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Hemp

A Gift from God

by
ZaKaiRan

 

 

Hemp,

a part of the new industrial, economic and spiritual revolution.

“Yes, trees are renewable, but hemp is sustainable.”


(Note: This article/booklet was written in 1999. There have been many changes for the positive in regards to the loosening of laws in regards to Industrial Hemp and smokable “Marijuana”, but I have not kept up to date. Please refer to the many websites at the end of this article for updated information. In Australia, I know that industrial Hemp is being produced in most states, although this information is kept very hush hush. In my own backyard of Byron Bay, the local council, in conjunction with Ecofibre Industries Ltd., has grown 1 hectare of industrial hemp to soak up effluent from the sewage treatment plant. This Brisbane (Qld) based company has been successfully lobbying for legislative changes at a state level to allow commercial hemp crops. This project is part of the ‘Mop crop’ project of utilizing various crops and wetlands to mop up our sewage rather than dumping it in the ocean as has typically been done in the past.)

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Hemp

A Gift from God

 

It is common knowledge that rope can and has been traditionally made from hemp, (until the advent of nylon). It is not common knowledge that hemp can also be made into a whole list of other sustainable and durable products, and has been extensively in the past. Most people think that hemp and marijuana are the same thing, which has been propagandized by the powers of greed. But they are very much different plants entirely, being two different strains or sub species of the same genus Cannabis, (which notes the versatility of this wonder plant, this God/dess herb).

There are many strains or sub species of Cannabis. Some offer shamanistic qualities like Cannabis Sativa, (smokable "marijuana", which contains THC, tetra hydra cannabinol, the chemical responsible for its euphoric affects). Most strains of Cannabis also offer nutritious and healing qualities. And others offer a myriad of industrial uses. This is industrial grade hemp, a high stocked plant, which contains little or no THC, and if you tried to smoke it you would probably just get a head ache.

Most people are aware that it is illegal to grow, sell and consume marijuana, but most people are not aware that it is also illegal to grow non-smokable “marijuana” even if you only want to make rope out of it. And unless you have educated yourself, you will not know the real reasons that marijuana/hemp is illegal, and labelled as such an evil drug, while alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and pharmaceuticals, which all cause countless deaths every year, are commonly accepted to be benign. These facts have been hidden from the public.

 

The Plant of Freedom

Hemp is a wonder plant, a true gift from Mother Earth, a beautiful prosperous gift of love from God Goddess All That Is. Hemp is nature’s longest, strongest, and most durable fiber. As a fabric, it is softer, more insulating, more absorbent, more breathable, and longer lasting than cotton.

The possibilities of what you can make from this continuously sustainable and easily grown plant are endless. Anything that can be made out of wood or plastic can be made from hemp, and be completely biodegradable. (In comparison, the time it takes for the degradation of petroleum based plastics takes literally thousands of years). Some of the products that can be made out of hemp include: biodegradable plastics and packaging, paper, wood, rope, sails, clothing, carpet, and non-polluting fuel. You can make anything from 2 by 4s to car bodies, to even jet fighter bodies. It has been estimated that the production of hemp would yield in excess of 50,000 different types of products.

Additionally, hemp fibre combined with lime and other substances, can create a concrete that is 6 times lighter and much stronger than typical concrete. Archaeology has discovered hemp fibre in building blocks in Egypt and other ancient cultures.

Hemp can be made into ethanol. A clean burning, non-toxic fuel, that produces no smoke or carbon deposits on your engine. Ethanol produced from hemp, could entirely replace the use of the non-renewable fuel source petroleum. A simple process is also available to make hemp seed oil into an inexpensive substitute for diesel fuel.

Also from hemp seed oil, you can produce: paint, varnishes, soaps, lamp oil, and lubricants. Hemp seeds contain up to 40% high quality oil, a combustible oil, that has traditionally been used as a lamp oil. In the past, hemp seed oil was made into natural non-toxic paints, and still is in the Ukraine. Many famous masterpieces were painted by artists using hemp paint, on hemp canvas, including Vincent Van Gogh.

Hemp is also a highly nutritious food and medicine. It has been a staple food for millennia, and is still consumed by many cultures world wide. The hemp seed is not actually a seed but a fruit. It is made up of 25% protein and 30% carbohydrates. It is also high in soluble and insoluble fibre (15% insoluble), and does not contain any negative factors, unlike soy. Hemp seed contains calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and vitamin A. It is our best vegetable source of omega-3 linolenic acid (55%) and omega-6 (25%) essential fatty acids in a near perfect ratio (with the most amount of omega unsaturated essential oils of any plant known), and even containing the rare nutrient gama linolenic acid, (Omega 9).

Essential fatty acids are necessary for maintaining healthy function and are found in only a few other food sources such as fatty fish and flax oil. These fats are good for the immune system, add luster in skin, hair and eyes, help to lower cholesterol, help to govern growth, are involved in the transfer of oxygen from the lungs to the cells, and are beneficial in strengthening the cardiovascular system, actually helping to clean the arteries.

Hemp seed was also used as the primary feed for livestock and domestic animals until this century. Hemp seeds are crushed to make milk, cheese, cakes, cookies, breads, burgers, porridge, pasta, pancakes, muffins, flour, ice cream, a tofu type curd, or even roasted and eaten whole (sometimes with garlic or tahini seasoning. It is second in protein content only to soy beans.

Hemp oil is excellent in salads (like tabouli) as a salad dressing, in humus, in sauces, in pesto, and can be made into a butter that is said to put peanut butter to shame in comparison to flavor and nutrition. Hemp oil is also excellent when it is used in body products and cosmetics, because hemp oil is unsaturated and can be absorbed through the skin, making it a superior moisturizer and a powerful ingredient for salves and ointments.

International natural cosmetics company “The Body Shop,” regularly uses hemp oil in their products, that has no THC in it at all, but nonetheless has been harassed by corrupt and ignorant drug enforcement authorities in Canada and France. According to Anita Roddick, the owner of “The Body Shop”, hemp oil is the best moisturizer available to use on your skin.

According to Hemp Foods Australia, (www.hempfoods.com.au), Australia is missing out on a wide variety of healthy hemp seed products that are reaching mainstream Europe, because it does not allow the free-trade of industrial (non-drug) hemp food products. The company applied three years ago to the Australian and New Zealand Food Authority to implement hemp foods into legislation, and while they have done nothing, other European and North American countries are enjoying free trade in hemp products. Hemp Seed is being grown in Australia as a test crop (four years as of 2000) - but cannot be sold on the open market.

 

Medical Use

Hemp has long been recognized for its medicinal qualities. From 1842 until the 1890’s, a powerful concentrated extract of ‘marijuana’ was the second most prescribed drug in the U.S. In all the medical literature written, none list any of the ill effects claimed by today’s drug warriors.

Hemp has been cultivated for millennia in China, and Cannabis is listed in 5000 year old pharmacopoeia texts of Traditional Chinese Medicine, dating to 2800 BC, for the treatment of constipation, gout, malaria, rheumatism and menstrual problems. It has always been used in Ayurvedic medicine and was prominent in all ancient cultures. In a 1600 year old European medical literature, it states, “cannabis has the power to increase contractions for women giving birth, and lessen labour pains.” Even Queen Victoria took cannabis extract to relieve her premenstrual symptoms.

Cannabis was a very much used drug up until 1941, when it was dropped from the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. This was after the passage of the first of the draconian US marijuana laws of 1937, the Marihuana Tax Act. This act made it so difficult for physicians to prescribe cannabis that they just stopped using it. Prior to this act there were 28 different medicines in which it was a prime ingredient.

The intake of marijuana, counteracts the nausea and vomiting commonly associated with the cancer treatment chemo-therapy. 90% of cancer patients under going chemo therapy treatment, that consume marijuana, obtain relief from these symptoms of the treatment. In comparison, conventional drugs provide much less relief.

Glaucoma patients suffer from intraocular pressure that if not relieved will cause blindness. Some get relief from prescribed drugs, but for many people cannabis works better with no side affects, and is less expensive. It has remarkable success for Hepatitis and Aids patients, aiding their digestion and appetite. It especially assists people with multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, paraplegia and quadriplegia – reducing muscle spasms and bladder control problems. It also assists those suffering from: asthma, bronchitis, (it is a bronchial dilator, a euphoric and an analgesic), epilepsy, eating disorders, depression, Tourette’s syndrome, chronic allergies, migraine headaches, PMS, insomnia…. The remarkable uses of cannabis for medical purposes goes on and on, and we are just beginning to research the benefits of this wondrous plant.

