HEMP, THE PERFECT PAPER SUBSTITUTE

Hemp. Does the word make you think about illegal drugs and getting high?
Well let me inform you that hemp will not get you high, but it is illegal to
grow it in the United States.

First let's talk about where hemp comes from and what hemp can do for you
and the environment. Hemp comes from the plant called cannabis; the common
strain is sativa. The fiber produced from the cannabis is called hemp. From
hemp many goods can be made, from bikinis to rope.

Hemp oil, which is used in cooking, is produced by pressing the seeds of the
fiber. Hemp meal can be made from cannabis, which is high in protein. But
the main product that I would like to talk about is hemp paper.

The world uses 200 million tons of wood each year for paper. Do you think
the world's population of trees can keep up with this number? And this
number does not include lumber for houses or disposable Chinese chops sticks
found at Acorn.

Hemp, which can grow to harvest in one season, compared to tree's 20,
produces four times as much paper in one acre than one acre of trees does in
the same time.

Everything from grocery bags to Playboy magazines uses paper. You can argue
that this paper is being recycled, but while tree products can only be
recycled once, hemp products can be recycled many times over.

In the production of paper, acidic and/or alkaline chemicals, which are
harmful to the environment, are used. Hemp needs only hydrogen peroxide and
does not need to be bleached white because it is naturally white.

Right now, American entrepreneurs are losing out on what is already a $50
million import industry.

Just imagine, fields and fields of home-grown cannabis harvested and taken
to plants to be made in to hemp. From here, cloth, oil, food and paper
products could be produced while providing hundreds of jobs.

I would think that everyone knows that the drafts of the Declaration of
Independence were written on hemp paper.

But did you know Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" was written on hemp?

I think it is time for the American government and people to open their eyes
to the common sense that hemp is the wave of the future and to not ride it
is to lose out on billions of dollars.