HEMP FREEDOM:
A Proposal for Legalizing Industrial Hemp Cultivation
For
Earl Ray Tomblin,
35th and current Governor of West Virginia
By
Jonathon Flight, Co-owner of Winkin’Sun Hemp
April 14, 2015
Date: April 14, 2015
To: Earl Ray Tomblin
From: Jonathon Flight
Subject: Proposal for Legalizing Industrial hemp cultivation
The U.S. government, in all its wisdom, treats hemp and marijuana in the same manner. Despite one offering no psychoactive effects (hemp) and the other offering psychoactive effects (marijuana), both are against the law. Several states have passed laws to allow the growing of hemp; however the federal government has stood firm on the ban for decades, and continues to do so. The time has come for the feds to update obsolete polices and get a dose of reality; it’s time to legalize industrial hemp.
Did you know Industrial hemp has been grown on American soil since the beginning of this great nation? Did you also know that it’s only been illegal for over 70 years now? So why now is this amazing resourceful plant illegal? That’s one question that still needs to be answered. In this proposal I will introduce and explain why industrial hemp needs to be made legal to manufacture and cultivate in the United States of America.
This plant has huge potential and a growing market in the United States. What makes hemp so valuable? Its uses are virtually endless. But, here’s a start:
•Paper
•Plastics
•Clothing
•Rope
•Building
“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 a crop that has been used for many things for many years. The fibers are used for things such as clothes, construction materials, paper, carpet, oil, food, cosmetics, food, and many other things. The hemp industry has been around for as long as ten thousand years. There was a piece of hemp fabric found from around eight thousand BC showing its importance to many civilizations throughout the years. Nowadays, hemp is an agricultural commodity in many nations. Canada is known to be one of the largest hemp growers in the world and use it for a large number of industries. Some countries export hemp products all around the world and use it as a vital part of their
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.
Industrial hemp should be legalized throughout the U.S. because it would greatly benefit everyone, it is not harmful in any way, it cannot get people high, and it is healthy for the environment. Although some people believe hemp is dangerous or the same thing as marijuana, it is actually a healthy thing, it can be used for many things, and it is nothing like marijuana (ethos).
Thesis: This paper takes the position that industrial hemp should be legal in America, because it has been proven useful in myriad applications for many years, because it is not potent for smoking albeit it's from the same species, because it could create thousands of jobs, and because in the fight against global warming industrial hemp absorbs four times as much carbon dioxide and can produce as much as four times the fiber than trees can.
There are numerous pharmaceutical drugs that can be replaced with hemp products, saving money and lives. We could stop chopping down billions of trees and use hemp for paper instead. Hemp can be bleached with peroxide and through other processes that do not involve chlorine. We could preserve millions of acres and save huge areas of wildlife. We could stop burning fossil fuels and use hemp to make gasoline and biodiesel.
Industrial Hemp is an ancient crop, which has a multitude of diverse uses. The earliest uses of Hemp can be traced back to the Sumerians and probably even earlier in man’s unrecorded history. Industrial Hemp is not Marijuana though the two plants are of the same family and have passing resemblance to one another. Industrial Hemp’s myriad uses are being rediscovered and at the forefront of research in diverse fields. I will be attempting to dispel some of the myth, and providing history and proven uses of this amazing plant.
The legalization of hemp has been a very controversial topic since it was made illegal in 1937. However, through research in recent years that it has become more evident that hemp is more than a drug, but a versatile, economical, friendly product that can be used in a wide variety of resources with low impact on the environment.
First, from 1900 to 1940, marijuana, including opium and cocaine were considered part of everyday drugs. As time went on, the U.S. cracked down on crack and opium, eventually outlawing them, but continued to be very “loose” with the use of marijuana. Hoxter a weed smuggler explains how he began in the 1960’s trying weed and years later saw himself unloading four hundred pounds of pot in Vancouver. The story of this man ends in his isolation and argument of why he couldn’t smoke weed even if he stopped selling? He asked a parole officer and she didn’t know what to respond. It is true what Hoxter states, fifty years ago alcohol was illegal and now it’s not, was it bad then? Will weed be legalized? And will the conflicts have been in vain? (Schou 8). Around the late 90’s and early 2000’s, scientific studies started to produce jaw-dropping results. Scientists started to discover that marijuana can significantly help people who have become ill. Medical Marijuana has been tested to help people with cataracts, cancer and severe depression (Zeese 1999). With this new worldwide discovery, the argument about medical marijuana ignited. States wanted to only make medical marijuana legal so it may help sick people, but the government did not want any form of marijuana legal. The law that was known throughout the United States was any form of marijuana was illegal. But now with this new discovery, doctors in states across the country want the
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,