WIN A PAIR OF
HEMP SOCKS!
1st Feb 2013 Issue 14 hemplifest ylemagazine.com
THE HEMP CONSPIRACY UNRAVELLED HEMP - AN IDEAL FIBRE FOR MAKING PAPER
FROM FOUR HEMP SEEDS TO A HEMP DOCUMENTARY Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
1
CONTRIBUTORS DIONNE PAYN
is the founder and Editor of Hemp Lifestyle Magazine. After months of trying to find up to date and credible information about hemp, she decided to ask people in the industry what they were up to. There were so many interesting stories and she realised that other people might want to hear these too. Dionne decided to start her own magazine which was launched on the 1st August 2011 after just 2 weeks.
ANNDREA HERMANN
M.Sc., P.Ag, BGS is the President Elect of the Hemp Industry Association, Special Comittee Member of the Candian Hemp Trade Aliance, Ower of The Ridge International Cannabis Consulting and Primary contact for Hemp Technologies Canada Hempcrete Builders. Contact Anndrea at anndrea4hemp@gmail.com
DIANA OLIVER
ZACK DILIBERTO
is an actor, musician and freelance writer, living and working in Los Angeles, CA. He and coauthor Nini Martino partnered previously to write the screenplay, “The Hemp-Man’s Daughter,” on which their new novel, HEMP, is based. He believes that the pursuit of an alternative source for petro-chemical and tree-paper products is the single greatest mission of our time.
is a producer & filmmaker who became inspired to produce her first Hemp based environmental documentary when author & activist Woody Harrelson planted four feral hemp seeds in a protest planting in Louisville, Kentucky. Thus began Hempsters: Plant the Seed documentary. Diana is currently working on her new film documentaries Hemp America - The Revolution and Canada Seeds of Growth.
ELISHEVA SHALOM is an artist and lover of all things hemp. She sells her photography printed on hemp greeting cards through her site Natureflections and to Whole Foods Markets and other stores in the DC area. She is beginning to produce a line of handmade 100% hemp paper. Elisheva is also a guest lecturer at Oregon State University’s new industrial hemp course, teaching about hemp paper.
HEMP
LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE Monthly Online
PUBLISHER, ADVERTISMENT INDUSTRIAL HEMP EDUCATION, MARKETING & EDUCATION (I-HEMP)
IMAGES/ ART FOTOLIA.COM
GRAPHIC DESIGN ALAA ELSEMARY
HOW TO REACH US hemplifestylemagazine.com
Content Disclaimer: Hemp Lifestyle Magazine is published under the explicit understanding that content contained in the magazine is based on the knowledge and understanding of the contributors at the time of writing. Any statements, advice or opinions expressed herein are made for the benefit of the reader only. Therefore Hemp Lifestyle Magazine, or its contributors, will not accept responsibility for any damage or loss which has occurred or may occur as a result of a person’s action (or inaction) related to said statements or advice. Hemp Lifestyle Magazine accepts no responsibility for the reliability or accuracy of articles or advertising. Hemp Lifestyle Magazine does not necessarily agree with or accept the views expressed or implied by the contributors. Hemp Lifestyle Magazine. Copyright © 2012. All Rights Reserved. Industrial Hemp Education, Marketing & Education (i-HEMP) 2
Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
EDITORIAL Welcome to the February 2013 issue of Hemp Lifestyle Magazine. This month we have a range of great articles for you to enjoy.
the globe.
Our feature article this month is by Diana Oliver, producer of the documentary, “Hempsters: Plant the seed”. Diana shares the 15 year roller-coaster ride from conception of the documentary to today, where it is now being distributed across
Our second feature article this month is by Zack DiLiberto, co-author with Francine Martin of the novel Hemp. In this article, Zack talks about why despite such a long history of use, the hemp plant was vilified by the US Government to pave the way for more profitable business interests. Zack also gives us an insight to how Hemp: The Novel weaves the facts from that time into a fictional story that follows an American family from the 1930’s trying to save their hemp farm. If you’ve ever heard how wonderful hemp paper is, but wondered why it is so difficult to find, you are going to enjoy the article by Elisheva Shalom on this very topic.
