.

"The petition is something that sets (this year's festival) apart a little bit," Falcon said.

Petition sponsors have until April 2012 to collect 50,000 signatures to get the Idaho Medical Choice Act placed on the statewide ballot next year.

"We're hoping we'll get enough signatures to have an impact," Falcon said.

Falcon said Trail has been something of a "lone duck" in his efforts to get medicinal marijuana legalized in Idaho as it has been in more than 15 other states, including neighboring Washington and Montana.

"It's sad because it makes such financial and medical sense for people who are suffering," Falcon said.

The musical guests for this year's festival include the Simon Tucker Band from Lewiston, Brothers Bowlby and Buffalo Death Beam from Pullman, Grateful Live and the Turner Jones Connection from Moscow, Smokin Bill from Seattle and Not Quite Punk from Sandpoint.

"Smokin Bill used to come to the festival for years," Falcon said of the band that got its start in Moscow. "They're old-time hempsters."

The festival will wrap up with a performance by Bio Luminesce, a troupe of fire dancers and drummers from Sandpoint, and Kushi Tala, fire dancer hula hoopsters.

There will be 30 to 40 vendors from all over the region with many hemp-related items such as clothing, jewelry and food products.

For information, call Falcon at (208) 301-2289 or email tyedye@moscow.com.

On the Web:

www.compassionateidaho.webs.com

www.tyedye-everything.com

http://naihc.org

Alan Solan can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 235, or by email at asolan@dnews.com.

If you go

WHAT: 15th Annual Moscow Hemp Fest

WHEN: 10 a.m.-dusk, Saturday

WHERE: East City Park, Moscow

COST: Free

Pallets go green with hemp technology

April 14, 2011

Gosford, NSW-based company Biofiba has developed a new product which uses organic fibres to make planks for shipping pallets.

The only known technology of its kind, the company says it has the potential to make considerable inroads into domestic and international export pallet supply markets. The manufacturing process involves the modification of hemp fibre and natural starches to fabricate pallets rather than timber or plastic composites which pose their own problems.

With 6 billion export pallets (94 percent made of wood) sold annually, Biofiba’s product stands to help prevent the destruction of the world’s natural and irreplaceable forests. The product will also provide businesses with real ways to improve their environmental credentials.

BioFiba’s pallet alternative this week secured federal government endorsement along with funding already supplied through CSIRO’s Australian Growth Partnership (AGP) program. The extra resources will help BioFiba win a share of the global pallet market worth billions of dollars a year.

According to Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr, wooden pallets take up a large slice of the world’s timber consumption.

While there are several environmentally sustainable processes being developed, most export pallets are used once and then consigned to landfill where they slowly decompose. “The raw materials come from renewable sustainable resources and pallets made from Biofiba composites will break down into Earth-friendly, natural matter – delivering significant environmental advantages over traditional wooden pallets,” Senator Carr says.

The AGP program, itself federally funded, was created to offer support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in an area of national priority. The program offers between $500,000 and $2 million per SME and allows businesses to purchase CSIRO research and development capability. “The Gillard Labor Government is pleased to support programs like AGP because they provide a focused and customised way to overcome technology challenges," Carr says. “To be able to use the resources of the CSIRO to deliver this type of solution that has the capacity to improve Australia’s triple bottom line, is an exciting prospect.”

The CSIRO will invest up to $1.97 million to fund a collaboration through its Future Manufacturing Flagship to tailor the material formulation and high speed production. Biofiba’s Managing Director Laurence Dummett says the company was attracted to the AGP program because it could deliver a combination of benefits. “The CSIRO’s Future Manufacturing Flagship has the facilities to develop the commercial process and to validate the products’ biodegradability,” Dummett says.

“AGP offered us access to this and funding as well.”

Source: www.supplychainreview.com.au

CSIRO awards $2m funding to manufacturing start-up

By Michelle Hammond 
Wednesday, 13 April 2011

source: www.startupsmart.com.au

An organic manufacturer has secured almost $2 million in government funding to aid its ambitions to take a slice of the multibillion dollar global export pallet market.

Biofiba, based in NSW, produces a simulated 100% natural composite made from hemp fibre and natural starches, replacing timber, plastic and polystyrene in the manufacture of export pallets.

