Can Hemp Be The Solution?

With diminishing, natural resources and an increase in the exploitation of fossil fuels earth would soon be losing its ability to tolerate the harm that we are causing. Even after an increase in the number of awareness programs and protests things are moving quite slow which at this crucial time would not be helping us to save the earth. The only urgent solution now would be turning towards renewable energy resources and literally reducing the use of fossil fuels. It is definitely playing on atwo-edged sword. Many country's economies would be drastically affected as a huge amount of money is generated through the fossil fuels companies and the other big companies who are using those fossil fuels for their businesses and products. But this change can definitely save us from permanent damage in the future.

We live in the 21st century how did these people wait till the situations got so worse? And what were the masses doing?Probably a lot of things were kept hidden from the masses. The rich people kept minting money and we were blinded by their claims of them not harming the environment. The truth is there are substitutes. Alternatives which can help revive Earth's situation back to normal. One of them is Hemp. Believe me, Hemp is where solutions to our most problem lie.

Hemp can replace wood. I read somewhere that instead of cutting down millions of trees per year we can switch to hemp which is more durable, more stronger and which does not take much time to grow. Hemp literally causes 0% harm to the environment. And saving trees right now is the need of the hour.

This is just one merit of switching to hemp. We can also replace petroleum fuels with Hemp fuels. Unlike petroleum burning Hemp, fuel would not contribute to air contamination. It burns clean. As surprising as it is hemp can be also used to make plastics which is fortunately biodegradable. It is has been used as fibre in ancient times. It contains all the good qualities that we need to protect our planet. Also, it takes far less room to grow so space would not be an issue. It can replace most of the wood products that we produce on a large scale. Extreme heat, moisture and light do not affect hemp products. It's funny how such a useful substitute were kept hidden from us. Well, not hidden really but it has been completely banned! Yay? no? okay cool.

Why was hemp banned?
Hemp was used during the 1800s for industrial purposes like fibre cloth, paper and ropes. There was no restriction on the use of hemp back then. The reason why the use got restricted because it belongs to the genus cannabis. And well the name is pretty much enough to put a restriction on almost anything and everyone knows what happened in 1937. No? So let’s find out !

The Misconception :
It is agreed that hemp belongs to the Cannabis genus. Cannabis genus results into two outputs which are hemp and marijuana. Where the difference between these two ( which is quite often misunderstood ) is determined by the amount of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol which is responsible for the psychological effects in marijuana).

it is said that hemp contains less ( almost negligible and anyway we can save so much of resources if we start using hemp ) THC compared to marijuana and hence does not have the psychological effects. Hence hemp is banned because it is related to MarijuanaBut the bad reputation of marijuana also has a back story.

The back story :

During the 1900s many Mexican immigrant refugees came to the U.S who brought the practice of smoking cannabis recreationally. Soon the Mexican name for Cannabis (marihuana at that time ) was more commonly used. There was political and racist propaganda behind the misinterpretation of marijuana. After the national prohibition on alcohol failed terribly and ended in 1933 Harry Anslinger the head of Federal Bearue Narcotics turned his attention towards marijuana and instigated fear about marijuana and targeted the minorities ( the Black and Hispanic people ) in the U.S claiming that Marijuana an evil that needs to be eradicated.

He explained to people the consequences of smoking pot. " First you will fall into a delirious rage. Then you will be gripped by dreams of erotic character. Then you will lose "the power of connected thought". Finally, you will reach the inevitable end point: insanity". He said that it turns a man into a wild beast.

And this is where racism took its plunge. A propaganda based movie named Reefers madness was released showing all its wrong effects ( murders, voilence and criminal instincts ).

The propoganda movie poster of the movie

"Reefers Madness"

They took advantage of people's fear and levied a tax on buying marijuana in the year 1937. Soon marijuana was prohibited and it was now a criminal offence.

The scientist even proved that there are no such lethal effects of marijuana that causes insanity and though the government knew that Harry Anslinger's claims were false there was no action taken. Even after proven facts were shown to Richard Nixon the former president of U.S completely denied it and declared a drug war. " We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either the war against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news"

" Did we know we were lying about drugs? Of course, we did" These were the actual words used by John Elrichman the domestic affairs advisor back then.

You see this was just simply based on political agendas, hate and racist mentality.

Even now when countries have decided to legalize marijuana for medical purposes for example : CBD oil ( as it has helped greatly to cure and improve the health conditions of people suffering from harmful diseases). The pharmaceutical companies have rigidly opposed its legalization. why? well, of course, they don't want their businesses to be doomed.

Aspirin kills - 180 to 1000 people per year ( U.S)
Legal drugs - 106000
Alcohol kills - 80,000
Tabaco- 480,000
Marijuana - 0
Hemp isn't being used just because it is linked to marijuana.
If things such as hemp and renewable resources like wind and nuclear energy can help the earth and save some lives then what's the big deal?

well, this is just like when dairy and meat industries hide things like how they inject hormones and deadly chemicals in cows. The milk and meat (people have witnessed live worms in packaged meat in stores ) eventually get contaminated which can form free radicals in our bodies and cause cancer.

Things shouldn't be kept from people nor should they be manipulated for some greedy needs of the corporate giants. People deserve to know the truth and it is our right to collectively save the planet.

Hence, no more talks.