Stop the War on Hemp!

Did you know that Hemp, is a super hero and some countries of the developed world, mainly the USA and the United Kingdom, and recently Canada (no more though) could be considered the bad guys ? Despite all the health benefits of hemp, for weird reasons that make no common sense to most people, Hemp was proclaimed a drug along with it’s cousin, Marijuana (1937-39).

Some say that Hemp was vilified along with Marijuana because of THC, the chemical that is known to cause euphoric effects on the human brain. Despite the fact that Hemp contains basically .003 of a percent of THC, you’d have to smoke a joint (cigarette) the size of a billboard to get high, which of course is ridiculous!

One really has to wonder at either the intelligence or the motives of politicians that make our laws. There was another reason entirely that stopped the farming of Hemp, you will be shocked at first but perhaps like me, not really surprised. It had NOTHING to do with any levels of THC in Hemp, but had everything to do with greed and politics. After you know the truth, you too will be saying…. Stop the war on Hemp already! I say….While you are at it, stop  the war on Marijuana too!

Millions of dollars are spent every year by law enforcement to find, confiscate and destroy both Hemp and Marijuana. Many more millions of dollars are spent on charging those that either grow these plants or use them (for whatever reason), incarcerating many thousands of people in our prisons. Now i can understand jailing someone for dealing the hard drugs that actually kill people like Cocaine, Heroin, Opiates and many others.

What about alcohol? How many people die every year or are maimed for life by drunk drivers? Have you heard of cirrosis of the liver? Yep, it’s caused by constantly drinking too much alcohol.

Alcoholics are more likely to die from cirrhosis

than any other cause. Prohibition of alcohol was once a very real fact in countries like Canada and the USA , but failed miserably. Making alcohol illegal, only created a very strong black market for alcohol, encouraging criminal activities with the smuggling that was involved.

Prohibition also kept decent folks from enjoying wine and other alcoholic beverages for social occasions. One brush was used to paint over everyone, not just those causing problems. Of course I doubt the wealthy and the politicians were prohibiting alcohol for themselves, do you?

Prohibition of Hemp and Marijuana, has encouraged the same underground black market to flourish, though not with the same extreme violence and death that is involved with the hard drugs. Hemp has never killed anyone, nor has Hemp given anyone a ‘high’, so why has it been classified as a category 2 drug along with Marijuana?

Science has proved that Hemp is not a drug so why is it still prohibited from being grown in many places, the USA in particular. Why is the DEA of the USA so determined to control and or destroy Hemp? This has puzzled me for as long as I have known Hemp existed.

It finally made sense to me recently when I watched a news snippet of an interview with a member of law enforcement.The officer was saying that Hemp is a plant that so closely resembles Marijuana that it’s easy to hide a crop of Marijuana in the centre of a field of Hemp.

It’s impossible for the police to distinguish Hemp from Marijuana from the air, when they are looking for marijuana. I believe that is the real reason that Hemp continues to be an outlaw with law enforcement.

Do Law enforcement and their cronies in government 

still believe the lies about Marijuana? Hemp is guilty by association  only through ignorance.  It was not always so, the following video will show you how Hemp came to be the outlaw along with her cousin, Marijuana.  It’s an interesting piece of history, interesting but will make you angry that plants like these, have been kept from being useful because of greed and misinformation.

I have placed another video under the page Videos, that is related to the subject of how Hemp (and Marijuana) originally became outlaws.

While the political reasons for banning Hemp and Marijuana

had more to do with US Politics, other countries followed the example of the USA because the USA used to be seen as the ‘head of the pack’.  Thankfully, the rest of the world is breaking off from that mentality, and are slowly beginning to think for themselves regarding Hemp and Marijuana. There is still much work to be done, to change the minds of so many who have (through misinformation) decided that the Cannabis plant in all it’s forms, is a blight rather than a blessing.

Allow me tell you about how Hemp can save the world, if we only utilized it more.