Cannabis has a remarkable non-toxicity, unlike pharmaceuticals which have many side affects causing many physical complications and deaths every year. The seed oil is also an excellent topical antibiotic, and analgesic. It has also been shown to stimulate learning and memory centers of the brain, and many athletes report increased performance from cannabis.

Cannabis has been used for centuries in the treatment of various kinds of chronic pain. It was used on the battlefields of the Civil War as an analgesic medicine until morphine displaced it. Morphine was much quicker and more powerful of a pain reliever, but the price of using morphine was that many people suffered from what was then called “soldier’s disease”, which was addiction to morphine. In contrast, marijuana has no physically addictive qualities.

Doctors are obviously not educated in medical schools about the benefits of cannabis. They have been mis-educated like most people, but many doctors are being educated by their patients, are educating themselves and refuting the propaganda they have been taught. They are upholding their Hypocratical oath instead of a hypocritical oath. You see, doctors usually get their drug education from journal articles, advertisements and promotional campaigns from pharmaceutical companies.

Anti drug campaigns are heavily supported by pharmaceutical companies and distilleries. There are no drug companies interested in cannabis and they do not want marijuana legalized as a medicine because they can’t patent it and make heaps of money from it. An example: For a chemotherapy patient, the cost for the best anti-nausea pills, especially if it must be administered intravenously, per treatment, can cost up to $600; or a patient can smoke half of a joint and receive instant relief from the nausea.

The New England Journal of Medicine, has supported the use of marijuana for medical use. And even with all of these obvious medical uses, endorsed by countless medical physicians, some illegally prescribing cannabis to their patients, obtaining funding for medical marijuana research in the U.S. is next to impossible. And even with all the evidence of its obvious benefits, the reports continue of patients hounded and entrapped by police, thrown in jail, terrorized for using this harmless herb that they know will help them, and compelled to substitute expensive, addictive and debilitating commercial prescription medications.

10 States in the U.S. including Colorado, Nevada, Hawaii, Maine, California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington and Alaska have officially legalized the use of medical marijuana. (Hawaii was the first state to be ratified by state legislatures instead of the citizen initiative process). Voters succeeded in Colorado even after politicians sabotaged the state initiative for legalization and courts ruled against their behavior.

The District of Columbia passed a similar initiative in 1998, despite the federal governments attempt to sabotage this initiative by controlling funding thus inhibiting the City Council from tallying the results from the vote. The votes were finally counted when the ACLU and the City Council won a Federal Court ruling the federal legislation violated city voters constitutional rights.

In the U.K., Alan Milburn, the Health Secretary, and his predecessor Frank Dobson, have both said the Government would legalize the medical use of cannabis if trials showed a clear benefit. In Australia, the New South Wales government has voted to authorize cannabis use by patients suffering from chronic pain or debilitating, degenerative or terminal illnesses. Patients would effectively be given short term exemptions from criminal laws, allowing them to smoke cannabis and grow up to five plants for personal use during the period approved by their doctor. Other states are beginning to follow suit.


The History of Hemp

Hemp is among the oldest industries on the planet, dating back at least 12,000 years to the beginning of pottery. Hemp has always had such great value that it has even been used as a commodity. The oldest known relic of the hemp industry is a piece of hemp fabric dated from 8000 BC found in Turkey; and as early as 2800 BC, the emperor Shen Nung was teaching the Chinese people to cultivate “Ma” (hemp) for clothing.

90% of all ships sails and rigging from at least the 5th century BC until the late 19th century were made from hemp fibre, as were the uniforms of sailors and solders and the flags they represented. Even the ships sailed by Christopher Columbus carried hemp, each in excess of 80 tones in their rigging and sails. Even today, hemp is used on some ships because of its resistance to mildew and weathering, and because it remains pliable in extreme conditions where plastic based ropes become brittle and break.

When the first settlers arrived from Europe, they recognized Cannabis Sativa already growing on the shores of America. Many of their colonial maps, books, and Bibles, were printed on hemp, and much of the oil for their lamps came from pressed hemp seeds.

In colonial U.S., you could pay your taxes with it. It was legal tender, and farmers were ordered to grow it. In 1640 the governor of Connecticut demanded that every resident of the colony must grow hemp to help meet the needs of the marine industries. During the Battle of Valley Forge, the daughters of the American Revolution used hemp to create garments that saved many of the Continental Army soldiers from freezing to death.

The first two drafts of the Declaration of Independence, and the United States Constitution, a document that still represents the model of freedom for the new world, was created on hemp paper, a plant of freedom. The Stars and Stripes flag of the United States of America, the country most responsible for the eradication of hemp from planet earth, was originally made from hemp.

The forefathers of America who signed that constitution and declaration of independence, including George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson, were hemp farmers. In fact, Thomas Jefferson was a hemp activist. Seeing the value of hemp in the prosperity and defence of the nation that he was helping to build, he encouraged farmers to grow hemp instead of tobacco. He even smuggled in special high quality fibre strain hemp seeds from France for American use.

In the mid 1800’s, thousands of workers were employed at more than 160 Kentucky factories manufacturing hemp. A state that still contains historical signs marking the immense production of hemp in that state. (The actor Woody Harrelson has been challenging the illegality of hemp in that state by planting a small amount of hemp for production).

In 1807 the state of California produced 125,000 pounds of hemp, 40% of which came from Santa Barbara. The wagons of pioneer days were all covered in hemp canvas (sail cloth). The word canvas comes from the word cannabis, an ancient Sumerian and Babylonian word. The famous 49ers, the prospectors of the California gold rush, made the original heavy-duty Levi’s jeans from hemp, (recycled sail material), because it was the only fabric that could withstand the wear and tear of the gold mines.

In 1935, approximately 58,000 tons of hemp seed was used to make non-toxic paint and varnish. When hemp was banned, these safe paints were replaced with toxic petro-chemical versions. In 1930 people did not know about poisoned rivers, or deadly landfills, or children dying of chemicals in house paints.

In 1941, Henry Ford built a hemp fueled and fabricated automobile that weighed only two/thirds the amount of a steel car and could resist blows 10 times as great without denting. There is film footage of a man hitting this car with a sledge hammer, and the hammer just bounces right back without any noticeable damage at all. Needless to say, we all know why they never allowed Henry to produce this car.

Henry Ford once said, “Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forests and mineral products in the annual growths of fields?”

Even as recently as 1943, the U.S. was farming over 100,000 acres of hemp during the “Hemp for Victory” campaign of WWII.



Paper

For millennia, Hemp has been the primary material used for the production of paper. It is naturally archival quality and many manuscripts dating to the time of Jesus, are made entirely of hemp. During the 16th century, it was the European paper of choice, because of its durability, and was used for some of the most famous original religious manuscripts, such as the Guttenberg Bible. Hemp paper is acid free, and archival quality that does not yellow with age.

Wood is not used for paper production because it is a good resource to make paper with, it is only used because it is cheap. Wood pulp is not very strong, it’s cellulose percentage is low, its fibres are short, and it breaks down easily when recycled. Hemp paper can be recycled at least 10 times, as opposed to only 3 times for most tree-based paper. Wood only has 30% cellulose fibre, and in order to turn it into paper, a whole list of toxic chemical are needed. On the other hand hemp contains 77% cellulose, which makes is an ideal product for paper making. It can also be used in the recycling process of paper made from wood to reinforce it.

Probably the best tree for making into wood and paper products, the Douglas fir, typically has fibres that are a maximum length of only ¾ of an inch. Whereas hemp fibres are literally feet long. Because of these long fibres, hemp chip board is 2 to 3 times stronger than chip board made from wood. And you can use the exact same technology currently in place to make it.

Hemp paper production will reduce waste-water contamination normally associated with wood paper production, due to the need for harsh acids in its manufacture. Hemp paper also lends itself to environmentally friendly bleaching, instead of harsh chlorine compounds which produces extremely toxic bi-products such as dioxin.

 

Growing Hemp

In January of 1996, the American Farm Bureau Federation, more than 4.6 million members strong, unanimously endorsed the researching and growing of industrial hemp.

Hemp grows easily in many environments and types of climates. Hemp is very resistant to diseases, and grows fungicide, herbicide, and in many cases, pesticide free. Hemp is much less demanding on the soil, actually restores and replenishes soil nutrients, including nitrogen, and needs very little fertilizer. It is a natural weed suppressant with its high stalks and bushy top leaves, which creates a canopy that blocks out the sun to the lower ground, thus lowering the need for herbicides.

