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Darn glass alcopop bottles, morons toss them out car windows. They are marketed directly at young people, which is all very convenient, but I wish they'd just put their empties in the recycle, not the cycle lane, grrr
But look at the what UK Labour govt is proposing for young people found with alcohol, holy crap, they'll be out in the next election http://tinyurl.com/3bpol7
New Zealand isn't like other countries and refunds bottles returned so don't expect a change in attitudes any time soon. _________________ A pain free day the marijuana way.
Joined: Dec 01, 2003 Posts: 2996 Location: Christchurch, NZ
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:03 pm
from The Rocky Mountain News Former CIA Director Woolsey weaves case for legalizing hemp
by Gargi Chakrabarty
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/3c747e
Former CIA Director Jim Woolsey is scheduled to address a meeting today at the Canadian Consulate in Denver.
But he won't speak about terrorism.
Woolsey, who has served under former President Clinton and has been an adviser to President Bush, will hold court via telephone on another of his favorite topics: industrial hemp.
Commercial farming of hemp is banned in the United States for its apparent similarities to marijuana - a charge repudiated by hemp supporters. Developed regions such as Europe and Canada allow farmers to grow hemp for industrial purposes such as ropes or fabrics. The Canadian consulate in Denver supports the move to lift the ban.
Woolsey says hemp, if allowed in the U.S., could become a low-water-consuming and easy- to-grow feedstock for biofuels. Also, because of its biological properties, hemp could inhibit the growth of illegal marijuana through cross-pollination.
"Historically, the Drug Enforcement Administration has interpreted hemp to be in the marijuana band so as to include a ban on it," Woolsey said Monday during a phone interview with the Rocky. "In fact, what that is doing is undermining the single most effective way to cause trouble for marijuana."
"Hemp is so valuable, the last time I looked, it was many times more than the price of wheat and has industrial uses so substantial," added Woolsey, a self-described conservative Democrat who also serves on the board of the North American Industrial Hemp Council.
"If you harvested hemp, you could use part of the plant for industrial purposes and the rest of the plant for cellulosic feed- stock for some type of biofuels."
Today's meeting is expected to draw about three dozen supporters of industrial hemp, including farmers and representatives from Colorado legislators. Most farmers' lobbies, including those in Colorado, support lifting the ban on industrial hemp. They hope to pass a resolution in the current legislative session, said Mike Bowman, chairman of the Colorado Industrial Hemp Initiative.
A pending bill in Congress, if approved, would give rights to states to regulate industrial hemp.
I understand Jim Woolsey has expanded his interest and is also talking with some of the medical cannabis researchers..He could well be attending ( not presenting ) at a Medical Cannabis Conference in Canada .
If he gets vocal on medpot , it would be good to encourage our Hemp industry to try and get him down here ..
Maybe we could get the ACT party to sponsor it..
Is there anyone well versed with Hemp potential in NZ out there who would like to email me.. There is very serious interest by production company who would like to get some reliable and knowledgeable input.. It seems the people approached to date have not been keen ..
Joined: Dec 01, 2003 Posts: 2996 Location: Christchurch, NZ
Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:42 pm
Notice the price of basic food has risen ? Its not just due to demand from China and India. There is a problem because of land displacement from food to biofuel crop production. Quite a few US farmers have changed to growning canola for biofuel, and same for previously food producing land in some other countries.
I talked with a NZ hemp expert years ago who foresaw this. Back then he was saying the way to go with hemp biofuel was localised co-ops growing for localised use. So perhaps forget about the huge companies . . .
and also why we hear of no kiwi engineer entrepreneurs who have started working on a nz designed low cost personal transport alternative. something lightweight, along the lines of the car Henry Ford built that was majorly made of hemp (which also ran on hemp biofuel).
and also why we hear of no kiwi engineer entrepreneurs who have started working on a nz designed low cost personal transport alternative. something lightweight, along the lines of the car Henry Ford built that was majorly made of hemp (which also ran on hemp biofuel).
There is a number of research / development's going on in NZ . Alternative energy personal transport as well as hemp construction material., both transport and building.
Waikato Uni engineering Dept has been developing a number of mechanical devises to us in processing hemp that are ground breaking.
A reinforced hemp fiber panel to replace alloy and fiber glass for car and boat construction as well as a composite board for both internal and external home building is up and ready to go.
Even a root ball extractor system to overcome the problem of the root structure left after harvest being a problem.Work is being done on a use for the root structure , a paper of incredible quality seens to be the target product..
A lot of it was started when it looked like Hemp was going to get the green light and before those who invested found how frustrated the system would be..
to date raw material is imported .
I think a lot have been mothballed , and kept under wraps until the climate is less frustrating .
Trouble is already some of the technology has gone off shore .. as have many of the people involved in hemp cannabis research.
NZ could have been world leaders , we have the horticultural expertise to grow the crops. ( just read the grow forums) as well as some bright people in the varied sciences to develop the many different and valuable end uses.
Hemp could well part replace many petroleum based products from fuel to fibre as well as many pharmaceuticals while being on the right side of the carbon credit ledger..
The investment money is out there and the farmers have the land and given a more profitable crop will go with the flow.. Its just NZ lacks the political will to allow it.
Since there's already some really useful info about the uses of hemp, I thought I'd add my 2 cents...
Hemp seed oil is a small but lively following because it is an oil with the popular Omega 3 in it... but still there are only so many uses for an oil. But the hemp seed itself is even more highly nutritious. It can be eaten as a seed, made into a flour, or pressed into hemp milk. I started drinking hemp milk in the US and grew to love it! It settled my stomach when nothing else would, and it was very filling and delicious.
Hemp is a nutritional powerhouse because it has protein and has Omega 3, 6, and 9 in perfect proportion for best utilization by people.
The stuff can Feed, House, Clothe and provide energy , much of it more economically than the alternatives , but definitely more ecological than them all.
A few weeks ago I saw paper that had been made out of hemp root ball , even that has huge commercial potential .
I know some number crunches have done some evaluation on Hemp cultivation and its potential for carbon credits...Its offset value is going to have some of the more toxic industries jumping for joy..
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