Elisheva shares her journey from making hemp greeting cards to producing her own hemp paper. This month we also have our Cool Hemp Products feature, brought to you by Anndrea Hermann, a special Valentines Day recipe, and a fun competition for you to enter. As you know, we are always trying to find ways to keep you, the reader, engaged with what is happening in the hemp world. So I have some exciting news about our upcoming plans for 2013. Firstly, we are changing from a monthly to a quarterly publication, which means that Hemp Lifestyle Magazine will now be published 4 times a year. Each issue will be bigger, which will allow us to bring a wider range of articles and topics to your attention, plus include more indepth content. Look out for a change to the Hemp Lifestyle Magazine website as well to reflect the new format! The first bumper issue will be published on the 1st May 2013. As always, we love to hear your comments and feedback about the magazine, so if you have any suggestions for topics you would like to see covered, contact us by email at admin@hemplifestylemagazine.com I hope you love this issue of Hemp Lifestyle Magazine! Warmly Dionne Payn
4501 Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
3
CONTENT 7
COOL HEMP PRODUCTS
8
HEMP NEWS ROUND UP
14
HEMP - AN IDEAL FIBRE FOR MAKING PAPER
15
A SPECIAL HEMP VALENTINES RECIPE
17
SO YOU WANNA BE A HEMP FARMER?
19
WIN A PAIR OF HEMP SOCKS
FEATURE
5 FROM FOUR HEMP SEEDS TO A HEMP DOCUMENTARY Diana Oliver shares her roller-coaster 15 year journey working on the documentary “Hempsters: Plant The Seed”.
12 THE HEMP CONSPIRACY UNRAVELLED Zack DiLiberto gives an insight into why hemp lost favour in the United States over 70 years ago, and how he and co-author Francine Martin are trying to set the story straight.
4
Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
I have a lot of respect for Woody. His protest could have cost him his freedom and yet he did it because he believed in the Hemp cause. His subsequent arrest, trial and acquittal spanned a 7-year period, during which we had the pleasure of meeting Gatewood Galbraith, an amazing activist who ran for Governor of the State of Kentucky and sadly passed last year. We met the 5th grade school teacher Ms. Donna Cockrel, who was fired from her teaching job for inviting Woody to talk to her students about Industrial Hemp. We met Alex White Plume of the Lakota Indians, living on Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota which again was amazing especially as I actually got to plant an entire row of Hemp while we were there and film the Lakota protest planting! There is currently 80% unemployment on Pine Ridge and Hemp can save their Economy! The film started to take a life of its own and after 11 years of filming the ever burgeoning Hemp Movement, we realized that we had to stop filming and try and get a distribution deal to get the story out there. We endured several years of film festivals and shopping. Finally, Executive Producer Rod Pitman assisted in our current distribution deal with the number one Documentary Distributors Cinema Libre Studios in LA, and we are featured with New Video , ITUNES in NYC, as well.
FROM FOUR HEMP SEEDS TO A HEMP DOCUMENTARY DIANA OLIVER In 1996, Woody Harrelson was arrested in Kentucky, for planting four Hemp seeds to challenge the law which did not distinguish between industrial Hemp and Marijuana. Producer Diana Oliver tells us how this lead to the making of the documentary “Hempsters: Plant the Seed”. I had recently started an associate producers job with Media World Television in Dallas and I was given an opportunity to produce and develop a documentary with an environmental theme. I heard about Woody Harrelson’s protest planting, via the AP Wire, in Kentucky and we decided to contact Woody’s people and see if we could have the rights to his story. CNN had actually shot the story but several production companies wanted to get the actual footage and film rights. I had known Woody from a few years before when I was featured as an extra in the film “White Men Can’t Jump”. During that time, we got on well and I was invited to attend his birthday party, which occurred during the shooting of the film. I feel that our connection (both being Texans) perhaps had a lot to do with Woody choosing our team, Director Michael Henning and myself, and we were thrilled that we were the ones that left with the original footage from CNN, the license and story.
