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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Canada: Editorial: Hemp Has A Future
Esquimalt News (CN BC)
Monday 11 Jun 2001 Brian Johnson Has A Vision. The Head Street resident who is president of Transglobal Hemp Products Corp. wants to establish an industrial hemp industry on Vancouver Island. Johnson's vision calls for the establishment of industrial hemp mills on the Island, most of which would be located in the Cowichan Valley. If current efforts to raise the necessary capital are successful, the first mill - specifically a seed press mill - would be built at Lake Cowichan. If that goes well, a second textile mill would be set up at North Cowichan. Ultimately, Transglobal would like to have a total of nine hemp mills of various types up and running on Vancouver Island. While that goal is a long way off - if it ever comes to fruition - it's a goal that would transform the Island's economy in a positive way. The forestry and fishing industries are still huge, but they are not as large an employer as they once were. The production of industrial hemp would give the Island a badly needed economic boost. The hemp business would also create jobs in the mills that produce the hemp. And farmers up and down the Island would be able to get in on the action by growing a crop that is easy to establish. An established hemp industry on the Island would leave trees in the forests and be a boon to the construction industry. Instead of lumber, contractors and home builders would be able to depend on building products made out of hemp. There was a time when the hemp industry didn't have a chance of making it in the US. The story goes that representatives of the cotton industry lobbied politicians in Washington, D.C., to ban hemp - ostensibly because of its relation to marijuana ( the stuff best known for its use as a recreational drug comes from the female plant. Hemp comes from the male plant which isn't potent with THC ). In reality, the leaders of the US cotton industry were just being corporate bullies. Thankfully, the hemp industry in this country has, in recent years, been allowed to flourish. So far, the hemp industry on the prairies has been successful. Entrepreneurs have been successful at converting grain mills into industrial hemp mills. Establishing an industrial hemp industry will require a lot of capital to build new mills on the Island. Hopefully, investors with deep pockets will be able to see what Johnson and his partners can see - that industrial hemp is the wave of the future.
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