Stronger than cement and six times lighter, but you can't have it USA,

[JohnyCanuck]

cause it's made from the devil weed, hemp, and if you are caught growing it the DEA will throw you in jail (even if it contains only a minute trace of THC), and of course you will also burn in hell for eternity for displeasing Jesus and pissing him off with your heathen ways.

How would like like a building material that is stronger than cement and SIX TIMES lighter?

Better yet, one of its main ingredients in the waste product of a plant that literally grows like a weed.

Well, Big Brother says you can't have it because the plant - hemp - is "dangerous to society."

Here's the reality about cement:

1. The manufacture of traditional cement is incredibly energy intensive, so much so that many cement companies seek and receive legal variances to not only burn coal, but also medical waste and used automobile tires as fuel for their kilns.

2. After oil refineries and chemical plants, cement factories are the most polluting factories in the world, spewing tons of microparticles containing toxins like arsenic and mercury into the air.

(video at link below)
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/491.html

[Odin2005]

1. This is the real reason marijuana is illegal.

They don't want people growing hemp.

[Kazak]

2. 'Didn't seem "dangerous to society" last night...?

:shrug:

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. Quick hit of Portland doesn't give much of a buzz, either.

[ColbertWatcher]

4. Nice find, thank you for posting. k+r, n/t

[Greyhound]

5. No exaggeration, this plant can save America. K&R

:kick: & R



This is an industrial hemp plant, with it we can feed livestock, replenish the soil, run and lubricate vehicles, replace most plastics and a wide range of useful chemicals, create any number of building materials, treat a wide variety of illnesses and provide symptomatic relief, and the list goes on and on...

[rvablue]

9. Interesting factoid....the parachute that saved George H. W. Bush's life

in WWII was made of hemp.

Remember reading that years and years ago in a newspaper article.

[Greyhound]

12. Yes, DuPont was trying to flog nylon, but hemp was better and far cheaper.

Yet another war profiteer that was ignored.

IIRC, a DuPont was a part of the "Business Plot" that got away with an attempted coup.

[wildbilln864]

41. Anything you can make with petroleum, you can make with cannabis/marijuana!

What can you make from cannabis/hemp? Imagine the jobs that would be created.

[Greyhound]

66. Exactly, and while we're producing the quantities needed to manufacture and fuel

and feed ourselves, we are also replenishing the depleted soil in our farmlands so our food gets more nutritious.

[wildbilln864]

71. and you can get three to four harvests per year. nt

[izquierdista]

26. Vile weed!

[amdezurik]

67. damm and here i thought there was no reason

to resent hemp...

[Bake]

17. Looks like a pot plant to me ...

:evilgrin:

Bake

[Greyhound]

20. Similar in appearance but way more stalk and no buds.

Oh, you can smoke a pound but no buzz.:evilfrown:

[wildbilln864]

40. That plant would take America's away from the corporations....

and give it back to the people!
Check out these Pot Houses!

[formercia]

51. ..and don't throw away the seeds, they contain essential oils

Not only are they good to eat, they're good for you.
http://www.queenhill.demon.co.uk/seedoils/essential.htm

The essential oil in shortest supply is ALA (18:3w3). It is found in the seeds, or the seed oils, of:

* Flax (linseed) - the richest natural source.
* Hemp* (yes, some shops do stock them and no, you don't get high) - nature's perfectly balanced oil seed, but crunchy husk.
* Rape (but not the "canola" variety) - ok, supplement with flax. Bland taste, love it or hate it.
* Walnut - ok, supplement with flax.
* Pumpkin seed - ok, the oil can be a little bitter. Supplement with flax.

The other essential oil is LNA (18:2w6). It is found in quite a few places, especially the seeds, or the seed oils, of:

* Safflower - the richest natural seed source. Don't over-indulge!
* Evening primrose - the richest seed oil source, but the seeds don't contain much oil. Don't over-indulge the oil!
* Avocado - the flesh, not the seed - but you knew that.
* Walnut
* Sunflower
* Pumpkin - the oil can be a little bitter.
* Sesame
* Hemp* - nature's perfectly balanced oil seed, but crunchy husk.

[Greyhound]

58. You need it to live and you could run your car on it too. Kick. n/t

[mcg]

60. Hemp seeds have a very nice flavor,

I buy them at an organic food store.
Almond oil and chia seeds are also good.
I also saw another kind of seed next to the chia seeds at the store,
but I don't remember what it's called.

[formercia]

61. One of my schoolmates who was from Iran introduced me to them

She told me that US Customs don't even bother them when they bring the seeds from home.

They are quite tasty. The ones she had were roasted an salted. In Iran, people eat them like we eat peanuts here.

[enlightenment]

6. Interesting. Made me go do a google . . .

found this site: http://www.hempmuseum.org/ROOMS/ARM%20BUILDING%20MAT.htm

Pretty cool!

[no limit]

7. What I dont understand is why weed isn't legal yet. Most americans think it should be

democrats and republicans a like. If anything this is proof that the american people don't run shit, someone is behind the scenes pulling the strings.