Industrial Uses for Hemp

• Hemp fibre can be used as fuel, both methanol and ethanol are produced from Hemp. 1,000 gallons of fuel can be made from one acre of Hemp!
• Hemp oils from the seeds can be made into paint
• Hemp pulp can be made into paper that does not need bleaching, unlike the paper from wood which does. Paper from Hemp can be recycled up to 7 times while paper products from wood can only be recycled 3 times. One acre of Hemp can produce as much paper as can be made from 4 acres of trees! Trees take YEARS to grow, while a crop of Hemp only takes months, from Spring to Fall.
• Bio based plastics can be made from Hemp that is almost as strong as fiberglass.
• Fibreboards can be made from Hemp fibres and lime, creating a soundproof and insulated product for building construction. Hempcrete is almost as strong as concrete, hence it’s name. Waste from building materials made from hemp can be recycled easily.

Now that was an impressive list for industrial use, lets see about Hemp’s use as a  healing food

What are the health benefits of Hemp seeds?

If you think Flax is an amazing plant (and it is), Hemp seeds are even more remarkable when you compare the protein levels and carbs.

• Hemp has a whopping 10 grams of Protein for every 3 Tablespoons, 2x as much compared to Flax and Chia, and has all 10 essential amino acids required to digest the protein.
• Hemp has only 3 grams of carbs compared to Flax at 9 grams and Chia at 13 grams
• Hemp has 150 mg of stearidonic acid (SDA), while Flax and Chia have none. In other words….SDA is quoted in Pubmed as saying that any plant (like Hemp)with appreciable amounts of SDA, could replace fish oils as a dietary source.
• Hemp contains 450 mg of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), while Flax and Chia have none. In other words, GLA in Hemp, could replace Evening Primrose oil. Another source in Pubmed concludes that heart patients all had low amounts of GLA in their diets. I concluded from that …. to have a healthy strong cardiac system, GLA is essential.
• While Hemp has a higher ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3s, it’s Omega 6 comes primarily from the GLA.  Omega 6 oils are often listed as the ‘bad guys’, but they must in fact be balanced with Omega 3s.  The oils that are high in Omega 6s, like corn and sunflower, do not have GLA, therefore are generally quite inflammatory from my view. Hemp is antiflammatory due to it’s SDA and GLA content.
• These are the super stars of Hemp, but this wonderful plant is also rich in minerals like Iron, Zinc, Phosphorous, Magnesium, maganese, copper and also Thiamine (B1) and Vitamin E.

 

Ok, now you know what’s IN Hemp but what are those components good for? As already mentioned, GLA is anti-inflammatory, and all disease is caused by inflammation. The heart especially, benefits from GLA and it’s Omega 6, alongside Omega 3s, and don’t forget SDA (which is partly what makes fish oils inflammatory).

Yeah, I know I am using the word ‘inflammatory’ a lot. Think of the word (anti-inflammatory) as a fire extinguisher, it can put out the fires (inflammation) that cause disease. Makes sense right?

The Protein in Hemp is enough that it can replace other sources in your diet, like milk for instance. I, and my family are all intolerant of cow sourced milk but can tolerate almond, cashew or rice milk. I recently found a very simple recipe for Hemp milk that I am going to try. If it turns out well, we will be replacing our rice milk with a homemade Hemp milk. We presently cannot buy Hemp milk in our local stores, so I will have to make our own.

As I was writing and researching this article, for some reason the children’s song “Anything you can do, I can do better’ kept popping into my head.  I realized that Flax, as amazing as that plant is, Hemp is even better!

Guess what? That’s not all Hemp can do! 

CBD oils, you have heard of them right? If you have read the HEMP page under the heading CANNABIS, you will know already know that CBD is the healing oil concentrate that is making so many headlines these days. CBD oil is made from the flowers or buds of both Hemp and Marijuana. The only real difference is the amount of THC in both  of these plant types.

Hemp only contains a trace of THC in the buds, and is bred for it’s healing CBD potency. Marijuana is bred for BOTH THC and CBD, that is the difference in terms of healing components. Regarding the health benefits of hemp seeds, many people get confused by Hemp oil and CBD oil, they are very different.

In Summary, Hemp oil is made by pressing out the hemp seeds, and CBD oil is made by extracting the oil  (by various methods) from the flowers or buds. You cannot harvest both seeds and flowers, it’s either or. The health benefits of  Hemp seeds and it’s other parts are enormous!   Now you know the rest of the story….