Worldwide conspiracy against cannabis

I always suspected that something was dark with hemp. It is too persistently demonized for all its harmlessness, which sometimes looks like brainwashing. In fact, the cannabis sativa plant (which, by the way, translates as “useful hemp”) is one of the most amazing, moreover, it can give us everything we need to survive on this planet. It can be used to produce food, paper, fabrics, plastic... And when the Earth runs out of oil, hemp will become the most important plant. But so far this is far from it.

Hemp vs Cotton

The most basic “calling” of hemp is its unlimited textile possibilities. Hemp fiber is distinguished by strength, resistance to decay during prolonged exposure to water, and therefore has long served as the best material for ropes, ropes, fishing tackle, bags, tarpaulin, canvas and canvas. The English word canvas (canvas, canvas) itself comes from the Dutch word for hemp. Of course, the above products are not now essentials, but the wonderful properties of hemp can be applied in the modern world. Hemp fiber is 10 times stronger than cotton and can be used in all types of clothing. Moreover, fabric made from hemp is much more beneficial for the skin than cotton impregnated with chemicals.

Here it should be noted that now many materials can be called natural only with a big stretch. For example, sheep are no longer sheared by hand, as before, but are sprayed with special chemicals, thereby causing wool loss. Cotton also began to be collected with the help of chemistry: twenty-five pesticide showers - and the leaves fall off by themselves. Yes, and growing cotton requires a huge amount of pesticides (50% in the US is sprayed on cotton!). Replacing cotton with hemp will drastically reduce their use - hemp has few insect enemies.

Plus, cotton grows only in warm climates and requires huge amounts of water. Hemp doesn't need much moisture and grows pretty much anywhere, not to mention three to four times the yield of cotton.

In the same way, four times more paper can be obtained from hemp harvested on one hectare than from trees grown on the same area. It uses fewer caustic and toxic chemicals than wood. Hemp paper does not require bleaching with chlorine (a by-product of this process produces dioxin, one of the most toxic substances that poisons rivers and seas afterwards). They say dollars are still made from hemp paper. But only the Americans do not admit this - they are famous bigots.

wonder car

Hemp seeds and stalks can be used to produce coal, methanol (wood alcohol), methane and gasoline that will not emit sulfur that causes acid rain and chemicals that pollute the air when burned.

The resulting coal can be burned in power plants instead of conventional, methanol is a good car fuel, now it is used for racing cars. Hemp can also be used to make ethanol (normal alcohol) to add to gasoline, just as it is now made from sawdust (hydrolyzed alcohol). Another way to get fuel is to use seed oil. Some diesel engines can run on pure hemp oil.

One of the many uses for hemp is in structural materials. The plant can be used in the manufacture of pressed boards or cellulose-based plastics from its pulp. Bioplastics are not new. Back in 1930, Henry Ford made a car body out of them, which, by the way, ran on hemp fuel.

healing food

Cannabis is mentioned in almost all known medical books of the past centuries. Usually it is listed among the universal remedies that treat many diseases. The list of diseases for which the use of weed is effective includes (according to modern data): multiple sclerosis, cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, depression, epilepsy, migraine, asthma, severe pain, dystonia, sleep disorders and many less serious diseases.

In addition, hemp can be an ideal source of nutrition for people. The seeds of this plant contain the same amount of protein as soybeans and are easy to digest. In addition, they have all the amino and fatty acids necessary for a person.

Due to the moisturizing properties of hemp oil, shampoos and cosmetics can be produced from it. And this is not all that we can take from this miracle plant.

Another quality that makes hemp especially attractive is its growth rate. In 110 days, the plant reaches a height of 2-3 meters, which allows you to get several crops in one season.

The advantages of hemp can also be attributed to the fact that this plant very quickly converts carbon dioxide into oxygen. Hemp absorbs carbon dioxide three to four times faster than deciduous trees.

