Why Hemp Is A Cash Crop Just Waiting To Happen. Again.

Hemp is a plant that has been cultivated in parts of the world for 10-12,000 years – possibly longer – and is estimated to have between 25,000 to 50,000 uses, with 5,000 uses in the textiles industry alone. Hemp has had a bad rap in the United States, supposedly thanks to the protectionist policies of a powerful few people in government and industry who had investments in key industries including pulp and paper. Hemp was lumped together marijuana usage, and used to pass the Marijuana Tax Act, partially by misinforming Congress and leveraging racial politics of the 1930s.

The hemp plant, originating in Asia, has the scientific name Cannabis Sativa L. (Linnaeus). There are three variants of the cannabis plant: cannabis sativa sativa, cannabis sativa indica, and cannabis sativa ruderalis. The first is what is used for industrial hemp; the second associated with marijuana production. Hemp comes from a strain of cannabis that is significantly lower in THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol) than the strain we think of as the drug marijuana (cannabis sativa indica), and hence does not have the pyschoactive properties of the latter.

Industrial Hemp Crop Uses

Industrial hemp uses, as noted above, number as high as 50,000. A table of usage categories is shown below, taken from a document published by the University of Vermont Legislative Research Shop, as identified by the Canadian Department of Agriculture and Food in 2007. The table is split into three categories: hemp seed use, hemp oil use, hemp fibre use.

Hemp Seed Product Uses	Hemp Oil Product Uses	Hemp Fibre Product Uses
Confectionary	Cooking	Fabric
Beer	Salad Dressing	Insulation
Flour	Dietary Supplements	Carpeting
Feed	Body Care Products	Paneling
Dietary Fibre	Fuel	Pulp and Paper
Snacks	Detergents	Recycling Additive
Non-dairy Milk and Cheese	Spreads	Automobile Parts
Baking	Paint	Animal Bedding and Mulch

In addition to the table above, other uses of hemp include but are not limited to:

• Medicine: sedatives, analgesics
• Textiles, including sails for ships
• Food products: e.g. tea, snack bars, cereal, etc.
• Body care/ hygiene: e.g., creams, lotions, ointments, salves, tinctures, soap, shampoo
• Clothing
• Rope/ cordage
• Linoleum backing
• Artist’s canvas for painting. Historically, these were made from hemp. (“Canvas” is a word with French, Latin and Greek origins and means either cannabis/hemp or made with such.)
• Plastics
• Dynamite and TNT
• HempCrete (one of several building materials made from hemp)
• Livestock and pet feed: e.g., bird feed
• Oil for cooking
• Oil for lamps (sometimes in religious ceremonies)
• 
  

This is a tiny list, and given just these uses, it’s easy to understand why the paper, fuel and other industries were afraid of hemp — especially if there really are as many as 50,000 uses. In the Jan 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics was an article about hemp being a future cash crop.

Some Health and Evironmental Benefits of Hemp

The U.S. is the only industrialized nation where there’s a ban on industrial hemp farming, despite the proven benefits, both in the U.S. in the past, and in other countries. Hemp is thought of by some as a superfood. In addition to the food and body care uses listed above, here are some noted health benefits. (This is not a claim of health benefits, only a summary of outcomes documented in both studies and historic use. Please consult your health care practitioner if you have any concerns.)