‘Hempsters: Plant the Seed’ focuses on 7 activists and 18 allies and their fight to educate our citizens to vote to reintroduce Hemp agriculture for America for the good of both the economy and the environment. There are other documentaries that provide education about hemp but the Michael and I chose to focus on the activists and their fight. The main characters are Woody Harrelson, Ralph Nader, Gatewood Galbraith, Donna Cockrel, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Joe Hickey, Jake and Andy Graves, whose great grandfather was a Kentucky hemp farmer, Craig Lee of the Kentucky Hemp Movement and Julia Butterfly Hill, the amazing environmentalist. Julia Butterfly lived in a Sequoia tree for a couple of years, against terrible odds and sacrifice, in protest against old growth logging, which tied in with perfectly with the Hemp cause. Hemp provides a large biomass in a short space of time and one acre of Hemp provides 4 times the amount of biomass compared to one acre of trees in 90 - 120 days compared to 20 plus years of growth for Trees. Hemp is a solution for many of the economic issues and environmental issues that we are facing today; for example, it prevents poisoning of the water table because Hemp doesn’t require herbicides or pesticides, plus it replenishes the soil that it is growing on. Hemp is amazing on so many different levels! After watching the film, a lot of people comment that they had no idea that Hemp and Marijuana are not the same plant, and that the documentary has opened their eyes and educated them, which is exactly what you want to hear as a documentary filmmaker. My conclusion at the end of making the documentary
Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
5
the current hemp movement, and the socio-economic impact that has developed from the Hemp market. We are also working on ‘Hemp Canada the Seeds of Growth’ which will educate our American viewers/voters on the currently 11 year thriving Canadian Hemp movement, in conjunction with Hemp Out Agency in Canada. My company, Thunderbird Productions is also in pre-production on a Hemp House Build New Zealand, a Reality TV Pilot following the building of the first Hemp House in New
Woody Harrelson
was that the reason why there is such a widespread diversity in the levels of education about Hemp is because it has taken such a long time for the different Hemp groups and Activists to unite, work together and make a bigger impact. Nowadays things are getting better and I am very proud of the current Hemp movement. Hemp Industries Association (1), and Vote Hemp (2), are the two major players in uniting, educating and informing the public on the current Hemp movement in America. I’m working on two follow up documentaries at the moment, with Executive Producer Dea Riley, Producer Stephanie Bishop, Producer Anndrea Herrman, and filmmaker Sara Roberts, entitled, ‘Hemp America The Revolution’, which focuses on the American Entrepreneurs behind
Zealand which is being built by Hemp Technologies, and Hemp home builder, Greg Flavall. I worked with the team at Hemp Technologies last year on Hemp House Build USA, so it is exciting to be working with Greg Flavall again. Unfortunately co-founder Dave Madera passed away last year after we had filmed the pilot but as homage to such a remarkable man we are scheduled to show some of the footage as a trailer preceding Hempsters during Hemp History Week events Summer 2013. HEMP THE TIME IS NOW... ‘Hempsters: Plant the Seed’ can be downloaded for free at www.hulu.com. The DVD can be purchased through Cinema Libre Studio www.cinemalibrestudios.com Article Resources 1. www.thehia.org 2. www.votehemp.com
HEMP AMERICA – THE REVOLUTION will feature the current fight by US citizens to educate the public about and restore to full production the most misunderstood plant in the USA – the Industrial HEMP plant. Outlawed in 1937 by sweeping federal legislation, the United States economy has endured 75 years of Hemp prohibition. As other industrialized nations benefit in every socio-economic category the US economy remains stifled by failed US Hemp policy. For more than two decades, United States citizens from varying backgrounds and fields of expertise have come together from every corner to reverse the US Hemp ban. They continue to utilize every avenue available including social activism, government interaction, legislation, the courts and even protest. The US Hemp movement, once characterized as a small minority of extremist, has grown to represent the single largest social/economic justice movement ongoing in the US, now comparable to the civil rights movement of the 60’s. All the while, other industrialized countries have advanced their perspective Hemp industries to new levels of success, leaving the USA in the dust. In a time when the United States desperately seeks solutions for a renewed economy, a return to environmental consciousness and desperately seek health solutions – Hemp restoration, the greatest of all opportunities, is lost in the wake of inept leadership, poor economic policies, misinformation and corrupt corporate politics. Hemp America will 6
Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
feature the next great American Revolution and those new ‘founding fathers and mothers’ that will restore Hemp to America. Find out more at www.hempamericamovie.com
COOL COOLHEMP HEMP PICKED BY ANNDREA HERMANN
PRODUCTS
HAVEN HOODIE Form fitting new hoodie with an off-centered zipper that follows your body’s natural shape. High, three-snap collar can be worn open or closed, and has nice detailing that is echoed on the inside of the neck, cuffs and bottom. Extra long cuffs and soft, soy lined, zippered pockets. Made from 55% hemp, 45% cotton fleece. http://budurl.com/esmc
SOUL COMFORT SHEEPSKIN SLIPPERS Soul Comfort’s Eco-friendly Wool and Hemp slippers are a revolutionary product based on ancient wisdom. Our fitted slippers combine the luxurious comfort of natural fabrics with convenience and durability. Our Vancouver Island based company combines a durable 100% hemp shell, with a soothing wool lining and a leather sole to provide the soothing comfort you need. These are slippers with a conscience. http://budurl.com/w7bg
HEMP & YAK WOOL ROUND NECK SWEATER These 55% hemp and 45% yak wool blended sweaters are a beautiful combination of hemp and yak wool fibers blended together to create soft, comfortable and cozy sweaters suitable for wear the whole year round. Made in China by HempAge AG, a leading German company of hemp and natural fiber garments, these sweaters are distributed in North America by hem Basics LLC. http://budurl.com/2y2w
Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
7
HEMP NEWS NEWSROUND UP ALBEMARLE COUNTY OFFICIALS SHOW INTEREST IN HEMP AS CASH CROP Hemp, a robust, fast-growing plant with uses ranging from food to fiber to biofuel, could be the cash crop that economically ravaged areas such as Southside Virginia need to jump-start their economies, its proponents say. Albemarle County could soon join a long list of Virginia localities, including Charlottesvile, that have signed resolutions to separate industrial hemp from marijuana. The supervisors will consider a resolution at their February meeting. Earlier this month, Montgomery County Supervisor James D. Politis was invited before the Albemarle Board of Supervisors to make the case to legalize industrial hemp. Politis said it has almost 25,000 uses and could be planted extensively across the commonwealth. But the federal Drug Enforcement Administration doesn’t differentiate hemp, which is used to make shirts, biodiesel and building material, from marijuana, its potent, illegal cousin. Two bills — one in the House of Representatives and one
in the Senate — that would have excluded hemp from the definition of marijuana failed in 2012. According to the DEA, there is no difference between industrial hemp and marijuana. To the administration, because both plants contain tetrahydrocannabinol — the substance that makes smokers high — they fall under the same category. According to hemp’s allies, that isn’t the whole story. “Under the Marijuana Tax of 1938 and the Controlled Substance Act of 1970, all cannabis was put in the same category,” Politis said. “But there are as many kinds of cannabis as there are canines and felines; some of them will bark at you, some of them will bite you.” According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, industrial hemp is less than 1 percent tetrahydrocannabinol. The cannabis people smoke contains between 3 percent and 15 percent of thc. Story reported by The Times Despatch and can be read at http://budurl.com/v56r
HEMP INDUSTRY POISED TO GROW IN COLORADO WITH NEW LEGAL STATUS Passage of Amendment 64 has given life to a group of zealous enthusiasts who can barely contain their passion for the leafy green substance. No, not pot. The fanatics get their kicks from buzz-free hemp. A genetic cousin to marijuana, hemp is a look-alike plant with one key difference. It contains almost no THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that makes users high. But what hemp lacks in THC, it makes up for by being a remarkable workhorse of industrial utility. From auto bodies to textile fibers to nutrition bars — even as a cleaner of toxic contamination — hemp struts its stuff. Boosters say hemp is poised to become a big industry in Colorado because Amendment 64 allows its legal cultivation pending legislative authorization.
8
Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
Lynda Parker’s eyes light up, the all-natural way, when she talks about it. “My friends tell me I’m too evangelical,” says the retired Dex saleswoman. “But there’s hardly a problem in the world that can’t be solved with hemp.” She ticks off an abbreviated list, just a tantalizing hint, of the practical applications. “Hemp is food, animal feed, fiber, fuel, shelter,” she says. “It cleans the air, the water, the soil. Hemp could be enormous for Colorado because we’re the first state to legalize it.” Hemp’s most common uses are food products derived from seeds and seed oil. Fiber from the stalks of hemp plants are used in clothing and industrial applications, including as a strengthening agent in concrete. Parker is part of an early-stage, loose-knit coalition
