A Fight For Cannabis Essay Research Paper

A Fight For Cannabis Essay, Research Paper

Cannabis

Over the centuries, drugs have been regulated, legalized and placed under prohibition. Cannabis, which can be used in many positive ways, unfortunately can also be abused as a drug. This drug is being battled over both politically and personally, while constantly undergoing tests for positive and negative impacts. From the cannabis plant comes hemp and marijuana. The sole aspect of marijuana however, is preventing this plant from becoming more popular in the industrial world. Cannabis, which is among a family of plants can be converted into hemp, a cloth (also know as canvass), or a rope material that is the most durable of the group. Hemp plants generally contain no chemicals that can be used for drugs(THC). An aspect, which is virtually unknown to the modern world, is that cannabis when converted to pulp can become very useful. In addition, cannabis is very popular dietary supplement and medicinal tool.

Hemp plants contain many nutritional items that can be safely ingested. For example, hemp seeds are a very good source of protein and contain fatty oils that are needed for the body. The seeds are described by doctors as fantastically digestible and were once called edestine, the model for vegetable protein. In addition the leaves from hemp plants can be eaten as roughage. Though they are bitter, the leaves still have nutritional value. Furthermore, oil can be extracted from hemp seeds for various applications. This is one of the few sources for essential fatty acids, which contains

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almost no saturated fats. These oils can reduce the risk of heart disease and have proven to increase the life span of some birds that eat the seeds. Not only that, hemp plants are very easy to grow, and can survive almost anywhere. The plants them selves require very little fertilizer or pesticides. This is good because environmental contamination results from high chemical usage. Also money is saved from not needing the chemicals in the first place, and thus cannabis is affordable to grow. Deep roots and nitrogen rich leaves cycle through the soil to keep it fertile and nutritionally rich. With agriculture producing hemp plants, new worlds could be opened for industrial sales.

Growing cannabis hemp for cloth material has many perks. The stock of the hemp plant can be separated into two parts, the Bast and the Hurd. From the bast (fiber) hemp plants can be woven into almost any kind of cloth. This cloth is extremely durable and has been used in many different types of applications. For example, the first Levi s blue jeans were made out of hemp material. The sails on ship (canvas) were also made from cannabis, as it would not easily rot from sea spray. If hemp is harvested properly, the herd is allowed to seep back into the ground from time and rain, returning many minerals to the soil. Hemp cloth may not be as soft as cotton-based materials; however, there are ways to treat hemp to become softer. Over all, hemp products have many advantages to those made of cotton.

When taking into consideration the way cotton is grown nowadays, hemp is by far safer for the environment. For example, the United States cotton industry uses half of the total pesticides sprayed each year. Cotton crops are very damaging to the soil and further require large amounts of fertilizer to grow. Hemp plants resists pests, can grow in

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depleted soil and thus require vary little in terms of pesticides or fertilizers. Chemical conservation saves the environment a great deal and helps to insure that agriculture can

grow for decades to come. In addition to making cloth, hemp plants can also be used for making paper. Hemp plants can produce both fiber (bast) and pulp (hurd) paper. Fiber paper, which was the first paper to be created in ancient China, was also made out of hemp. Most hemp paper made today contains both bast and hurd, and is far superior to chemical pulp paper made from trees. This is because it can be prepared without chemicals to achieve smooth and glossy white textures saving the environment much stress. In addition to having environmental safe hemp paper, pages will last for centuries because it doesn t require acids that slowly eat away the pulp. Furthermore, less than four percent of America s old-growth forests remain standing, and thus cannabis hemp is a much safer solution for preserving wildlife. Minerals are not depleted from the soil upon harvest, and hemp grows much more rapidly than trees, creating yet another alternative for the environment.

When the heavily relied on fossil fuels depleted, biomass fuels will be the next source of energy in demand. The pulp (hurd) from hemp plants can be processed into many fuel sources through destructive distillation, or pyrolysis For example, from this procedure; hemp can be converted into charcoal, methanol, methane or even gasoline. Not only is this fuel source an affordable alternative, it is virtually free from all metals, and sulfur, thus reducing the greenhouse effect. From the pulp, hemp can be used to process ethanol, which is used in high performance engines. In addition to producing gasoline from the pulp of hemp, some diesel engines can run on pure pressed hemp seed oil. Processing enough fuel to supply the world s needs would be difficult, however it is a

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poss