Hemp study bill could open doors for Colorado industrial hemp production

By William Breathes
Source: blogs.westword.com

Wes McKinley.

Representative Wes McKinley wants to save the earth with hemp, and not in some philosophical, hippie-dippy way either. Through a bill he has introduced this session that would study how hemp plants clean contaminated soil, McKinley is hoping to eventually revive industrial hemp production in Colorado and the rest of the country.

House Bill 1099 wouldn't legalize hemp farming outright. If passed, it would authorize the chairs of the agriculture, livestock, and natural resources committee in both the House and the Senate to appoint a seven-member committee to study the process of phytoremediation, a fancy term for a simple process. You see, hemp plants suck up contaminants and radiation in the soil -- and it's been proven to work in places like in Russia, where they've been used to remove soil contaminants from the Chernobyl disaster site.

As detailed in the bill, the committee would consist of one soil expert from a Colorado university or college, one expert in radioactive material detection and leeching, one expert in phytochemistry, one horticulturist, and three Colorado residents "educated and interested in the specialized use of industrial hemp."

The committee would choose a small test site in Colorado and would have until July 1, 2022 to complete the project.

hempnews.tv

Canadian industrial hemp.

​The idea to use industrial hemp as a soil-remediation tool was brought to McKinley's attention by marijuana activist Jason Lauve a few years ago. McKinley says Lauve has been instrumental in getting the bill off the ground. Cannabis soil remediation dovetailed perfectly with McKinley's work with cleaning up the former Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant.

Though the project is a heavily regulated pilot program with a set, ten-year life span, McKinley hopes it will open doors to future industrial hemp production. "Being from a farming area, we are looking for crops that can make a profit," he says. "We think hemp doesn't have to be subsidized like they do with corn and wheat."

McKinley, a rancher who represents a highly agricultural segment of the state and isn't often photographed without a bolo and a cowboy hat, has approached the issue from an farming standpoint and makes the clear distinction between industrial hemp cultivation and marijuana cultivation. As he points out, Americans buys millions of dollars worth of legal hemp products each year from other countries -- money that could be going to American companies.

"Hemp was the basic agricultural crop of our country at one time," McKinley points out. "It provides food, fuel, fiber, oil. All of our ropes and sails were made of it at one time. But because of special interests, it was outlawed."

The language states that no money from the general fund would be used. The committee is allowed to accept grants and donations, but the language specifies that the money be kept in a banking institution insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

This may prove to be one of the measure's biggest hurdles. Banking has been a growing problem in the medical marijuana industry, as dispensaries are having a hard time finding banks willing to do business with entities violating federal drug laws.

The bill has already passed the House Committee on Local Government and goes before the Appropriations Committee next, though committee staff says it will be a while before it goes up on their schedule.

Here's the bill: http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2012/02/industrial_hemp_study_bill_colorado.php?page=2

www.hemphasis.com

A WWII poster urging American farmers to grow hemp.

Hemp helped British colonialism take root

BY SUSAN MCGUIRE
Source: montrealgazette.com

 

Charles Frederick Grece came to Montreal to promote hemp farming in 1804 and 

soon after bought a farm in Longue Pointe.   Photograph by: William Eaves, Jr.

Hemp breakfast cereal, hemp clothing, hemp hand cream - all available in perfectly respectable stores. Is this the same hemp that is illegal to grow in Canada? No, not at all.

These products come from what is called industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L), a distant cousin of the marijuana plant. Both are part of a diverse plant species of more than 500 varieties that includes the hops used to make beer.

Farmers have been cultivating industrial hemp for 10,000 years, starting in Mesopotamia (Iraq) and in China's Yellow River Valley. For centuries, people used hemp fibre to make clothes, rope, sails and paper; they stewed, roasted and milled the grain for food; and used the oil for cosmetics, lighting, paints and varnishes.

In the 1660s and 1670s, Jean Talon encouraged the farmers of New France to grow hemp by giving them free seed, which they had to plant immediately and replace with seed from their next year's crop. So important was hemp that he confiscated all the thread in the colony and gave it back only in return for hemp. Women needed thread, and he knew that would put pressure on their husbands to grow the crop. However, production collapsed when Talon went back to France.

Just after the American Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson said that hemp "is of first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country." A few years later, George Washington said, "Sow it everywhere."

At about the same time, the British government and local governments in Nova Scotia, and Upper and Lower Canada were making serious efforts to promote the growing of hemp. In the Quebec City area, a notice in French from the Quebec Board of the Agricultural Society in Canada in March 1790, asked parish priests to co-operate in encouraging hemp culture.

The following year, circulars advertised that free hemp seed was available in the area to farmers recommended by their parish priest. However, hemp was not a popular crop among farmers.

In the Hull area about 1801, American émigré Philomen Wright experimented with hemp as a commercial venture. He soon discovered that harvesting and processing it was a nasty business, and that labour costs were too high.

With embargoes on U.S. trade and wars in Europe looming, the huge supplies of hemp needed for sails and rope to supply the British navy were in danger. Optimists thought that the North American colonies could become suppliers of hemp, or at least not be importers.