formed to raise hemp’s profile. Other members range from a medical-marijuana activist to a Ph.D. candidate at Colorado School of Mines. Their common thread is a belief that hemp is going to be big — bigger, perhaps, than legal marijuana. The Colorado Center on Law & Policy estimates that statesanctioned marijuana sales initially could be as much as $270 million a year, producing state and local taxes of $47 million a year. Yet a mature hemp industry — from farm to factory to storefront — might be 10 times larger than legal marijuana, backers project. Could anything possibly dampen the potential of this beneficial botanical? Well, yes. The federal government for one. Like marijuana, hemp is still illegal in the eyes of the feds, despite Colorado’s clear electoral mandate to legalize it. Federal officials have said little about how they will react to Colorado’s new law. Some analysts say it’s unlikely they will target individual users, but the outlook is less certain for federal crackdowns on larger enterprises, such as farm-scale growing. Hemp backers say that would be an extreme injustice, given that hemp has no narcotic properties. But federal law does not differentiate between the cultivation of hemp and marijuana. Even in Colorado, the Amendment 64 implementation task force is unlikely to set up hemp regulations until next year because it has its hands full with the complexities of marijuana rule-making. There are plenty of hemp products on the market — clothing, food, beverages, construction materials. But because of the federal prohibition on growing, all hemp must come from imported sources. Canada is the largest supplier to the U.S. If Colorado were to establish a hemp-farming industry, it would be limited by a federal ban on interstate transportation of the crop. The harvested hemp would need to stay inside Colorado, where currently there are few major industrial customers. That limitation does not deter Mike Bowman, a Yuma
County farmer and alternative-energy activist. He plans to plant a test crop of 100 acres of hemp, possibly as early as this year, on land typically reserved for corn. Hemp requires much less water than corn, Bowman notes, thus providing a potential solution to over-pumped aquifers on the eastern plains. In Canada, he said, hemp is a more profitable crop than wheat. According to the Alberta provincial government, hemp seed production can yield up to $1,000 per acre. Canadian wheat in 2012 yielded an average of $315 an acre. But the threat of federal intervention in the U.S. and the misperception that equates hemp to marijuana are formidable hurdles. “If hemp had a different name, it would be a lot easier,” Bowman says. Parker and other hemp proponents plan to visit eastern Colorado farm towns this week to talk up the potential. Supplies of Colorado-grown hemp would be welcome by Ari Sherman, president of Boulder-based Evo Hemp. In a small commercial kitchen, Sherman and his four associates make nutrition bars containing hemp seed, fruits and nuts. The company imports several hundred pounds of seed each month from Canadian suppliers. “The transportation costs are huge,” Sherman says. “It definitely would help us to have supplies from Colorado. And to create a product where the majority of the ingredients are from Colorado would be great.” The 1½-year-old company distributes about 700 bars a week to small grocers. It recently signed a deal to supply Whole Foods stores in the Rocky Mountain region and is talking with King Soopers parent Kroger Co. There’s money to be made in hemp, but that’s not what drives industry proponent Parker. “I’m a product of the ‘60s,” she says. “If we make some money, I won’t reject it, but I do this out of my passion for hemp.” Story reported by The Denver Post and can be read at http://budurl.com/2bse
INDUSTRIAL HEMP LEGALIZATION BILL TO GET HEARING, BUT MAYBE NOT VOTE For supporters of legalizing hemp, it’s a case of good news and bad news. The good news? A bill filed in the Kentucky legislature that would allow farmers to grow hemp if federal restrictions are lifted is likely to have a hearing next month in the Senate Agriculture Committee, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
However, it remains uncertain whether the measure will be allowed to receive a vote. Sen. Paul Hornback, a Georgetown Republican and chairman of the committee, says members of his own party might block the committee from voting on the issue. The Senate Republican Caucus will meet Feb. 6 in a closed-door meeting to discuss the measure. Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
9
Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer is leading the charge to legalize industrial hemp, and will chair the next meeting of the state’s industrial hemp commission Monday in Frankfort.