According to Biofiba managing director Laurie Drummett, the product will save trees and eliminate the reliance on fossil fuels.

“An export pallet has a very short life span and within approximately six months after use, a Biofiba pallet will decompose and biodegrade into harmless, environmentally safe garden mulch,” he says.

CSIRO will invest up to $1.97 million to fund a collaboration through its Future Manufacturing Flagship to tailor the material formulation and high speed production of Biofiba.

Biofiba, which launched in 2007, will receive the funding through CSIRO’s Australian Growth Partnership program, which was created to offer funding to SMEs in an area of national priority. The program offers between $500,000 and $2 million per business.

The funding is intended for high potential, technology-receptive companies so that they can access CSIRO R&D capability and intellectual property.

The AGP program is designed to assist SMEs overcome existing technical issues, therefore providing them with an opportunity to significantly accelerate their growth in high impact industries.

CSIRO anticipates being in a position to allocate investment capital up to $16 million in total throughout the 2008-2012 period to successful applicants.

In exchange for providing this capital, CSIRO will seek to secure a return on its investment.

Announcing the funding, Innovation Minister Kim Carr said Biofiba organic pallets will deliver “significant environment advantages” over traditional wooden pallets.

“To be able to use the resources of the CSIRO to deliver this type of solution, which has the capacity to improve Australia’s triple bottom line, is an exciting prospect,” he said.

Drummett says the company was attracted to the AGP program because it could deliver a combination of benefits, including the ability to develop the commercial process and validate the product’s biodegradability.

According to Drummett, around 40% of all timber harvested around the world is used to make timber pallets.

“The vast majority are produced for one-way, one-time used then discarded. They transport disease, vermin and destructive insects,” he says.

“Although our focus is on the environment, there are also financial benefits to any business that experiences shipping costs. Pallets and their disposal are becoming big, expensive issues.”

The Biofiba global alliance team expects to capture a substantial percentage of the export pallet market within five years, generating more than $2 billion per annum in export revenue.

Distinguishing Hemp Supporters from Head Shops

by Keth Halliday
source: www.bizlex.com

Lexington, KY - A couple of weeks ago, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported that Lexington police had raided a head shop on Winchester Road called The Botany Bay. The operation resulted in the police's confiscation of money, guns, bongs and, importantly, a quantity of "synthetic marijuana," the selling of which apparently prompted the raid in the first place. For the uninitiated, the term synthetic marijuana refers to some combination of herbs and lab-concocted cannabinoids, the latter of which produce a mild high when smoked.

This ersatz grass, sold under various brand names, was made temporarily illegal in this country on March 1 by the emergency powers of the Drug Enforcement Administration, a move that, for at least 12 months, reclassified several chemicals common to synthetic pot as Schedule 1 controlled substances. Other Schedule 1 substances include heroin, meth and marijuana itself. The Botany Bay continued to sell the stuff despite the ban.

But head shops get busted all the time for reasons legitimate and otherwise; by the letter of the law, this bust was by the book. What makes this bust worthy of commentary was gubernatorial candidate Phil Moffett's association with The Botany Bay: According to the Herald-Leader, Ginny Saville, the shop's owner, "helped organize a Dec. 7 fund-raiser for Moffett and, with her husband, donated $2,000 to him. When the raid happened, she and her husband were with the Moffett campaign at the Conservative Action Political Conference in Washington, D.C."

Let's backtrack a bit: On March 14, Moffett issued a press release that called for Gov. Steve Beshear to take the steps necessary to "get the FDA, DEA and Department of Agriculture off our farms and defend Kentucky against this federal choke hold." Now, while one could certainly question the wisdom of completely deregulating our food supply — for example, the FDA spends a lot of time protecting us from things like botulism, salmonella and listeria, which anyone who's suffered acute food poisoning would agree is a pretty good thing — the issue of DEA meddling in state affairs is one of great importance to proponents of industrial hemp production in Kentucky and elsewhere. And Moffett was on target when he stated, in the same press release, that "we are importing industrial hemp products into the United States from 31 Western industrialized countries, including Canada, worth hundreds of millions of dollars in textiles, clothing, fabrics, oils, rope, pet products and many other goods. We are needlessly exporting jobs and dollars that could be in the pockets of Kentuckians."