• Hemp is numerous medical uses, as historical use in other countries as well as in the U.S. show. For example, various hemp extracts in medicine include treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, epileptic fits and more.
• Once one of the largest agricultural crop in the world (including in the U.S.), until about 1883, hemp was used in the U.S. for a number of purposes, including fabrics, paper, fiber, lighting oil and medicine. In fact, according to the documentary movie “The Union: The Business Behind Getting High” (available on YouTube; see references), 50% of medicines “in the last half of the 19th century (in the U.S.) was made from cannabis.”
• Over 60 molecular compounds known as cannabinoids are only found in cannabis. One such compound, THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol), is the psychoactive ingredient of marijuana. Another is CBD (cannabidiol), is found in in hemp strains of cannabis. CBD is considered to be an anti-pyschoactive and has been used for medicinal/ healthcare uses, including reducing epileptic seizures, amongst other users.
• Hemp seeds have up to 24% protein, a handful of which satisfies an adult’s minimum daily requirement of protein.
• Hemp seeds have all the essential amino acids that human bodies need but cannot produce. These amino acids aid muscle control, brain function, and regular maintenance of body cells, tissues, muscles, and organs, and collectively help the body’s immune system.
• Hemp seeds have a 1:3 ratio of EFAs (essentially fatty acids) Omega-3 to Omega-6. This is thought to be an ideal ratio by some health and wellness professionals.
• Hemp also has Omega-9 and other EFAs. Collectively, EFAs in hemp are good for heart health, for various reasons, including dissolves plaque in arteries and reducing blood cholesterol. EFAs also have anti-inflammatory benefits.
• Omega-3, found particularly in hemp seeds, lowers blood pressure and reduces risk of cardiovascular disease. It potential delays or reduces the chances of getting Alzheimer’s disease.
• Omega-6 helps regulate metabolism, aids brain function, and stimulates growth of skin and hair, amongst other benefits.
• Hemp seeds contain a higher level of EFAs than any other known oil made from nuts or seeds.
• In addition to EFAs and amino acids, hemp seed oil has GLAs (gamma linoleic acids), polyunsaturated fatty acids and more — all of which are valuable to hair and skin care.
• Hemp seeds and protein powder can regulate blood sugar – due to the protein and fiber slowing digestion — and can make you feel fuller longer you feel fuller, especially when taken with breakfast.
• Smoking hemp cannot get you high as with marijuana, due to the extremely low THC levels. As well, CBD in hemp blocks the psychoactive properties of any negligible THC content that might be present. Marijuana strains of cannabis are harvested for the leaves and buds. Hemp strains are harvested for the stalk and seeds. Any attempt to extract THC from hemp plants would not be worthy the costly effort.
• Consuming hemp-based products will thus not negatively affect any drug tests for THC.
• Hemp oil can be used to produce non-toxic, biodegradable inks and paints.
• Using hemp for paper production takes less toll on the environment, which ultimately is beneficial for our health. For example, tree-based paper production generates “harmful dioxins, chloroform and over 2,000 chlorinated organic compounds,” which hemp does not. Hemp-based paper production also requires less chemicals.
• Hemp crops can be harvested around four months after seed is planted, compared to the decades or longer for trees (depending on their intended use). Thus hemp crops can help with the deforestation that ultimately affects animal and plant habitats, and the environment in general.
• Hemp fuel, turned into ethanol form, burns more cleanly than other fuels.
• Ethanol use produces energy, water vapor and carbon dioxide — the latter of which can be absorbed by plants, resulting in a sustainable cycle.

Facts and Statistics About Hemp

Here are is a relatively small list of general facts about hemp.

• Hemp is thought to be the first domestically-cultivated plant, with evidence of hemp fabric dating to 8,000 years ago found in Turkey (former-day Mesopotamia). Other evidence suggests cultivation further back by two or more thousands of years.
• The word hemp has been used in the past to Europe to describe other fiber plants, including sisal and jute.
• Beer hops (Humulus genus) are a close cousin of genus Cannabis, both of which fall under family Cannabaceae.
• Hemp products are now legal in the United States, although ingredients or end products are currently imported from other countries – particularly Canada.
• Hemp was not always treated as the same as marijuana by the U.S. government.
• The word “marihuana” (now marijuana) was coined in the 1890s, but not used until the 1930s by the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics (replaced by the DEA) to refer to all forms of cannabis.
• According to the documentary “The Union: The Business Behind Getting High” (available at YouTube), the first marijuana law in the United States was enacted in 1619, in Jamestown Colony, Virginia, and actually required farmers to grow hemp. Benjamin Franklin used hemp in his paper mill – one of the country’s first – and the first two copies of the Declaration of Independence were supposedly written on hemp paper.
• In parts of the Americas, hemp was legal tender and could be used to pay taxes.
• Hemp paper is stronger than wood-based paper, and can withstand more folding. In general, hemp has strongest natural fiber of any source.
• Hemp paper hundreds of years old (found in museums) has not yellowed, and is thus a high quality paper of archival quality.
• Marijuana plants cannot be hidden amongst hemp plants. The former grows wide and less tall (5-10 feet), whereas the latter is grown more densely and taller (10-15 feet), to produce maximum stalk fiber lengths.
• Hemp can grow nearly anywhere in the world, in many types of soil — even in short growing seasons or in dry regions — and helps purify soil as well as kills some types of weeds
• Hemp can grow without pesticides. The crop is also kills some weeds, purifies soil, and is suitable for rotation use, due not only to its short harvest cycle (120 days).
• Hemp is a high-yield crop. One acre of hemp produces twice as much oil as one acre of peanuts, and nearly four times as much fiber pulp (for paper) as an acre of trees.
• Hemp paper is naturally acid-free and does not yellow as quickly as tree pulp-based paper.
• Hemp has the strongest (and longest) plant fiber in the world, resistant to rot and abrasion, and was in long use before DuPont patented nylon in 1937. It was used for ship rigging, military uniforms, parachute webbing, baggage and more.
• Because of its strength, hemp fiber can be be used for composite materials that could be used to make anything from skateboard decks to car and stealth fighter bodies.
• A hemp composite material (with limestone and water) forms a type of concrete (hempcrete) that can be used for home building, at 1/9th the weight. It also acts as insulation and repels some vermin.
• Levi jeans were originally made from hemp sailcloth (and rivets), for goldminers in California, who would fill their pockets with gold.
• By the 1800s, the state of Kentucky produced about half of the industrial hemp in the U.S. The first hemp crop there was planted in Boyle County in 1775.
• Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, created a plastic car in 1941 which ran on hemp and other plant-based fuels, and whose fenders were made of hemp and other materials. Ford had a plan to “grow automobiles from the soil.” (Note: a company in France is experimenting with a similar vehicle in current day.)
• Despite the active Marijuana Tax Act and the official federal government stance on hemp and marijuana, the U.S. Army and the Dept of Agriculture jointly produced a 1942 film, “Hemp for Victory,” encouraging farmers to grow hemp for the country’s effort in World War II — particularly for textiles and rope, imports of which had been cut off by war. Over 100,000 acres of hemp was growing in the U.S., but all related permits were canceled when WW II ended.