Story reported by WKU Public Radio and can be read at http://budurl.com/973s
HEMP LEGALIZATION EFFORT GATHERS STEAM It didn’t used to be this way. In the colonial era, Benjamin Franklin published an article touting hemp’s virtues, and Virginia farmers were allowed to pay their taxes in hemp. A USDA botanist grew a half-dozen varieties of hemp on federal property in the 1920s. The U.S. government urged farmers to grow “Hemp for Victory” during World War II to provide the raw material for ropes, sailors’ uniforms and other supplies. But a couple of factors — the high taxes the federal government imposed on growing hemp in the late 1930s and again in the early ’50s, and then the DEA’s interpretation of the 1970 law — made producing hemp nearly impossible. But starting in 1999, states began to pass legislation making it easier to either grow industrial hemp or conduct research on it. These measures, however, have had little practical effect. Since the DEA only grants permits in rare instances and demands costly, elaborate security precautions, large-scale hemp growing in the United States is not viable. The Canadian government, meanwhile, recently announced it would invest nearly $100,000 in marketing hemp and researching which varieties would thrive in different regions of the country. Canadian Embassy spokesman Chris Plunkett described industrial hemp as “an important crop” for Canada because it grows well in the northern prairie “where other crops, due to climate, cannot grow,” and can be rotated in to break disease cycles. In the United States, its advocates describe hemp in glowing terms. It can be grown organically with relative ease, and its stalks not only store carbon but could potentially produce biomass energy. The oil is rich in protein and Omega-3 fats and can be eaten as well as be used in
products such as Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps. Hemp seeds are sold as snacks, and it can be made into paper as well as a building composite to replace fiberglass and in some instances concrete. Lynda Parker, a Denver-based citizen advocate, learned about hemp while tracking legislation for a political science class she took in 1996. Five years ago, after retiring, she decided to lobby full time for legalization. “If we’re serious about climate change and the environment, there is no single thing we can do that is more impactful,” she said. Parker and Bowman, introduced to each other by a Colorado Department of Agriculture official, pushed several efforts in the legislature aimed at reintroducing hemp. They worked hard to distinguish hemp — which can actually make marijuana less potent when the two plants cross-fertilize — from pot, trying to overcome what they called “the giggle factor.” “People would ask, ‘Does this mean I can smoke my drapes?’ It’s always the drapes,” Parker recalled. Victory came Nov. 6, when Colorado voters approved Amendment 64, which not only legalized pot but required “the general assembly to enact legislation governing the cultivation, processing, and sale of industrial hemp.” Those working on the federal law describe it as a simple matter of economics. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) who introduced legislation last Congress with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to decouple hemp from marijuana as a controlled substance and plans to push for the bill again this year, noticed the seeds sold as a snack under the name “hemp hearts” last summer at his local Costco in Tigard, Ore. Story reported by The Washington Post and can be read at http://budurl.com/x88z
HIGH COMPETITION, LOW MARGINS KEEPS STOKED VODKA FROM FINALIZING DEAL WITH DRAGONS Brenda Magnusson and Stephanie Cooney met while working at an engineering firm in Grande Prairie, Alta., and became good friends. When Ms. Cooney learned she would be laid off, the two decided to go into business together, although neither had done anything entrepreneurial before. “Stephanie has a business degree and I was in accounting and payroll,” Ms. Magnusson said. “We started coming up with crazy ideas for self-help books, but there was one idea we kept coming back to and that was putting hemp into something — we just weren’t sure 10 Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
what.” They knew about the many health benefits hemp has been credited with, including improved digestion, increased energy, thicker hair, stronger nails and softer skin. “We also thought it was hip and trendy,” Ms. Cooney said. One evening over drinks, Ms. Magnusson added a few drops of liquid hemp to their vodka and orange juice. They liked the taste and believed they had hit on an idea for a business venture: North America’s first hemp-infused
vodka. “There is no THC in this product, it is not marijuana,” Ms. Magnusson affirmed. The pair found a distillery nearby that could provide base vodka to which would be added liquid hemp. “Our vodka is four-times distilled, very smooth and mixes with anything you’d typically mix vodka with,” Ms. Cooney said. “The hemp taste is in the background. The best part is hemp reduces hangovers. A lot of people eat hemp seeds after drinking for that reason.” July 2010 marked the first run of Stoked — one year from hitting on the idea and then incorporating Liquid Chicks. Vodka was chosen over rum and whisky because it sells best. “We wrote a press release that ended up getting picked up by media across the country, which helped a lot to raise awareness,” Ms. Cooney said. “We were on several radio stations and word spread. It was unique and people were interested.” The first run of 1,000 cases, or 12,000 bottles, was launched in Alberta’s private liquor stores; private stores in British Columbia were soon added. “After a few months, we were in 200 stores in Alberta and 100 in B.C. We quadrupled sales expectations for the first year,” Ms. Cooney said. “The distillery had told us that because we were a new product, if we sold 500 cases in the first year that would be great, and we sold 2,000.” When Liquid Chicks appeared on the Den, it had sold 40,000 