Letter Of The Day

HEMP IS HIP

Editorial - I am a Grade 8 student who attends Wyevale Central Public
School. At the end of this year I will be graduating. I am very proud of my
school because of the environmental awareness we have. Last year my school
received the highest score in our area for our 2001-2002 recycling report
card. We recycled 38 percent of all our garbage.

As a teen I am very concerned about the environment I will be growing up
in. As a result of this concern I have been researching the many benefits
of the industrial use of hemp.

You are now probably asking yourself one of these two questions. What is
hemp, or isn't hemp marijuana? Well, hemp is a plant that comes from the
same species of plant as marijuana. The difference is that hemp has a very
small amount of THC. THC, or tetrahyrocannabinol, is the component in
marijuana, which causes you to become intoxicated. The Latin name for hemp
is cannabis sativa, which means useful plant.

Hemp makes environmentally friendly fuel because fuel made from hemp called
ethanol, only releases carbon dioxide, energy and water vapour when burnt.
These can all be absorbed by plants and turned into oxygen. Hemp can also
be used to make paper, food and many other resources.

Using hemp to make paper is better than using trees because hemp creates
four times as much pulp as paper per square acre. Hemp paper is stronger
than paper made from trees. This paper is acid free. The process of making
hemp paper is a lot more environmentally friendly than the process of
making paper from trees and finally, hemp is ready for harvest in just 120
days as opposed to the many years it takes for trees to grow back.

Hemp is also very useful as a food product because the seeds contain no THC
and are even more nutritious than soybeans. You can crush then into flour
for baking or eat them just as a seed. They are a very good source of
vegetable protein, high in vitamin B and they contain the required amount
of amino acids and essential fatty acids. They have also been proven to
decrease blood cholesterol and help to remove plaque in coronary arteries.

Hemp can grow in almost any type of soil. Even places with very poor soil
and because it grows so quickly it can be grown in places that have a short
growing season. Hemp can also grow very well without herbicides, fungicides
or pesticides. This means it could be grown in places that suffer from
poverty and hunger because their soil isn't rich enough or their growing
season is too short. As a result they cannot grow crops and end up having
very little food.

There are also some non-essential uses for hemp too. Hemp can make body
care products for hair and skin because it is so nutritional and it can
moisturize the skin. Hemp can also be used to make non-toxic inks,
varnishes and paints that will biodegrade. You can make clothing and rope
from hemp also because it is the largest and most durable plant fiber.

There are all these great benefits of hemp but corporations still use trees
for paper and crude oil to power cars. If we want clean, breathable air and
if we want the climate to stay the same, we need to capitalize on a
resource like this.

I often wonder if society realizes the great benefits of hemp. We cannot
let a source like this go to waste. We need to save our world! We can start
by using hemp industrially.

Brian Hamelin