Hemp Field

Photo by Ian Capper - Creative Commons License

A couple in Australia are working overtime to educate their country about the value of Hemp. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the pair have become the first Australians to own and grow a licensed industrial hemp crop and they are recording the whole experience on video in order to teach others about the versatile plant. Hemp has been listed in Australia as a “noxious weed” since 1938 when hysteria about the evils of cannabis spread from the western hemisphere. Richard and Wendy Friar are in a campaign to champion the idea that hemp is a plant with too many uses to ignore. The couple was given special permission by the Department of Primary Industries to grow a pilot education project on a property they own in the Northern Beaches of Australia. Mr. Friar points out that hemp

Shelled Hemp Seeds for use as nutritious food.

Shelled Hemp Seeds for use as nutritious food - photo by Elinor D

was used in about 25,000 products in the 1990′s and he believes it is used in 35,000 different products today.From oils, to building fibers and medicinal uses the Friars say the potential of the plant must be made clear to challenge the petroleum based industries. The couple, both in their 60′s, have also applied to the countries Food Standards Agency to sell hemp seeds for food. The seeds of the hemp plant contain over 20% protein and are high in Omega 3 fatty acids.

At the end of 1938, hemp was listed in Australia as a “noxious weed” which had to be destroyed on sight. It was already illegal to smoke marijuana, but it was the hysteria whipped up about the “evils” of this drug that laid the basis in public opinion for the total banning of one of the world’s most useful plants.

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