bottles of Stoked Vodka, generating about $200,000 in revenue. Its $30-a-bottle sticker price — mid-range for a premium vodka — also proved attractive, filling a gap the women had identified in the market. The profit margin is $3 a bottle. “Our target market is 18- to 35-year-olds, but it appeals to people of all ages. Anyone who knows the benefits of hemp is interested,” Ms. Cooney said. Their decision to go to the Den’s Edmonton auditions was driven by a need to get the word out in a big way. “For the first two years, we had no money for paid marketing. We had gotten as far as we did with social media and people seeing the bottle on the shelves. It basically sold itself,” Ms. Magnusson said. “When we decided to go on the Den, sales had evened out and we needed to kick-start it.” The pair asked for $150,000 in exchange for a 30% stake, with the money earmarked for marketing and a U.S. expansion. The pair accepted a deal from Bruce Croxon and Jim Treliving for $150,000 for 50% plus a 5% royalty until
they recoup their investment. The deal did not make it through due diligence and Liquid Chicks is still looking for investors, although they are no longer prepared to give up 50% of the company. Since Stoked got a new sleeker bottle and a new label last August, sales have risen each month. However, the entrepreneurs admit the vodka business is tougher than they anticipated. “Getting Stoked listed with all the government liquor control boards in Canada is very difficult,” Ms. Cooney said. “And the competition from much larger players is tough.” Since the taping last spring, the entrepreneurs have lined up a distillery to produce Stoked for the U.S. market. “The margins are much higher in the U.S. and it’s easier to get into certain states than it is some of our provinces,” Ms. Cooney said. Stoked can be ordered by the case online at stokedspirits.com but the goal is to get it on store shelves across the country and to expand the product line. Hemp whisky anyone? “People think the vodka business is fairly easy and there has been great success both in Canada and the U.S. Plus, it seems to be the drink of choice for people who are willing to try and in many cases are looking for something different,” Jim Treliving said. He liked its uniqueness and it’s hitting on an obvious demand in the market, but he said, “I wasn’t convinced we could take it to the next level. We still don’t know if the liquor control board in Ontario or any of the provinces will carry it.” With so much choice available, Mr. Treliving said, it’s hard to compete. “When I looked at the margin, I had to ask, does it make sense for me as an investor at 50% if the profit is only $3 per bottle? One of the problems with this model is that they are giving up a lot to have it manufactured by a third party. It’s hard to make money unless you make the vodka yourself.” John Cho, partner with KPMG Enterprise, also is concerned about the high level of competition in this category, pointing out that Liquid Chicks is up against heavyweights. “They will have to spend money to raise awareness and to get it into restaurants and bars. That will be key.” People may buy it out of curiosity but will they buy it again? How quickly will it move and will they be able to sustain a strong sales volume? They’ve made a good start but can they maintain it?” Story reported by The Financial Post and can be read at http://budurl.com/rht2
Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
11
THE HEMP CONSPIRACY
UNRAVELLED
Hemp was once a staple crop for the United States of America. Our founding fathers grew hemp. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were hemp growers and advocates for hemp. Rudolph Diesel, who invented the Diesel engine, and Henry Ford, the car manufacturer, both proclaimed that hemp was going to be the industry of the future. In 1938 Popular Mechanics magazine called hemp the “new billion-dollar crop” which was around the same time that new technology was developed to make it much easier to mass produce hemp products.
BY ZACK DILIBERTO
The story we depict in the book is set between the 1920’s and 30’s and is about a family fighting to save their crop. The story features fictional characters, including the hemp farmer and his daughter as well as historical characters, such as Harry J. Anslinger and Henry Ford. Anslinger was a frustrated prohibitionist who was on a crusade against alcohol. He lost the battle but was recruited by people who wanted him to fight against hemp in the same way.
While some people like to call this a conspiracy, it’s not a conspiracy in the sense of the J.F.K. assassination. What happened to hemp over 70 years ago is a secret event that has been conveniently left out of the history books and been replaced by a lot of myths and indoctrination about what hemp and marijuana really are.
He was appointed the head of the Federal Narcotics Bureau and was aligned with some big players, such as the newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, who was heavily invested in timber plantations, the chemical company Du Pont who sold chemicals to turn the timber into paper, and Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury and a significant investor in the Du Pont business. These individuals and companies were against hemp because they saw it as a threat to their business interests.
Some very powerful industries profited out of orchestrating that misinformation campaign, which led to the general ignorance that we have in this country today about hemp. This is something that my co-author Nini Martine, and I worked to change through our book, “Hemp”.
Anslinger went before Congress in the 1930’s and in congressional testimony made the association between marijuana and hemp. He told Congress that although the hemp plant has many uses for rope, paper etc, marijuana was the most murder inducing drug known to mankind and if it was not stopped it would destroy the
So there was a hemp industry for a long time before it was wrongly vilified and destroyed because of the association with marijuana.