Typically, aside from the seeds, only the stocks are used, and the heads and leaves of the hemp plant are left as compost for the soil, thus reducing the need for fertilizer. Hemp has a 200% plus yield per acre than cotton, and can be grown organically without the use of pesticides. In comparison cotton production consumes 50% of the pesticides sprayed on all crops combined, this makes cotton our #1 water polluter on planet earth.

Hemp only takes 90-120 days to mature for harvest. One acre of hemp produces the same amount of paper as 4 acres of trees. That same acre of hemp land can produce the same amount of paper 3-4 times per year, at a quarter of the cost of wood pulp paper and with one-fifth the pollution. While that 4 acres of trees will not produce anything for at least 50 to 500 years. Additionally, a massive amount of stored carbon dioxide that has been stored by the trees for photosynthesis, is released when they are cut down.

Farming only 6% of the continental U.S. with hemp, could produce enough energy to provide for America’s energy needs and end dependence on fossil fuels and foreign energy sources. 6% of the continental U.S. represents 20% of that countries present farmland, 15% of which already lays fallow or the government subsidizes the farmers not to farm. Utilizing biomass fuels would bring industries back to the rural communities and could be used to support family farms while providing environmentally sound, locally grown power and fuel, and would provide all of the current demands for oil and gas.

Hemp is the most productive biomass farm-crop known to man, producing more than 10X the useable energy of its closest competitor: corn. Biomass is when we convert cellulose, or plant matter, into energy through a process called pyrolysis. In the absence of air, or in reduced air, the organic matter is exposed to a high heat to create pyrolitic fuel oil, gas, methanol or charcoal.

Hemp ‘charcoal’ has the same heating value as coal, with virtually no sulphur to pollute the atmosphere. Hemp yields approximately 10 tons per acre in four months, is drought resistant and produces a heating value of 5,000-8,000 btu/per pound of dried hemp.

Biomass is meant to be a cyclical system, the same gasses that are released when the fuel is burned are utilized by the next season’s energy crop, creating a balanced system. This production would not add any extra carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, whereas the production and burning of fossil fuels produces massive amounts of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and sulphuric gases, (which causes acid rain), and countless other toxic biproducts and pollutants, that are unusable by the earth and its plant matter.

 

The “Criminals”

As of 1996 more than 10 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana charges in the U.S. As of April 2000, there were 1.86 million imprisoned adults reportedly confined on charges related to illegal drug use. 20% of these drug related criminal convictions are marijuana related. That’s at least 370,000 people imprisoned with violent criminals and hard drug users, for consuming or selling a plant. That is just extraordinary, when you consider that cannabis imposes less harm on the individual and on society than either alcohol or tobacco.

The real crime is treating marijuana smokers and even hard drug users as criminals just because they are using a drug ‘not approved by “normal” society’. This attitude is archaic. Hard drug users already suffer from self esteem problems, and treating them as criminals is just plain irresponsible. Behind this draconian behavior is the desire to remove the problem from sight, rather than really dealing with it on a humanitarian level, the same attitude as the fundamental medical profession - remove the symptom rather than actually healing the cause of the disease.

Drug users do not directly hurt anyone but themselves by using their drug of choice, although indirectly, crimes are frequently committed to satisfy this addiction, and of course, making drugs illegal and thusly expensive, makes these crimes even more frequent. Additionally, the difficulty in obtaining clean new needles, spreads many disease such as Aids and hepatitis. Obviously, needle exchange programs would solve this immediate problem, and only people’s archaic attitude and desire to shun this part of life continues the spread of these diseases.

Locking drug users into prison obviously does not help them, which of course prisons are not designed to do, they are designed to just get “problem elements” out of sight. Prisons have become big business and many are even privately owned. The typical attitude of society and the “justice” system is avoid these people and lock them away, so that the average citizen doesn’t have to look at the seedier side of life, rather than having compassion and actually helping them. It certainly does not help them kick their addictions because of the ease of obtaining drugs in prisons, due to corruption.

The war against marijuana users, costs the taxpayers of the U.S. about 20 billion dollars a year for criminal cannabis prosecution, and drug enforcement. Not including the cost to keep these “horrendous” criminals behind bars. While its cost to industry, family income, and community health is estimated at between 50 to 100 billion dollars a year. Reagan spent 29 billion dollars on his “so called “War on Drugs.” Since then, the budgets have been increasing exponentially. Between the years of 1982-1995, Americans paid at least 150 billion dollars on this new Vietnam war. As of November 2000, the U.S. is spending 101 Billion dollars. Currently there is a 2 billion dollar budget just for anti drug commercials.

All governmental enquires to date have recommended the complete legalization of marijuana, and every one of these enquires has been ignored by “officials” with vested interests in keeping it illegal. Because of this illegality, Marijuana’s street value is more valuable than Gold. And big league drug traffickers and drug enforcement agencies, including the CIA who finance their nefarious activities with drug deals, want to keep it that way. One such example was the Iran/Contra drugs for guns scandal.

In 1986, the DEA agreed to public hearings on a petition to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug which could be prescribed by physicians. Despite the DEA’s legal expert recommending the rescheduling, and his conclusion that cannabis is “one of the safest therapeutically active substances know to man”, the DEA denied the petition.

U.S. government health authorities, estimate there are 500,000 deaths per year from tobacco usage, and 150,000 to 200,000 from alcohol. This does not include alcohol involvement in 50% of road fatalities, and 65% of all murders.

There are 100,000 to 150,000 deaths per year from legally prescribed and over the counter medicines, and over a thousand of these are from overdoses of Aspirin. There are only 5000 deaths per year that are attributed to illegal drugs, while ailments attributed to caffeine kills up to 10,000 people per year. There have been no deaths attributed to the consumption of marijuana.

Regardless of the federal governments unwavering draconian drug war, states and counties are adopting a more realistic and honorable drug policy, that is more respectful of civil rights. In the 2000 elections, Mendocino County California voters strongly approved measure G which decriminalizes the use of marijuana, and allows up to 25 pot plants to be grown for personal use. Although, local law enforcement leaders said they would not support this locally voted policy, and would enforce state and federal marijuana laws, which according to them, take precedent over local laws.

California voters also passed a constitutional amendment requiring treatment instead of incarceration of non-violent drug offenders. A law that is expected to save hundreds of millions of dollars that would otherwise go to operate and construct prisons. Additionally, president Clinton has stated in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, that “I think that most small amounts of marijuana have been decriminalized in some places, and should be”.

Years of activism and active lobbying by former Gov. Louie Nunn, the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association, and other hemp and drug reform supporters, have finally paid off in the State of Kentucky, (a state with the highest historical hemp production in the history of the United States prior to the prohibition). On March 20th, 2001, Governor Paul Patton signed into law a bill that establishes a state Industrial Hemp Commission and paves the way for research on hemp to get under way at Kentucky universities. Despite opposition from law enforcement and free-lance drug warriors, the bill was easily passed by both the House and Senate.

The success of the measure was also assisted by occasional interventions by the actor and cannabis activist Woody Harrelson, and by the media coverage generated by his 1996 arrest for planting hemp seeds to challenge the states prohibition laws that make no distinction between industrial grade hemp and smokable marijuana. Woody Harrelson feels that it is wrong that farms are failing in the state of Kentucky, while a historically profitable crop remains shelved. His response was to challenge the law by planting 4 low-THC hemp seeds of industrial hemp on an acre of land he especially purchased for the event. Then he called the county sheriff.

He was arrested and charged with illegally growing hemp. After years of wrangling in the courts as to whether the charges should be dismissed, the Kentucky State Supreme Court has ruled that he must stand trial. Woody is prepared to take this case to the US Supreme Court if they will hear the case. This new law may definitely assist Woody’s case.

Kentucky joins four other states that have approved hemp research programs: Hawaii, where the first legal hemp crop in 50 years was planted in December, 1999; Minnesota, New Mexico and North Dakota, which also authorized hemp production in 1999. Similar legislation passed both houses of the Illinois legislature in 2000, but was vetoed by GOP Gov. George Ryan.

Hemp growers' co-op head Joe Hickey is happy. "I'm pleased that the state of Kentucky is finally going to be researching industrial hemp and its potential for Kentucky farmers," he told DRCNet . "It isn't about smoking pot, said Hickey, but about finding a way for Kentucky's beleaguered small farmers to survive. "Farmers aren't interested in growing a crop regulated by law enforcement, and they aren't really interested in marijuana. They just want to keep the family farm."

"What does it say about the state of affairs in America," asked Hickey, "when farmers here aren't allowed the same freedom to grow hemp as farmers in Canada, England, France, and the rest of the industrialized world? The cops there can tell the difference."

