I want to grow hemp not plant marujiana

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Source: thevoicebw.com




Political rival misrepresents Moloasi’s plans for industrial hemp farming

The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) parliamentary candidate for Shashe West has rubbished suggestions that his plans to improve conditions in the constituency include planting dagga.

Reacting to allegations put out by his political rival Fidelis Molao, Motlhaleemang Moloasi said he never talked about growing dagga.

Instead of mentioned promoting industrial hemp farming as a means of creating employment in the area.

He said it was absurd and disappointing for his rival to mislead people by telling them that industrial hemp was the same as dagga.

“Industrial hemp, as the name implies is just a plant which has many industrial uses,” Moalosi said.

“During my two years research I came to realize that this plant could be used to boost the economy of the country and also uplift lives.”

Moalosi pointed out that industrial hemp could be used to produce textile products, paper, bio fuel, animal feed and building material.

He said China was probably the largest producer of industrial hemp, which creates a large number of job opportunities for the Chinese.

CORRECTION: Moalosi

“Possession of dagga in China carries the death penalty, so if industrial hemp was indeed a drug then the entire government of China would have gone to the gallows.”

Moalosi went on to say: “Molao must do his research or just accept that there are people out there smarter than him, and admit he doesn’t know what he is talking about.”

Meanwhile Fidelis Molao continues to maintain that legislating for the use of dagga is Moalosi’s main campaign strategy in his claim to empower Batswana.

He warned residents of Natale during a weekend rally that it would be a gross mistake for them to elect him to power.

Ontario man sets sights high with world's first hemp plane

By Olivia Carville
Source: thestar.com


Ontario environmental activist and entrepreneur Derek Kesek is building the world's first hemp 
plane. Kesek is pictured with a plane of similar size and shape to his hemp-based aircraft.

Derek Kesek plans to be flying high in the world’s first hemp plane next year.

At first, people laughed when the Burlington, Ont., former organic restaurant owner said he was going to build a plane made out of hemp.

“Can you smoke it, too?” they jibed.

“But, they’re not laughing at me now,” the environmental activist told the Star this week.

Last month his Waterloo-based company, Hempearth, signed a contract with a Florida-based plane manufacturer to build an aircraft made almost entirely out of hemp.

A member of the cannabis plant family, hemp is a tall, leafy plant with a strong fibrous stalk. It is used to make T-shirts, soap, rope, oil, food, construction materials and now, planes.

Kesek believes his hemp plane could revolutionize the world — “just like Steve Jobs did with his phones.”

Because hemp is a sustainable crop that needs no pesticides or herbicides to grow, the plane would have a carbon footprint significantly smaller than that of standard planes, he said.

“We are building this essentially from weeds from the garden. When nickel and other elements are taken, they can’t be put back.”

At least 75 per cent of Kesek’s plane — including its wings, seats, pillows and outer shell — will be made from hemp, instead of fibreglass.

The four-seater jet will be the colour of natural hemp fibre, with a wingspan of 36 feet (12 metres).

If the plane meets aviation regulations, it will — fittingly — run on hemp biofuel, Kesek said.

“Everybody said, ‘You can’t do that, you’re not going to be able to do that.’ I just said, ‘Watch me,’ ” Kesek said.

“No one thought it would be possible, and all those people who were naysayers are now coming on board.”

Health Canada legalized the growth of industrial hemp in the late 1990s, but in some U.S. states it is still illegal to grow the cannabis plant.

Hemp is often linked to its close chemical cousin, marijuana, and Kesek felt the need to clarify that no one would be smoking pot while building or flying the plane.

“My company is not about marijuana; it is about industrial hemp. I keep it really clean; we are almost like the Coca-Cola of hemp and I’m like the Richard Branson of the brand,” he said.

Sir Richard Branson, one of Britain’s most high-profile billionaire investors, has been an inspiration to Kesek, who shared some other hemp-related pipe dreams with the Star.

“I want to build a spaceship and be up next to Richard Branson in space with hemp,” he said.

All going to plan, Kesek’s first hemp project will be taking off next year, launching from Kitty Hawk, N.C., where the world’s first successful aircraft flight took place.

Velocity Inc., the U.S. company contracted to build the hemp plane, gave the project a price tag of $500,000, chief executive Duane Swing told the Star.

