COULD ONE PLANT SAVE THE EARTH?

                             By Howard Anshell

   What if you could wave a magic wand and come up with a single plant that
could help save the rain forests, power our cars cheaply, reduce pollution
drastically, and preserve the precious knowledge that is crumbling away in
libraries throughout the world?
   Sounds far-fetched, doesn't it?
   What if that very same plant could help ease the suffering of cancer
patients, and actually prevent certain kinds of blindness?  What if it could
even feed the world's starving peoples more efficiently than any current food
source, and clothe them in materials that would last far longer than what they
now wear?
   If this all sounds like a fairy tale to you, let me tell you right now that
no magic wand is necessary.  A plant that can do all these things, and more,
exists right now and grows in virtually every country of the world.  That plant
is Hemp -- Cannabis, known in the U.S. primarily as the intoxicant Marijuana.
Most people are aware that, in our passion for paper goods, we have cut down
too many trees already.  Terrible damage has been done to the earth's fragile
environment, particularly the vital rain forests of the world.  A great deal
of this destruction is caused by the world's ever-growing need for paper
products.  Not only are trees -- which supply a great deal of the oxygen we
breathe -- being chopped down, but it takes tons of toxic chemicals to turn
the pulp of these trees into paper.
   Ironically, the paper we have so diligently plundered our planet for is
basically temporary.  It is disintegrating so rapidly that libraries and
universities all over the world are warning of the consequences.  What is
needed, then, is a source of pulp fiber that is cheaper, less polluting, and
more durable than wood.  Hemp is that fiber, and it's annually renewable.
As a matter of fact, hemp was the source of much of the world's paper until
this century.  Most people don't know it, but the original draft of the
Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.  Later, it was copied
onto parchment for the final draft, but the hemp draft still exists more than
200 years later.  Many books even older than that, printed on hemp paper, are
still in existence today, whereas wood paper dissolves in less than a single
century.
   But what of the cost?  Is hemp cheaper to produce than wood paper?  An
acre of hemp can produce as much pulp as four acres of trees.  Furthermore,
the growing of hemp does not deplete the soil in the same manner as trees.
Hemp can be grown annually, whereas trees take decades to replace.  And hemp
requires only one fifth of the chemicals to turn the same amount of pulp into
paper.  Thus, much of our irreplaceable rain forests could be left standing.
The hemp plant's own natural production of oxygen, and the fact that it grows
easily in many adverse climates, would help to reverse global warming.  The
oil extracted from hemp seeds can also be used to replace potentially
dangerous linseed oil as a base for paint.  Hemp could help to alleviate the
"Greenhouse Effect" and cut water pollution.  Hemp is also an extremely
efficient plant to use for biomass instead of corn, the most popular source
of biomass today; it can yield as much as eight times the methanol.  In our
search for cleaner fuels, methanol has been the most promising, but it
currently costs more than gasoline.  If hemp methanol could cut costs by that
much, it would make the cleaner fuel cheaper so more people would use it.  Hemp
could help reduce auto emissions.
   Furthermore, hemp fiber can be used to make clothing.  As with paper, hemp
was, until this century, one of the primary sources of cloth, from the coarsest
canvas (which was named after Cannabis) to the finest silk-like garments.
There are still a few countries in the world which use hemp fiber for clothes;
its durability is over 20 times greater than that of cotton.
   Perhaps even more astonishing is the seed of the Cannabis plant.  It is a
more efficient source of protein than the soybean.  Mass production of hemp
seeds alone could do a lot toward easing the tragedy of hunger.  Hemp seeds
can be made into a nutritious porridge, brewed into a tea, sprouted, or even
used for animal feed.  Hemp could help feed and clothe the world's starving
children.
   Since the hemp plant is a weed which easily grows where most other plants,
especially food crops, wither, it is an ideal plant to use in efforts to
