To persuade my audience to the uses and benefits of industrial hemp.
By a show of hands how many of you are concerned with our environment? Now if there were something that could be used as an alternative to trees for paper would you use it, even it was related to a plant that is considered a drug? Today I"m going to tell you that there is an alternative to the use of trees for paper, and an alternative to the use of many other things. I"m here today to persuade you to the many uses of industrial hemp.
II. Body.
A. Industrial hemp is not a drug, it is not marijuana; it is a relative to the marijuana plant, but contains virtually no delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the mind-altering drug found in marijuana. This means that industrial hemp cannot get anyone high.
1. Though it may sound to good to be true, hemp may be the most versatile raw material in the world. There are innumerous benefits to be gained from the cultivation of industrial hemp. If only 6% of the contiguous United States were used to grow hemp, it could supply to us all of the electricity, heat, and all the fuel we need for our cars, REPEAT (www.house.gov/bernie/town_meeting/1997/luc_fillion_and_evan_paul.html). Hemp could also be used to make stronger and more moisture resistant paper, which would stop paper from shrinking, curling or deteriorating as easily. Legalizing industrial hemp has the potential to yield substantial environmental benefits, especially as a substitute for wood in papermaking. Industrial hemp yields two-to-four times more pulp per acre than trees, saving our diminishing forests and the rainforest. Paper made from industrial hemp is also stronger, able to be recycled more times and longer lasting than paper from trees. Compared to wood, fewer c!.
hemicals are required to convert hemp into paper pulp. Industrial hemp also could serve as an environmentally sound substitute for other products. Hemp has valuable qualities as clothing material.