Hemp: America's Answer for Energy Self-Sufficiency


I have never smoked a joint, nor consumed cannabis for intoxication. I have my personal reasons for this, and it is my personal choice, not because a lawyer said it is "illegal." However, as one who reveres Nature, I respect all of Mother Earth, including each green plant that grows upon her. No plant is "evil," though humankind can abuse Nature's bountiful flora for a variety of purposes.

During this time of grave national emergency, many have uncomfortably taken note of the great dependence upon crude oil from the Islamic world America has. Bush administration officials and allied Republicans have suggested that due to "national security" concerns, drilling in Alaska's environmental havens may be necessary. Of course, America will continue to need vast quantities of energy resources to maintain our way of life. But, there is more than one source of indigenous energy for our country, and considering the irresponsibility of disturbing pristine nature areas, it is obviously prudent to examine all alternatives.

One of those alternatives is from humankind's ancient ally, hemp.

The ignorant believe that cannabis is really "just for smoking," and that the industrial hemp industry exists solely as a vehicle to legitimize intoxicating uses of cannabis. This is utterly foolish, as anthropology and history can easily demonstrate. Hemp has countless uses for fiber, food, and fuel, serving nearly every human industry. It is superior to both cotton & wood pulp for paper, utilizing far less resources to grow, with virtually no pesticides required, as in the case of the former. Hemp seed is one of the most nutritious foods available to the undernourished and properly nourished alike, providing essential protein & fatty acids not often found apart from meat. Likewise, it has the potential to supply *all* of the USA's demand for vehicle fuels through its sustainable production of hemp seed oil; simply another type of vegetable oil.

The Slavic world (and much of the rest of Europe) continues to produce enormous quantities of hemp for industrial and consumption usage, with hardly any abuse of its flowers or resin as an intoxicant. Indeed, as in America, alcohol & tobacco, the latter requiring a high amount of pesticide to produce, are the chief intoxicants, and responsible for countless deaths and hardship for its victims. These "legal" products kill millions, while *not one* case has been documented proving that marijuana has killed its user.

Is the Bush administration reviewing hemp as a fuel, to give America the energy self-sufficiency it deserves and needs so desperately? Hardly. Not long after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, Bush's DEA appointee, Asa Hutchinson, issued new rules "outlawing" hemp products with *any* detectable THC content, tetrahydrocannabinols (THC) being the intoxicating element in cannabis. [1] This includes food products such as hemp seed & its oil, which are reasonably *impossible* to get "high" from in any consumable amount. It would be more likely to get high from the spice nutmeg, another psychoactive plant.

The technology is available and ready to go to use vegetable oil for vehicle fuel. [2] American science and ingenuity led to this technology, and it can develop alternatives to any petroleum product from the extremely versatile hemp plant. Why isn't this being pursued? Perhaps it's because, as some observers have suggested [3], the Bush administration is pursuing petroleum interests in this current war.

Those of us who witness George W. Bush, John Ashcroft, and their compatriots' piousness in proclaiming their religion, Christianity, to the world, find it deeply ironic that they don't even believe in a fundamental verse in their holy book: "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth....And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." [4] As a pagan, it is fascinating that I find more beauty in this Judeo-Christian passage than the President and his
administration does.

During World War II, the US government encouraged American farmers to produce hemp, because no other resource makes such fine cordage -- and other products. The implications of *this* current war are as dangerous to America's future as were those of the Second World War. It's time that the American leadership educate themselves, and discard anachronistic, two-dimensional attitudes about Nature's treasures. And, if they won't, it's the duty of every American to speak out with one voice, and let them know the W ill of the People is different than their current policies. In a free society, the Will of the People counts...they work for us.

-- Milton John Kleim, Jr.

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[1]: http://www.dea.gov/advisories/pa100901.html

[2]: Tickell, Joshua, et.al. From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank : The Complete Guide to Using Vegetable Oil As an Alternative Fuel. Third Edition. Tickell Energy Consulting, 2000.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0970722702/qid=1005497702/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_7_1/002-6531509-5851264

[3]: Rall, Ted. "It's About Oil." San Francisco Chronicle, 11/2/01.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/11/02/ED90804.DTL

[4]: Genesis 1: 29, 31.

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Additional resources for learning about the ancient resource of hemp:

Herer, Jack. The Emperor Wears No Clothes: The Authoritative Historical Record of Cannabis and the Conspiracy Against Marijuana. AH HA Publishing, 2000.

Robinson, Rowan, et.al. The Great Book of Hemp : The Complete Guide to the Commercial, Medicinal and Psychotropic Uses of the World's Most Extraordinary Plant. Inner Traditions, 1995.

Robinson, Rowan. The Hemp Manifesto: 101 Ways That Hemp Can Save Our World. Inner Traditions, 1997.

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Copyright 2001, by the author. Permission to circulate freely granted, provided entire text is not abridged or altered. Author contact via http://www.efn.org/~mjk/