Study: U.S. Hemp Ban Hurts Environment, Economy
Reason Foundation - Study: U.S. Hemp Ban Hurts Environment, EconomyLos Angeles - With oil hitting $110 a barrel and gas prices creeping towards $4 a gallon, the federal government continues to prohibit U.S. farmers from growing hemp, which could be used to efficiently produce biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol.
Hemp is also a cost-effective, environmentally-friendly substitute for polyester, cotton, fiberglass and concrete, according to a new Reason Foundation study that examines hemp’s potential uses and the ways other countries are benefiting from it. Industrial hemp production is banned in the U.S. as an archaic consequence of the war on drugs.
The Reason Foundation study reveals that polyester fiber manufacturing requires six times the energy needed to grow hemp. And cotton is one of the most “water- and pesticide-intensive crops in the world.” Hemp’s naturally higher resistance to weeds and pests means it requires dramatically fewer pesticides than cotton.
Not only has the government banned hemp production in the U.S., it is also directly subsidizing other crops that the study shows to be “environmentally inferior.” Corn farmers received $51 billion in subsidies between 1995 and 2005; wheat farmers were given $21 billion; cotton farmers fleeced taxpayers for $15 billion; and tobacco farmers were handed $530 million in taxpayer-funded subsidies.
The full study, Illegally Green: Environmental Costs of Hemp Prohibition, is available online at reason.org.
One of my many favorite sayings: “Hemp is not illegal because of marijuana - marijuana is illegal because of hemp.” Certainly if a mild intoxicant like marijuana were re-legalized, it might hurt the sales of beer and pharmaceuticals a little bit, but I think plenty of people will still use booze and pills. But if your choice is $10 pair of hemp jeans vs. a $50 pair of cotton denim jeans and a 50¢ gallon of hemp ethanol vs. a $5 gallon of gas, the restructuring of our economy will have to occur and lots of very rich and powerful industries won’t be so rich and powerful anymore.
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