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FFFFF PPPPP The Free Press Presents.. FFFFF PPPPP
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FF PP PP FF PP PP
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FFF PPPPP The Industrial Uses of Marijuana FFF PPPPP
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FF PP FF PP
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FF PP Typed by The Griffin FF PP
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Note: The Free Press are back on the file typing trail due to a new BBS
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going up with lots of philes on it. BBS is listed below. I hope
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you enjoy reading the first phile released by us in three years !
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Article written by John Getpman for the "Loompanics Unlimited Catalog".
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<<<------------------------------------------------------------------------>>>
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Tommy's Holiday Camp BBS [3/12/24][108 megs online].........604-383-7874
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The marijuana plant is one of the great unused economic resources in
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America today. The successful commercial exploration of the marijuana
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plant will bring about a renaissance in the Americas that will dominate
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the next century. The self-proclaimed moralists advocating the current
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prohibition against the marijuana plant, because of the intoxicating
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effects of its flowers, have binded our society, and themselves, to the
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incredible potential this plant has for America's future. Civilizations
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have risen and fallen with their ability to maximize the long term
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exploration of their agricultural resources. Prior to the twentieth
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century, the marijuana plant (then known more modestly as hemp) was the
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single most important industrial, or non-food producing crop in America
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and the world. We must conserve the knowledge of the gifts the marijuana
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plant offers human society, and apply that knowledge if our way of life
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is to prosper.
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Before attending to a discussion of its industrial use, the question
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of the intoxicating qualities of marijuana needs to be briefly addressed.
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Marijuana has been used as an intoxant, and as a therapeutic drug, for
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thousands of years, as well as an economic resource. It has economic
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value as an intoxant, as does alcohol, and as a medicine. While these
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uses are being debated, the less controversial issue of marijuana's
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industrial potential is generally ignored. In fact, that demonstrates
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the odd, myopic hysteria surrounding marijuana that hides from us the
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benefits the plant has to offer us.
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A case for the economic potential of the intoxicating product of the
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marijuana plant, its flower buds, would be simple to make. As a black-
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market crop it has become the most valuable farm crop in the country.
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This alone argues for it's legalization. And like the Greeks, whose
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development accelerated dramatically when their farmers found that growing
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grapes for wine provided capital for economic development, American
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civilization would prosper. But the industrial uses of the marijuana plant
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make it a multi-purpose crop that will spread prosperity around the globe.
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The marijuana plant is a cheap, conservative source of the most durable
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fiber on the planet, as well as for pulp. Long ago the U.S. Department of
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Agriculture found that one acre of hemp could provide the same quantity of
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pulp as four acres of trees. This year the Agriculture Department announced
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the need to double our timber harvest by the year 2030, and industry
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spokespersons for the forest products industry said that still wouldn't
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meet the demand for timber. The marijuana plant could take the burden of
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pulp production away from our forests, leaving more trees avaliable for
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construction, leaving our forests intact & providing a refuge for wildlife.
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Why is pulp so valuable? We make paper out of it, and a lot of it at that.
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A Chinese man, Ts 'a Lon, invented the world's first paper in 105 A.D.
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The chinese were quite familiar with the Marijuana plant. Fabric-marked
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pots and hemp textiles dated to 4000 B.C. have been found in North Central
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China. In the Neolithic era Chinese produced clothing, rope, fishnets,
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pottery mats, food, and oil all from the marijuana plant. They were also
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familiar with the intoxicating properties of the flowers.
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The marijuana plant has been culturally significant throughout Western
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Civilation. The Romans cultivated it for use in making clothing,strong rope
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and durable sailcloth. Henry VIII ordered every farmer to cultivate 1/4
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acre of hemp for every 60 acres they tilled. He was on to something-
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seapower. The list of ship paraphernalia provided by the marijuana plant
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includes sails, riggings, anchor ropes, cargo nets,fisherman's nets, flags,
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shrouds,clothing, thread and more. In the age of Discovery an average ship
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required 50 to 100 tons of hemp rigging.
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Prior to the twenthieth century the marijuana plant provided almost all
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of the world's paper, textiles, and rope. It was essential for cultural
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development, meeting the basic needs of the populace (clothing), and access
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through, and rule over, the high seas. It was the stuff their empires were
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built on. Most importantly, the marijuana plant provided the elements of
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self-reliance to the newly created American colonies.
