Page 3244 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 21 September 1994
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The program looks at the development of non-drug varieties which have the potential to reinstate cannabis in mainstream agriculture. In the process, it will reveal the true story of hemp, one of the most highly-valued plants in history.
Cannabis is one of the world's richest sources of food, fibre, fuel and medicine. A plant whose grain is second only to soybean in nutritional value, its oil once provided most of the world's lighting needs; whose fibre was used in 80% of the world's woven fabrics (including jeans and the American flag) and which provided 90% of all paper made before 1875. Even The Old Testament pages hailed its harvest as a boom from God.
I refer to it as God's gift to mankind. The media release goes on:
It is a plant that was, for more than a century, legal tender in the U.S.A.
Not only was it legal tender; it was also used to print bank notes. The document states:
A crop whose strategic importance lured Napoleon into his ill-fated Russian campaign.
Hemp grows readily, requires less chemical insecticides and fertiliser than conventional crops, yet returns a wood yield per hectare four times higher than native forests. Paper made from hemp is regarded as the world's finest and does not need the environmentally-damaging bleaching process which wood-pulp paper requires. Paper, textiles, plastics, oil, grain, even fuel for motor vehicles and construction materials can all be derived from cannabis.
Australia is well-placed to lead the world in hemp production. We have enough suitable farmland to supply the world's entire pulp and paper needs. The crop could inject new life into a struggling economy and become a billion dollar export earner.
The Billion Dollar Crop was produced and directed by Barbara Chobocky, who is an award winning film producer. Last year I organised a conference in the ACT called Hemp Futurama, and Dr Katelaris came from Sydney to Canberra to present some of the benefits of growing hemp. We organised people from Federal and local government departments, agriculture, environmental areas, rural industries research and development, the Department of Industry, Technology and Regional Development, land and water research and development corporations, the Federal environment department, the Northern Territory department and others. After a very short time into that conference, all attendees realised that there are no problems of illegality with commercial hemp. The majority of the conference attendees spoke about whether it would be commercially viable.
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