Thursday, June 7, 2012

Legalize Hemp!


My husband and I have felt very strongly that hemp needs to be legalized and there are many wonderful reasons as to why we feel this way. Now, mind you, we don't do drugs. We aren't hippies. We don't smoke marijuana. etc.

Our reasons for supporting hemp is why we've had the future goal of creating a documentary about the amazing benefits that come from farming hemp - we'd love to help make others aware of its benefits as well.

The reasons are as follows:
  1. First of all (to get what almost everyone thinks of first out of the way), you can't smoke it.  You can't get high off of it.  Yes, it looks a bit like marijuana- it is in the same family of plants- but has only trace amounts of the thing that actually makes you high.  You may as well try to get drunk off of kids grape juice if you think that you can get high off of hemp.
  2. Hemp is way better for making paper than trees.  Not only is hemp paper better, more durable and longer lasting, but hemp plants grow faster and can produce in a year what would take about 20 years with a tree.  Hemp uses less water, and can produce way more paper per acre than trees.  BTW, the Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper.
  3. It was once required for US farmers to have a hemp crop. In fact, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams all grew hemp and even actively advocated for commercial hemp production.
  4. Hemp can make other textiles like clothing- and not just hippie clothing either.  It out does cotton in durability, quality.  When compared to hemp- Cotton is ridiculously difficult to grow and requires a lot of energy and chemicals to make it usable.  Hemp farming requires no pesticides or herbicides and uses very little water.
  5. You can even make fuel from it- a very clean burning fuel.
  6. Hemp seeds are a healthy super food!  Hemp is very high in protein- and is a protein that is more digestible than protein shakes typically causing less bloating.  It has all 9 of the essential amino acids, it is high in fiber, and has a lot of vitamin E.  It significantly helps people with immune deficiency diseases and is one of the best known sources for polyunsaturated essential fatty acids!  This is good stuff!
  7. Hemp contains one of the strongest fibers known to man- it can be used to make over 40,000 different products ranging from food, plastics and even bricks.
But the down side is that we currently have to import it from Canada- so it is always quite expensive!  We need to grow it here.

Henry Ford said about hemp: "Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which requires ages to lay down if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the ANNUAL growth of the hemp fields?"

Not growing hemp is significantly contributing to deforestation, destruction of the environment.  Opponents to hemp legalization are large companies who's industry would be annihilated if hemp were legalized.

Hemp needs to be legalized. Anyone else convinced? I am.

Let's legalize hemp!

Click here to find out how you can help to make this happen.

2 comments:

  1. Hey!!!! I didn't know you blogged! Yeay!!! Following! Get on over to my two www.spiritualsupernaturalparanormal.blogspot.com and www.chicksinlit.blogspot.com

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  2. I agree! Mostly just because I love hemp seeds. Tasty and nutritious!

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