Actually, Canada's hemp industry, which was legalized in 1998, is currently suffering from the problem of too much supply for too little demand, and exports of hemp seed and products to the United States and other countries generated revenue of only around $8 million Canadian in 2009. Most of the world's hemp imports come from China, not Canada. Still, Moffett's reasoning is sound; in fact, the outlook in Canada is bright enough that, this past December, the government in Ottawa supplied hemp processors with a substantial grant designed to, according to the Alberta Office of Agriculture and Rural Development, "increase production capacity and make new inroads into the U.S. market." These inroads, Moffett and other supporters of industrial hemp believe, could be made by Kentuckians instead.

Which is why Moffett's association with head shops is disappointing, and damaging to the cause. Despite the fact that the United States is the only major industrialized nation that has yet to legalize the production of industrial hemp, which might lead anyone but the most fervent believer in American exceptionalism to think that maybe we've got this one wrong, the conflation in many people's minds of industrial hemp with recreational marijuana, combined with our nation's apparent requirement that politicians distance themselves from anything resembling a pro-drug position if they wish to be taken seriously by the mainstream of American culture, means that the DEA's rigid anti-industrial hemp stance is seen to be the morally correct one, one that politicians challenge at the risk of costing themselves the next election. In short, drugs are immoral, and therefore so is industrial hemp — or so the DEA would have us believe.

The only way to combat this problem, of course, is to divorce the issue of industrial hemp production from the pot-legalization movement and, by doing so, to reclaim moral authority from the DEA. The only moral question involved in the production of industrial hemp is the utter immorality of keeping poor, rural states such as our own from improving our economic situation with specious reasoning and unjustifiable regulatory practices. But what Phil Moffett has done, by associating himself with a head shop selling synthetic pot, is to perpetuate the conflation of industrial hemp with illegal drugs, thereby ceding moral authority straight back to the very agency he rails against in his press releases.

But is it realistic, or even possible, to completely separate industrial hemp from its psychoactive cousin? The analogy most often trotted out by hemp proponents is that of heroin and poppy seeds: Heroin is terrible, but lemon-poppy seed muffins are great, and we never seem to confuse the two, even though it's quite possible to fail a drug test by consuming too many of the latter. It's a tired comparison, but it does seem to point to the possibility that one day we might be able to think about industrial hemp without summoning visions of bongs and head shops. But only if folks like Phil Moffett do their part.

Reader Comments

April 12, 2011 | 08:01 PM

Hemp is an excellent weed and pest controlling crop for fuel, food, and fiber. It is an excellent additive to strengthen recycled paper, and when mixed with lime, a superior concrete-like building material. The reason that Canada has limited exports to the US has to do with the DEA fighting hemp product imports. All imported hemp products have to go "THC checks" which are expensive and unnecessary. This is the consequence of a big-spending federal government. The DEA spends $500 million of taxpayer money annually eradicating non-drug ditchweed. As tobacco smoking is being phased out, Kentucky farmers are going to need to find a new crop if they are going to be able to survive. Email your representatives and tell them that industrial hemp needs to be legalized on a federal basis and regulated by the USDA instead of the DEA.

Kevin Hunt

April 12, 2011 | 08:25 PM

Whether it is industrial hemp or I will call it recreational hemp should not matter. Hemp is illegal because of a few people who were powerful around the 1930's. Hearst, Mellon, Dupont and Exxon to name of few decided to wage a war against hemp, so oil based products and wood would flourish. Hemp was the substance that would challenge these powerful people's bank accounts. This is not what our founding fathers stood for. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp and probaly smoked a little bit, and Abraham Lincoln was said that he liked nothing better then to sit on his porch and smoke his pipe with hemp. In my humble opinion Phil Moffett is on the side of truth. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. www.thinksubstance.com

Jay

Can hemp help the environment, or is it just marijuana?

Source: washingtonpost.com


I keep hearing about how beneficial hemp is for the environment and what a shame it is that U.S. farmers aren’t allowed to grow it. Is hemp really that eco-friendly?