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In Common Sense, Thomas Paine argues that among other reasons, Americans
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should fight for independance because we possessed the natural resources
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that could bring us greatness. One bit of evidence he offered was that
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"Hemp abounds." Indeed, the first edition of Paine's Common Sense was
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published on hemp paper. At Jamestown, in 1619, one of the first laws
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passed in the new land required farmers to grow hemp. It was legal tender
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in America from 1631 to the early 1800's. The marijuana plant was the
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chief cash crop in Kentucky until the Civil War. Not only did the
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marijuana plant hold together the ship that brought our ancestors here, it
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also provided the canvas that covered the Conestoga wagons that settled the
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West.
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The marijuana plant was so widely used that despite the considerable
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attention given to growing it in the U.S., Russia remained the supplier of
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80% of the world's hemp until late into the 19th century. It might be
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argued that the marijuana plant's value diminished when seapower lost it's
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reliance on sails. However during World War II America lost her source of
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marijuana fiber when the Japanese took the Phillipines. The U.S. government
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planted over 400,000 pounds of marijuana seed to produce 42,000 tons of
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hemp rope annually for the war effort.
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In 1936 Popular Mechanics hailed the invention of a new machine that
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processed hemp fiber and beckoned a new age in the exploration of hemp.
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Reefer Madness dawned instead,and the incredible potential of the marijuana
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plant remains untapped.
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Besides being a more productive source of pulp than trees and producing
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the most durable natural fiber known to man, the marijuana plant has
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another valuable industrial property. It provides 4 to 50 times the
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Cellulose found in a cornstock. Cellulose can be made into methanol, a
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cheap, clean fuel.
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The cultivation of marijuana plants has ecological benefits aside from
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saving trees, a worthy feat in itself. A marijuana plant puts down a 10
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to 12 inch root compared to a 1 inch root of rye and barley.This long root
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breaks the soil and leaves it good for next year. It is a wise decision to
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plant it on land laying fallow, or after forest fires, because these roots
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will prevent soil erosion and also preserve the watershed.The leafy nature
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of the plant will cover the weeds and starve them of sunlight. It even
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provides a way of clearing a field before planting another crop. According
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to Popular Mechanics, two crops of marijuana will reclaim land from
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thistles. All the farmer has to do is harvest the stalks before they go to
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seed. And by the way, one acre can yield 3-6 tons of hemp, a nice way to
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suppliment to any farmer's income.
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Clearly the marijuana plant has potential as an industrial, multi-
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purpose crop. It is a source of fiber, pulp, energy and has beneficial
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ecological value. It is an agricultural resource our farmers can use to
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strengthen their finances and protect the family farm from the now
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treacherous farm economy, our society, and our future. But is it of
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significance to the advancement of our civilization?
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History and anthropology reveal to us how crucial exploration of the
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marijuana plant was to the development of American culture and Western
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Civilization.It helped make possible such historic acts as the exploration
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of the world by sea, the printing of the Guntenberg Bible, the declaration
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of Independance, the U.S. Constitution, and even protected our soldiers
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from the cold at Valley Forge. It is people who make history, but they
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make it out of material things. It is the human spirit that is inspired,
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but they need tools and products to express that spirit. Great
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civilizations are built out of human survival, & human survival comes from
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the efficient exploitation of all our natural crops.
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It can be said that the exciting potential of the marijuana plant, it's
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energy potential notwithstanding, may have had its day prior to the
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industrial revolution that has shaed our modern society. In fact, this is
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the most crucial lesson we must realise and apply. Much of this world
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lags behind in the development that characterizes our society. Marijuana
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helped the American colonies begin their development, and it can do the
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same to the Third World. The marijuana plant provides a means for these
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societies to accelerate their development that is compatible with the
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agriculturally based indigenous cultures they are composed of. The
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cultivation of marijuana,then, also provides a means to promoting freedom
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in the undeveloped world. This is what will lead to a new renaissance.
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<<<----------------------------------------------------------------------->>>
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THE INDUSTRIAL USES OF MARIJUANA is reprinted by permission from the Fall,
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1986 COMMON SENSE FOR AMERICA, published by The National Organization For
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The Reform of Marijuana Laws. Comments should be addressed to:
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NORML
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2001 "S" Street NW, #640
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Washington, D.C.
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20009
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<<<----------------------------------------------------------------------->>>
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Written by "The Free Press" January 14, 1990
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