In South Dakota, despite compelling testimony from patients and the overwhelming support for industrial hemp and medical marijuana evidenced by a statewide poll, state legislators responded by killing separate medical marijuana and hemp production bills. So activists are now having to by-pass the lawmakers and taking the issues directly to the voters. The measures will appear on the November 2002 general election ballot.

Even though the U.S. and other governments are still waging a war, other more progressively thinking countries are no longer interested in fighting. Many European countries have seen the obvious benefits of legalization of Marijuana and drugs in general, due to the example of the Netherlands where all drugs are legal.

The Netherlands example has shown that prohibition of drugs does not discourage use, does nothing but waste tax money, and criminalize normal peaceful people. Additionally, the legalization of drugs does not increase their usage, as anti drug propagandists state. In spite of decriminilization of marijuana in Holland, per capita, there is more marijuana usage in the United States and other countries than Holland. (15.6 percent of Dutch people admit to having used marijuana in their lifetime vs. 32.9 percent in the United States).

For 25 years, the Netherlands has had a liberalized drug policy. The use of all drugs has been legalized, although possession is not, (bizarre, I know), and is a minor offence. Marijuana is freely served in coffee shops from small and intimate shops to international chains. The range of people who frequent these alcohol free coffee shops varies greatly: from locals to tourists; and from people in their twenties to people in their sixties.

And if you think that Holland is a country full of stoned loafers, think again. The Dutch economy is one of the strongest in Europe , in fact in 1999, the economy grew more and unemployment was lower than most of its European neighbors.

The Belgian government has moved to decriminalize the use and possession of small amounts of marijuana, joining a number of other European Union countries in addition to the Netherlands where marijuana is tolerated, including: Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

In Switzerland, the Government has essentially legalized cannabis, but their approach seems to be very bizarre. According to Swiss federal law, it is strictly forbidden to use cannabis as a narcotic, but it is perfectly legal to grow, possess and openly sell cannabis as pot-pourri. All packages of this pot-pourri, sold in 150 retail outlets throughout Switzerland, carry a warning that its contents are not to be smoked or ingested.

Swiss police estimate that in 1998, approximately 100 metric tonnes of "drug-quality" cannabis was harvested in Switzerland, ending up in the little sachets, while 7.2 metric tonnes, and 313,258 cannabis plants, were confiscated. There is no rhyme or reason to the enforcement of cannabis prohibition in Switzerland and, as in Britain, there is great discrepancy in prosecution for possession of cannabis from region to region.

In 1997, the national government commissioned a report from the Swiss Federal Commission for Drug Issues. The commission ­ made up of prominent members of the financial, medical, academic and law-enforcement world stated that “cannabis policy must reflect prevailing moral values and attitudes to civil liberties”. The report concluded that using criminal law to dictate the behaviour of an individual user "is repugnant to the fundamental values of a legal system founded on personal liberties, and is therefore illegitimate". Furthermore, the commission found that the effectiveness of cannabis prohibition no longer holds even any "symbolic value", and that the criminal prosecution of cannabis users is "an arbitrary act of coercion".

Czechoslovakia has virtually non existent drug laws. In the UK, old drug laws are generally not enforced by police, and use and possession is defacto tolerated. Cannabis cafés are being considered in Brixton. In Scotland, every single member of the Scottish labor party has advocated either legalization, decriminalization, or conventional medical use, with not a single vote for retaining prohibition.

The German Supreme court has made Cannabis potentially legal. The government has commissioned two professional pharmaceutical associations to develop standardized cannabis medicinal preparations. Both political parties have openly advocated industrial ‘hanf’ and licensed pot vending. Many have publicly mentioned their own use of cannabis, which provoked no repercussions, even from the media.

The presidents of Mexico and Uruguay are pushing for drug legalization as the only possible solution to end the violence and corruption of the illicit drug trade. Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda has also called for a global crusade to strangle the violence and corruption of the illicit drug trade by ending prohibition.

In Canada the Government has decided to not even attempt to over rule an Ontario courts ruling that the "Prohibition on the possession of Cannabis is unconstitutional".

In Australia, the personal use of Marijuana has been decriminalized in the Australian Capital Territory, and all Federal inquiries to date have determined that the legalization of Marijuana and drugs in general is beneficial, yet these findings are being ignored by right wing politicians. It is estimated that 10 billion dollars or more has been spent in Australia on the drug war. This is a tragic waste of valuable funding that should be spent on health rehabilitation and responsible drug education. The complete details of the history of cannabis and the Americanized Australian drug policies are detailed in the book “Marijuana Australiana” from “Jay Jay” <hemp@adelaide.on.net>.

In Jamaica, the home of many Rastafarians, where “Ganja” is an integral part of their religion, the Senate unanimously approved a resolution to explore marijuana decriminilization, but politicians refused to implement the recommendations for fear of offending the U.S.

The Great Conspiracy – The Real Crime

One of the greatest and most dastardly economic and environmental conspiracies ever devised by the dark forces has been and continues to be: the subjugation, eradication, disuse, and criminilization of the growing and consumption of hemp/marijuana.

In the 1930’s hemp was declining as an industry and was not doing well because of cost of production and competition with other burgeoning industries that were being controlled by the industrialists of the time. These included the timber industry, cotton industry, steel industry, and the oil/petrochemical industries.

Prior to this time, hemp was a profitable and worthwhile industry, just like any other product being grown and manufactured. Nothing about it was seen as dastardly in any way. Just as hemp production was declining, a machine was produced that could process hemp at much greater speeds. With the use of this machine, hemp could be produced so inexpensively, that it would have systematically wiped out all of these other competing industries, or at least would have been stiff competition for them.

With the invention of this new machine, Popular Mechanics magazine labeled hemp the new “Billion Dollar Crop.” This machine would revolutionize the industry similar to the affect that Eli Whitney’s cotton gin had on the cotton industry. But the competing industries were not about to allow this. Dupont’s emerging petrochemical, plastics, nylon, and paper pulp industries, would be drastically threatened by a resurgence of hemp production.

Many people were not aware that there were certain strains of hemp that had a narcotic affect, and that some people had taken it upon themselves to smoke these other strains that were sometimes referred to as: “reefer,” or by the Mexican terminology “Marijuana”.

This was especially prominent in the West, due to the import of smokable hemp, allegedly by Mexicans, into the United States. Certain classes of people including the artist culture were consuming this “marijuana,” for recreation. It was especially prominent with people involved in the Hollywood film industry, an artist culture that was looked down upon by the typically industrial oriented society.

William Randolph Hearst, the monopolized owner of all the newspapers of the time, who had huge financial interests in the timber industry, together with Dupont (petroleum, plastics, nylon etc.) and Harry Ainslinger, (the head of the Bureau of Narcotics, who previously was involved in the prohibition of alcohol), began running propaganda stories in his papers about “marijuana”, “a highly dangerous narcotic that was directly linked to violent crime.” Other propaganda tools were also used including the pitifully hilarious documentary “Reefer Madness.”

(As an aside: Diane Fornbacher, a cannabis author and activist, has uncovered personal correspondence between Harry Ainslinger and Adolph Hitler’s Gestapo chiefs).

This occurred around 1937, which was just after the time of prohibition. Alcohol had just been declared legal again, and a whole slew of enforcers of alcohol prohibition needed new jobs and a new freedom to oppress. They capitalized on fear of the evil, violence inducing, “devil’s weed”, and racism against Mexicans to accomplish their dirty work. The American public bought the propaganda, hook, line and sinker, and “marijuana” was declared illegal by the bureau of narcotics. There was no differentiation stated or implied in this new law, between hemp and marijuana, and the people were too stupid to figure it out, (and still are). Because of the criminilization of “marijuana,” all hemp was systematically eradicated, and all hemp production was ceased.

Plain and simply this was basic industrial espionage, just one example of a huge list of conspiracies propagated by the industrialists of the day and the control of their empires. And just one of a list of “free” energy systems that have been systematically squashed by those that do not want to provide anything for free.

Because of the prohibition and eradication of hemp in the United States, all hemp products had to be made from imported hemp, similar to today. In 1942, after Japan cut off the imported hemp supply, there was a dangerous shortage. The American legislators waged a national campaign and literally begged and bartered with farmers to once again grow “Hemp for Victory”. Farmers and their sons who agreed to grow hemp, were given a waiver from serving in the military. A documentary film was even produced by the U.S. government to promote this. This documentary was “lost” and later uncovered in a film archive, which declared “Hemp for Victory.” We could use that same slogan today.

