Homes storing CO2, just like trees

by Luigi Serenelli
Source: youris.com

Houses built with bio-based materials, such as timber, straw and hemp, act as CO₂ banks. Experts explain how citizens can become custodians of atmospheric carbon dioxide and thus help reduce air pollution

Domestic efforts play an important role in curbing global warming. Besides producing and using renewables, homes can also act as banks that store CO2. This innovative building model exploits bio-based materials, such as timber, straw and hemp, which act as “carbon sequestrators.”

Carbon is banked through photosynthesis made by plants during their lifetime. “Photosynthesis is the means with which plants absorb atmospheric CO2 molecules, and split them into their component atoms. The carbon atom is retained making complex organic sugars that are the building blocks of the cellulose, hemi-cellulose and lignin found in plant cell walls. The oxygen atoms are released back into atmosphere as a by-product. Therefore, photosynthesis converts atmospheric CO2 into carbon-based materials that we can use to build and insulate our houses”, says Finlay White, expert in low energy “passive” buildings.

When plants die, the ground absorbs the stored carbon dioxide, which then finds its way back into the environment. However,  if we use bio-based materials in construction, the CO2 remains “imprisoned” in the buildings made.

But how much carbon dioxide can be stored in a carbon sequestration house? White explains that “depending on the extent of the renewable materials used, the gross amount of CO2 equivalent stored could be as much as 55 tonnes for a typical 80m² house. Such dwellings would typically use timber framing for the superstructure and for the internal walls and floor, straw bale insulation in the roof, timber for the cladding and finishes, and other bio-based materials for use elsewhere.”

“The gross amount is the actual CO2 absorbed by the bio-based materials used in the building. The net amount will need to take account of the energy used and subsequent CO2 emissions associated with dealing with the forests and crops, and turning the materials into useful building products and delivering them to site. This is known as embodied carbon”, he adds.

 “Therefore the calculation for a bio-based house will be the gross CO2 captured minus the CO2 emissions embodied in making the house. A typical 80m² bio-based house with a gross CO2 capture of 55 tonnes might well mean a net amount of 33.6 tonnes.”

White works for the Bristol-based green technology firm Modcell, which contributed to the construction of what they claim to be the world’s first commercially available houses built using straw (more info in this BBC report).

They are also collaborating with the European project Isobio, which is developing “new products that include compressed straw board that can replace plasterboard, cereal fibres combined with bio polymers to make components for door cores etc.”, says White, “Once a designer becomes aware of the use of bio-based materials, the potential for their use expands rapidly.”

Carbon sequestration houses still remain a niche market in Europe.

Callum Hill, senior visiting research fellow at the University of Bath, another Isobio expert in the field, points out that “the building industry tends to be very conservative in its approach and prefers to use what it is familiar with. Bio-derived materials are often perceived as being perishable, flammable and short-lived. These perceptions are not supported by facts”. Compressed straw bales used for building envelopes, for example, are not flammable because they contain less oxygen.

Hill thinks that governments should recognise this alternative storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide and “provide a financial benefit for custodians of it. “It is a way of storing atmospheric carbon dioxide that can be readily achieved and without financial penalty (unlike carbon capture and storage)”, he says, “This is something that can be done to the benefit of society and the environment. Anthropogenic carbon emissions are undoubtedly changing the climate and these will have huge financial implications”.

Hemp crop harvested in Virginia for 1st time in decades

Source: fredericksburg.com

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Among the many crops grown on Glenn Rodes' family farm in Rockingham County this summer was one that has not been cultivated in Virginia for decades but that may have a chance at a comeback now, thanks to a slow shift in attitudes and the law.

Hidden behind rows of corn in one field, Rodes grew a small plot of hemp — a hardy, fiber-rich plant that can grow 8 feet tall and which has been used for thousands of years to make textiles, rope, paper, animal feed and food products.

In September, Rodes' farm was part of Virginia's first hemp harvest in decades. Hemp was once a mainstay crop in Virginia, until it was banished as part of the long U.S. war on drugs starting in the 1930s.

Though it is grown in many other countries and used in numerous products — even some automobile parts contain hemp — the crop vanished through guilt by association. It is a variety of Cannabis sativa, the same species as the marijuana plant.

Hemp advocates say the plant does not deserve that opprobrium. Having been bred over many generations for its industrial uses, hemp has vastly lower concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive compound that makes marijuana a recreational drug.

