cannabisnews.com: NORML Touts Hemp Biodiesel 





NORML Touts Hemp Biodiesel 
Posted by FoM on September 08, 2001 at 18:31:11 PT
By Steve Friedman of the Tribune’s Staff 
Source: Columbia Daily Tribune 
It looks like refined pond algae. The bright green liquid that emits a nutty smell resembles a brightly colored sports drink more than a fuel additive. Enter the next highly touted use for industrial hemp: biodiesel. Supporters are bringing their message to Columbia this weekend about the benefits of burning hemp-based fuel in diesel engines. With her tan 1984 Volkswagen Quantum nearby, Terri Zeman yesterday afternoon triumphantly held up a plastic container with liquid hemp inside. 
Zeman, secretary of the St. Louis region’s chapter for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, gave a rapid-fire presentation about the environmentally friendly qualities of hemp biodiesel."We’re closer than we have ever been in changing laws because more people are finding out the practical qualities hemp has," she said.Hemp use for products such as clothes, ship sails and ropes has a history dating back more than 2,500 years. Hemp was also a well-used textile product in the formative years of the United States, but it fell out of favor as a raw material when the nation banned marijuana production in the 1930s.It’s legal to own products made from industrial hemp in the United States, but it’s not legal to grow the crop. Zeman’s hemp oil, for example, was processed in a plant in Ohio from seeds grown in Canada.Industrial hemp legalization has largely met with opposition at the federal and state levels in recent years, even though the plant is a non-hallucinogenic cousin to marijuana.In the final weeks of his administration, President Bill Clinton maintained the federal government’s ban on the cultivation of industrial hemp. Only one state, Hawaii, allows a test plot for hemp production, but it hasn’t permitted full-scale production. Hemp bills before Missouri lawmakers in recent years have drawn intense opposition from the state’s largest law enforcement agency, the Missouri Highway Patrol. The patrol opposes legalization mainly because marijuana and industrial hemp plants look nearly identical."We believe the few people actually growing hemp for legitimate purposes would be over-saddled by people growing marijuana," said Capt. Chris Ricks, patrol spokesman. "Our position still is that the problems created by legalizing hemp far outweigh the economics it would create. We believe that hemp is not a viable product."If industrial hemp were legal, hemp-based biodiesel could get support from the biodiesel industry, said Jenna Higgins, spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board in Jefferson City. But the organization is not depending on hemp to be a large-scale contributor to biodiesel production."We’re glad this group is out there creating awareness, but hemp-based biodiesel now is really just a novelty, while biodiesel itself isn’t a novelty," Higgins said.Biodiesel production nationwide has increased from 5 million to 20 million gallons within the past fiscal year. About 90 percent of the biodiesel in the United States is made from soybeans; the other 10 percent comes from recycled restaurant grease.Biodiesel’s clean-burning properties have attracted 100 major bus fleets nationwide, including Bi-State in St. Louis, Higgins said. A 1998 federal study found biodiesel reduces carbon-dioxide emissions by 78 percent compared to standard petroleum diesel.Hemp supporters plan to display two hemp biodiesel cars outside The Blue Note tonight during a benefit concert sponsored by the University of Missouri-Columbia’s chapter of NORML and the Missouri Cannabis Coalition.Note: Fuel latest strategy in legalization fight.Source: Columbia Daily Tribune (MO)Author: Steve Friedman of the Tribune’s Staff Published: Saturday, September 8, 2001Copyright: 2001 Columbia Daily TribuneContact: editor tribmail.comWebsite: http://www.showmenews.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:Missouri NORMLhttp://www.mo-norml.org Hemp Carhttp://www.hempcar.org/FTE's Hemp Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/hls.htmHemp-Powered Car Rolls Into Town http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10799.shtmlRefill Madness - Village Voicehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10576.shtml
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Comment #11 posted by The GCW on September 09, 2001 at 07:18:43 PT
Can't they tell the difference at 5,000 feet high?
They have military tech that I read about app. a few months ago that allows them to see a difference with what ever... at 5K feet off the ground, so why can't they do the same with assault SWATSTIKA copters, next to your porch? They were unable to tell the difference when the question was presented to the Colorado, Gov. Owens manssion, when his own army tested the plant in question, when due to implicate a warlord. The Denver Bitanical crew, could test and show the truth, the army questions.It seems that much literature indicages the birds can tell the difference between cannabis and other plants, from ahigh. Man learns from the animals, and when the good notice the animals habit he makes use of it for good, and when the evil man sees what the animal has accomlished, he puts it to use agianst his brother for greed, power and the dispicable. Did the eveil powers notice the birds cababilities and put its effort to evil work? We don't have to be able to tell the difference between cannabis - hemp - ... Only the difference between right and wrong...We only must realize that to cage or kill your brother for using cannabis is against Christ God, it is wrong and against all the basics, right from the absalute beginning.This may well be one part of our Fathers litmus test. For where it matters, we must follow, and we must not follow the ones locked onto a time of denial, for denial of truth is not now and never going to be of God Christ and the Holy Spirit of Truth.Can you tell the difference? 
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Comment #10 posted by The Offspring on September 09, 2001 at 04:21:33 PT
I got a solution.
If they are worried about trying to tell Cannabis and Hemp all they have to do is legalize them both. Canada is ahead of this game. The reason why Hemp is illegal is because of Big Business that is scared of Competition. Hemp can make clothes, Paper, Rope, BioDiesel and many other things. I don't see any reason why a plant should be illegal.