[Greyhound]

10. The paper, oil, chemical, timber, agricultural, pharmaceutical, corporations dread this stuff. n/t

[liberal renegade]

27. and of course the biggest culprit of all,

the cotton industry.

[Greyhound]

69. Indeed, they kind of fucked themselves, didn't they? n/t

[rvablue]

11. My idea on why it isn't legal:

You can grow it in your backyard and so no one can make money off of it.

If there was a profit motive, it would be legal tomorrow.

[eridani]

14. Plenty of people were making profits from oil and fiber before prohibition

It's just unprofitable as a medical or recreational drug.

[Blue Meany]

16. There is a profit motive in keeping it illegal--the price would go

way down if it were legal, and the CIA would have to find another source of support for secret illegal wars.

[maxsolomon]

13. A puritan society cannot countenance pleasure for pleasure's sake

look at islam. we are similar: we banned alcohol, we shun tobacco users, we condemn sex. but at the same time we are obsessed with forbidden fruit.

but marijuana use cannot be rationalized. it makes you high. period. there is no other purpose (i'm talking non-cancer users). to permit it, we must be able to admit that seeking pleasure is an acceptable activity. and in a society that values acquisition, work, money, and miltarism above all other things, that is revolutionary.

[no limit]

15. The argument you are making can be made for alcohol too

not sure why you think drinking can be rationalized while smoking weed can't.

As a society we fully support seeking pleasure, it's just that we want to control what kind of pleasure you can enjoy.

[maxsolomon]

35. the puritans gave up on alcohol.

i think the difference btwn pot & alcohol is that you can drink a glass of wine or beer & not be "drunk". that's the way it's rationalized, but i'm not the one who has this problem - i'm a hedonist. americans should be taking pleasure in life - sleeping, sex, eating, recreation, even in our work. the pursuit of happiness is in the constitution.

i disagree that we support pleasure-seeking. everything we allow comes with judgement & a cost. in the last election only "hard-working" americans were "real" americans.

[nebenaube]

18. no you are incorrect...

it also sends auto-immune disorders into remission, regenerates brain cells, stops the spread of many cancers and prevents alzheimers...

[maxsolomon]

36. ok hair-splitter

i'm talking about non-medicinal use. it's used for pleasure, and that should be ok.

[tridim]

52. Is stress relief considered "pleasure" or "medicinal use"?

That's the reason I smoke it. :shrug:

[sunnystarr]

62. at what dosage? (nt)

[nebenaube]

70. that's hard to say...

That's hard to say as formal research is not permitted. However you don't get to have it both ways. You can't say that it suppress the immune system and then say it is of no medicinal value against auto-immune disorders.

[12string]

37. The illegality of weed

has nothing to do with getting high,Read post #5.Greyhound seems to be the only one that is aware that hemp oil is a completely renewable resource for #2 diesel.Big oil is mainly responsible for lobbying to get it classified as a narcotic,followed by the chemical companies and wood forest product companies.

[maxsolomon]

57. that sure was the rationale used to make it illegal:

it would make your daughters become dissolute & fuck jazz musicians. not that it would hurt hearst's holding of pulp timber.

[amdezurik]

68. not just jazz musicians

but BLACK and MEXICAN ones...

[donco6]

29. I think it will be soon.

Sooner than gays are allowed to get married, anyways.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

32. Most Americans think Bush should be i jail too

Don't hold your breath. Well maybe just a little while you hold the smoke in.

Unfortunately, our elected officials and their corporate sponsors don't have the balls to do either.

[bemildred]

42. Our government is a tyranny, that's why. nt

[TransitJohn]

55. Because

if we decriminalized or legalized marijuana, they'd be admitting that their entire drug control policy is wrong, that's why.

[spanone]

8. reefer madness is a major reality in the world, especially the usa

[Deja Q]

19. If it did become commonplace, how long would it take before arsonists had a field day?

2 minutes?!

Dang. A whole neighborhood or city gone stoned...

:rofl:

All joking aside: It's interesting information...

[sarcasmo]

21. A proud hemp smoking heathen.

[Mari333]

22. hemp is refined from the male plant which doesnt get you high

only the female plant gets you high. thats what i read. but a lot of people dont know that.

[Deja Q]

23. I thought the plant was asexual and didn't need the involvement of any birds or bees?

still, at least if the arsonists whipped out their ciggie lighters, they wouldn't get the metropolis craving the munchies...

[madrchsod]

24. "ditch weed"

thousands of acres were planted around here during ww2. the dumb asses spent tens of thousands of dollars for chemicals to destroy it.

there`s no way anyone could get high...sick not high.

[Mari333]

25. yes, one cannot smoke their hemp made trousers and get high

dont ask me why i know that.

[Greyhound]

64. Hemp ia actually a different, though related, plant. Just FYI. n/t

[Romulox]

28. Obama is not signally any let up in the War on (people who use) Drugs. nt

[tridim]

53. Well then, let's get on him to change his mind.

He owes us, and he knows it.

