You can't get high on industrial hemp, but you can create clothing, housing, food, fuel, natural plastics and other locally useful and globally marketable consumer products out of it. And oh yes, did we mention jobs, and lots of them. Hemp is already a multi $ billion a year industry and growing.

The new HEMP NOW website is live, and they're petitioning the government of SA to join those countries already growing hemp. Sign the petition here.

There are many reasons why we should be growing hemp in SA:

• hemp is grown organically
• it is naturally resistant to most pests, so doesn't need pesticides or herbicides (cotton does)
• an acre field of hemp can yield up to 8 dry tons of fibre (3 times more than cotton)
• the same crop will give 4 times more paper than an acre forest of trees...
• it makes an extremely durable textile fabric, which is 4 times stronger than cotton
• hemp paper lasts way longer than tree paper
• hemp paper can be recycled more times than wood-based paper
• hemp grows in about 3 to 4 months. Trees take over 20 years to reach a size worth destroying
• industrial hemp will create jobs, nourish and clothe people, build houses and reduce our dependence on forest products

We can use the outer stalk for texticle fabrics, the inner stalk for building materials, the seed kernel for nutritional oils, the seed husk for biodegradable plastics, and the leaves for re-tilling and fertilizing the soil.

Why aren't we already growing it?

Sign the petition here