refoliate arid land and to retain topsoil.  Hemp can help fight drought.
   If you're an environmentalist, or just care about solving the world's
ecological problems, you should support efforts to legalize cannabis-hemp
for industrial purposes.
   But there is another important use for the Cannabis plant, and the fact
that our government is blocking this use should encourage every single
American.  I am speaking of the important and immediate medical relief that
hemp can provide.  Cannabis has been used as herbal medicine for a myriad
of conditions throughout world history.  Right now, in particular, we know
of at least two extremely serious situations in which marijuana is the most
effective medicine available.  The first concerns cancer patients.  Modern
treatments for many kinds of cancer often involve the use of chemotherapy
in order to kill or reduce the cancer.  An unfortunate side effect of
chemotherapy is that it causes severe nausea in the patient.  Even Marinol,
the government's synthesized THC drug, has to be swallowed to be administered,
and the hardest thing for someone with severe nausea to do is to swallow
something!  For that matter, even when Marinol can be used, it is relatively
ineffective; although THC is the primary active ingredient in Cannabis, it
is augmented by dozens of other active ingredients, mixed as only Mother
Nature can, each of which contributes to the overall effect.  Only actual
marijuana can help these people -- it alone relieves the feeling of nausea.
Sometimes it even actually stimulates their appetites, enabling them to
gain the considerable advantage of regular nourishment.  Some AIDS patients
can benefit similarly.  The other medical use of Cannabis that is widely
known is as a treatment to prevent the advance of glaucoma, a disease of
pressure in the eyes, which ranks among the leading causes of blindness.
Many glaucoma patients do not respond to other methods of therapy, and for
them, pot is the only thing standing between them and the loss of their
eyesight!
   NORML -- the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws --
has already fought for the right of cancer patients and glaucoma sufferers
to use medical marijuana.  They have even won a court case in the Drug
Enforcement Agency's own courts; a DEA judge decided that marijuana should
be reclassified as a recognized medicine, so that thousands of people who so
desperately need it can obtain it legally and under controlled conditions.
   Unfortunately, the bureaucrats of the DEA have refused the judge's request
to reclassify it, thus adding needlessly to the suffering of untold numbers
of people who are already going through the agony of these diseases.  Patients
are forced to obtain the one drug that helps them illegally.  The DEA's spurious
reasoning is that letting anyone smoke marijuana, even for medical reasons,
sets a bad example for young people.
   This kind of callousness is absolutely unconscionable.
   What kind of "example" is it for kids to see that a government agency
does not act to save people from dying or going blind, when a mere stroke
of the pen could prolong thousands of lives?
   Is it a better "example", then, to be more concerned with how things might
appear than with the real suffering of real people?
   Out of all the cancer patients and all the glaucoma patients that exist
in this country, there are, as of this writing, only five certified legal
users.  Five!  Inaction and red tape on the part of the DEA, largely fueled
by ignorance and myth, have stymied the efforts to aid all the rest of these
thousands of chronically and terminally ill patients, while ignoring even more
who suffer from other diseases that marijuana could help treat.  No one has
ever been known to have died from an overdose of pot.
   We should not stand for it!  How can this continue in the U.S.A.?
   Whether or not you think marijuana should be allowed to be smoked for
personal pleasure -- and that's a whole other story -- we should all stand up
for those who need it as medicine.  We can help those who need this relief
today, and at the same time help to heal the earth's ecosystem.
   Write or call your State and Federal Representatives and Senators and tell
them how Hemp can help the environment.  Moreover, demand that marijuana be
made legally available for doctors to prescribe.  Or, write to NORML, and we
will forward your letters to the people who need to see them.
   And join NORML!