That said, he has said that he wants to stop wasting so much time and resources arresting pot smokers.

[Romulox]

56. His VP and AG are both Drug War zealots, however. One is known by the company he keeps. nt

[Javaman]

30. Meh, I've been experiementing with this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papercrete

http://www.fiberfoamconcrete.com/

[Regret My New Name]

31. Anyone here against this?

It's so boring when everyone agrees... heh. I'm actually serious though. I'm trying to think of reasons to be against this, but I'm failing to come up with any... So I'm curious if anyone has or knows the arguments against it...

[NaturalHigh]

33. Hemp grows wild in Oklahoma.

It was planted generously during WWII for some sort of industrial purposes, I think. I guess it wasn't considered all that dangerous back then.

[gravity]

34. I smell BS on this

A concrete substitute made from hemp could have better properties, but not this 6 times lighter and still stronger crap.

The reason why hemp is outlawed is because our government is just backwards, not because of some super secret conspiracy by the oil and cement companies. Hemp is certainly has plenty of uses, but it is no miracle plant that can save mankind.

[muriel_volestrangler]

38. Agreed - you'd have to work a lot of air in to get something 6 times lighter than cement

Typical figure for Portland cement: 1506 kg/m3. So 6 times lighter would be about 250 kg/m3 - nearly as light as charcoal at 208 kg/m3. source

And stronger in what sense - tensile (in which case it will still be pretty weak, and you don't design to put cement under tension anyway), or compressive? I'd like to see a proper test result form an engineer; and I suspect other plant fibre mixtures would approach the performance of hemp in this - but they're not 'almost-wonder materials'.

[gristy]

39. The pro-science crowd at DU is too often bamboozled by engineering sleight of hand.

Particularly when it comes to hemp. :smoke:

[krispos42]

50. Carbon nanotube creations might do it

I have this vision where as a result of our current and future carbon-capture efforts, 100 or 200 years from now people wear clothes made from carbon nanotube fibers. And carbon-fiber panels are so cheap and commomplace it replaces wood as a building material.

We could lock away trillions of tons of carbon in our clothing and homes!


:-)

[Ichingcarpenter]

44. I get glued on things with good hemp

I get to see the basic philosophical and analytical substance of intellectual arguments
in a CONCRETE way, that I wouldn't without good hemp.

[Prophet 451]

47. Disagree with the "miracle plant" part

Cannabis and hemp have enough beneficial properties (medical and otherwise) for me to think labelling it a "miracle plant" is entirely appropriate.

And you don't need a conspiracy to say that a lot of people stand to lose a lot of money if cannabis/hemp were legal and it is therefore in their best interests to campaign against it being legal.

Agreed on the engineering part though.

[backscatter712]

49. Still, it's perfectly good for clothing, fiber, paper, fuel oil...

and 1,001 other uses. The fuel oil part is particularly important - mmmmm, biodiesel, from a plant that hardly needs much to make it grow, it literally is a weed.

[Greyhound]

65. It was a conspiracy, but it is no secret. It's all very well documented

and the perpetrators are/were well known.

[lumberjack_jeff]

43. Sounds like papercrete

As the name implies, it's not so good where it rains a lot.
http://www.livinginpaper.com/mixes.htm

[DS1]

45. In what applications? I'd personally prefer to see my buildings and bridges made out of cement

Oh? Are you saying that hemp coats would be stronger and lighter than cement coats? Same goes for ropes I guess.


Stupid, lazy arguments don't help anyone.

[Greyhound]

63. But your buildings would be stronger, lighter (and therefore could be taller),

and for those in earthquake areas, more durable.

But I can see how that would not appeal.

[Jim Lane]

46. You left out one important drawback of cement: its contribution to climate change

Cement is one of the most environmentally hazardous materials in the world, adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than the entire weight of the global airline industry. (from in the Guardian)

The cited figures may be slightly modified in light of the appended correction concerning asphalt. The general point is clear, though: Cement is a significant and under-recognized component of the problem of anthropogenic global warming.

It would be great if we really could find a substitute that's both functional and eco-friendly.

[struggle4progress]

72. Since a major ingredient in the proposed mixture is lime, similar issues will apply

for such a "substitute" -- this is essentially "concrete with hemp fibers"

[Lorien]

48. Why are some mushrooms illegal while others are sold at grocery stores?

Because some are hallucinogenic, some can kill, and some go well in omelets, salads, and make decent burgers.

It seems to me that if distinctions can be made with one species, they can be made with another. I suspect that there are corporate lobbyists at work keeping industrial hemp illegal, though (gotta keep cutting down those old growth forests, after all)!

[ensho]

54. various US Barons will fight to the death to keep hemp out of the US

its time for those Barons to have the heart attack and let us get on with saving the planet.

fight back!

[Sanctified]

59. We can buy industrial use hemp, we just can't grow it.

And with Eastern Canada full of industrial use hemp farms it's not like it has to go very far to get here.