The company tested the strength and durability of woven hemp material before committing to the proposal by making two identical foot-long planks, one made from hemp and one from fibreglass.

An employee then tried to break the planks to see which was stronger and found hemp was in most cases equal to or better than fibreglass, Swing said.

“As long as we can prove that hemp is as strong as fibreglass, then we can push forward with the project.”

Velocity Inc. was waiting on confirmation from Hempearth that the project has the necessary funding before starting to build the plane, Swing said.

Kesek aims to get at least 30 per cent of the plane privately funded before turning to crowdfunding on the Internet.

Hempearth was registered earlier this year with the sole purpose of supporting the hemp industry, Kesek said.

He hoped the plane would raise awareness about hemp and its potential benefits on the environment.

Ancient Siberian Princess Died From Breast Cancer and Smoked Cannabis to Ease Pain

By Katie Spicer
Source: ibtimes.co.uk


The mummy of Princess Ukok, an ancient Siberian mummy discovered 
on the Altai MountainsSiberian Times

An MRI scan of the mummified remains of a 2,500-year-old Siberian princess has revealed that she died after suffering from acute breast cancer.

The mummy, known as 'Princess Ukok' or the 'Siberian Ice Maiden', was believed to be part of the Pazyryk nomadic tribe mentioned in 5th century BC by Greek historian Herodotus.

Her body was discovered in 1993 by Russian archaeologists, who uncovered her tomb beneath the permafrost in the Altai Mountains, containing fine clothing, jewellery, headdresses, a make-up bag, a stash of cannabis, plus six saddled and bridled horses.

Her body is also famous for its elaborate and extremely well-preserved tattoos.

Scientists Andrey Letyagin and Andrey Savelov, from the Russian Academy of Medical Science in Novosibirsk, conducted MRI scans on the princess and found that since a young age she had been suffering from an infection of the bone marrow called osteomyelitis.

It was also shown that just prior to her death she suffered from a fractured skull and some dislocated joints, consistent with a fall from a horse.

Although scientists believe it is possible that she died as a result of her injuries, it was clear from the scans that breast cancer could have been the ultimate cause of her death.

"I am quite sure of the diagnosis - she had cancer. She was extremely emaciated. Given her rather high rank in society and the information scientists obtained studying mummies of elite Pazyryks, I do not have any other explanation of her state. Only cancer could have such an impact," Letyagin said in his analysis, according to The Siberian Times.

The tattoo of a horse on the left arm of Princess Ukok's mummySiberian Times

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The studies of her body found that in her right breast and right axial lymph nodes, there was a primary tumour with metastases.

There was also a decline in the condition of three of the vertebrae in her spine, a further indication of the metastatic cancer process.

Archaeologists believe that it is likely she took cannabis for the pain she was in, as it was a known analgesic for this period.

"In ancient cultures, from which there is a written testimony, such analgesics were used," said Natalia Polosmak, the scientist who first found the burial tomb. "Wine, hashish, opium, henbane, an extract of mandrake, aconite and Indian hemp. The Pazyryks knew hemp and its features."

Even though she is commonly referred to as 'princess', researchers believe that she may have actually been a shaman who gained an 'altered state of mind' through her use of cannabis, leading her kinsmen to believe that she had special powers.

"Probably for this sick woman, sniffing cannabis was a forced necessity. And she was often in altered state of mind," said Polosmak. "We can suggest that through her could speak the ancestral spirits and gods. Her ecstatic visions in all likelihood allowed her to be considered as some chosen being, necessary and crucial for the benefit of society. She can be seen as the darling of spirits and cherished until her last breath."

U.S. company invests in Canadian hemp sector

by Jeffrey Carter
Source: producer.com

DRESDEN, Ont. — Canada’s relaxed regulatory stance toward hemp may lead to a U.S. company investing in Ontario and Alberta.


“Canada has a remarkable regulatory advantage, and there’s good land and climate for growing hemp,” said Sam Alawieh, a board member of Creative Edge Nutrition and executive director of Hemp Technologies, which Creative Edge recently bought.


“They’ll not allow us to do this in the U.S.,” he said. “All you can do with hemp here is research and development for industrial hemp.”


Alawieh said the company plans to use hemp for its grain, fibre and pharmaceutical content. Farmers in Ontario and Alberta would be contracted for production.