"There is a 70-year stigma that has been attached to it, but (hemp) is not a drug," said Rodes, who, along with several other family members, operates a diversified, 900-acre crop and livestock farm started by his father in 1949.

Rodes said he was especially interested in growing hemp because of its potential to make biofuels. The hemp grown on his farm was used to make biodiesel to run farm equipment.

The Rodes farm is among the early participants in a research program that could lead to a revival of the crop. A movement is underway to remove legal barriers to the cultivation of hemp, though it remains under tight regulation for now, and it is unclear to what extent full commercialization might happen.

In the 2014 farm bill, Congress allowed state departments of agriculture to license the growing of industrial hemp for research purposes.

With the change in federal law, 30 states, including Virginia, then passed legislation authorizing their own hemp research programs. Virginia passed its legislation in 2015.

"It's funny that we had to pass legislation just to do research," given hemp's history in the state, said Del. Joseph R. Yost, R-Giles, who sponsored one of the bills in 2015.

Yost noted that during the Colonial era, Virginia farmers were required to grow hemp, partly to supply fiber for ropes to the British Royal Navy.

"People think it was tobacco that started this colony, but it was also hemp," said Jason Amatucci, founder and executive director of the Virginia Industrial Hemp Coalition, a group that advocates the development of the Virginia hemp industry.

In 2016, the General Assembly passed another set of bills allowing for commercial production of hemp, but federal law would have to be relaxed further for that to happen.

Two bills are pending in Congress that would exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana if it has a THC concentration of less than 0.3 percent — far less than the concentration in marijuana, which can be from 5 to 20 percent.

One bill, sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has 74 co-sponsors from both parties. The Senate bill is sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., with 16 co-sponsors.

In Virginia, research programs are underway at Virginia Tech, Virginia State University and James Madison University.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services imported 16 varieties of hemp seed and issued licenses to 29 people to grow hemp this year as part of the research programs. A total of 37 acres were planted this year on plots in six counties.

"At least for now, we are just trying to understand how this plant grows and how it performs in different environments in the state," said John Fike, a professor of crop and soil environmental science at Virginia Tech who oversees that school's hemp research.

"We typically look at hemp as a plant that can produce very durable and very strong fiber for its weight," Fike said. "It is not as strong as fibers made from some sort of man-made chemicals but, when you look at it on a weight basis, it actually stands up fairly well. There is also a lot of interest in it as a source of oil and feeds."

Rodes grew a 10-acre plot for researchers at JMU. This year's test partly was to determine whether conventional farm equipment could be used to plant and harvest hemp.

Another plot was grown in Albemarle County to test the plant's reaction to different soil types.

Preliminary results of the research are promising, said Michael Renfroe, a biology professor at JMU who oversaw the research program there.

"I think this is a crop that has a high potential for growth in Virginia," he said. "I think we will be able to find some very useful cultivar for both fiber and oil production. It could be a good crop for small-acreage farmers."

For now, large-scale commercial production remains prohibited. That is why the plot on Rodes' farm had to be grown in the middle of a cornfield, so it could not be seen.

Everyone who worked with the plants had to pass a criminal background check, including the JMU undergraduate students who worked on the project.

If commercial production is allowed, it also is uncertain just how large the market could be for Virginia-grown hemp or how much income it might generate for farmers.

Advocates say the market could be sizable, given hemp's usefulness in many products.

The Hemp Industries Association, a national advocacy group for hemp production, estimated the value of hemp products sold at retail in the U.S. at $573 million in 2015. That includes $90 million worth of food products containing hemp, $147 million worth of personal care products, $95 million worth of textiles, and $116 million worth of industrial applications such as car parts.

"We literally have millions of cars on the road that have hemp parts in them," said Eric Steenstra, executive director of the association. "You don't even know it's there, because it's underneath the leather and the trim on the car.

"A lot of those parts are made by American companies, but they are made with imported (hemp) fiber. Our farmers are left out of that market."

Yost admitted he was skeptical when he first was approached about carrying legislation to allow for hemp research in Virginia.

"It seemed far-fetched to me," he said. "But the more research and study you do about it, the more you see the possibilities."

Yost said he now sees hemp as a potential job-creation catalyst in regions of the state hurt by the loss of tobacco and manufacturing jobs.

For advocates such as Amatucci of the Virginia Industrial Hemp Coalition, the research that is happening now is good, but the move toward eventual commercialization is not happening quickly enough. Amatucci argues that Virginia is falling behind other states such as Kentucky, which has a larger hemp research program.