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Comment #9 posted by Lehder on September 09, 2001 at 04:18:39 PT
get out your exercise books
.. maintaining access to Persian Gulf oil requires about $50 billion of the annual U.S. defense budget, including maintenance of one or more carrier task forces there, protecting sea lanes, and keeping large air forces in readiness in the area. But the oil we import from the Persian Gulf costs only a fifth that amount, about $11 billion per annum. http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blowback_CJohnson/Quotations_BCJ.htmlNow who is benefited by that fifty billion besides the fat cats at Newport News, General Dynamics and their oily, smirking frat-boy buddies in War-shington? And who pays for it all? Who is out of work? While George vacationed, partying it up - he said it - at home in oil country, my noble mountain truck spent most days sitting below treeline because whenever I can con a ride to town I see the sign: $1.79/gallon. They jacked the numbers even higher for the holiday and they have yet to let them down.Eleven billion to buy it, fifty billion to intimidate a hundred million people whom all the high-paid and paid-for diplomats in D.C. insist on maintaining as the mother of all enemies. Those are numbers on the left-hand-side; we're already half-way done with this problem.On the right-hand-side are numbers unknown at least to me but that some well motivated people are working out for all of us. Ah, but hemp looks like weed, so the corporate monster produces a nutty cop on leave from DARE to tell us"that the problems created by legalizing hemp far outweigh the economics it would create." Well, there's a lot to outweigh with numbers like fifty billion and $1.79 on the left-hand-side. In fact, the more we look at this, the less it looks like an equation at all. It's more like the mother of all inequalities - with nothing but corporate greed and global domination to the right.
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Comment #8 posted by Imprint on September 09, 2001 at 01:12:37 PT
Looks all the same to them
The police can’t tell the difference between marijuana and industrial hemp. Sounds like the same reasoning that they used for racial profiling. 
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Comment #7 posted by freedom fighter on September 09, 2001 at 00:18:46 PT
1 acre of hemp equals 1000 gallons
"We believe the few people actually growing hemp for legitimate purposes would be over-saddled by people growing marijuana," said Capt. Chris Ricks, patrol spokesman. "Our position still is that the problems created by legalizing hemp far outweigh the economics it would create. We believe that hemp is not a viable product."1 acre of hemp equals 1000 gallons, 1 acre of hemp equals 1 ton of paper worth 4 acres of trees that take 30 years to grow and that so called peace officer worry about wither if a pothead would grow some marijewana in a field of hemp? Hemp is not a viable product? One can create 25 thousand different products out of hemp. Only punishment I can think of for this Capt. is to put him in a box and burn some hemp under him! Either that or a finest hemp rope on his neck. He knows that very well! He is the one who made that choice that killed Tom and Rolland.ff
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Comment #6 posted by Rock-N-Roller on September 08, 2001 at 23:13:07 PT
Risky Buisness for the Oil Men
The Oil men will fight to the bitter end over this. It will cut into their profits, unless they are the ones to exploit it. Imagin the spinoff employment with hemp oil. (Farms, processing, Marketing, etc...)Imagin the how envirolmentlly friendly this can be. (O-Zone, oil spills, nasty oil refineries, etc...)Imagin all the oil people meeting behind closed doors (Chaney's Energy Policy for "America's oilmen", excuse me I ment America) to make sure hemp oil will not make it to the market place.Imagin all the People bombarding the media and the polititcians, with letters and E-Mail, demanding hemp oil research and development or risk being voted out of town.Imagin all the people, Living in Peace. (Thank you John)Here again the public needs to be educated. This is a good start with the hemp oil car. There it is. An undeniable truth, that it can work. "TAKE THAT" oilmen, drug warriors, naysayers, etc... Lets hear some more mealy-mouth reasons why it can't work. Go ahead, tell people there is no way this can possibly work. Be careful though, the public (voters too) are getting wise to your line of stuff.
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Comment #5 posted by bruce42 on September 08, 2001 at 22:58:21 PT
gracias
sorry bout the note ruckus... I think we've all been a bit touchy lately.peace.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on September 08, 2001 at 22:42:32 PT
Just a note about a Note!
I'm so tired I'm going to give my computer a rest and me too. When you see that I tag something with a Note it's because of the way Cannabis News is designed and lead ins do better where you will catch them, because of going to the comment section. So what a Note is is a lead in, I think they would call it that. Not sure though. I don't know what this lead in implies but I thought I'd tell you what Notes were.
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Comment #3 posted by bruce42 on September 08, 2001 at 22:02:47 PT
good call
yeah, that note is a bit off... boy wouldn't things be nice if we could run our fleets of overpolluting mass transit and freight vehicles with cleaner burning, less toxic fuel.I guess because "The patrol opposes legalization mainly because marijuana and industrial hemp plants look nearly identical...", suddenly the public has no voice in the matter. Anyone else recall when the feddies couldn't tell tomatoes from MJ because they were the same color? Besides, MJ and hemp really aren't that hard to tell apart. Suddenly it is too much work for these guys to take a stroll through a field and inspect the crops? They seem more than willing to invest hundreds of man hours into digging up plants, and that seems a bit more labor intensive. What a lame excuse.
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Comment #2 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on September 08, 2001 at 19:33:52 PT:
The note at the end of the Hemp Biodiesel Article
Look at the last little blub at the end of this article:"Note: Fuel latest strategy in legalization fight."Perhaps I am a touchy old stick-in-the-mud, but that seems to take a very cool and wildly intriguing story and spin it to some sort of new stoner plot to legalize "druuuugs". If this was aome sort of "tag" to identify this artice in 10 worrds or less, its very misleading, as I feel ittrivializes something quite important.Braziel makes considerable amounts of a sort of "gasahol" from ground corn stalks and runs a sizable aspect of public transportation with it.Renewable resources. Is the cannabis diesel patented or patentable?
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on September 08, 2001 at 19:33:45 PT
Zeman, secretary of the St. Louis region’s chapter
University of Missouri-Columbia’s chapter of NORML and the Missouri Cannabis Coalition.Brothers.
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