The American Market for Hemp-Based Products

A February 1938 Popular Mechanics article (republished at Kannaway.com) titled “New Billion-Dollar Crop” was published around the same time that the Marijuana Tax Act took effect (Jan 1938), though it was prepared in 1937. The article referred to the potential for industrial hemp to be a billion dollar cash crop across numerous industries, with over 5,000 uses for the textile industry alone, as well as over 25,000 total uses including dynamite, Cellophane and more. At the time, hemp yield was about 3-6 tons per acre, and new machinery called a decorticator could harvest the crop more cheaply than ever — supposedly even more so than DuPont’s chemical process for harvesting trees for pulp and paper products. In 2014 dollars, the equivalent market potential would be nearly $17B. However, with a much larger populace now, the market could likely be much larger.

With industrial hemp crops still being illegal to grow in the United States, except in certain states, the market for hemp products here is at the billion-dollar level yet. However, hemp product use is legal and growing. The HIA (Hemp Industries Assocation) — which represents over “280 farmers, processors, manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers, researchers and publishers worldwide” — published their estimates in Feb 2014, for the U.S. hemp-based products market for 2013. Here are some of those statistics.

• $581M — The total value of hemp products sold in the United States in 2013.
• Items that are doing particularly well are in the hemp food and body care market, particularly “non-dairy milk, shelled seed, soaps and lotions.”
• The total for hemp foods and body care alone is under-reported, due to retailers that do not supply sales data. Based on available sales data, the total for these categories was over $61.4M, an increase of 24% ($11.89M) over 2012 (year end Dec 23).
• 
  

Due to the growing American demand for hemp products, Canadian farmers are increasing acreage for hemp crops. “U.S. farmers’ frustration at being shut out of the lucrative worldwide hemp market is catalyzing real movement throughout all levels of government to legalize industrial hemp,” according to Eric Steenstra, Executive Director of the HIA.

A Farm Bill amendment was passed in early 2014 that allows states with their own passed hemp legislation to do industrial hemp research. Two more separate bills – the “Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2013″ and a companion bill – were introduced in congress in Feb of 2013. Collectively the bills, if passed, would allow removing industrial hemp from the definition of “marihuana” (in the Controlled Substances Act) and “give states the exclusive authority to regulate the growing and processing of the (industrial hemp) crop under state law.” This refers to the “non-drug oilseed and fiber varieties of Cannabis.”

• As of the end of Feb 2014, 32 states had introduced pro-hemp legislation; 20 passed their legislation.
• 10 states have defined industrial hemp as distinct from marijuana and thus allow the crop to be farmed: California, Colorado, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia.
• 3 states passed bills for “creating commissions or authorizing research”: Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland.
• 9 states passed resolutions: California, Colorado, Illinois, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Vermont, Virginia.
• 8 states passed study bills: Arkansas, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota and Vermont.
• 2+ states, including Kentucky and Colorado, have pilot programs for hemp research starting spring 2014.

As to why hemp became illegal in the United States in the 1930s, there is evidence that hemp was perceived to be a threat to a number of industries, including pulp and paper, oil, medicine and others, and that certain powerful people had personal stakes for preventing hemp’s success. If you’re interested in learning more, search for information on hemp and marijuana in relation to the following topics/ search terms:

• Andrew Mellon, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury for five presidents (Woodrow Wilson through Herbert Hoover), and head of Mellon Bank and other companies, who had invested money in a pulp and paper operation.
• Federal Bureau of Narcotics.
• Harry Anslinger, nephew-by-marriage to Mellon, and first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, a branch of the Treasury Dept — previously a deputy commissioner of the Prohibition campaign. (Alcohol prohibition was repealed in 1933, meaning that campaign staff likely needed new jobs.)
• William Randolph Hearst, owner of the newspaper and magazine publishing giant Hearst Corporation, who had also invested money in timber and wood paper mills, which would be using DuPont chemicals in the process.
• DuPont, a chemical company that had invested in a chemical process to cheaply produce pulp and paper, and who had patented nylon as a replacement material for rope / cordage and other products.
• Pharmaceutical companies, who were just starting to produce synthetic medicines to replace natural medicines.
• Marijuana Tax Act of 1937.

