Abhay Deol of India talks about hemp in the US

An article from india.nydailynews.com by Abhay Deol of India struck me as pertinent, especially as we are in the midst of getting this petition signed to go to the White House - www.minawear.com/about-us/ -  to make hemp legal in the US. Not sure its status in India, I think it is legal, but is certainly not grown in any abundance there - though it used to be very much. 



Abhay Deol at PVR Nest screening. (Photo: IANS)

New Delhi, May 24 -- Conspiracy theorists will have you know that the "war" on drugs is just a way to keep drugs in the black market so that their value remains "high". Comparing cannabis (marijuana/hemp) with hard drugs like cocaine, crack, heroin etc is a way to demonise the drug further.

The downfall of the plant started early last century in the US. Ironically, it was illegal NOT to grow hemp in a few states in the early part of US history. Even George Washington grew it. Its uses were many - as fiber for ropes and sails, to make paper, its seeds are high in proteins, it makes for a stronger, longer lasting material to make clothes with, than cotton. It was possibly the first agricultural crop. It can be grown in most climates, is drought resistant, requires little fertiliser, pesticides and herbicides. Its seeds can be used to make hemp oil.

A little known fact is that it can also be used to produce fuel! Henry Ford's first Model-T (the people's car) was even constructed from hemp! He said it was "grown from the soil" and its impact strength was 10 times stronger than steel! Hemp fuel is also biodegradable, does not contribute sulphur dioxide to the atmosphere and is non-toxic. Farmers around the world would greatly benefit from growing it. But alas, we live in a market driven economy and I personally have come to believe that the market is driven by scarcity.

If upon further research it is proved that hemp can provide us with so many alternatives, it would drive many companies out of business. Think about it, it can replace trees for paper, that would not be good for companies who make profit from cutting down trees. Being a weed, it grows really fast and outcompetes other weeds. Hemp strains produce their own resins that make the crop naturally pest free. Not good for companies that make pesticides! It can be used as a fuel! This is one of the major threats! Oil companies are some of the biggest giants in the corporate world. Both Henry Ford and Rudolf Diesel designed cars that ran on vegetable oils and hemp oil. This was a century ago!

Ford even said that the fuel of the future is going to come from weeds and fruits, anything that can be fermented to produce ethanol/ethyl alcohol. But as gasoline emerged as the dominant transportation fuel in the early part of the last century, as more and more oil fields were discovered, there was intense lobbying by the petroleum companies to maintain steep taxes on alcohol thereby killing the market for alternative fuels.

The rabbit hole goes deeper. The case for hemp as mankind's (and the Earth's) saviour cannot be made by me in a 300 word article (which I have far exceeded). Before the western influence started to dictate our laws, we were happy to spark up, drink, and even eat the damn drug with no one having any objection. Our festival of Holi is proof of that. Today it is illegal. So how is it that bhang is sold at government outlets during Holi? Why is it that sadhus who smoke chillums are not arrested? When and why did we bring a law to ban it? Was it to benefit us, or the US?

CORNY STORY IN THE PRESS: FOOD PRICES SET TO ROCKET

The New York Times and other US papers printed a story about the coming food price rise. As it is expressed on the AP newswire, which many churnalists chose to cut and paste, the problem is due to the ethanol trade. The article implies that to make ethanol one uses the kernels, the edible part of the corn (maize). That would not be practical, as ethanol is best produced from the abundant cellulose which is in the leaves, stalk and hobs. Our bodies do not digest this; other animals do.

The articles then go on to point out that corn is used in high fructose corn syrup and corn chips...but does not blame these manufacturers, whose products, unlike ethanol, are not essential. Ethanol is an energy product and is used in cars from Canada to Brazil; Henry Ford proposed using it in cars, using farm wastes and hemp. The powers to be promoted petroleum instead, forcing America to suck on the gaspipe. And suck, and suck and suck. So no wonder that ethanol is being put in a bad light by bad journalists. We can write a letter to the NYT and the NY Daily News but they often ignore anything they do not want to hear....

So corn prices double, and the price of a gallon may do so also. If the papers got behind solid science then we could solve the economic crisis, but that is not what they exist for.

So expect higher food prices and sluggish response to sensible energy development. But at least blame Doritos and Cap'n Crunch for the rise in the corn prices, not ethanol producers, who can use the waste parts of corn we don't use.