Nexus - 0215 - New Times Magazine-pages

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benefit of being free from the residues of the herbicides and _ing cannabis cultivation was in 1631. Such was the importance insecticides that are a feature of cotton production. of the plant to the colonies that the law actually prescribed In 1990 a study was commissioned by the Minister for Energy _ financial penalties in the form of punitive taxation for those who into the prospects of developing an ethanol production capacity did not grow sufficient cannabis! in New South Wales to supply envi- In the early 1920s, a number of ronmentally safer vehicular fuel, such successful prototypes of efficient as bioethanol, E10%. The addition hemp-processing machines, known of 10% aqueous alcohol to an inter- as decorticators, were developed. nal combustion engine can eliminate This development made a resur- the need for any and all lead addi- : ahj H y gence of cannabis to its position of tives, whilst improving the efficiency Cannabis hemp will produce eminence in agriculture and com- of the engine and reducing levels of approximately three to four merce likely, seriously threatening non-lead emissions. the business empires of Randolph The key areas identified by this times a much fibre per hectare Hearst and his colleague Du Pont, comprehensive study were recom- @S OUFr current forest pr actices. by replacing many of their chemical mendations to reduce production products with natural and safer costs by identifying new, high-yield- alternatives. ing ligno-cellulosic crops. A key fea- Hearst used the vast resources of ture of the analysis was selection of : his newspaper chain, printed as they crops that would yield secondary har- : : = were on chemical wood pulp, to dis- vests to enhance the economic viability of the project. In seminate misinformation and inflame racial hatred against the Northern NSW, cannabis could easily yield twenty tonnes per = Blacks and Hispanics, then the main users of marijuana in that hectare of dry stem material annually, being exceptionally rich country. So, what purported to be high-minded legislation for in cellulose, whilst top-cutting of the leaf crown and seed heads __ the public’s benefit was in fact a callous gambit to ensure an would supply a high-value stock feedcake and oi source. industrial monopoly for the emerging petrochemical industries. Hemp seed oil has been used for millennia as food, both This is a shocking truth but it is a truth that stands up under human and animal, by many cultures of the world. According to scrutiny. United States Department of Agriculture documentation, the So, there are the facts. Do our farmers need a new and highly early settlers of that country depended on cannabis to provide _ profitable new crop? Historical and current agronomic data many of their essential needs, including the canvas used oncov- _ indicate that cannabis cultivation has many advantages. ered wagons, clothing such as the original Levi's jeans, food, Hemp is a hardy and adaptable crop able to accommodate to a medicine and oil for lighting, paints, lacquers and varnishes. range of growing situations. It is autocompatible and rarely Most of the paper from the last century, especially the troubled by insect pests or disease. Cannabis, when sown archival and high-quality book paper, was fashioned from _ densely as is the practice in fibre production, acts as an efficient cannabis fibre. In 1938, Popular Mechanics magazine stated smother crop. Several rotations of cannabis can clear a field of that there were then at least 5,000 items of commercial impor- weeds, leaving the ground improved for subsequent crops. This, tance manufactured from different parts of the cannabis plant. Modern scholars are re-appraising the historical basis of the cannabis/hemp prohibition in the light of its extraordinary industrial potential and its long history in the service of mankind. Until the latter part of the nineteenth century, Indian hemp was one of the world's most cultivated crops and its fibre was one of the world's most traded commodities. Literally millions of acres were cultivated annual- ly to supply sail and rigging for the world's navies. Being the strongest and most durable natural fibre known to humanity, it alone could endure the rigours of nautical application. The demand for hemp was reduced with the replacement of wind power by steam, and was further reduced by the failure to develop efficient, high-output machinery for processing the fibre, as the cotton gin had done for that crop. Manila hemp, though an inferior fibre, was produced more cheaply due to the exploitation of the local ‘coolie' labour, and synthet- ic fibres had just been developed by the chemical conglomerate Du Pont. Until the 1930s cannabis was an essential part of the world's agricultural and economic production. The first law enacted in the United States concern- NEXUS¢17 AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 1993