References

1. http://www.care2.com/greenliving/5-surprising-health-benefits-of-hemp-2.html
2. http://www.hempfarm.org/Papers/HempFacts.html
3. http://kannaway.com/magazine/history-of-hemp/new-billion-dollar-crop-popular-mechanics-february-1938/
4. http://www.naihc.org/hemp_information/content/hemp.mj.html
5. http://rediscoverhemp.com/
6. http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/05/hemp-seeds-oils-baking-eating-is-legal.html
7. http://www.thehia.org/PR/2012-09-19-Market_for_Hemp_Food.html
8. https://www.uvm.edu/~vlrs/Agriculture/industrialhemp.pdf
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT-UIe7l3-Q

9 Ways to Deepen Healing with Cannabis and Consciousness

Waking Times

The clinical cannabis experience and consciousness research have independently demonstrated 9 mechanisms to deepen our healing process. Each of these mechanisms are subject to conscious intervention, and the more we know and understand about them the easier we can achieve the kind of healing that goes beyond the mere management of symptoms, and bring about profound and positive changes in the quality of our lives.

For instance, consciousness research in cancer has discovered that the single most common trait that determined cancer survival had been a sense of emotional authenticity. Similarly, many cannabis-using patients suffering from various cancers report disease regression in connection with the deep relaxation and frame of mind that makes it easier to accept one-self in the present moment even in the presence of otherwise intolerable feeling or emotions.

Another example, chronic negative affect, or the tendency to feel constricting emotions such as fear, worry and stress have been determined to harm our well being just as the opposite has been proven true. Cannabis is broadly recognized for its capacity to diminish negative affect and replace it with a gentle attitude, an easy smile and more optimistic outlook, all of which have proven to support out natural self-healing abilities.

Forgiveness has demonstrated a powerful ability to supercharge our healing process. Cannabis has the capacity to send a pink slip to the slave driver in the back of our mind that insists on punishment and blame as tools for growth and motivation. As a result, implementing forgiveness becomes easier and more elegant, and in doing so contributes to our healing.

Whether we are choosing to work with cannabis as an ally, whether we are working with consciousness alone, or whether we use a combination of both – the more we become conscious about these 9 natural mechanisms to deepen our healing process, the more our natural healing abilities multiply. Some will appear more familiar to us, others may take a little effort to master, but all can be learned, applied, and used to deepen our health and healing.

1) Release Suppressed and Repressed Emotions

Clinical trials have shown show that chronically suppressed or repressed emotions exacerbate a variety of medical conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and breast cancer and thus eventually reduce life expectancy. While suppressed or repressed emotions can make us sick and shorten our lives, they can be found, acknowledged and released.

2) Replacing Chronic Negative Emotions with Habit for Positive Emotions

Studies have shown that persistent experiences of negative emotions and stressful experiences can worsen chronic degenerative illnesses.

The opposite is true for long-standing habits (daily exercise) and entrenched ways of thinking (seeing the best in people). Being prone to expressing expansive or positive emotions strengthens the immune system, improves quality of life and contributes to longevity.

3) Taking Ownership of Where We Are – Self-Acceptance 


When we lack conscious ownership of thoughts and emotions that we have labeled intolerable or unacceptable, we spend a significant amount of energy engaged in avoidance mechanisms. For example, we may try to avoid unacknowledged emotions by bingeing on “comfort” foods that in fact make us ill.

To reverse the damaging influence of our avoidance strategies, and the loss of vital energy that comes with it, it is important to begin by accepting where we are, no matter where we find ourselves. We need to find ways to accept and honor ourselves when we are experiencing self-pity, entitlement, envy, hostility, grief, despair, loneliness, shame, or any thought or emotional state we have previously labeled intolerable or unacceptable. We don’t have to linger in this emotional state, but in order to shift our experience we must first accept where we are. Studies have shown that honest self-expression, alone or with a close and trusted friend(s), reduce both the frequency and the intensity of seemingly intolerable states of mind.

4) Conscious Choice – Healthy Choice

Every instant we are making a choice. And, these choices are not limited to the obvious, do I go right or left but include any number of perspectives each with different consequences to our physical and emotional health and well being. For instance, a fear-based choice can safe our life if we are standing near a cliff but can also prevent us from loving life or learning from new experiences. Generally speaking a choice based on unwarranted fear tends to be an unhealthy one and one grounded in appropriate love a healthy one. 

5) Gratitude and Happiness

A simple gratitude exercise in which patients at UC Davis’ Medical Center were instructed to write down five things they were grateful for every day, using no more than one sentence to describe each item. After two months, researchers noted a heightened sense of well-being, more hours of sleep, reduced pain, increases in optimism, happiness, fewer physical symptoms, positive states of alertness, greater attentiveness and determination, high energy, positive moods, feeling connected to others, increased empathy towards others, and more positive attitudes toward their family.

