Hemp is the New Frontier
On October 1, 1937, the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was enacted and it prohibited all forms of cannabis sativa. Although the bill was targeted towards the banning of marijuana and both forms of cannabis on separate ends of the sativa spectrum, there was no specification on which form was directed for the ban. Thus both were prohibited from being grown in the United States of America. In November of 2016, marijuana officially became legal to grow in all fifty states, yet industrial hemp is still currently legal to be grown in 13 states within the USA. Hemp is largely exported to the US from other countries. It is imperative that hemp becomes legal to be grown around the entire country, for hemp will help retain the USA’s revenue by using hemp grown in America, has can be used for many different purposes such as clothing or food for example, has the potential to reduce American citizen’s carbon footprint as a substitute for paper and gasoline, and has no major threat to the industrialization of hemp in factories.
It is time that the U.S. policy allows “American family farmers to get in on a hemp market”(Fine 1).
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Hemp is the perfect substitution for making paper than trees. There are about 220 million pounds of toxic pollution that are let out into the air and water annually during the process of making paper from trees. At the same time, deforestation also drives climate change and reduces the filtration of carbon dioxide to oxygen. Most species of trees can take up to thirty years to be grown to harvest opposed to hemp that can be grown within the span of months. Also, because hemp is a reusable resource, hemp paper can be recycled up to 7 times, when paper made from trees can only be recycled a maximum of 3 times. By using hemp paper could have a tremendous effect in the way the war on global warming is
“Each year the world loses up to 58 thousand square miles of forest for paper, construction materials, firewood, and agriculture (Deforestation).” Yet a much more sustainable crop that has been cultivated for thousands of years can greatly remedy this issue. Hemp, the cousin of the marijuana plant; banned back in 1937 through the “Marihuana Tax Act” which made possetion of hemp and marihuana as well as transfer, illegal. However, as of 2015, congress has passed “The Industrial Hemp Farming Act”, and now it is up to the individual states on what to do next. People are still unsure about hemp due to the similarities to its cousin. However, I know that hemp is the key to save the world’s forests because it is a much more sustainable source of paper, clothing, and construction materieals.
On of your local grocery stores should carry Hemp Granola. They might even carry other Hemp items. The imported products are extremely popular. Americas inability to produce their own products. Forces local consumers to buy forienge items. Creating a profitable agricultural industry. Will help the local and national economy. It will also create thousands of American jobs. These improvements would decrease our need to import. From other countries and eliminate the need to import Hemp.
Central Idea: Due to the war on drugs, hemp production is severely limited; however, with the proper legalization and regulation of this plant the U.S. economy would prosper due to job creation and the environment would benefit by the amount of tress saved.
Canada, which legalized the production of industrial hemp in 1998, might be considered a good measure of America’s potential future in industrial hemp production. As of 2015, 1,135 licenses were issued in Canada to grow 34,262.6 hectares of hemp (84,664.7 acres). Those numbers are down from 2011, when Canadian hemp farmers reaped an approximate profit of at least $30.75 million. By way of comparison, Canadian farmers saw at least $990 per acre of hemp while Indiana farmers can expect approximately $736 per acre of corn, and Californian farmers can expect approximately $630 per acre of
The most versatile plant in the world, with over 25,000 known uses, is currently illegal to grow and produce in the United States. These uses range from hemp paper to hemp biodiesel and even include food products. The raging problem of deforestation can ultimately be solved with the help of hemp industrialization in the United States. Hemp as a biodiesel could relieve our dependence of fossil fuels. Opening up hemp farms and factories to produce the product could create thousands of jobs and a new business for our country. The only thing holding back this wide market of positivity is hemp 's family member, cannabis marijuana. Hemp should be legalized in the United States of America as an industrial product. Its uses date back
Do any of you know the difference between industrial hemp and marijuana? Would you like to? The purpose of this speech is to explain the differences in marijuana and industrial hemp, and to show the need to reform the present hemp laws in the United States in order to make hemp available for industrial purposes. The hemp plant shows its unique versatility by having many uses in industry and hemp has many distinct benefits over its counterpart in industry today. The usage of hemp would result in cleaner and more efficient industry. I will first discuss the differences between hemp and marijuana to avoid confusion, and then state the many ways that industrial hemp can help our economy such as; the use for fiber, the use in foods, and
Hemp is essential to your bodily health because of the vitamins and minerals located in these types of products. Industrial farming of hemp should be legal in the United States because of the monetary and physical benefits.
