Don't laugh...
...but one thing I would like to see President Obama do is legalize the growing of hemp...the kind grown for industrial use that has no drug properties because of its low THC content.
Growing hemp could help revitalize our agriculture industry...would allow tobacco farmers a way to earn a living while switching from growing tobacco.
Just think - one acre of hemp will produce as much fiber as two acres of cotton. It's stronger and softer than cotton, lasts twice as long as cotton, and will not mildew.
One acre of hemp will produce as much paper as two acres of trees. While it takes years for trees to grow until they can be harvested for paper or wood, hemp is ready to harvest only 120 days after it is planted.
It's environmentally-friendly, requires no pesticides, no herbicides, and only small amounts of fertilizer.
We need to strike down archaic US marijuana laws which prevent farmers from growing it.
Take a look at this:
HISTORY FACTS
*Hemp has been grown for at least the last 12,000 years for fiber (textiles and paper) and food. It has been effectively prohibited in the United States since the 1950s.
HISTORY FACTS
*Hemp has been grown for at least the last 12,000 years for fiber (textiles and paper) and food. It has been effectively prohibited in the United States since the 1950s.
*George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp. Ben Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper. Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper.
*When US sources of "Manila hemp" (not true hemp) was cut off by the Japanese in WWII, the US Army and US Department of Agriculture promoted the "Hemp for Victory" campaign to grow hemp in the US.
*Because of its importance for sails (the word "canvass" is rooted in "cannabis") and rope for ships, hemp was a required crop in the American colonies.
INDUSTRY FACTS
*Henry Ford experimented with hemp to build car bodies. He wanted to build and fuel cars from farm products.
*BMW is experimenting with hemp materials in automobiles as part of an effort to make cars more recyclable.
*Much of the bird seed sold in the US has hemp seed (it's sterilized before importation), the hulls of which contain about 25% protein.
*Hemp oil once greased machines. Most paints, resins, shellacs, and varnishes used to be made out of linseed (from flax) and hemp oils.
*Rudolph Diesel designed his engine to run on hemp oil.
*Kimberly Clark (on the Fortune 500) has a mill in France which produces hemp paper preferred for bibles because it lasts a very long time and doesn't yellow.
*Construction products such as medium density fiber board, oriented strand board, and even beams, studs and posts could be made out of hemp. Because of hemp's long fibers, the products will be stronger and/or lighter than those made from wood.
*The products that can be made from hemp number over 25,000.
We can work on the smokin' kind later...<off to buy a Michael Phelps "Weedies" T-shirt>
