Why Is Hemp A Four Letter Word?

[Jim Finnel]

Ah, the cost of doing business.

Just about everyone is struggling these days with the cost of goods, the cost of fuel, the cost of food and the general cost of living.

We don't want to whine, of course, but the Journal, and every other newspaper in the country, is struggling mightily with the cost of newsprint.

Have you noticed that your newspaper -- whether it's the Salina Journal or the New York Times -- has gotten narrower over the decades? You're not imagining it. Newspapers all over the world are going to narrower and narrower widths to save money on newsprint, which is rising rapidly. Believe us, we feel it here at the Journal.

"The Hemp Revolution," a 1995 documentary from producer-director Anthony Clarke, explores the hemp plant's intriguing history and wide-ranging uses. Clarke also delves into the economic and cultural forces that led to its prohibition.

Did you know that George Washington and many other early statesmen grew hemp? Thomas Jefferson encouraged farmers to grow hemp instead of tobacco. Benjamin Franklin started the first American paper mill, and he used hemp exclusively. And the Declaration of Independence was printed on hemp paper.

What happened? In earlier days, before it was criminalized in 1937, it was a profitable crop. They say it grows like a weed.

A Google search of "Dupont" plus "Hearst" plus "hemp" plus "paper" would provide many answers. Suffice it to say that Dupont wanted tree-made paper to succeed, newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst helped a great deal in that effort, and the American people were hoodwinked in the process.

What the propaganda of the '30s and '40s drilled into us was that hemp/cannabis/marijuana is evil. It makes people go insane.

Here's the thing: The industrial type of hemp -- used for paper, fabric, ropes, oils -- contains virtually no THC, the part of the cannabis plant that makes a person "high."

The hemp plant is 77 percent cellulose, ideal for paper-making. The fiber in trees is very short, less than an inch long, while the fibers of cellulose in the hemp plant are feet long. Fewer chemicals are needed, then, in production.

Its long tap roots are good for the soil. It's grown without pesticides or insecticides.

It makes us wonder if hemp wouldn't be a good plant to bring back to our farmlands. We don't know if hemp would be the answer to the newspaper industry's paper crisis, but we'd sure like to have more options.

While we're working toward being more environmentally conscious and careful, hemp is one plant we should seriously give another look.


News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Salina.com
Author: Roshana Ariel
Copyright: 2008 Salina Journal
Contact: Salina.com - an online service of The Salina Journal
Website: Salina.com - an online service of The Salina Journal

 

[Smokin Moose]

It's interesting to see what the forestry folks say about hemp paper. They seem very misguided about preserving our precious forests lol

Detractors of the agricultural production of annual fiber from hemp farms are just as vocal as farmed hemp fiber advocates. Their own reasoning is that hemp farming is very demanding on the environment and would negate any possible benefits ascribed to it. Hemp fiber would be cost prohibitive when compared to silvicultural production of wood fiber.

Any annual crop demands a period of establishment and reestablishment, during which the site has to be intensely cultivated and treated for weeds and pests. This has to be repeated until the crop is properly established and done on an annual basis for crops like flax, wheat, cotton, or hemp. Most tree species, even if grown on a fast rotation, would mean less site disturbance and have much less need for chemicals; Trees are more forgiving of site preparation, chemical support, and revisits after planting.

Large areas of cultivated fields would be necessary. This would, in itself, mean clearing land of trees and would comprise the best land in terms of fertility and topography. Irrigation would become necessary in some areas for best production. Tending hemp would be expensive and compete for land and other resources.

Dr. Patrick Moore writing on the subject on his web site Greenspirit indicates that "at least twice as much nutrient must be available in an easily assimilable form as will finally be removed from the soil by the leaf-free harvest". Hemp is a nutrient sponge. Crop rotation and the added expense of stripping leaves and flowers would be the desired method of nutrient replacement. All this adds to increased disturbance of the site, the addition of either manure crops or chemical nutrients, and an increase in per acre expense.

The last little kink in the use of hemp for fiber is a significant concern called cost. According to Austrialia's NAFI and Heike Von Der Lancken, "hemp pulp costs $2,500 per ton as compared to $400 per ton for typical bleached wood pulp." This would create the need for another farm subsidy to make costs match.

Valerie Vantreese, University of Kentucky's Department of Agricultural Economics, has written a very concise abstract based on a paper called International Hemp: Global Markets and Prices . In the abstract she suggests that world hemp production is "dramatically" down from the early 1980's and is dominated by low-cost producers; China, India, and Russia produce 70% of the world supply.

Multinational fiber companies (Weyerhauser, Masonite, International Paper) interested in hemp as a source are well prepared to go to those locations to do business if there is a profit to be made. Market risk to the US farmer (if he were allowed to grow hemp) may be prohibitive because of these cheaper international growers.