Oil from Cannabis Hemp

I came across an article in High Times a little while ago:

Hemp as a Fuel Alternative Biofuels such as biodiesel and alcohol fuel can be made from the oils in hemp seeds and stalks, and the fermentation of the plant as a whole, respectively. The energy from hemp may be high based on acreage or weight, but can be low based on the volume of the light weight harvested hemp. It does, however, produce more energy per acre per year than corn, sugar, flax, or any other crop currently grown for ethanol or biodiesel.

Henry Ford grew industrial hemp on his estate after 1937, possibly to prove the cheapness of methanol production at Iron Mountain. He made plastic cars with wheat straw, hemp and sisal. (Popular Mechanics, Dec. 1941, “Pinch Hitters for Defense.”) In 1892, Rudolph Diesel invented the diesel engine, which he intended to fuel “by a variety of fuels, especially vegetable and seed oils.

Hemp was outlawed early in the 20th century, as a by-product of cannabis prohibition. Its said the DuPont Petroleum Company was at the forefront of the movement to outlaw cannabis, in a bid to protect its new investments in the United States newly established oil fields.

The technology existed even then, which made it possible to run a motor car using the hemp plant as fuel, and Olivier DuPont knew hemp would become a viable alternative to petrol (gasoline). So the die was cast and along with a number of other prominent industrialists of the time, representing the timber industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the Press as well as the petroleum industry and the US Treasury, they threw their collective weight (and financial clout) into outlawing hemp and cannabis together.

Today we’re picking up the pieces of that public lie, with global warming as a result of greenhouse gases. With higher oil prices, which the oil industry has carte blanche to set as it see’s fit. And with every country in the world losing more of its citizens to alcohol related deaths than they do to the entire illicit drugs catalog put together.

In short, the situation we find ourselves in today, is as a result of the greed of a few industrialists, and perhaps one of the most surprising reasons cannabis remains illegal today, is as a result of the Petroleum Industry that so desperately seeks the public’s “understanding” today.

There is more to the article if you wish to view it, you can just google the title and I’m sure the website will pop up.

The article is about how oil can be derrived from cannabis hemp that can be used instead of the oil we now use which is becoming increasingly expensive. Do you think this could ever take flight? Apparently it has been proved to work. Plus, I believe it is more environmentally healthy. What do you think?

Peace