But why, then, is such an irreplaceable plant now only known as a narcotic?

Synthetics won

American media tycoon William Hearst bought paper for his newspapers from Dupont, the owner of Dupont Chemicals Corporation, which produced pulp from wood. Hemp paper was superior in every way to Dupont's, and its production was a serious competitor. So Hurst launched a black PR campaign: formally against marijuana, but in fact against hemp competitors. Her main thesis was that the use of cannabis is the main drug problem and that marijuana caused extreme manifestations of violence in people (here, at the same time, blacks were pressed). Businessmen managed to pass the Marijuana Tax Act in the US Congress. This law banned even the medical use of marijuana, and it forced the cannabis industry to pay such exorbitant taxes that they closed their now unprofitable enterprises. The case was not limited to paper from trees. During the same period, DuPont patented the manufacture of plastic from oil and coal, and since then plastics, cellophane, celluloid, methanol and nylon have been produced from petroleum products. Needless to say, hemp simply needed to be destroyed as a class, which, in general, was successful.

Later, on March 30, 1961, in New York, most of the UN member states signed the "Single Convention on Narcotic Substances", which, in particular, prescribed the strictest control over the cultivation of dangerous drug-containing plants: opium poppy, coca and cannabis. By the way, interestingly, cannabis, being a universal remedy, was included in the list of "drugs with no medical use", in contrast to opiates, which are still widely used in medicine.

Russia

This is how they blackened an innocent plant. It would seem that the United States has achieved its goal with its sanctimonious morality, racism and willingness to buy and sell everything. But what does Russia have to do with it, Russia poskosnaya (poskoshnnaya - hemp fabric)?

Russia, for which hemp used to be practically the same as oil is now ... Entrepreneurial Peter I seriously took up the hemp business. He introduced a state monopoly on the export of hemp and personally checked the quality. After all, it was delivered abroad: to England, Holland and other maritime powers - the rigging of their fleet consisted of 90% Russian hemp fiber. Even during Peter's lifetime, Russia became the world's leading exporter of hemp, and in the middle of the 18th century, exports amounted to 37,000 tons per year.

The USSR became a worthy successor to Russia - the Union was again ahead of the rest. In 1936, hemp crops here occupied 680 thousand hectares - 4/5 of the entire world area under hemp.

I must say that smoking "grass" - despite its widespread growth - was by no means a Russian tradition (unlike, for example, in Central Asia, where it is part of the culture). Some forty years ago, or even less, hemp fields were endless, and the phrase "hemp harvester" did not cause a stupid giggle.

But in 1961, the USSR also signed the UN convention. And since the 60s. Cannabis cultivation areas began to dwindle. In addition, crops suffered from irresponsible citizens who were thirsty for a smoke, especially southern hemp, which were badly broken and very difficult to harvest. The plantations had to be guarded by police units and combatants.

Hemp is back

So all the talk that cannabis is supposedly a harmful drug is the fiction of evil capitalists. Hemp was banned because it posed a serious threat to the woodworking industry and the newly discovered synthetic fibers, which were patented and therefore more profitable than hemp. And there was no reason to legalize it later - cheap oil took over the world ...

As for the narcotic properties of hemp, only its Indian subspecies cannabis indica possesses them to the full. Yes, and this is not a drug, but a mild hallucinogen, to be honest. By the way, the Soviet Union did not spare money for the selection of hempless hemp, and achieved great success in this. It just doesn't make sense to talk about it out loud.

But still, in recent times, when the inviolability of the world built on oil has nevertheless shaken, there is hope that hemp will have a second birth. Albeit very slowly, hemp is regaining its place of honor. Demand for all kinds of hemp products has increased acreage in Europe, with a rapidly growing number of stores selling clothing and other hemp products. Some countries have legalized cannabis as a medicine. We, as always, are lagging behind, but it can be assumed that in the not too distant future we will catch up with the rest of the world.

Alisa Furashova.