6) Forgiveness

Psychoneuroendocrinology, the study of the interplay between emotions and hormones, has shown that hormone profiles respond to forgiveness. In one study, merely imagining forgiving an offender produced measurable improvements in heart rate and blood pressure compared to study participants who were instructed to imagine not forgiving them.

7) Replace Unhealthy Beliefs with Healthy Ones

In the context of health and healing, it is important to understand that beliefs are not right or wrong, good or bad. Beliefs are just recipes for various emotional responses, each of which have physiological consequences.

For instance, people with significant fear-based belief(s) will often try to control their environment and the people in it. One of many expressions of a fear-based belief structure can be a type A personality, which numerous studies have shown to be involved in the genesis of coronary artery disease (CAD). Fortunately, we can choose to nourish or banish any beliefs we have made conscious.

8) Disease is a Message – Answer the Demand for Change

Depending on severity diseases are a request or demand for change. In a way disease allows us to experience physically any unfinished mental, emotional or spiritual work in need of our attention.

When we are finally ready to respond to the demand for change, it is paramount to interpret and understand the message correctly. If the message indicates that we must express emotions we have labeled “unacceptable” or face memories we have repressed, then this is the corrective action required to alter the internal landscape of our psyche.

9) Overcome Resistance to Healing (and Using Illness to 
Manipulate)

When resistance to healing is present, a part of the self attributes something positive to the presence of the disease. Perhaps the most difficult thing to do in deep healing is to examine the reasons why we might not want to heal.

A reluctance to completely heal could be a reflection of our yearning for attention from others, a belief that we deserve punishment, misplaced family loyalties, fear of loss, or an idea like “as long as I am sick she will never leave me.”

If this reluctance to fully heal is not addressed and resolved, we will consciously or unconsciously nourish the disease rather than our health. By owning, forgiving and releasing the resistance we speed recovery.

About the Author

Uwe Blesching Ph.D., has written this article based on his research conducted for the book entitled The Cannabis Health Index: How to Achieve Deep(er) Healing of 100 Chronic Symptoms and Diseases by Linking the Science of Medical Marijuana with the Art of Mind-Body Consciousness. For more information visit: www.cannabishealthindex.com or Amazon.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of WakingTimes or its staff.

This article is offered under Creative Commons license. It’s okay to republish it anywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remain intact.

5 Must-Know Facts About Cannabidiol (CBD)

CBD, or cannabidiol, is quickly changing the debate surrounding the use of cannabis as a medicine.

(Photo: Colleen Danger/Flickr)

Most people have heard of a chemical called THC, which is the ingredient in marijuana that gets users high. But recently, attention has shifted to another marijuana compound called CBD. And for good reason.

Because while doctors can’t seem to look past certain side effects of THC, CBD doesn’t seem to present that problem. On the other hand, evidence of CBD’s vast medical potential is mounting.

Here are 5 facts that you need to know about this unique compound:

1. CBD is a key ingredient in cannabis

CBD is one of over 60 compounds found in cannabis that belong to a class of molecules called cannabinoids. Of these compounds, CBD and THC are usually present in the highest concentrations, and are therefore the most recognized and studied.

CBD and THC levels tend to vary between different strains and varieties of cannabis. For example, by using selective breeding techniques, cannabis breeders have managed to create varieties with high levels of CBD and next to zero levels of THC.

2. CBD is non-psychoactive

Unlike THC, CBD does not cause a high. While this makes CBD a poor choice for recreational users, it gives the chemical a significant advantage as a medicine, since health professionals prefer treatments with minimal side effects.

The reason why CBD is non-psychoactive is due to its lack of affinity for CB1 receptors. CB1 receptors are found in high concentrations in the brain, and are the pathways responsible for the psychoactive effects of THC.

3. CBD has a wide range of medical benefits

Despite a different pathway of action, CBD seems to possess many of the same benefits of THC. According to a 2013 review published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, studies have found CBD to possess the following medical properties:

Medical Properties of CBD	Effects
Antiemetic	Combats nausea and vomiting
Anticonvulsant	Combats seizure activity
Antipsychotic	Combats psychosis disorders
Anti-inflammatory	Combats inflammatory disorders
Anti-oxidant	Combats neurodegenerative disorders
Anti-tumoral/Anti-cancer	Combats tumor and cancer cells
Anxiolytic/Anti-depressant	Combats anxiety and depression disorders

Unfortunately, most of this evidence comes from animal studies, as very few clinical trials have been conducted using the chemical.

4. CBD reduces the negative effects of THC

CBD seems to offer natural protection against the marijuana high. Numerous studies suggest CBD acts to counter the intoxicating effects of THC, including memory impairment and paranoia.

Both CBD and THC have been found to present no risk of lethal overdose. However, to reduce potential side effects, medical users may be better off using cannabis strains with higher levels of CBD.

5. CBD is still illegal

Even though CBD shows much promise as a medicine, it remains illegal in many parts of the world. CBD is classified as a Schedule I drug in the U.S. and a Schedule II drug in Canada.