One of the first things about marijuana history that the American public still doesn 't understand is that cannabis, was once very legal to grow in the United States. In fact, up until 1883 it was one of the largest agricultural crops in the world, including America.(The Union) But it wasn’t grown for the psychoactive plant cannabis sativa. Cannabis hemp, which carries a fraction of the amount of THC, (the compound in marijuana that attributes to the high feeling) was and is used all over the world, producing the overall majority of Earth’s fiber, fabric, paper, and medicines.(Herer,20) Hemp has a deep American History as well, from the gardens of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin to the 8,327 American hemp plantations counted in the 1850 census.(Herer,15) Yet the Federal government now recognizes cannabis as a Schedule I drug with no medical value, and 23 States have legalized cannabis for medicinal use. (The Union) Even though some western states such as Oregon and Colorado are making legal changes to marijuana policy at the state level, the most beneficial marijuana law we could pass is and always has been the Nationwide legalization of industrial Cannabis Hemp.
My step dad had a pair of hemp jeans in high school. They lasted him over 10 years, until he got too big to fit them anymore. He gave them to a friend who still wears those pants made of hemp. Cotton is much more difficult to grow than hemp because cotton is addicted to chemical elixirs. It requires a lot of artificial fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides for it to be able to grow well. When cotton is ripe, the leaves have to be knocked off with defoliants before the bolls can be harvested. Hemp is by far a much better alternative to grow. It does not require any herbicides and it actually cleanses the land instead of depleting it of nutrients. Making paper from hemp is far more economical and environmentally friendly than making paper from trees. Wood-based paper pulp is brown from the cooking process thus requiring it to be bleached which releases toxins into the environment. Hemp paper is naturally bright with no bleaching necessary. The nation could reduce unsustainable logging if American farmers were allowed to grow hemp which produces twice as much fiber per acre as an average forest. Hemp is a clean, renewable option that can replace virtually all products made with non-renewable hydrocarbons like oil and coal (Williams).
Even our flags were from cannabis fibers. Best of all they come pesticide free! 75-90% of all paper in the world was made with cannabis hemp fiber including paper for books, Bibles, maps, paper money, stocks & bonds, newspaper, etc. Hemp paper lasted 50 to 100 times longer.” (DigitalHemp)
With its beneficial assets of efficiency, durability and saving water, the pros to cons lean towards the side of hemp with the advantages outweighing cotton tenfull. Overall, with all of its economic, environmental and useful assets, it offers as a textile crop much deserving to be the fabric of our future. Evidently, I believe it’s time for hemp to reclaim its place on the
When people talk about marijuana or hemp people instantly think about smoking it. What people do not know is hemp is one of the most widely used materials. Before 1883 seventy-five to ninety percent of the worlds paper was made out of hemp. The department of agriculture proposed to make paper out of hemp in 1930, the only problem was separating hemp pulp from the fiber cheaply. Six years later big companies like
Today’s society is becoming more accepting of the industrial, medicinal, and research uses of marijuana. There is no need to ignore what is given to us. The future plans consist of more farming of marijuana crops, more discussion about marijuana, legal systems that one could buy marijuana from, faster transportation of pot all over the world legally so others can share it’s benefits, and all 50 state to allow growth of industrial hemp. In the future we can hope to see more progress towards using cannabis effectively and responsibly. If we continue to educate others; the sky’s the limit on what we can accomplish and what misconceptions we can eliminate. Education starts with introducing small amounts of hemp into our learning communities at
Throughout American history our country has come to rely on many different natural resources. With technology and the population increasing, the number of fossil fuel reserves and natural forests are going down. What America needs is a renewable source of fuels and fibers that will meet the growing needs of the future, but will not damage our environment. One of the most promising sources of fiber, fuel, and natural oil is hemp. Hemp, also known as Cannabis Sativa L, has been used in our country since the early 17th century (Schreiber 160). Although hemp is considered an illegal drug, many people forget that it is a part of our country’s history. Despite its negative connotations, hemp has the potential to revolutionize the paper,
They ought to concern about their heath care, and reject hemp food since it contains THC just like marijuana, which is bad for the body. During the production of hemp, the smoke can also cause serious headache to workers, and this is unfair for the workers to suffer such pain. Therefore, Fulmer believes since the smoke during hemp production and its content of THC due damage to people’s body, government should prevent hemp’s plantation. In addition to that, one of the article in Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context also mentions the consequence of legalizing hemp: “The governor said he will not sign the legislation out of concerns, shared by some in law enforcement, that marijuana growers could camouflage their illegal growth with hemp plants” (Governor Will Let Kentucky Hemp Legislation Become Law). One of the main reasons why hemp is considered illegal is illegal is because of its similarity with marijuana. Even though they have differences usage and content of THC, their appearances are really alike. Bad farmers might abusively utilize the look of hemp as “camouflage” to grow