Turd World Got You Down? Hemp for Victory!

Looking at all the problems facing us today, the sheer number is almost overwhelming.  What to address first?  The country I grew up in is almost unrecognizable to me.  We used to be proud of having social programs, like parks, museums, and libraries - and they were free!  Of course, that was before the tax rates for the richest were dramatically lowered, as were wages for the people who work for a living.  The images I saw during Hurricane Katrina were the "nail in the coffin" of the America I remember.  I could have been looking at rescue efforts from any third world nation, but certainly not the "can do, let's all pull together" America I grew up in.  Welcome to the "turd world".  

I recently came to the conclusion that one thing we can do to address a myriad of problems is to return to the production of hemp.  This would address the problems farmers are having trying to raise food and fiber that require tons of herbicides, pesticides and of course, the money to buy them.  It is estimated that farmers could see a return of $317 per acre for hemp, with elimination of the need for destructive and expensive chemical pesticides and herbicides, as opposed to $135 per acre for corn.  Look at what our corn subsidies are doing to farmers around the world, and you can see what a win-win this would be for the planet and the farmers on it.  It would not be so good for Monsanto, Dupont, etc, and they have been fighting tooth and nail to maintain control over our means of production. 

American farmers could be making more money and destroying our environment less if we overcame the propoganda used in the 1930's to demonize a crop which was once our third largest, and the primary source of fuel oil in the U.S.  Hemp oil can replace petroleum, provide food, and fiber, and stop the destruction of our land by eliminating the need to pour tons of chemicals on crops, such as cotton, one of the most chemical-dependent crops in the world.  Hemp fiber is, bar none, the best source of fiber available on the planet, and hemp seeds and oil provide more nutrition than almost every other seed on the planet.

With hemp, we address the plight of farmers here and abroad, global climate change, pollution and nutrition (another HUGE problem, as evidenced by our obesity rates).  Of course, the biggest obstacle to reason and common sense is the lack of critical thinking on the part of the populace, a by-product of our race-to-the-bottom, Texas-driven, drill and skill education system (although this method has been used for decades, so we can't blame it all on our current education system).  As long as people are more worried about boogey men than their own economic interests, the powers that be will wave the blanket of fear (currently, immigrants, Muslims and blacks) and Americans will stampede off the cliff of fear and stupidity, blindly ignoring what is in their own and their children's interests, as they did in 1938, when even Congress, a group of supposedly educated people, were tricked into outlawing a crop that was becoming a competition to wood paper and petroleum.  

Let's step back from the brink and start educating ourselves and our neighbors about the benefits of hemp to our country and our planet.  32 countries currently grow hemp.  Apparently their law enforcement folks are WAY smarter than ours, because they have no trouble at all differentiating industrial hemp from THC producing marijuana plants, an excuse the DEA uses to keep hemp from being grown here.   Shifting our production to hemp would provide jobs, both for growing and processing, lessen our dependence on foreign oil, lessen our need for chemicals, and lessen the consequential impact of those chemicals on our environment. It would provide high-quality protein from hemp seeds for food, high quality fiber for clothing and building materials, and can even replace petroleum-based plastics.  Manna from heaven?  Hemp for victory!