London decided to send several men to promote hemp farming in Upper and Lower Canada. One was Charles Frederick Grece, who arrived in Montreal in 1804 with his wife, Susanna Feniah Strong, and a young family, and soon after bought a farm in Longue Pointe. He had an advance of £400 and was promised 150 acres of cleared land. He was to receive £200 and 75 bushels of seed yearly. Grece seems to have been in continual disputes with the authorities about cleared land, financial compensation and poor-quality seed. Even so, the London-based Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce awarded him a silver medal in 1809 for his efforts in Canada.

Another American émigré who experimented with hemp was Jesse Pennoyer, a surveyor, farmer, militia officer and father of 12 who lived in Waterville near Sherbrooke. In 1809, the government granted him an annual salary of £200, plus £100 to defray the cost of promoting and growing hemp for five years. The War of 1812 ended his experiment, which had proved ruinous financially.

In 1817, Grece authored a brochure entitled, Essays on Practical Husbandry, which included a section on hemp:

"Some years ago, a trial was made, under the protection of the Government, to introduce hemp as a staple commodity for this and the sister province (Upper Canada). Unfortunately, political events obstructed that effort; the American embargo gave so great a scope to mercantile enterprise, particularly the Lumber Trade, that there was scarcely any bounds to the price given for labour. Soon after, the war ensued (War of 1812), which gave a death blow to agricultural pursuits. The present offers fairer prospects, by the general peace now taken place."

Grece was right. For a period in the late 1800s, Canada produced most of the hemp England needed, and at the time England was the largest hemp consumer in the world.

In the 1930s, nylon was introduced in the U. S., and a concerted effort was made to use wood pulp for paper instead of hemp. Public worries about the use of marijuana as a drug led the U.S. to outlaw the growing of all hemp in 1937. Canada followed suit the following year.

In 1998, it again became legal to grow industrial hemp in Canada with a licence. By 2010, some 26,800 acres of industrial hemp were cultivated in Canada, about 800 acres in Quebec and the rest mainly in Manitoba.

Susan McGuire is the historian at the Atwater Library. In 1829, Charles Grece was a member of the Montreal Mechanics' Institution, the library's precursor.

Updatge on Hemp Plastic Water Bottle

Source: kickstarter.com

Posted by JD Leadam

I drove out to the Santa Cruz boardwalk today and passed out informational pamphlets. I've been spending the remainder of my day researching possible plastic compositions for the product. I've come up with some interesting possibilities as well as some organizations to contact with for additional support. Canada is currently attempting to become a world leader in hemp byproducts production. China is presently the biggest producer of industrial hemp, accounting for nearly 50% of all hemp produced in the world. What I have found is that in order to become competitive, several Canadian groups have launched initiatives to test and refine hemp raw materials that will eventually be utilized in consumer products. Their aim is to refine the best hemp byproducts in an attempt to sell manufactures on their use. In the 2008 article published by The Agricola Group entitled "National Industrial Hemp Strategy" it is stated that the United States is the primary importer of Canadian industrial hemp. Additionally between 2006 and 2007, hemp fiber exports from Canada increased 65%, showing tremendous growth in the industry. All the research I've conducted shows tremendous growth in the hemp-fiber reinforced polymer (hemp plastic) industry. One of the biggest organizations spearheading hemp plastic research is the Alberta Research Council also referred to as Alberta Innovates Technology Futures. In 2007 the Alberta Research Council launched a $2.25 million project promoting hemp as a viable feed stock to produce plastics. Dr. John Wolodko, the program leader for the Alberta Research Council's Polymers and Composites Group predicts that within the next decade hemp fibers will be commonly used in many consumer products. Dr. Wolodko attributes this expected growth to the "green" eco-friendly product movement as well as the rising price of petrochemicals (chemicals derived from oil). I believe organizations such as the Alberta Research Council will be very supportive of this product and will have tremendous amounts of useful information to offer.

Hemp Plastic Water Bottle (video)

A Product Design project in San Jose, CA by JD Leadam
Source: kickstarter.com

We are currently seeking first-round funding! 

Please take a moment to view our campaign at

www.HelpKickStartUs.com

We are 60% funded!

With just a few weeks left, we're down to the wire. If you are able to help out, please consider donating today. With your help this revolutionary green product can become a reality.

Hemp Plastic Water Bottles is a concept product thought up by JD Leadam, a business entrepreneurship major at San Jose State University. This product won three 1st place prizes at the 2011 Silicon Valley Innovation Challenge and received much interest thereafter. JD is currently raising seed funding and aiming to be the first to market.

ABOUT US

When considering materials for our reusable water bottles, we searched for a product that was lightweight, extremely durable, 100% biodegradable, and one that posed zero health risks. Industrial hemp turned out to be the only material that met all of our high-set standards. Through the rigorous research we conducted, it was easy to see that hemp plastic is a less toxic, better performing, and more earth-conscious alternative to the more commonly used glass fiber reinforced polypropylene plastic. We are attempting to revolutionize the plastic water bottle industry one bottle at a time. With our expertise and your help, we can make this "green" dream a reality.