On the other hand, the U.S. FDA recently approved a pharmaceutical version of CBD for clinical trials in pediatric epilepsy. The trials began earlier this year.

A patent awarded to the U.S. Health and Human Services in 2003 (US6630507) also covers the use of CBD as a treatment for a variety of neurodegenerative and inflammatory disorders.

CBD or Cannabidiol is a natural constituent of the hemp plant that has shown significant health and wellness benefits – CBD promotes and supports the dietary and nutritional health of aging bodies (US Government patent # 6,630,507).

View Original Source here: http://www.leafscience.com/2014/02/23/5-must-know-facts-cannabidiol-cbd/

Cannabis Cures Cancer and the Government Knows It

How To Make Medicinal Hemp Oil Safely

Cannabis is labeled by the US Government as a Schedule One Narcotic, meaning little to no known medical value. (Even though the US Govt holds patents that state otherwise) Marinol, which is APPROVED BY THE FDA, is synthesized THC. Millions of people are sitting in jail for using Cannabis raw, but it’s ‘perfectly fine’ to use the plant if the Government and their corporate owners take most of the medicine out of it, then get to charge you an arm and a leg for it. Why is that? I shall explain.

The US Government is well aware Cannabis has medicinal properties. How could they not? It’s been used as a medicine for at least the past 10,000 years. Even in America, Cannabis was used as a medicine for over 100 years. It was in over a hundred over the counter medicines for a wide range of reasons. Everything from pain and nausea medication to sleeping tonics.

Why did they make it illegal? It’s a long story so I won’t go into it today.. If you’d like to read about the greed and racism that caused the criminalization of the worlds most useful plant, check out this article.

Among the reasons you will learn about on the link I shared above, the US Government has even more reason to keep it illegal today. If Cannabis were to become legalized, it would eat away at TRILLIONS of pharmaceutical profits over the years. (Not including other profits like the billions they get for keeping our privately owned prisons full)

What most people don’t realize is, the Government(s) have been helping the major pharmaceutical companies stonewall natural cures for decades. (Cannabis is merely one of many they have tried to bury and discredit)

In fact, the US Government has known since 1974 that Cannabis cures Cancer. In ’72 Richard Nixon wanted a larger budget for his war on drugs. He thought that if he proved Cannabis caused lung cancer like cigarettes do, he would get the support he needed. He gave the Medical College of Virginia 2 years to do a study on the effects of THC on the body. In ’74 the study was completed.

It turns out, THC when ingested in highly concentrated forms (such as eating Cannabis oil) will attack any mutated cells in your body while strengthening and rejuvenating the healthy cells. They found the PERFECT cure for Cancer.

It worked fast, it worked well, it worked on many different forms of Cancer in ALL stages and it had ZERO harmful side effects. (Unlike Chemo which deteriorates your entire body and kills 1 in 5 patients. Not only that, but other research shows it dissolves ALL forms of tumors and can even combat super-bugs like MRSA.)

When Richard Nixon saw the results of the study he was FURIOUS. He threw the entire report in the trash and deemed the study classified. In 1976 President Gerald Ford put an end to all public cannabis research and granted exclusive research rights to major pharmaceutical companies, who set out — unsuccessfully — to develop synthetic forms of THC that would deliver all the medical benefits without the “high.”

We only found out about the study a few years ago thanks to dedicated medical and law professionals who filed Freedom of Information Requests.

The Government lied for many reasons.. One of the main reasons is Pharmaceutical Companies. They spend billions every year lobbying to keep Cannabis illegal because they make TRILLIONS off Cancer drugs and research. They are already well aware that Cannabis cures Cancer. They have a well thought out con going at the moment. Cancer patients and their loved ones will spend their entire life savings or even sell their houses and businesses in order to pay for Chemotherapy and other Cancer treatment drugs. A lot of the time they spend all that money and their loved one dies anyway. If the public found out that the Government has been lying for over 40 years, that MILLIONS of lives could have been saved and that the dying could grow the cure they so desperately need in their own backyard… The American public would be going nuts over it. This is why we need your help telling people!

Here is an article about what they did if you’d like to read more, as well as an article about more suppressed research.

Cannabis Cures Cancer- US Government has known since 197422.

U.S. Government Repressed Marijuana-Tumor Research

Keep in mind.. The US Government also holds a Patent on Cannabis and it’s medicinal properties.

US Patent 6630507 states unequivocally that cannabinoids are useful in the prevention and treatment of a wide variety of diseases including auto-immune disorders, stroke, trauma, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and HIV dementia. The patent, awarded in 2003, is based on research done by the National Institute of Health, and is assigned to the US Dept. of Health and Human Services. In the age of information, they can no longer keep their lies about Cannabis afloat.