The amount of hemp cultivated in 2016 in the various research programs across the U.S. was close to 10,000 acres, or double the amount grown in 2015.

Amatucci thinks Virginia lawmakers should devote more resources to developing the crop in the state.

"I don't know why we are so slow on this," he said. "It is either a stigma, or possibly concerns about it competing with other industries."

"If we are going to have an industry, our farmers need to have experience, and that takes time," he said. "We are in one of the three hot zones in the world that grows hemp best."

Rodes, the Rockingham farmer, said he sees hemp as a potentially lucrative cash crop.

"Initially, I believe food products will be the value of the crop until a fiber infrastructure is set up in our country," he said. "But that is not going to happen until the federal law changes to allow industrial hemp production.

"My hope for the future is that it will be a crop that farmers can put in their normal rotation."

Hemp museum needs a home and helping hands

By Brian Florian
Source: theleafonline.com


The USA Hemp Museum’s online site features an original painting by Chris Conrad.

Cannabis has hundreds of years of history here in the US, and few artifacts have survived the era of marijuana prohibition. Those that exist are often scooped up into private collections and hidden away.

Richard Davis grew cannabis, made and collected artifacts and carried his collection around the U.S. in the 1990s and the early part of the 21st century.

Noted hemp activist Richard M. Davis took a different approach. He made and collected items and took them on the road in his pickup truck from place to place and set up up his displays at rallies, conferences — even in front of court houses and federal buildings. Davis created the USA Hemp Museum and curated it until he passed away on January 10, 2014 after a long battle with melanoma.

From grower to collector

Davis had a colorful history as an outlaw cannabis grower who provided medicine to patients and drove around the state with a large cannabis stalk attached to the top of his truck. He once sold marijuana at the Super Bowl in Arizona and included tax stamps issued by the state, confounding efforts to stop him until the legislature revised its cannabis tax. Davis had been storing and showing his collection at a warehouse space in the Los Angeles area upon request.

In his final days, Davis passed the mantle to pioneer activist Chris Conrad, known for transforming Jack Herer’s book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, into the modern version that jump started the movement for legalization in 1990. Conrad, who has curated both the Amsterdam cannabis museum and the Oaksterdam Cannabis Museum at Oaksterdam University, Oakland CA, agreed to curate the artifacts and online museum, which is now being updated.

Her mission is to preserve Davis’ legacy

Conrad is working with Brenda Kershenbaum, Davis’ long time companion who helped him in his quest, inherited the museum foundation and artifacts upon his death. The museum has become a big undertaking that overwhelms the handful of people trying to catalog and preserve it — and to find it a new home to be shown.

“The purpose of the museum is to document, ‘lest we forget,’ the history of this long war to freeing a plant was not won in a day and as this historical anomaly passes down to future generations, many of them have never heard of our pioneers and heroes,” said Kershenbaum.

All of the museum artifacts are presently stored and the website needs a major update Conrad and Kershenbaum are looking for a permanent location to house and make this collection open for the public to see. Both concede they need help in maintaining and funding the collection and websites.

Foundation seeks donations to support the effort

The World Cannabis Foundation, created in part to help fund and promote the USA Hemp Museum, had a re-organizational meeting September 20, 2014, with a goal described by Kershenbaum as being to “provide information that will help heal our bodies, our society, our planet without synthetics.”

Please contact foundation@hempmuseum.info to become involved in this effort.

What is Hemp?: Marijuana’s Industrial Counterpart

By Alec Siegel
Source: lawstreetmedia.com

Hemp. It’s a word you have probably heard more than once, and probably had some questions about at the time. Is it marijuana? Is it legal? Why does my vegan friend preach its health prowess? In short, hemp is cannabis, but it is not marijuana, though marijuana is also cannabis. Confused? Read on to find out the details.

ENDLESS POTENTIAL

Cannabis is a plant genus with two sub-species, indica and sativa. Both contain THC, the psychoactive chemical that results in a “high,” though they differ in appearance and effect. The fault line between hemp and marijuana is the THC content of an indica, sativa, or hybrid strain. If the THC concentration in a plant of any strain is under 0.3 percent, then it is classified as hemp (with the exception of West Virginia, which defines hemp as having a THC level below 1 percent). If it’s above that threshold, then it is classified as marijuana. The classification largely exists for legal purposes, as marijuana laws are much harsher than hemp laws.