Since then the U.S. government’s “War on drugs,” has systematically eradicated third world indigenous production of hemp for products and consumption. Including cultures that did not primarily use hemp for its intoxicating affects. For many cultures, hemp has been an integral part of their subsistence, industry, survival and spirituality, including: Nepal, India and Bangladesh. Bangladesh means hemp land people. Dakar, a city in India, means hemp.

The U.S. government has kept third world countries under its control with its drug policy, by not loaning money to these impoverished countries unless they eradicate the use and production of marijuana (hemp). Of course the illusionary premise behind this policy is to eradicate this evil drug, and stop it’s alleged importation into the U.S., but this is a lie, it is simply to make them reliant on U.S. and world bank aid and corporate controlled products.

Since then, our planet continues to be decimated by these thugs. Our beautiful trees continue to be cut down on a massive planetary scale, consequently destroying the fauna that relies on this habitat. We pollute the air by burning fossil fuels in our cars and power plants. We fill landfills with plastics from petroleum and metal mined from our beloved earth. We pollute the ground with pesticides made from petrochemicals, (the list goes on and on) - when all along we could have been growing and using a plant that would have kept our planet clean, un-polluted, and full of beautiful trees and animals.

This is the real crime, not those poor bastards imprisoned for smoking or selling pot. They have committed no crime - they are political prisoners, and their civil rights are being denied. The petroleum industry, including the petrochemical industry, which controls practically everything, would have to be the biggest criminals on planet earth, as they have squashed the production of hemp and anything of a free energy orientation that would be a threat to their profits.

We take most things for granted but almost everything these days is made from petroleum: All fuels, plastics, glues, solvents, paints, carpets, linoleum, paneling, cleaning products, pesticides, herbicides, wood preservatives, pharmaceuticals, paper, computers, appliances…. all toxic, pollutant, completely non-biodegradable, expensive and costly to obtain. The average home is a toxic soup because of all the petrochemicals used in their manufacture and up keep.

 

Civil Rights and Religious Freedom

Aside from serious over indulgence, and years of chronic use, with responsible use, the deleterious affects of marijuana are negligible. AMA/DEA/Government sponsored research scientists, have been searching for 15 years, and have arrived at no credible evidence of its negative affects. Theories such as marijuana being chemically addictive and causing brain damage, has been refuted as propaganda, myth and misinformation. This has especially been proven by the fact that we have Cannabinoid receptors in our brain which produce endogenous opioids, (substances like opium). According to Dr. Lester Grinspoon, a medical marijuana researcher, not only do we have these in our brains, but in our organs as well. He states, “Think about it for a minute. If the brain produces its own cannabinoid-like substances, it doesn’t make much sense that it would produce a substance which is going to damage the brain. Indeed, long before it was discovered that there are endogenous cannabinoids, the empirical evidence did not demonstrate that cannabis damaged the brain”.

Marijuana prohibitionists try to get to us with fear for our children, their usual line of offence is that there is some causal affect between teen use of marijuana and subsequent use of heroine. But this has not been concluded by reputable professional sociologists and medical professionals. The National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine and other studies, have found no evidence to this “gateway theory.” In fact their report said that, “most drug users do not begin their drug use with marijuana; they begin with alcohol and nicotine… There is no conclusive evidence that the drug affects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of illicit drugs.”

Marijuana smokers are generally labeled as the fringe of normal society, yet it is common knowledge that Marijuana is consumed by people from all walks of life including: yuppies, politicians, corporados, and the police, but most of these people keep it hidden from the public eye and do not reveal the fact that they enjoy doing something that is “illegal,” because it would threaten their status and position in society. It’s illegality is just convenient because it serves the interests of controlling forces. It ensures that they have a job and something to control.

In general, marijuana is consumed by a realm of the populace that places itself outside of typical society. Many of whom also disassociate themselves from the lack orientation systems of commerce that are currently dominating the earth. Marijuana smokers, hemp activists and the culture they are involved in, is not seen as productive, because it does not support the old world systems of competition and control. Something that we think is normal, is judged to be aberrant behavior by the puritanical bigots of society. This sub culture is outcast by normal society and their behavior is judged so harshly that it has been criminalized.

But chemicals and substances that can be synthesized, controlled and taxed for massive profits, and which cause countless deaths every year, are approved by typical society. Substances that have no real positive use other than addiction and intoxication. This is a travesty. It is cultural subjugation. It is a crime against individual freedom and the civil rights of humanity.

Government organizations, like the CIA and DEA (drug enforcement agency), and corrupt ignorant politicians, do not want hemp, marijuana or drugs legalized, because then they will lose their power positions of controlling the trafficking or prosecution of drugs, (boys with toys), and using the drug issue to muster votes from fearful moralistic people and to feather their caps politically.

The first world governments, especially the U.S., do not want hemp and marijuana legalized because then the 3rd world would become self sufficient and would no longer need the petroleum, petrochemical, cotton, timber, pharmaceutical, corporate industries.

The same thing goes for every single human in every first world country that is completely reliant on these profit oriented industries. Hemp production would create general prosperity for every country and humanity because of its complete sustainability, non-toxicality, multitude of uses, rapid easy growth and inexpense.

Hemp, Cannabis, Marijuana – whatever you want to call it, is a gift from God, and should be treated with this respect. Marijuana alters consciousness, and is used by many people for this spiritual reason. I have spoken about the spiritual use of it in my article “Substances - A Spiritual Perspective”, available on my website. It is a highly beneficial consciousness altering substance, and when used properly and respectfully, it can be quite transformational. I do not retain any spiritual ideals that say anything against the use of marijuana or any other mind altering substance, everything has its place in the awakening process.

Marijuana has been an important religious sacrament in cultures around the world for thousands of years. Shiva is said to have brought cannabis from the Himalayas for human enjoyment and enlightenment. Many indigenous cultures still use marijuana as part of their spiritual practices. In most countries this religious right has been oppressed. And many other plants, mushrooms and herbs, that have been used in Shamanistic and Wiccan ceremonies for thousands of years, by cultures all over the world, are also illegal for people to use even for religious and spiritual purposes. This is blatant religious and spiritual persecution.

Humanity in general, is afraid of marijuana, and any mind altering substance, because it alters consciousness. Most people do not want their consciousness altered, they are co-dependently “happy” with their reality of lack and survival, and do not want to upset the apple cart because of what they might feel and experience – their Divinity, and self worth. So because they are not willing to alter inner reality, they try to control outside reality instead.

The corporate/governmental forces are afraid of marijuana for the same reason, and afraid of anything that might undermine their control over us. These forces do not want us to alter our consciousness, to desire higher more prosperous and respectful realities. They want us to be good little sheep, believe their lies, follow their rules, and continue supporting their world of survival, control, power, unworthiness and lack.

These forces of darkness that do not realize their divinity, are trying to be our parents as if we are irresponsible children and need to be controlled; and ultimately, they are trying to be gods, by controlling God’s creations, which is everything: resources, people, animals, plants, the earth, the planets and freedom – the greatest gift of God. Control someone’s freedom and you are their master, their god, and they are your slave. They want to be like gods, to be our gods, and our reliance on them and their products of enslavement, makes them our gods, certainly our task masters.

“Thou shalt have no other God’s before me.” Think about what this really means. What or who are your gods? Who has control over your life?: family, friends, lovers, employers, governments, corporations, consumerism, survival, procreation, duty, money?

Government authorities have no moral or constitutional right to determine our behavior or to regulate what we can or cannot do with our bodies. The illegality and criminilization of hemp is unlawful and unconstitutional, and its continuation is perpetuated only by hypocritical moralistic parenting organizations and corrupt politicians influenced by campaign contributions from corporations with a vested interest in keeping hemp illegal.

Denying anyone the right to smoke marijuana or to grow hemp for their own subsistence, is down right oppression and blatant denial of civil rights. As sovereign beings, we have the God given right to do what we want with hemp and marijuana, or any substance for that matter, to make things from it or to smoke it if we feel that is appropriate for us.

There are no real victims in the universe, and if you have accepted your sovereignty and spiritual power, then you realize that your games of victimhood were an illusion, just a game you played for a while to keep yourself limited and deny your Divinity. We are not victims, we do not need protection from the “evil” plant marijuana, no one is holding a gun to people’s heads to make them smoke it. Our governments act like they are trying to help us with the criminilization of marijuana, but as you have seen, this is a lie, propagated by the fear mongers, the corporate controllers, the forces of darkness, acting as if they are helping us like our loving parents, but this is the red herring to get you off of the trail to the truth that they are only interested helping themselves and their empires.