Water Bottle Inventor: Hemp Is the Answer

New water bottle won awards for student.

• By Jane Primerano

Source: morris.patch.com

 Morris Township native JD Leadam is seeking funding for an invention designed to replace disposable plastic water bottles.

The Hemp Bottle is made from the most durable natural fiber on earth, Leadam said.

Leadam is seeking $15,000 in funding for testing plastic compositions and designing and manufacturing a mold for his product. He has 62 backers already and eight days to go on his campaign for $8,500 of the funding on Kickstarter.com.

He said he has resources at his school, San Jose State University in California, to design and tool the plastic mold once the funding is in place. He also has resources to test for the best hemp plastic composition for the bottle.

Hemp was a logical choice for a replacement for the non-biodegradable plastic bottle, Leadam said. It is more durable and does not leach toxins into the contents as the plastics used today do. The DEHA leached by one-time-use bottles has been linked to liver and reproductive problems, asthma in children and cancer, his webpage said. These bottles will never biodegrade in a landfill because they require sunlight to break down, he said.

In addition, of the 25 billion single-use plastic bottles, more than 80 percent will be disposed of improperly.

The current alternatives, aluminum, glass or BPA-free polycarbonate plastic bottles may break or crack easily and are also not biodegradable.

Industrial hemp has long stalks with strong fibers. .

Misconceptions about its relationship with other strains of Cannabis Sativa has kept hemp underutilized for manufacture, Leadam said.

Leadam’s invention won three awards at the 2011 Silicon Valley Innovation Challenge: Most Innovative Idea, Best Elevator Pitch and People’s Choice Award.

Should the campaign raise more than $15,000, Leadam will use the additional money to apply for a patent and begin manufacturing.

For more information, go to TheHempBottle.com or the Facebook page for The Hemp Bottle.

The Hottest Hemp Valentine’s Gifts

By: The Hemp Industry Insider
Source: hempindustryinsider.com

This month Anndrea Herman shows that hemp can be sizzling hot.

Earthlybody Heart-Shaped 3-in-1Massage Candle

Hand Poured, Fragrant Natural Soy-Oil Massage Candle burns longer & cleaner and melts into a warming, silky massage oil which penetrates and moisturizes skin.

Dash Hemp Spa Robe

The only Hemp Spa Robe in America, the Dash Hemp spa robe is made of a high qualitylow loop French terry in a thirsty blend of 55% Hemp and 45% Cotton.
Exclusive to Hemp Industry Insider readers: Get 20% off any Dash Hemp purchase by using this  discount code Hempinside20 at check out

Sabne’s Hemp Bootyhuggers

Ladies hemp/certified organic cotton/lycra jersey knit, boy style, low rise panties, with a seamless crotch, available in 5 colours. Exclusive to Hemp Industry Insider readers: Order 5 sale panties and mention Hemp Industry Insider to receive your 6th pair for free

Conscious Clothing Hemp Lingerie

Nightie accented with organic cotton lace. Straps criss cross in back . Organic cotton lace accent starts under bust and continues down back straps. Nightie front has peek-a-boo opening over left thigh. Just sexy enough…..

Sexy Ganja Hemp Oil Personal Lubricant

SEXY GANJA® is a new generation water based personal lubricant containing certified biological hemp oil in combination with the HomeoSativa process. Sexy Ganja enhances the erectile capacity and decreases premature ejaculation.

Go Softwear Hemp Jocks

GO SOFTWEARʼS Hemp underwear and Go Natural  collection was designed to offer an alternative to the conventional cotton underwear which consumes large amounts of water and pesticides to grow.  Exclusive to Hemp Industry Insider readers: Get 25% off any items purchased from the site by using the discount code HEMP at checkout

Adam & Eve Hemp Seed Prolong Spray

Make a good thing even better–-spray a little of this hemp oil-infused formula on your erection––and stay harder, longer! Hemp oil acts as a natural stimulant in this water-based, 4 oz spray. Exclusive to Hemp Industry Insider readers: Get 50% this product by using the discount code HEMP at check out

How does your garden grow?

Source: echonews.com.au

Keith Bolton and Wayne Wadsworth with their hemp board home garden.

Wayne 'Wadzy' Wadsworth has designed and built a new space-saving domestic gardening system called the Auto Pot that he hopes will encourage more people to grow their own food. It requires very little space and uses a valve to regulate water to plants as they need it, eliminating the need for forgetful humans to do it.

"People build a garden bed and get all enthusiastic and then it just goes to weeds," Wadzy said.

He has built a display model into a cabinet made from hemp particle board imported from Germany by hemp enthusiast Dr Keith Bolton.

"This is a product we should be producing in Australia instead of using wood pulp," Keith said. "It's lighter than wood and has better insulation properties."

Wadzy said the Auto Pot system could live on a balcony, or even indoors.

"If we can get people to grow their own food in the city, it would free up agricultural land for industrial crops such as hemp and bamboo that could be used for making plastics, clothing, cosmetics... anything that can be made from oil can be made from plants."

The Auto Pot is on display at Rvbyesque in Carrington Street, Lismore.