Hemp Paper example essay topic

Legalisation of Marijuana The generic term 'hemp' is often used to refer to all uses and forms of the cannabis plant, including marijuana. In 1938, a Popular Mechanics magazine article, entitled "New Billion Dollar Crop", established hemp as the standard fiber of the world, identified it as the strongest, most durable, longest lasting natural soft fiber in existence, and listed over 25,000 products that can be manufactured from it. Hemp's versatility yields fiber and hurds (the core of the stem) from the stalk, and seed, seed oil, and seed cake (crushed seed). Hemp's higher-quality long fibers are well suited for textiles and the medium-length tow fibers are ideal for paper and for non-womens such as diapers.

The remaining hurds can be ground into a powder for use in thousands of products, including fiberboard and packaging. Hempseed oil offers promising opportunities for use in cosmetics, nutrition, printing inks, and industrial coatings. Hemp textiles have a number of advantages over other fabrics. Fabrics with at least a 50% hemp content block the sun's UV rays The USDA calculated in 1914 that hemp crops could make four times as much paper per acre as trees. The annual world consumption of paper has risen from 14 million tons in 1913 to over 250 million tons in the 1990's. In 1988, senior columnist Alan Bock wrote in The Orange County Register, California's most conservative newspaper, that "since 1937, about half the forests in the world have been cut down to make paper.

If hemp had not been outlawed, most would still be standing, oxygenating the planet". Hemp long fibers create high-quality paper for books, magazines, and stationery, while the shorter fibers make excellent newspaper, tissue paper, and packaging materials. Paper made of hemp can be recycled several times more than paper made of wood. Hemp paper resists decomposition, and is not subject t the age-related yellowing of wood-derived papers. In Germany, a new line of hemp-oil-and-enzyme-based detergents is surpassing the performance of synthetic cleaners. Hemp can be processed into a variety of insulation products that are safer than fiberglass Hemp-based plastics are completely biodegradable.

Hempseed is a nutritious food source, high in protein, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium and vitamin A. Hemp oil is the richest known source of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids (the "good" fats), and it assists the body's natural ability to heal, both externally and internally. Hemp oil also contains gamma linoleic acid (GLA), a very rare nutrient found in mother's milk. FARMERS MUST BE ALLOWED TO GROW an energy crop capable of producing 10 tons per acre in 90-120 days. This crop must be woody in nature and high in lignocellulose. It must be able to grow in all climactic zones in America.

And it should not compete with food crops for the most productive land, but be grown in rotation with food crops or on marginal land where food crop production isn't profitable. Hemp is all of these.