Hemp Essay

The Plant That Will Save The World

James Glavin
Period F
3.26.00

Fuel. Clothing. Paper. Rope. Medicine. Building Material. The list goes on forever. No other plant in existence can be made into as many different things as the hemp plant. The government knows this, and so does everyone else. The only question that remains is a perplexing one. Why is it illegal?

Hemp

Due to the fact that it is illegal to grow hemp in this country, we continue to waste hundreds upon thousands of acres of trees to produce paper that could easily be made out of hemp. Hemp has a shorter growing cycle than a tree (one year versus decades). All things considered, you can produce about four times as much paper annually from the same area using hemp. On top of this, hemp paper is stronger than wood paper. It has more resistance to moisture, and is less likely to tear. Our own government used to make their paper money out of hemp, in fact. The process used to make wood pulp into paper involves many dangerous chemicals, chemicals that aren’t needed with hemp. Hemp paper is 7 times more recyclable, as well. (Nimbin 1)

Today, hemp is cultivated in Canada. From there, it is exported to this country chiefly as clothing. Clothing made from hemp is durable, comfortable, and warm. The industry is still dominated by cotton- as well as synthetics-based clothing, however, due to the fact that hemp can’t be grown in the United States.

Hemp is known to be a very good source of fuel. It has a great deal of biomass that can be converted into methane easily, producing methanol, an alcohol that can be used in cars as fuel. (Nimbin 2) The reason we don’t use it for this is similar to the reason that we don’t make paper out of hemp. The petroleum companies put a great deal of effort into lobbying for the continuing criminalization of hemp, so they can keep making a profit. As a result, we continue to waste our non-renewable fossil fuels when we have the means to be using a renewable substitute.

Hemp has been persecuted over the years. Due to “Big Money People,” like William Randolph Hearst, hemp was outlawed in the early part of the 20th century. Hearst owned of a large paper company, as well as millions of acres of timber. In the 1930’s, a machine was invented that made hemp paper production easier and simpler. Hearst, afraid of losing billions in profit, began a campaign to spread propaganda about hemp, and to ultimately ban its cultivation. With followers like Pierre Dupont, patent holder of a wood-pulp treatment process, who also stood to lose money from hemp production, the wealthy businessmen prevailed. To this day, hemp remains illegal due to lies spread in the 1930’s. (Shirt 1)

Marijuana

“In all my study and review of the information regarding this issue, one question keeps coming back to me. Let's assume - for the sake of argument - that marijuana has no medical value whatsoever, despite the fact that it has a several thousand year history of medical use and that a prescription drug is made from its primary active ingredient. Let's assume - for the sake of argument - that all these medical marijuana patients are just fooling themselves.

“Even in that case, what would we stand to gain as a society by punishing sick people and putting them through an already overloaded criminal justice system? Even
if they are deluding themselves -- what benefit is there to prosecuting sick people?”
-Shaffer Library Medical Marijuana Master Reference

Cannabis Sativa, although criticized by even some hemp activists, also has its share of uses. The active chemical in marijuana, THC, does, admittedly, have some psychotropic effects. It produces a “high,” which will last for a few hours, during which time a user will merely feel euphoric, happy, and hungry. During the time of William Hearst, many people were led to believe that users of marijuana became hyperactive, schitzophrenic, mentally unstable, and worse. This propoganda was responsible for the original criminalization of the drug. While these people had no scientific backing for their wild claims, they succeeded in scaring the public enough to get the right laws passed. Over the years, the official stance on the drug has been changed many times, but the government has never been able to accurately describe the actual short- and long-term effects of the drug. Currently, their biggest complaints are that marijuana affects the brain’s memory center. While this may be true to a small extent, its vast medical usefulness should still be exploited.
By supressing nausea, THC can be used by AIDS and cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy to ease side effects. Marijuana has been proven to help cure diseases like Glaucoma, and many psychiatric disorders. It can be used by people suffering from anorexia to help improve their appetite (Schaffer 5). Arguably, it can even be used to fight depression.

What the government has done by criminalizing this drug is give it a bad name. The laws are only justified by themselves. What was once a “Wonder Drug” has turned into the “gateway” that teens take to hard drugs, such LSD, PCP, cocaine, heroine, among other things. If it was legal, it would no longer be profitable to grow it independently for sale. The drug market would no longer include marijuana, making the government unable to blame it for all crack, heroine, and cocaine addicts. This innocent drug has been called a felon for no reason, just like those who use it.