SHARE THIS INFORMATION EVERYWHERE!!
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17952650

If you want more info about the patent, here is a link for you. 
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6630507.html

In case you are wondering the difference between a few things like Hemp oil and Cannabis oil, I figured I’d explain that too. THC is soluble in alcohol and fats only. This is why people saute it in butter and use it in things like cakes and cookies. You can make Cannabis Ghee (which is essentially Canna-butter) and use it how you would normally use butter in a recipe.

Cannabis oil is made by crushing raw Cannabis in grain alcohol (as close to 100% as possible), straining it and cooking off the alcohol VERY carefully. All you will be left with is essentially ‘pure medicine’ in highly concentrated form.

Hemp oil is made by cold-pressing the seeds of the Hemp plant and extracting the healthy oil within. It is used for things like food and fuel, but it will not cure cancer because it lacks THC. (Hence the reason it’s legal to buy at places like Trader Joe’s)

Now, I realize how badly some people are going to want to get their hands on Cannabis oil for their suffering loved ones. I’m sorry to say, the only place you can get the oil is from Cannabis dispensaries in areas where it is sold legally. Otherwise you have to make it yourself which can be highly complicated and even dangerous since you have to worry about alcohol fumes and legal repercussions if you get caught. (Here’s a video that shows you how):

Still, in my opinion it is well worth the risks since it has already saved THOUSANDS of people (and pets) from horrible deaths due to diseases like Cancer. If you would like to hear many testimonies on the subject, type ‘Cannabis cured my cancer’ or ‘Cannabis cures Cancer’ into youtube search. When you do, you will see how many people are trying to get the word out about this AMAZING cure.

If you would like info on other ways to use Cannabis, here are a few examples.

Raw Cannabis Juice, Cannabis Salve, Cannabis Ghee, Cannabis Tincture, and Grain Alcohol Extraction (aka the Cannabis oil that I mentioned above).

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Still Believe Nature Got It Wrong? Top 10 Health Benefits of Cannabis.

There is no plant on Earth more condemned than Cannabis. We’re talking about a living organism which governments have taken upon themselves to designate as an illegal substance. Despite no existing evidence of anyone ever dying of a marijuana overdose, possession of this plant is still illegal in many parts. Cannabis has been found to suppress cancer, reduce blood pressure, treat glaucoma, alleviate pain and even inhibit HIV. It is an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective. Can you understand more now why it’s illegal?

No Independent Study Has Ever Linked Marijuana To Psychosocial Problems

Cannabis is one of the most powerful healing plants on the planet. Dozens of studies have made pseudoscientific attempts to indicate that young people who use cannabis tend to experience psychological, social problems and mental decline. However, there is no evidence that marijuana use is directly linked with such problems, according to the results of a study published in The Lancet.

“Currently, there is no strong evidence that use of cannabis of itself causes psychological or social problems,” such as mental illness or school failure, lead study author Dr. John Macleod of the University of Birmingham in the UK told Reuters Health.

“There is a great deal of evidence that cannabis use is associated with these things, but this association could have several explanations,” he said, citing factors such as adversity in early life, which may itself be associated with cannabis use and psychosocial problems.
Macleod and his team reviewed 48 long-term studies, 16 of which provided the highest quality information about the association between illicit drug use reported by people 25 years old or younger and later psychological or social problems. Most of the drug-specific results involved cannabis use.
Cannabis use was not consistently associated with violent or antisocial behavior, or with psychological problems.

In another study, Scientists from King’s College, London, found occasional pot use could actually improve concentration levels.

The study, carried in the American Journal of Epidemiology, tested the mental function and memory of nearly 9,000 Britons at age 50 and found that those who had used illegal drugs as recently as in their 40s did just as well, or slightly better, on the tests than peers who had never used drugs.
‘Overall, at the population level, the results seem to suggest that past or even current illicit drug use is not necessarily associated with impaired cognitive functioning in early middle age,’ said lead researcher Dr Alex Dregan.

Dr Dregan’s team used data on 8,992 42-year-olds participating in a UK national health study, who were asked if they had ever used any of 12 illegal drugs. Then, at the age of 50, they took standard tests of memory, attention and other cognitive abilities.
Overall, the study found, there was no evidence that current or past drug users had poorer mental performance. In fact, when current and past users were lumped together, their test scores tended to be higher.

The Age of Deception is Ending 

In 2003, the U.S. Government as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services filed for, and was awarded a patent on cannabinoids. The reason? Because research into cannabinoids allowed pharmaceutical companies to acquire practical knowledge on one of the most powerful antioxidants and neuroprotectants known to the natural world.

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The U.S. Patent 6630507 was specifically initiated when researchers found that cannabinoids had specific antioxidant properties making them useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and HIV dementia. Nonpsychoactive cannabinoids, such as cannabidoil, are particularly advantageous to use because they avoid toxicity that is encountered with psychoactive cannabinoids at high doses useful in the method of the present invention.