Hemp grows around the world, most abundantly in Pakistan and China. China is also the crop’s largest exporter. An estimated 25,000 products are made from hemp, spanning nine different product markets. Its fibers are spun into a variety of goods: socks, shirts, pants, strong plastics, rope, and paper; a company in France even prints the Bible on hemp paper. Hemp seeds boast a nutritional profile unlike any other miracle seed (like chia or flax), with its perfect omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids ratio and a host of vital vitamins and minerals. 

PERSISTING TABOOS

In the U.S.–where marijuana taboos persist but are slowly crumbling–hemp is a nascent industry, even though its sturdy, long-lasting fibers are woven into the nation’s past. Colonial farmers cultivated the crop, including some famous ones: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and George Washington all grew hemp and sang its praises. The ropes of the Mayflower were made of hemp fiber.

But the abundance of hemp in colonial times soon became a siren for the demonizingof Mexican immigrants, and their supposed proclivity for the other side of the cannabis equation: marijuana. Marijuana–traditionally spelled “marihuana,” the modern spelling is a dig at Spanish-speaking Mexicans–became associated with all things evil and naughty, and of course, was banned. Hemp could not rid itself of the stigma of its more potent (and polarizing) cousin. That began to change in 2014.

A NEW ERA

The Agricultural Act of 2014, also known as the 2014 Farm Bill, allowed states to pass legislation for the cultivation and study of hemp, with a requirement that growers must partner with researchers from a university to ensure cooperation between the scientific and commercial fields. As of this year, 16 states have passed laws that legalize industrial hemp for commercial purposes; 20 states are dipping into hemp more cautiously, allowing pilot programs that allow for collaborative research between growers and researchers.

One entrepreneur in New York is jumping on the state’s recently passed legislation allowing for hemp pilot programs. Aidan Woishnis is a part of an educational hemp outfit called WhatCannaDo. Aiming to educate prospective growers and consumers alike, Woishnis is passionate about the hemp movement, the importance of educating people on its potential powers, and deconstructing its marijuana-drenched stigma.

“In order to get any movement properly, people need to be educated and know what’s going on,” Woishnis, who dropped out of Prescott College in Arizona to stake his claim in hemp trade, told Law Street in a phone interview. His aim is to “build an educational platform, giving them a source of actual knowledge that’s been researched by a lab, not by someone taking something from the internet.”

State legislatures are showing a greater willingness to embrace hemp. But Woishnis said the greatest barrier to hemp taking off the way he thinks it could is competing private interests. Wealthy and powerful material industries–like plastics and timber–have pushed back on the young and frightening (for them) potential of hemp.

Some see hemp as an all-purpose answer to a green-conscious society’s infrastructure woes, a fix for the typical carbon-emitting materials that make up today’s cities and towns. Woishnis thinks hemp has the ability to remove the guilt from a culture built on consumption, but that is increasingly concerned with the longterm effects consumption will have on the environment. With hemp, people “can still be consumers and be in a capitalist system while not harming anything,” he said. “[Hemp] is a much better option.”

N.C. Industrial Hemp Commission begins work

Source: bladenjournal.com

RALEIGH – The N.C. Industrial Hemp Commission recently held its first meeting, officially beginning work to establish rules governing a pilot program for industrial hemp production in North Carolina.

The commission’s first order of business was to elect Dr. Tom Melton, of N.C. State University as its chairman. Melton is deputy director of N.C. Cooperative Extension and leader of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Program.

The commission came about following congressional changes to U.S. farm policies that allowed institutions of higher education and state departments of agriculture to participate in research-focused pilot programs for industrial hemp production.

Interest in the crop has grown because industrial hemp has numerous uses as a fiber and food crop. Plant extracts also have been reported to have pharmaceutical benefits. Industrial hemp is distinguished from marijuana by having less than 0.3 percent of the psychoactive chemical known as THC, compared to 3 to 15 percent or higher in marijuana. Hemp is not new to North Carolina. It was cultivated in the 1800s and early 1900s primarily for its fiber.

In 2015, the N.C. General Assembly passed Senate Bill 313 calling for the creation of the Industrial Hemp Commission. The commission was specifically charged with developing rules and a licensing structure so the state would stay within federal laws.

“Our goal is to have a 2017 industrial hemp crop, but there are many, many steps we must work through before we can even put seed in the ground,” said Dr. Sandy Stewart, vice chairman of the commission and director of the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Research Stations Division. “While the initial work has begun, farmers need to realistically understand that there are still significant bridges to cross between now and May of 2017, when planting could begin. That includes navigating import protocols to obtain seeds, since they would likely have to come from outside the United States.”