“We call it the hemp eco-complex,” he said.


“We want to maximize usage and compete with prices for corn and soybeans.”


Canada already has a significant grain hemp industry, especially in the West. Other countries also have hemp fibre industries, but developing a competitive processing technology has proven a major challenge in North America.


Alawieh said Hemp Technologies looks to combine technologies from around the world and add its own innovations to make it work. 


Hemp fibre is used to make products as varied as building material, insulation and clothing.


Pharmaceuticals can also be extracted from hemp, although regulations, even in Canada, will need to change before that can happen commercially.


Strains that are low in THC, which is the hallucinatory ingredient in marijuana, can have significant levels of other cannabinoids, Alawieh said. There is growing evidence that these are anti-carcinogenic and/or can help control pain and seizures, he added.


Creative Edge Nutrition also plans to invest in medical marijuana in Canada. It announced its intention earlier this year to build an indoor facility in Lakeshore, Ont.


The plan is to build a secure, indoor, climate-controlled facility capable of producing 1.3 million pounds of marijuana. Alawieh said Health Canada will soon list Creative Nutrition as an authorized licensed producer.


He said there is a specific investment proposal for Alberta but would not provide details.


Creative Edge Nutrition is headquartered in Madison Heights, Michigan. 


According to company’s website, it markets nutritional and weight management products, including those that contain hemp, as well as plant materials such as chamomile, ginger, dandelion root and green tea.

Why hemp could be NC farmers' dream crop

BY GALE GLENN
Source: newsobserver.com

Farmers in North Carolina are being left out of the current revival of industrial hemp. The 2014 Federal Farm Bill not only distinguishes hemp from marijuana, it defines hemp as an agricultural crop. This Farm Bill authorizes universities and state agriculture departments to conduct pilot programs for academic and agriculture research.

However, North Carolina has a state law that prohibits hemp production, and as long as that law is on the books these hemp pilot programs are forbidden to our universities and to our biotech, pharmaceutical and crop research facilities.

Eleven states have legalized hemp, and many of their universities and ag departments are already managing pilot programs to determine the hemp variety that best suits their climate, soil and potential industrial demands. The industrial possibilities in North Carolina are textiles, construction, furniture and composite material for the auto industry.

Hemp is a farmer’s dream crop: low-labor, a small amount of fertilizer, no herbicide or pesticide to pollute the land and waterways, an ideal rotational crop with a plus: It reduces the soy bean nematode problem by 60 percent.

The North Carolina Farm Bureau and the State Department of Agriculture have stated that North Carolina farmers have shown little support or interest in hemp production. When British farmers, prohibited from growing hemp, discovered that hemp paper was being imported from France, the farmers marched on the Ministry of Agriculture and got the laws changed. Now hemp farmers in the U.K. produce the raw material for Mercedes door panels and dashboards and various construction components.

Companies in the Southeast are already importing processed hemp fibers from Canada. Now is the time for N.C. farmers to march. Get the state law changed. Get the pilot programs going at N.C. universities. Our farmers deserve the right to raise this useful crop, and our farmers are the perfect people to lead this hemp parade.

Gale Glenn of Durham is vice chairman of the North American Industrial Hemp Council.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/10/16/4238982/why-hemp-could-be-nc-farmers-dream.html?#storylink=cpy

Food Focus: Lady Jane Gourmet (Hemp) Seed Company

By Valerie Vande Panne
Source: metrotimes.com

Up in Hadley, nestled in Lapeer county, the humble hemp seed is taking root. Not in fertile soil, but in Laura Noble's business: Lady Jane Gourmet Seed Company.

Noble discovered hemp during her battle with melanoma cancer. She was on a quest to find a hemp fabric she liked, in order to make sun protective clothing. Cotton doesn't protect against UV rays, she explains to Metro Times. It was on this quest she found herself at a hemp bazaar, and introduced to hemp food. "When I saw the nutritional value of hemp seeds, I was astounded," she tells us. "I was shocked that we weren't utilizing the food more for the nutrition. It's one of the most nutritionally dense foods around!"