 

Prosperity

Our right to have prosperity in our lives is being denied by corporate, governmental and societal greed. You are allowed to make alcohol for your own consumption, but you are not allowed to grow a plant for not only your own personal consumption, but not even for the manufacture of useful products for your own basic survival needs such as shelter, clothing and food.

Anyone who can think for themselves, can see that the genocide of hemp, and oppression of its supporters is a tragically abhorrent crime. A heinous conspiracy by the forces of control to try to maintain control by the threat of imprisonment. If a farmer wanted to grow hemp, strictly for manufacturing purposes, he/she would be arrested, just like Woody Harrelson has been. This is blatant fascist behavior.

If governments are not willing to abolish stupid, outdated, oppressive laws, then it is our duty as free citizens of planet earth, to defy them. The New Civilization of Prosperity and Light, that we are creating, is a spiritual revolution, the reality we promote of prosperity for all life, is completely undermining to the old world’s political “reality” based on the illusions of power, control, worth, lack and survival. A world that fights for who gets the biggest share of the carcass. Where the orientation is personal individual wealth at the expense of anything and anyone.

All the industries of today and all the products that we use daily, are not only destructive on a planetary environmental level, but destructive individually, not only because we breathe and eat toxins every day from our polluted air, water, and food, but because of our individual denial of planetary responsibility to do something about it.

Hemp is just one of many products and technologies that have been oppressed by the incorporated forces of control and supported by mass consciousness. It is just one of many free energy sources that can and will create prosperity for all of humanity if we accept nothing less than our rights to choose the life we want to lead, and do what we know is right as free citizens of planet earth and the Christ Universe, as children of God.

If people would think for themselves instead of letting the mass societal delusion, and the corporate governmental control systems think for them, then some changes could really occur for the good of all humanity on planet earth. There is more than enough of everything for everyone to be happy, fed, clothed, sheltered and prosperous.

The lack orientation of the old world is dying. We no longer need to play the games of survival, denial, hate, and unworthiness. Mastery of limitation is over, it is now time for mastery of Divine Expression. We are all gifts of God, individual creative wondrous expressions of Divinity, of the Creation of All That Is. It is now time for Unconditional Love and prosperity to reign on earth, it is yours by Divine Right.

 

The World

Whoever takes the initiative and begins the full scale production of the freedom crop, hemp, and its myriads of products, will lead the world in an industry that is not only self sustainable, but environmentally friendly, and completely prosperity oriented. Who ever does this will also save their country from the degradation of the lack oriented systems of logging and petroleum. Each country, (including the United States), that defies the U.S. government, DEA, CIA, OPEC, the world bank corporations, and their own country’s archaic drug laws, and engages in full scale hemp production, will become completely self sustainable without the need for big brothers petroleum and the “need” to cut down all of their trees. This will literally save most countries, especially third world countries with huge debts to the world bank, and massive environmental degradation due to deforestation.

Many countries including: the Netherlands, Canada, France, Hungary, Poland, China, India, Thailand and the U.K., have begun industrial hemp production. South Africa is trialing industrial hemp production to satisfy its own domestic wood demands that the country will not be able to meet in the next 20 years because of diminishing natural forests.

Most states in Australia, especially Tasmania, are engaging in hemp farming trials, but full scale production is bogged down by paranoia, ignorance and archaic drug laws. A few states in America are beginning to grow hemp, but without federal deregulation, these attempts are currently minimal at best.

In Canada, 1998, 5000 acres of Ontario soil was dedicated to the growing of hemp, (the first Canadian hemp crop in 50 years). The yield far outweighed their expectations, contrary to the U.S. DEA’s trepidation’s and ignorant warnings that hemp farmers would only end up raising “indistinguishable” commercial pot, because there’s no profit in industrial hemp, (even though the U.S. imports $100 million dollars per year in hemp from around the world).

Because of this, investors everywhere have plunged huge sums into Canadian cannabis. At the time of 1998 the Kenex Hemp Works had received $5 million dollars in private investments and Federal grants, and processed 400 tons of the 1998 Canadian crop, to be made into particle board and matting for the construction and auto industry, to be exported to Detroit Michigan in the U.S.

Other smaller third world countries, who grew hemp prior to the U.S. eradication policy, and their country’s adoption of those draconic policies, have begun raising hemp again for their own consumption, subsistence and self sustainability, regardless of the idiotic laws imposed upon them. Many of these countries could enter this “new” world market for certain financial success.

With the huge amount of agricultural area available in Australia, this country could lead the world in this holistic endeavor. This would be a huge boost to the Australian and farming economy and would save huge tracts of land that have been decimated due to irresponsible farming methods, excessive irrigation and pollution of ground and water supplies.

Australia could be completely self sufficient without any need for petroleum products, burning ethanol in their cars, and without any need whatsoever to be continuing the deforestation of Australian rainforests and woodlands just to make paper.

The farmers and the rural communities have the most to gain from the restoration of domestic hemp production. Because of hemp’s bulkiness, local processing plants, weaving accommodations and other facilities are needed. This creates a new job market within the existing farm community. This in turn provides a tax base for these communities so that they no longer have to rely on taxing the farmers’ land. The affordability and availability of hemp will create an unprecedented increase in local industries. Everybody wins.

It is even good for the governments. Hemp is good for the tax structure of county, state and the Federal governments. A legally regulated hemp crop would yield billons of dollars in tax revenue. A new hemp industry would replace thousands of jobs being lost in the wood pulp industry and in other agriculture and industrial occupations.

I urge all farmers on planet earth with the eyes to see and the ears to hear, to band together in unity, and regardless of threats and laws, start growing hemp. Tell the government that you will do as you please regardless of their impositions and approval. Business people who can see the truth and who want a better life for yourself and humanity, instead of enslavement to a system of lack, please invest in alternative free energy technology, including the production of hemp and hemp products, (this is responsible investing, and a guaranteed success).

Hemp is the only crop capable of making the entire world energy independent. Only ignorantly moralistic fearful political supporters, irresponsible corrupt politicians and their greedy corporate campaign contributors stand in the way of such radical common sense.

Hemp is just one of many free energy sources, there are countless others available, (that are even more free), that are waiting to be mass produced for the good of all of humanity, not just the few. Technologies and devices that the controllers have destroyed and oppressed, but have now resurfaced because of the increased levels of light available - because it is time for the light of prosperity to shine.

So I urge you to put your expertise and resources into these projects, it is what you are really trained for. I urge everyone on all levels of the society spectrum to defy the false authority and denial of your civil rights. Work on local levels to legalize hemp in your specific area, regardless of state and federal laws. Spread the word about free energy devices and technology and educate humanity, it is your responsibility as caretakers of humanity, and as caretakers of Planet Earth – Earth Mother.

Support the rights of individual and collective freedom. Each individual’s natural, universal, planetary, civil, legal and divine right to determine his/her own religion, spirituality, lifestyle, perceptual reality, and consumption - the right of each individual person to do what is right for them. Embody your sovereignty! Be the Divine Master that you are!


Co-Create Heaven on Earth!


Yours in Prosperity Consciousness,


ZaKaiRan

 

ZaKaiRan@ZaKaiRan.com

www.ZaKaiRan.com


“54% percent of the American public believes drugs will never be legalized because then “the cops would have to buy their own”. – Poll conducted by “the Awful Truth” by the polling firm of Wingery and Associates”.

– Courtesy of Michael Moore and “the Awful Truth” television program. - www.michaelmoore.com

References: www.hemp.com. Video documentaries: “The Hemp Revolution,” and “Billion Dollar Crop. “Hemp: A true gift from God”, article by Dr. Heather Anne Harder, Democratic nominee for President, (http://crown/harderfp/www.harder2000.com), published in Namaste Magazine U.K. “Marijuana – a Medicinal Marvel” – Interview with Dr. Lester Grinspoon c/o Jana Ray of the B.C. Anti-Prohibition League – PO Box 8179 Victoria, British Columbia, V8W 3R8 Canada. and Nexus Magazine - www.nexus magazine.com/maryj.html.