To begin the process for obtaining seeds for a first planting, NCDA&CS Plant Industry Director Vernon Cox has registered the department as an importer with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The commission will next focus on drafting rules for a system to permit growers to take part in the pilot program.

By law, commission members must represent agriculture, ag research or law enforcement, with ag-related members appointed by Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler, research-related members appointed by Gov. Pat McCrory and law enforcement members appointed by Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger and Speaker of the House Tim Moore.

Commission members by appointment are:

Troxler appointees: Guy Carpenter, an agribusiness and marketing professional from New Hanover County; Billy McLawhorn, a crop consultant from Craven County; Fen Rascoe, a farmer from Bertie County; Pat Short, a farmer from Guilford County; and Stewart.

McCrory appointees: Melton, NCSU; Dr. Guochen Yang, N.C. A&T State University;

Senate appointee: Cary Police Chief Tony Godwin;

House appointee: Sheriff Sam Page, Rockingham County.

Many groups attended the commission’s first meeting, including representatives from BioRegen Innovations Coop, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, the N.C. Industrial Hemp Association, N.C. Hemp Industries Association and hemp-related businesses. To be notified of upcoming meetings or other commission-related news, go to www.ncagr.gov/hemp/ and provide email information in the mailing list block.

UNL researchers launch hemp project with first planting

By Nicholas Bergin
Source: theindependent.com


Industrial hemp is seen growing on a test plot near Langdon, N.D. Nebraska has joined the growing list of states undertaking industrial hemp research. Dozens of products can be made from the potential cash crop. (Associated Press/Bryan Hanson, North Dakota State University Langdon Research Extension Center)

LINCOLN (AP) — After months of paperwork and navigating bureaucratic red tape, University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers have planted their first crop of legal hemp.

About 150 plants with the distinctive frond leaf, previously relegated to roadside ditches, are nestled in warm and slightly humid greenhouses on UNL’s East Campus.

Industrial hemp has almost none of the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), found in its cousin marijuana, but the family relationship has gotten both plants lumped together as Schedule I drugs along with heroin, LSD and ecstasy.

“You can get higher smoking a corn plant than you can on this stuff,” said Tom Clemente, a professor of biotechnology and one of two UNL researchers growing the plants.

The Schedule I designation has long put the kibosh on hemp as an industrial crop in the United States. But in 2014, Congress carved out an exemption for research purposes. Since then, at least 30 states have adopted legislation related to industrial hemp, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

While states like Colorado and Kentucky led the way in hemp cultivation, Nebraska’s path has been slow and halting. A bill that would have let Nebraska farmers apply to grow hemp got dusted by state legislators over fears it could be used as a cover for or gateway to marijuana. Senators eventually passed an amended bill restricting hemp research to colleges.

In February, UNL filed an application with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency for permission to import seeds. Researchers had to jump through numerous hoops, including reinforcing the floor below where the seeds would be kept with metal because the DEA feared someone could saw through the wood to get to them.

On June 23, the DEA gave UNL the go-ahead to order seeds from Italy and Canada.

Clemente’s focus is on genetically engineering hemp to produce oils in its stalks and leaves for use as industrial lubricants and plastics. Once the oil has been extracted, the remaining pulp and fibers can be used in making materials that include paper and cardboard.

“You want to maximize the number of products you’re making per acre,” Clemente said. “When you’re just selling biomass, it’s tough to make a buck off that.”

Hemp has plenty of potential. It’s resilient and doesn’t need much fertilizer. It also doesn’t need much water. While other plants were withering during the 2012 drought, hemp was blooming across the state.

The plant, which already is grown and imported to the United States from countries including Canada and China, is used in more than 25,000 products, including seizure medicine, lotions and construction materials. Retail value of hemp products in the United States in 2015 amounted to at least $573 million dollars, according to estimates by the Hemp Industry Association and Hemp Business Journal.

And now, inside an East Campus greenhouse, young plants sporting five-fingered leaves sway in an artificial wind created by fans.

The wind is essential, said Dweikat, who had been pushing to get a hemp breeding program at UNL since 2012. Without it, hemp would slump over under its own weight.

He has varieties from Italy and Canada next to plants grown from seeds he gathered himself from ditches and fields in Lincoln and Seward counties, which he did with the blessing of DEA officials.