(Reprinted from Vol. 3 No. 118 (1991) of The Truth Seeker, Box 2832, San
Diego, CA 92112 USA, send $1 for sample issue.)


                          -------------------
Here's a list of national/local contacts in the Hemp Movement for
more information or to get involved:

N.O.R.M.L.
1636 "B" Street, NW, #3
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 483-5500

Colorado N.O.R.M.L.
137 W. County Line Road #500
Littleton, Co 80215
(303) 470-1100
Hemp information, lawyer referral, lots of other info.

Hemp Initiative Project
Jon Baraga
1015 S. Gaylord # 181
Denver, Co 80209
(303) 470-1100 ext. 511
They need petitioners for the 1992 Colorado Hemp Initiative.

No More Drug War Foundation
P.O. Box 18780
Denver, Co 80218

Rocky Mountain Hemp Network
Connie Barr-Rowe
P.O. Box 150804
Lakewood, CO 80215
(303) 239-6410 or 470-1100 ext. 611 (leave msg)
General Hemp info., coalition of people with illnesses requiring
hemp for medicine.  Lots of legal hemp products such as clothing,
nutritional hemp products, etc.

Sustainable Futures
Auga Das, director
(303) 470-1100 ext. 711
Your one-stop shop for hemp-seed oil, hemp-seed cake,
instructional hemp videos.

Auraria Hemp Club (Fastest Growing Club on Campus.)
Student Union Building Room 230-C, Meets every Monday 3:30-5:00
PM Headed up by a knowledgeable herbalist, lots of good info. and
videos.

Hemp Educational Media Productions
Rt. 7, Box 373
Golden, Co 80403
Hemp videos, information, activism.

HEMPwear, etc.
1090 S Wadsworth  Unit D
Lakewood, Co
Colorado's first Hemp-only emporium...hemp-clothing, fabric &
textiles; Hemp-seed-oil and nutritional products; Hemp
bracelets,etc., including Jack Herer's "The Emperor Wears No
Clothes"...the book that spawned the 90's HEMP Movement, 188p,
extensively footnoted/documented.

H.E.M.P. (Help End Marijuana Prohibition)
5632 Van Nuys Blvd.,Suite 210
Van Nuys, CA 91401 (213) 392-1806

Business Alliance for Commerce in Hemp (BACH)
P.O. Box 71093
Los Angeles, CA 90071-0093 (213) 288-4152
Information on getting started in the legal hemp business; economic
information on hemp.  Extensive information on the 50,000 commercial
products which can be made from hemp.

Hemp Institute
P.O. Box 65130
St. Paul, MN 97204
(612) 222-2628

Cannabis Action Network
P.O. Box 54528
Lexington, KY 40555

Drug Policy Foundation
4801 Mass Ave. NW #400
Washington DC 20016-2078
(202) 895-1634

American Hemp Council
P.O. Box 71093
Los Angeles, CA 90071-0093
(213) 288-4152

T.E.A.C.H.(Therapeutic & Ecological Applications of Cannabis Hemp)
2833 Frankford Ave.,
Panama City, FL 32405 (904) 763-6812
Medical information, Petition for Herbal & Medical Rights to
immediately end federal and state prohibition of herbal and
medical use of cannabis sativa(l), also known as hemp.

Family Council on Drug Awareness (FCDA)
Box 71093
Los Angeles, CA 90071-0093 (213) 288-4512
Many educational pamphlets, including "10 Things You Should Know
About Marijuana...", "Marijuana & Christianity", "10 Things Every
Parent, Teenager & Teacher Should Know About Marijuana...",
"Marijuana & The Bible", etc. @ 30 cents apiece.

Freedom Fighters c/o
High Times, 211 E. 43rd St
New York, New York 10017

-------------------------------------
DIRECTORY OF B.A.C.H. REPRESENTATIVES

NATIONAL OFFICE: 213/288-4152
POB 71093, LA CA 90071-0093
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Ucluelet: Chris Bennett 604/726-7239
Vancouver:Charles Crossland 604/874-5435
          Paul DeFelice 604/229-4338
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles:Chris Conrad 213/288-4152
Fresno:Chuck Corcoran 209/277-1319
San Francisco:Peter King 415/826-0787
San Diego:John Storey 619/274-0034
Santa Cruz:Roland Wilson 408/423-4974
Arcata:Aaron Rose 707/442-8689
Sacramento:Matthew Russell 916/444-0718
GEORGIA
Atlanta:Kathy Alterman 404/928-0827
        James Bell 404/739-1870
HAWAII
Hilo:Roger Christie 808/969-9712
IOWA
Des Moines:Carl Olsen 515/243-7351
KENTUCKY
Louisville:Randy Davis 502/895-7757
LOUISIANA
New Orleans:Gary Kohibach 504/899-8417
MAINE
Lincoln:Collin Stuart 207/794-6941
MASSACHUSETTS
Pittsfield:David Estrom 413/443-4957
MICHIGAN
Kalamazoo:Carl Stelter 616/372-7208
MINNESOTA
St.Paul:John Birrenbach 612/222-2628
MISSISSIPPI
Jackson:Chris Donovan 601/355-4920
NEW JERSEY
Stanton:Sally Miller 908/236-2048
NEW YORK
Buffalo:Marilyn Craig 716/873-0255
Staten Island:Ross Elakman 718/273-5649
OKLAHOMA
Tulsa:Michael Thompson 918/775-6041
OREGON
Portland:Patty Collins 503/289-9298
         Steve Orgel 503/236-9231...232-1128
Eugene:Cat Hecate 503/485-3579
SOUTH DAKOTA
Alexandria:K.C.Hague 605/996-0086
SOUTH CAROLINA
Ft.Mills:Richard Wetzel 803/548-4768
         Claude Moore 803/474-2192
TENNESSEE
Pulaski:Kenny Breeding 615/565-3898
TEXAS
Austin:Tom Thacker 512/825-3317
VIRGINIA
Crewe:Sandy Hayer 804/645-8816
WASHINGTON
Seattle:Mike Miller 206/481-8830