In a historic and significant moment in American history, last November, Colorado became the first US state to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The impact of the decision could ripple across the entire country with vast opportunities to educate millions on the top health benefits of marijuana.
With the passage of I-502 in the 2012 Washington State election, marijuana also became legal in Washington–not just for medical use, but also for recreational use. Weed is still illegal as far as the United States government is concerned, but Washington and Colorado both have yet to figure out how that will work. It’s certain that this issue will continue to evolve and smooth out as time goes by, but the remaining states will eventually follow suit or be left behind with outdated laws.

Top Health Benefits

It’s no surprise that the United States has decreed that marijuana has no accepted medical use 

and should remain classified as a highly dangerous drug like heroin. Accepting and promoting the powerful health benefits of marijuana would instantly cut huge profits geared towards cancer treatment and the U.S. would have to admit it imprisons the population for no cause. Nearly half of all drug arrests in the United States are for marijuana.

According to MarijuanaNews.com editor Richard Cowan, the answer is because it is a threat to cannabis prohibition “…there really is massive proof that the suppression of medical cannabis represents the greatest failure of the institutions of a free society, medicine, journalism, science, and our fundamental values,” Cowan notes.

Besides the top 10 health benefits below, findings published in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers have now have now discovered that marijuana-like chemicals trigger receptors on human immune cells that can directly inhibit a type of human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) found in late-stage AIDS.

Recent studies have even shown it to be an effective atypical anti-psychotic in treating schizophrenia, a disease many other studies have inconsistently found it causing.

1. Cancer
Cannabinoids, the active components of marijuana, inhibit tumor growth in laboratory animals and also kill cancer cells. Western governments have known this for a long time yet they continued to suppress the information so that cannabis prohibition and the profits generated by the drug industry proliferated.

THC that targets cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 is similar in function to endocannabinoids, which are cannabinoids that are naturally produced in the body and activate these receptors. The researchers suggest that THC or other designer agents that activate these receptors might be used in a targeted fashion to treat lung cancer.

2. Tourette’s Syndrome
Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological condition characterized by uncontrollable facial grimaces, tics, and involuntary grunts, snorts and shouts.

Dr. Kirsten Mueller-Vahl of the Hanover Medical College in Germany led a team that investigated the effects of chemicals called cannabinols in 12 adult Tourette’s patients. A single dose of the cannabinol produced a significant reduction in symptoms for several hours compared to placebo, the researchers reported.

3. Seizures
Marijuana is a muscle relaxant and has “antispasmodic” qualities that have proven to be a very effective treatment for seizures. There are actually countless cases of people suffering from seizures that have only been able to function better through the use of marijuana.

4. Migraines 
Since medicinal marijuana was legalized in California, doctors have reported that they have been able to treat more than 300,000 cases of migraines that conventional medicine couldn’t through marijuana.

5. Glaucoma 
Marijuana’s treatment of glaucoma has been one of the best documented. There isn’t a single valid study that exists that disproves marijuana’s very powerful and popular effects on glaucoma patients.

6. Multiple Sclerosis 
Marijuana’s effects on multiple sclerosis patients became better documented when former talk-show host, Montel Williams began to use pot to treat his MS. Marijuana works to stop the neurological effects and muscle spasms that come from the fatal disease.

7. ADD and ADHD 
A well documented USC study done about a year ago showed that marijuana is not only a perfect alternative for Ritalin but treats the disorder without any of the negative side effects of the pharmaceutical.

8. IBS and Crohn’s 
Marijuana has shown that it can help with symptoms of the chronic diseases as it stops nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.

9. Alzheimer’s 
Despite what you may have heard about marijuana’s effects on the brain, the Scripps Institute, in 2006, proved that the THC found in marijuana works to prevent Alzheimer’s by blocking the deposits in the brain that cause the disease.

10. Premenstrual Syndrome 
Just like marijuana is used to treat IBS, it can be used to treat the cramps and discomfort that causes PMS symptoms. Using marijuana for PMS actually goes all the way back to Queen Victoria.
Mounting Evidence Suggests Raw Cannabis is Best Cannabinoids can prevent cancer, reduce heart attacks by 66% and insulin dependent diabetes by 58%. Cannabis clinician Dr. William Courtney recommends drinking 4 – 8 ounces of raw flower and leaf juice from any Hemp plant, 5 mg of Cannabidiol (CBD) per kg of body weight, a salad of Hemp seed sprouts and 50 mg of THC taken in 5 daily doses.

Why raw? Heat destroys certain enzymes and nutrients in plants. Incorporating raw cannabis allows for a greater availability of those elements. Those who require large amounts of cannabinoids without the psychoactive effects need to look no further than raw cannabis. In this capacity, it can be used at 60 times more tolerance than if it were heated.

Raw cannabis is considered by many experts as a dietary essential. As a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, raw cannabis may be right u there with garlic and tumeric.

Read more at http://www.realfarmacy.com/still-believe-nature-got-it-wrong-top-10-health-benefits-of-marijuana/#UkEzZwQeE0oqGk3L.99