The Daily Campus

Issue date: 2/26/08 Section: Commentary

Hemp products encompass almost all parts of the Cannabis plant and can be used to make foods, fuels, and fibers. The only edible parts of the plant with any nutritional value are the seeds.The seeds are extremely nutritious and are a source of carbohydrates, proteins, fibers and essential fatty acids. Essential fatty acids are an important part of a healthy diet and are not harmful like saturated and trans fats. The seed also is not psychoactive and cannot be used as a drug. The seeds most resemble a nut and can be shelled and eaten raw, used to make numerous foods, or can be converted in to hemp seed oil and used in cooking.

To get an idea of how versatile hemp is, here are a short list of products that can be made from hemp - food and others: snack bars, cookies, trail mix, coffee, beer, nutbutter, chips, pasta, tortillas, hummus, butter, salad dressing, milk, cheese, non-dairy ice cream, burgers, oils, lotions, lip balms, conditioners, shampoos, soaps, shaving products, lamp lighting, household detergents, stain removers, varnishes, resins, paints, twine, cordage, textiles, clothing, paper, webbing, non-woven matting, auto parts (ie door panels, dashboards, luggage racks), building materials, animal feed, plastics, packaging materials, skate boards, and most importantly biofuel. All in all, there are almost 25,000 environmental friendly products that can be derived from hemp.

Hemp is also not harmful for the environment. It can be grown organically because there are very few pests that feed off of it. The Cannabis plant only has a growing cycle of 100 days and is a natural weed suppressant so the soil remains weed free for next planning (that is if one does not consider the Cannabis plant a weed itself). The short growing cycle of Cannabis, combined with the number of products that hemp can manufacture, makes it a very viable and important natural resource that should be utilized.

However, there is a caveat, and that is that the United States currently forbids people to grow hemp with a permit from the DEA. And surprise, surprise, the DEA rarely grants permits for large scale productions. The reasoning, which can be found on the DEA Web site, is that hemp contains THC. Hence, hemp is a Schedule I substance under the CSA, as is heroin and LSD, despite that fact that it is impossible to get high from it. To realize the stupidity of the U.S. government policy towards hemp, one only has to look at that the fact the U.S. is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not permit hemp production. The only hemp products that are allowed in this country are ones that are manufactured outside of it.

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