Hemp, she explains, is high in protein, has all 18 amino acids, including the nine essential amino acids, along with omega fatty acids — a complete amino acid profile. It's high in the iron, magnesium, and trace minerals that we're missing in our diets, she adds. It has folate, zinc, copper, fiber, and potassium. The nutrition is so healthy, she says, "you can survive off it."

And so she has a line of hemp seed products, including toasted hemp seeds with sea salt, and power bar mixes that include sesame, sunflower, and chia seeds that you can blend at home. There're two gluten-free flapjack mixes (both "outstanding for protein.")

She's also getting into textiles again, with hemp wine bags.

Noble imports her hemp from Canada, and processes and packages it here in Michigan. Due to hemp's sister, marijuana, the U.S. government is fickle when it comes to domestic hemp cultivation, so she and others in the hemp industry are unable to procure their raw hemphere.

Noble laments that much of her day is spent on educating consumers unfamiliar with hemp, who often think they could get high if they eat the hemp seed (impossible) or that they could smoke the fabric (bad idea, and again, you won't get high).

When we ask Noble if she's involved with the Hemp Industries Association, one of the leading nonprofits working to educate and change U.S. policies surrounding the plant, she says, "Hemp should be a for-profit industry. There're tens of thousands of products [that can be made from it]. It's a shame we're not using it on our farm fields."

Indeed, hemp could be a boom crop for Michigan, and other parts of the United States, but the federal government's inability to distinguish between the cannabis and hemp plants means there are many laws, rules, agencies, and regulations restricting its cultivation — so many that it seems easier to grow medical marijuana in Michigan than it is to cultivate hemp.

Until those issues get sorted out (visit the Hemp Industries Association at HIA.org to learn more) we here in the U.S. will just have to keep enjoying our imported, Canadian hemp. And getting our nutrition from it, too — via Lady Jane Gourmet Seed Company.

Find Lady Jane hemp seed products most Saturdays at Eastern Market, or order online at ljseedco.com.

Hemp use in America dates to early colonial times

By Neita Cecil
Source: thedalleschronicle.com

Marijuana use in America dates to the earliest colonial times, when the King of England in 1619 required residents of his Virginia Colony to grow hemp – a taller form of marijuana plant with a low amount of the active ingredient THC.

#Hemp was used in making rope and fibers. Production waned after the Civil War, when newer materials were found for rope and fiber.

#In the late 19th century marijuana became a popular ingredient in many over-the-counter medicines. By 1906, federal law required labeling of it in over-the-counter drugs.

#The Mexican Revolution of 1910 sent a flood of Mexican refugees to the U.S., who introduced recreational marijuana use to American culture.

#The drug became associated with them, and anti-immigrant fear and prejudice soon included marijuana. During the Great Depression, massive unemployment fueled fear and resentment of Mexican immigrants and increased the concern about marijuana use.

#Studies at the time concluded the drug was linked with violent crime and overly sexual behavior and states began outlawing marijuana. In 1936, the famous film “Reefer Madness” showed it as a drug leading to violence and depravity.

#In 1937, a federal tax effectively outlawed marijuana, the “evil weed.”

#In 1944, the New York Academy of Medicine issued an extensively researched report that found that, contrary to earlier reports, marijuana did not lead to violence, insanity or sex crimes, and was not addictive.

#During World War II, hemp was scarce, but was needed for war material like parachutes. The government granted deferments to men who would stay home and grow hemp for the war effort. The program was dubbed “Hemp for Victory.”

#The 1950s saw strict criminal sentences for pot possession, and the countercultural 1960s saw a liberalization of use and increased use by the upper middle class.

#Presidential studies confirmed the earlier New York report, that its use did not lead to violent crime or use of heavier drugs.

#In 1970, federal law categorized marijuana as a drug with high abuse potential and no medical value.

#By the 1970s, some states began decriminalizing marijuana or reducing penalties. But by the late 1970s, influential conservative parents groups helped start the “War on Drugs” of the 1980s. Federal law introduced harsher penalties for pot. After a decade of decreased use, marijuana use again trended upward in the 1990s, especially among teenagers.

#The 1990s saw the appearance of medical marijuana laws. Oregon was one of several to pass one in 1998. Today, 23 states allow medical use of marijuana. In 2012, Washington and Colorado became the first U.S. states to legalize recreational use of marijuana. That same year, Oregon voted down a recreational marijuana measure.