UNL Assistant Dean of Agricultural Research Hector Santiago said the university is working on a memorandum of understanding with the DEA to formalize plans to use feral hemp from Nebraska in breeding programs.

DEA spokeswoman Barbara Carreno and Nebraska Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Christin Kamm said the researchers got verbal permission to do research with wild hemp as long as the plants have a low THC content.

Any that contain more than .3 percent will be destroyed. Those that fall below the limit will be used to crossbreed crops that are well adapted to Nebraska’s climate and will produce the fibers and oils industry wants.

Because federal approval came too late for an outdoor crop this year, Dweikat is focusing on the best way to grow hemp in greenhouse conditions.

“We’re just learning the ropes,” he said.

He’s already found that plants from the Canadian seed need more than 14 hours of light a day or they get spindly and produce prematurely flowering sprouts while wild plants from Nebraska and Italian seeds grow fine with 14 hours.

Dweikat plans to sow two acres of hemp this spring at a UNL research facility near Mead, then move on to planting in different parts of the state to test growing conditions.

While hemp proponents hope it could someday become a Nebraska cash crop, there is still a great deal of work to be done in terms of research -- and in convincing businesses and farmers to invest.

“You can develop a feed stock, but you need the industry to develop around it,” Clemente said. “If there is no industry for transportation or to take the stuff, it’s going to sit like a log. So there is a lot of work to do outside the sheer biology. There is a lot on the business side.”

UNL hopes to partner with companies and business investors in the blooming hemp industry, like Omaha-startup Bastcore, which turns hemp stalks into fiber products. He also is working on procuring federal funding recently made available for hemp research.

Why haven’t we legalised cannabis yet South Africa?

Source: news24.com

Why haven’t we legalised cannabis yet South Africa?

Or at the very least gone the decriminalisation route as is now supported by SA’s pre-eminent drugs policy watchdog, the Central Drug Authority? Seven years have passed since the founding of the Dagga Party of South Africa by Jeremy Acton. The Dagga Couple’s Jules Stobbs and Myrtle Clarke were raided by the South African Police Service back in 2010. The last time that cannabis was even mentioned in a speech in parliament was in the run up to our last round of elections. As we continue to be on a path, seemingly towards nowhere, other African countries are increasingly making noises about softening their own laws in this regard. 

Most recently two days ago, a member of the Swazi parliament Mr Hans Steffen spoke out about the possibility of his country being able to pay a grant worth 2000 emalangeni (about R2000) to every elderly citizen just by legalising the cultivation and sale of cannabis and the manufacture of cannabis based products. Mr Steffen also asserted that America is not against the use of the cannabis plant, because of the amount of money such a legally regulated industry can generate.

Malawi and Ghana are two more Sub-Saharan African countries that have not only voiced their support for a change in attitude towards cannabis, but are actually busy taking solid steps to implement alternative policies. In the case of the former a new hemp industry has been given government approval and backing. This new hemp industry is being touted as a means to help alleviate poverty through reinvigorating both the agricultural and manufacturing sectors in the country’s economy. In Ghana the government have become increasingly worried about the “abuse of cannabis”, which has become commonplace due to a laissez-faire attitude to cannabis by the general public. Cannabis use is in fact so normalised and widespread in Africa’s top consumer nation that the Executive Secretary of the country’s Narcotics Control Board, Yaw Akrasi Sarpong has stated that cannabis is already “virtually legalised”.

A sign of this is that cannabis can be found in cosmetics and hair products used by women in the country and that it is smoked by Ghanaians of all social classes including respected professionals. The Ghanaian police have publicly agreed with this position and called for decriminalisation in order to help combat the abuse of the substance. According to a video on CCTV four days ago, Ghana’s Deputy Minister of the Interior James Agalga said under a proposed new bill tabled before parliament, cannabis users will be given medical care and rehabilitation, rather than prosecution and incarceration.

Back here at home in SA it is alarming how frequent cannabis busts are becoming around the country. Not a day goes past without at least two or three cannabis busts being displayed by members of the South African Police Service. Is this really an appropriate way to spend valuable and limited crime fighting resources given that the more time is spent on trying to stop people from growing, possessing, selling and using cannabis the less time the SAPS can spend on going after violent criminals like rapists, armed robbers and murderers? It does beg the important question as to why the authorities appear to see cannabis as a bigger threat and priority for law enforcement than the epidemic of serious crime that is afflicting communities the length and breadth of South Africa.