News reports from: The Drug Reform Coordination Network – www.drcnet.org; HEMP SA (Help End Marijuana Prohibition South Australia) – www.hemp.on.net.au; and MAX Stone the non-official spokesperson at the extreme edge of the radical fringe of the Australian Cannabis Law Reform Movement, www.nimbinaustralia.com/aclrm: - “Heidi High – Swiss in a fix over legal pot” by Chad Balester - 2000 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd. www.independent.co.uk. “Mendocino County first in U.S. to decriminalize Marijuana” by Mike Geniella, from Newshawk: www.cannabisnews.com. “States begin rejecting the ineffective war on drugs in favor of sensible reforms” by Jeremy Patrick, Daily Nebraskan, www.dailyneb.com. “Smoke without Fire” by Richard Davenport-Hines – www.guardianunlimited.co.uk. “Clinton-pot smoking should not be prison offence - Reuters Ltd.- from Cannabis news.com. “Amsterdam’s Smoking Coffee Shops” – author Susan Breitkopf, originally published by The Washington Post, courtesy of cannabisnews.com.and www.drcnet.org. “Businesses are fed up with Australia being last in the world” from - www.hemp.co.uk.. “Mexico's President Fox Talks Legalization, Becomes Second Western Hemisphere Head of State to Break With Drug War Consensus” – courtesy of www.drcnet.org and www.narconews.com. “Hemp and Medical Marijuana Initiatives Gear-Up in South Dakota, State Legislature is "Hopeless" - www.drcnet.org/wol/179.html#sodak.
“Kentucky Governor Signs Industrial Hemp Bill” - www.drcnet.org/wol/179.html#kentuckyhemp

Additional references from articles published in High Times Magazine, (www.hightimes.com), Jan 1999, March 2000, and November 2000: “Canada hemp harvest kills weeds and DEA lies,” by Dean Latimer; “A real war in the name of drugs,” by Mumia Abu-Damal; “Highwire,” by Bill Weinberg; “Maine legalizes Marijuana,” by Steven Wishnia; “Killing Medical Marijuana,” by Preston Peet; “Questionable quotes from Chairman Barry,” (the Whitehouse drug czar – Barry McCaffery), by Scott Colvin; “181 patients file lawsuit challenging medical-pot ban,” by Chesley Hicks; Diane Fornbacher, http://members.tripod.com/~cannabishempsativa -“Freedom Fighter of the Month,” by Jessica Loos; and “Jocks on pot,” by Jeff Myers. “Clearing the Way for Navaho hemp”

Additional recommended websites and organizations: U.S.: NORML – (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) – www.norml.org. / www.Changetheclimate.org. / www.cannabisnews.com / The Campaign for New Drug Policies - www.drugreform.org - Australia: Nimbin Hemp Embassy - www.list.net.au/~hemp; Eddie’s Australian Hemp Information – http://members.optus.net.com.au/~edhemp/index.

 


 

Hemp Additions


Hemp oil

Hemp oil has both vitamins A E and …. One pint of cold pressed hempseed oil naturally contains over 1000 I.U. of vitamin E (mixed tocopherols). It also contains vitamins: B1, B2, B3, B6, C and D.

“Udo Erasmus, Ph.D. nutritionist says: “Hemp butter puts our peanut butter to shame for nutritional value.” In the old country the peasants ate hemp butter. They were more resistant to disease than the nobility”.

“Hempseed, the richest vegetable source of essential oils, also provides complete protein. Hempseed gives you all the essential amino acids required to maintain health, and supplies the necessary kinds and amounts of amino acids the body needs to make human serum albumin and serum globulins like the immune enhancing gamma globulin anti-bodies. The body’s ability to resist and recover from illness depends upon how rapidly it can produce massive amounts of antibodies to fend off the initial attack. If the globulin protein starting material is in short supply, the army of antibodies may be too small to prevent the symptoms of sickness from setting in. The best way to insure the body has enough amino acid material to make the globulins is to eat foods high in globulin proteins. Hempseed protein is 65% globulin edestin plus quantities of albumin (present in all seeds), so its easily digestible protein is readily available in a form quite similar to that found in blood plasma”. – “Seed of Life”

“The unsaturated essential fatty acids are critical to healthy cell membranes because they enhance the flow of electrons. Healthy cells contribute to excellent circulation and regeneration of damaged tissue.

Because hempseed oil is so readily absorbed into the skin, it provides needed linoleic and linolenic acids to nourish and rebuild damaged cells. It also helps contribute to a healthy pH, discouraging the growth of bacterial, yeasts, and even fungal infections. I have even seen a lotion made of hempseed oil and aloe vera reverse the development of carcinoma and return the skin to healthy function. Psoriasis, eczema, acne, and almost any irritation of the skin which manifests in dryness can be reversed with regular use of hempseed oil in the form of healing salves, lotions or massage oils.

Hempseed oil is safe for baby’s skin, as well, and makes an excellent treatment for diaper rash. It is an effective non-soap cleanser for sensitive skin whether young or old. It is also a natural sun screen. Apply hemp seed oil daily to keep skin cells healthy and working their natural best”. - “Why Hemp Oil”

References: Article – “Seed of Life” – by Lynn Osburn, author of Eco-Hemp: Economy & Ecology with Hemp. (Access Unlimited, Box 165, Star Rt. 1, Maricopa, CA 93252 from Hemp World Magazine, Volume 3, Number 4 – 1998 – www.hempworld.com

Article - “Why Hemp Oil” by Carol Miller, (Sonoma Alliance for Medical Marijuana) - (707) 847-3642 both articles from Hemp World Magazine, Volume 3, Number 4 – 1998 – www.hempworld.com
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According to Hemp Foods Australia, (www.hempfoods.com.au), Australia is missing out on a wide variety of healthy hemp seed products that are reaching mainstream Europe, because it does not allow the free-trade of industrial (non-drug) hemp food products. The company applied three years ago to the Australian and New Zealand Food Authority to implement hemp foods into legislation, and while they have done nothing, other European and North American countries are enjoying free trade in hemp products. Hemp Seed is being grown in Australia as a test crop (four years as of 2000) - but cannot be sold on the open market.
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The following article was listed as one of the top 25 censored stories of the year 2000.

On February 2000, researchers in Madrid announced they had destroyed incurable brain tumors in rats by injecting them with THC, the active ingredient in cannabis. The Spanish researchers, also irrigated healthy rats' brains with large doses of THC for seven days, to test for harmful biochemical or neurological effects. They found none.

The team also examined other potential side effects of cannabinoid administration. In both tumor-free and tumor-bearing rats, cannabinoid administration induced no substantial change in behavioral parameters such as motor coordination or physical activity.

The Madrid study marks only the second time that THC has been administered to tumor-bearing animals. In 1974, researchers at the Medical College of Virginia, who had been funded by the National Institutes of Health to find evidence that marijuana damages the immune system, found instead that THC slowed the growth of three kinds of cancer in mice -- lung and breast cancer, and a virus-induced leukemia.

The DEA quickly shut down the Virginia study and all further cannabis/tumor research, according to Jack Herer, who reports on the events in his book, “The Emperor Wears No Clothes”. In 1976, President Gerald Ford put an end to all public cannabis research and granted exclusive research rights to major pharmaceutical companies, who set out -- unsuccessfully -- to develop synthetic forms of THC that would deliver all the medical benefits without the "high."

In 1983, the Reagan/Bush Administration tried to persuade American universities and researchers to destroy all 1966-76 cannabis research work, including compendiums in libraries, reports Jack Herer, who states, "We know that large amounts of information have since disappeared."

The Madrid researcher Dr. Manuel Guzman, said he was unable to locate literature on the Virginia study. The author Raymond Cushing who interviewed Dr. Guzman, was able to obtain a copy of an article about the Virginia study in the 1975 Journal of the National Cancer Institute at the University of California medical school library, it was called - "Antineoplastic activity of cannabinoids."

The summary of the Virginia study found that, "Lewis lung adenocarcinoma growth was retarded by the oral administration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabinol (CBN). Mice treated for 20 consecutive days with THC and CBN had reduced primary tumor size."

The 1975 journal article doesn't mention breast cancer tumors, which are featured in the only newspaper story ever to appear about the 1974 study -- in the "Local" section of The Washington Post on Aug. 18, 1974. Under the headline, "Cancer Curb Is Studied," it read in part: "The active chemical agent in marijuana curbs the growth of three kinds of cancer in mice and may also suppress the immunity reaction that causes rejection of organ transplants, a Medical College of
Virginia team has discovered." The researchers "found that THC slowed the growth of lung cancers, breast cancers, and a virus-induced leukemia in laboratory mice, and prolonged their lives by as much as 36 percent."

“Dr. Guzman, wrote in response: "It is extremely interesting to me, the hope that the project seemed to awaken at that moment, and the sad evolution of events during the years following the discovery, until now we once again draw back the veil, over the anti-tumoral power of THC, 25 years later. Unfortunately, the world bumps along between such moments of hope and long periods of intellectual castration”.”

News coverage of the Madrid discovery in the US has been virtually non-existent. It ran once on the UPI wire on Feb. 29, 2000, and every major newspaper ignored the story, even though its newsworthiness is indisputable: a benign substance occurring in nature destroys deadly brain tumors. The Author Raymond Cushing stumbled on it through a link that appeared briefly on the Drudge Report Web page.