With the possible exception of soy, no plant has managed to spawn as many different products — and as much controversy — as hemp. You can buy hemp clothing, hemp paper, hemp milk, hemp oil . . . the list goes on. A Canadian company has even built an electric car out of hemp. Advocates talk about the leafy plant like it’s going to reverse global climate change. Opponents think it’s merely a Trojan horse packed with potheads hoping to get your kids stoned.

The legal problem for hemp is that it’s taxonomically identical to marijuana. Both are classified as Cannabis sativa L, and the only difference between them is the concentration of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive substance in pot. Marijuana contains at least 3 percent THC by weight, whereas hemp falls below that threshold.

Some hemp advocates think there are also visible differences. But Uncle Sam seems to believe that the only way to distinguish marijuana from hemp is by taking it to the lab (or, presumably, rolling it up and smoking it).

The plant is a Schedule 1 controlled substance in the United States, which means you need special permission to grow it regardless of THC content. Canada and several European countries allow their farmers to grow hemp with THC content below 0.3 percent — one-tenth as strong as the weakest marijuana. The United States has held off, largely because a government helicopter that flies over a farmer’s field can’t tell the difference between hemp and marijuana. For this reason, raw ingredients for all U.S.-manufactured hemp products must be imported. (Blogger's note: this 'helicopter flyover' argument from the government is a canard to protect their addiction to the 'war on drugs' budget and the asset forfeiture laws that apply in all marijuana busts.)

Hemp is so versatile in part because it can be grown for either seed or fiber. The seeds yield milk, oil and other food products, and are particularly popular among vegans, who have trouble working omega-3s into their diets. The fiber is used for paper and clothing. Sailors have been using hemp rope and sails for centuries, and the crop’s abundance was valued during the Revolutionary War era.

So is hemp the answer to all our environmental problems, or is it just pot? It depends on what you want to use it for, and what you compare it to. For now, let’s focus on textiles, the most traditional and common use. (Blogger's note 2: the most common use of imported hemp products in the USA is for food in the form of hemp oil, hemp seed cake, hemp flour or powder used in granola, health bars, protein powder and raw hemp seeds which are all very healthy foods). 

A 2005 report by the Stockholm Environment Institute compared the water, land and energy requirements of cotton, polyester and hemp textiles, among others. While the study is the most comprehensive investigation of this issue, the results were unsatisfyingly mixed.

Producing the raw ingredients for any textile consumes more energy than any other part of the process. Different production techniques, however, can significantly affect that consumption. Since pesticides and herbicides account for more than half of the energy used in growing hemp or cotton, organic methods for raising these two crops produce lower carbon-dioxide emissions. Organic cotton required less energy than organic hemp, but the difference was fairly small. Polyester, a petroleum-based synthetic fabric, was the clear loser — because it takes so much energy to extract the oil required to make it.

Cotton needs approximately twice as much territory as hemp per ton of finished textile. Further complicating matters is the inverse relationship between chemical use and land requirements. While organic farmers save on energy consumption, their yield per acre is lower than that of cotton and hemp growers who use synthetic pesticides and herbicides. Polyester does almost as well as hemp on land use. And apparently you can get more fabric from an oil field than a cotton field.

Cotton is again the big loser when it comes to water. The cotton plant needs around 50 percent more water per season than hemp, which can grow with little irrigation. More than half of the world’s cotton fields rely on irrigation, because it is raised in some relatively dry regions, including Egypt, China’s Xinjiang province, California and Texas.

When you add processing into the equation, cotton uses more than four times as much water as hemp. Polyester is difficult to compare, because it’s not an agricultural product. But some studies suggest it is the least water-intensive of the bunch, using just 1/1,000th as much water as cotton. (In fact, water is a byproduct of polyester processing.)

So where does all this leave us? Without a clear winner, unfortunately. There’s a case to be made for polyester, but the nonrenewability of synthetic textiles raises serious concerns. Overall, hemp appears to be slightly easier on the environment than cotton, superior on water and land requirements, and only slightly worse for energy use. But is the Drug Enforcement Administration responsible for all of our environmental woes? Hardly.

health-science@washpost.com

The Green Lantern is produced by the online magazine Slate and can be read at www.slate.com.