------------------------------------------
SOURCES OF LEGAL,NON-SMOKING HEMP PRODUCTS

Hemp Textiles,Clothing:
(Free sample w/$10 donation to BACH)
BACH POB 71093, LA CA 90071-0093

Stoned Wear(tm) Division of Sativa Creations, Inc
Order Line: 1-800-544-0577 x 13 (Dealer Inquires Welcome)

Joint Venture Hempery 604/737-8539
POB 2006 Main Stn.
Vancouver BC Canada V6B 3P8
Hemptek Industries 619/436-7835
POB 27809 Dept HT-4C
San Diego, CA 92198-1809

Kashiri Dyeworks 415/647-5046
Berkeley, CA 94704

Hemp Twine:
(Free sample w/$10 donation to BACH)
Wholesale:
Schermerhorn 213/946-8366 (120 twine balls/carton $72)
POB 3885
S.F.Springs,CA 90670

Norman Supply Co.(#60 Parcel Twine and Spring Twine)
818/349-3120
18709 Napa St.
Northridge,CA 91324

Sterile Hemp Seed:
(Free sample w/$10 donation to BACH)
Wholesale/Retail:
Elmwood Pet Supply
706 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo, NY 14222

Bloomington Pets, CA 714/877-5391
Elliot Pets Supply, CA 714/824-5011
Minn-Dak Ltd, MN 701/746-7453

Hemp Fiber:
Twinrocker Papermaking Supplies 317/563-3119
POB 413, Brookston, IN 47923

Danforth Int. Trade 203/668-7486
3156 Rt. 88, Point Pleasant, NJ 08792

CNNP&ABP Import Export Corp: Henan Native Produce Branch
(Chinese Hemp sacks, yarn, and rope)
No.69 Wenhua Rd., Zhengzhou, China. Tel. 33582, Telex:46047 HNTPBCN

---------------
HEMP RESOURCES:

BACH

Cambridge Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Inc. 617/864-6660
POB 748 Cambridge, MA 02139

H.E.M.P. 213/392-1806...818/377-5886

House of Hemp 503/232-1128
POB 14603/2111 E. Burnside St.
Portland, OR 97204 FAX:503/232-0239

Institute for Hemp 612/222-2628
POB 65130, St.Paul,MN 55165

Key Fiber Co. 415/647-5046

NORML 202/483-5500

NORML Colorado 303/470-1100

Nature's Way Hempery 201/291-1619
Sampler $10

San Diego County N.O.R.M.L.
Box 171396
San Diego, CA 92197
(619) 571-0088

What The Law Says:

Custom Regulations of the United States, Official U S Custom
House Guide, 1987.  Marijuana Statutory Provisions Sec. 302.58-CR-360.
(a) MARIHUANA. The term 'marihuana' means all parts of the plant
Cannabis sativa(l.), whether growing or not, the seeds thereof, the
resin extracted from any part of such plant: and every compound, 
manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture or preparation of such plant,
its seeds or resin; BUT SHALL NOT INCLUDE the mature stalks (except
the resin extracted therefrom), fiber, oil or cake or the STERILIZED
seed of such plant, which is incapable of germination.
[Controlled Substances Act USFDA (1970) Chap. 22, Sec. 802-15.]

.END