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FOR A HISTORY OF CANNABIS PROHIBITION, pick up The Emperor Wears No
Clothes by Jack Herer, or log on for excerpts from the book at - www.jackherer.com
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To Smoke Or Not To Smoke; A Cannabis Odyssey - Speech at the NORML 2001 Conference, Washington DC, on April 20 by Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Chair of the NORML Foundation (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), www.norml.org, sent from Pot News/Hemp SA <pot-news@lists.va.com.au>, also available on www.drugsense.org/dsw/2001/ds01.n195.html#sec4

Additional website for Dr. Lester Grinspoon's 'Uses of Marijuana Project': www.marijiuana-uses.com

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POT SHRINKS TUMORS; GOVERNMENT KNEW IN '74

(Wednesday, March 28, The United States Supreme Court rules on whether marijuana use for medicinal purposes can be a valid defense on charges of marijuana possession. The following article was listed as one of the top 25 censored stories of the year 2000. We reprint it here and
pose the question, why would the government want to keep us from knowing this?)

The term medical marijuana took on dramatic new meaning in February 2000, when researchers in Madrid announced they had destroyed incurable brain tumors in rats by injecting them with THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.

The Madrid study marks only the second time that THC has been administered to tumor-bearing animals. In 1974, researchers at the Medical College of Virginia, who had been funded by the National Institutes of Health to find evidence that marijuana damages the immune system, found instead that THC slowed the growth of three kinds of cancer in mice -- lung and breast cancer, and a virus-induced leukemia.

The DEA quickly shut down the Virginia study and all further cannabis/tumor research, according to Jack Herer, who reports on the events in his book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes. In 1976, President Gerald Ford put an end to all public cannabis research and granted exclusive research rights to major pharmaceutical companies, who set out -- unsuccessfully -- to develop synthetic forms of THC that would deliver all the medical benefits without the "high."

The Madrid researchers reported in the March issue of Nature Medicine that they injected the brains of 45 rats with cancer cells, producing tumors whose presence they confirmed through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). On the 12th day they injected 15 of the rats with THC
and 15 with Win-55,212-2, a synthetic compound similar to THC. "All the rats left untreated uniformly died 12-18 days after glioma (brain cancer) cell inoculation ... Cannabinoid (THC)-treated rats survived significantly longer than control rats. THC administration was ineffective in three rats, which died by days 16-18. Nine of the THC-treated rats surpassed the time of death of untreated rats, and survived up to 19-35 days. Moreover, the tumor was completely eradicated in three of the treated rats." The rats treated with Win-55,212-2 showed similar results.

The Spanish researchers, led by Dr. Manuel Guzman of Complutense University, also irrigated healthy rats' brains with large doses of THC for seven days, to test for harmful biochemical or neurological effects. They found none.

"Careful MRI analysis of all those tumor-free rats showed no sign of damage related to necrosis, edema, infection or trauma ... We also examined other potential side effects of cannabinoid administration. In both tumor-free and tumor-bearing rats, cannabinoid administration induced no substantial change in behavioral parameters such as motor coordination or physical activity. Food and water intake, as well as body weight gain, were unaffected during and after cannabinoid delivery. Likewise, the general hematological profiles of cannabinoid-treated rats were normal. Thus, neither biochemical parameters nor markers of tissue damage changed substantially during
the seven-day delivery period or for at least two months after cannabinoid treatment ended."

Guzman's investigation is the only time since the 1974 Virginia study that THC has been administered to live, tumor-bearing animals. (The Spanish researchers cite a 1998 study in which cannabinoids inhibited breast cancer cell proliferation, but that was a "petri dish" experiment that didn't involve live subjects.)

In an e-mail interview for this story, the Madrid researcher said he had heard of the Virginia study, but had never been able to locate literature on it. Hence, the Nature Medicine article characterizes the new study as the first on tumor-laden animals and doesn't cite the 1974 Virginia investigation.

"I am aware of the existence of that research. In fact I have attempted many times to obtain the journal article on the original investigation by these people, but it has proven impossible," Guzman
said.

In 1983, the Reagan/Bush Administration tried to persuade American universities and researchers to destroy all 1966-76 cannabis research work, including compendiums in libraries, reports Jack Herer, who states, "We know that large amounts of information have since disappeared."

Guzman provided the title of the work -- "Antineoplastic activity of cannabinoids," an article in a 1975 Journal of the National Cancer Institute -- and this writer obtained a copy at the University of
California medical school library in Davis and faxed it to Madrid.

The summary of the Virginia study begins, "Lewis lung adenocarcinoma growth was retarded by the oral administration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabinol (CBN)" -- two types of cannabinoids, a family of active components in marijuana. "Mice treated for 20 consecutive days
with THC and CBN had reduced primary tumor size."

The 1975 journal article doesn't mention breast cancer tumors, which are featured in the only newspaper story ever to appear about the 1974 study -- in the "Local" section of The Washington Post on Aug. 18, 1974. Under the headline, "Cancer Curb Is Studied," it read in part:

"The active chemical agent in marijuana curbs the growth of three kinds of cancer in mice and may also suppress the immunity reaction that causes rejection of organ transplants, a Medical College of
Virginia team has discovered." The researchers "found that THC slowed the growth of lung cancers, breast cancers, and a virus-induced leukemia in laboratory mice, and prolonged their lives by as much as 36 percent."

Guzman, writing from Madrid, was eloquent in his response after this writer faxed him the clipping from The Washington Post of a quarter century ago. In translation, he wrote: "It is extremely interesting to me, the hope that the project seemed to awaken at that moment, and the sad evolution of events during the years following the discovery, until now we once again draw back the
veil, over the anti-tumoral power of THC, 25 years later. Unfortunately, the world bumps along between such moments of hope and long periods of intellectual castration."

News coverage of the Madrid discovery has been virtually nonexistent in this country. The news broke quietly on Feb. 29, 2000 with a story that ran once on the UPI wire about the Nature Medicine article. This writer stumbled on it through a link that appeared briefly on the Drudge Report Web page. The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times all ignored the story, even though its newsworthiness is indisputable: a benign substance occurring in nature
destroys deadly brain tumors.

Newshawk: Douglas Caddy
Pubdate: Thu, 29 Mar 2001
Source: San Antonio Current (TX)
Copyright: 2001 San Antonio Current
Contact: roliver@sacurrent.com
Address: 1500 North St. Mary's Street, San Antonio, Texas 78215
Website: http://www.sacurrent.com/
Author: Raymond Cushing
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1011/a04.html

______________________________________________________________________

Marijuana Has Less Adverse Effect on Driving Than Alcohol, Tiredness, UK Study Says

http://www.drcnet.org/wol/174.html#driving(courtesy NORML Foundation, http://www.norml.org)

Crowthorne, Berkshire, United Kingdom: Marijuana appears to have less adverse impact on driving ability than does alcohol, according to findings from a recent study by the UK's Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). The results replicate earlier findings recorded in the US, Australia and elsewhere indicating that marijuana intoxication plays a relatively insignificant role in vehicular accidents.

The TRL study examined the driving performance of fifteen volunteers while under the influence of low and high doses of marijuana, and while sober. All volunteers were tested using a sophisticated driving simulator. Researchers found that marijuana appeared to adversely influence subjects' ability to accurately steer a car (so-called "tracking ability"), but found their reaction time and all other measures of driving performance to be unaffected by the drug. Researchers further noted that subjects were cognizant of their impairment and "attempted to compensate for it by reducing the difficulty of the driving task, for example by driving more slowly."

The authors concluded: "In terms of road safety, it cannot be concluded that driving under the influence of cannabis is not a hazard... However, in comparison with alcohol, the severe effects of alcohol on the higher cognitive processes of driving are likely to make this more of a hazard, particularly at higher levels."

Similar trials previously conducted by the TRL have shown that alcohol and sleep deprivation have a more adverse impact on driving ability than does marijuana. Tests from other countries have yielded comparable results.

A May 1998 Australian review of 2,500 injured drivers reported that cannabis had "no significant effect" on driving culpability. A pair of studies released by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 1992 and 1993 found the adverse effects of marijuana on driving" relatively small," and concluded that "there was no compelling evidence that marijuana contributes substantially to traffic accidents or fatalities." The most recent TRL study was commissioned by the British Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions.

Copies of the TRL study, which was entitled "The influence of cannabis on driving," are available at http://www.trl.co.uk/detr/abstracts/477.htm on line.


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