12 Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
youth of the country. While our crusade is not to legalize marijuana, it’s important that people look objectively at the facts. Love or hate marijuana, it is impossible to believe that it is the most murder-inducing drug known to mankind. These are the facts that we want to get out there, to let people know why the most useful plant in the world is not more widely available. Over 70 years ago, Henry Ford had a car that not only ran on hemp fuel but was constructed with hemp and other plant materials (1). In my experience, when people are confronted with this information it blows them away, because they think “what happened to that technology and why wasn’t it further developed”. The answer is simply that there was a powerful lobby against him doing that. The fictional part of the book tells of how the farmer and his daughter fight back to try and save their hemp crop, but at the end of the day they lose their farm and everything that they had. It’s a very big story, and it covers a lot of ground, but it is told from the point of view of simple American people fighting to keep their livelihood. The response from our audience has been great. People like the story, they like the characters, and there is always that sense of outrage that the powerful anti hemp lobby destroyed the industry. We tried to make the characters people that our readers could connect with, and as you read the story of how the Burnetts’ tried to save their farm, you can see how unfair what happened to them really was. Plus ultimately, how unfair it is to this country and to the world, because we are facing many economic and environmental problems and hemp could be the answer to so many of them. We’ve just written a mini-series of the novel with an author named David Strauss. We have an agent, and we’re trying to sell it to the right network, maybe HBO, or one of the other smaller cable networks. Now we are trying to get this story out there in a bigger medium than the book.
Francine and I believe that once people are aware of the real history of this amazing plant, the rest will fall into place. “Hemp” is available at the website www.hempthenovel.com, on Amazon and through Barnes & Noble. Article Resources http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLKDTfQMhfg
Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
13
HEMP
AN IDEAL FIBER FOR MAKING PAPER
BY ELISHEVA SHALOM
were a blend of rags and tree bark. Because the fibers were already processed into a textile, beating them into a pulp was easier than starting with the raw plant material. Up until the 1880’s it is said that 75-90% of the world’s paper was made from hemp. But after the movable plate printing press was invented and paper making spread, the demand for paper rose and there weren’t enough rags to meet that demand.
I first learned about hemp as a teenager when I came across the book “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” by Jack Herer (1). I read it from cover to cover, highlighted the whole book and was amazed at the many industrial applications of hemp. At the time when I was still in high school, hemp was quite an esoteric topic that only a few people knew about. Now hemp is gaining a lot of momentum, especially now that Colorado and Washington have legalized cannabis use and hemp growing. The Washington Post had an article about hemp on the front cover yesterday reporting the big push by individuals and companies for legalization of hemp farming in America (2). They also touched on the conflict between the State and Federal Governments over this decision. The section of “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” that went into the detail about hemp paper touched me deeply. I’ve grown up with asthma and therefore air quality is so important to me and through reading the book I realized that we need to stop cutting down trees for paper. A few years later, I became interested in photography and started taking a lot of nature photos. Friends suggested that I make greeting cards with the photographs, and my business began to take off. I always had it in mind that I would like to use hemp paper for the cards, so I did the research, found a company that was making hemp paper in California and started making my greeting cards with the material. I was excited to become involved in the hemp movement, to educate and promote hemp as a source of paper through constructive, ethical and conscious business practice. Hemp paper has a long history. Long ago, many people made their clothing from hemp, which they recycled by turning the rags into paper. The earliest papers ever made 14 Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
Currently, there are a handful of companies making hemp paper. Greenfield Paper (3) in California, supply hemp paper made from a blend of 25% hemp from clothing scraps and Canadian hemp fibers with 75% post consumer waste. There is also a company based in Barcelona called Celesa (4) who are the largest hemp pulp processor in the world. Celesa use only a certain part of the stalk to produce very thin and fine cigarette papers. There is technology available which can process the whole plant stalk. I recently spoke with John Stahl (5) who used to produce 100% hemp paper in California. John is experimenting with fiber crops for paper making and is very knowledgeable about hemp processing. Together with Dr Krotov in the Ukraine, he has developed a new process to produce a really high quality pulp from the whole stalk, which can be used to make any kind of paper. This technique reduces the energy needed to produce the pulp because then you don’t have to separate portions of the stalk. It also means that the land can be utilized very efficiently as farmers can sell their seeds for food use and the stalks for paper making. More recently I have started making my own hemp paper. I felt frustrated because there is so much information out there about hemp as the ideal fiber for paper making and yet the paper itself is so difficult to find. I began making hemp paper in a local art studio that has professional paper making equipment and have invested a lot of money and time in learning how to make it. I am continuing to experiment and it’s amazing how easy it is. Making hemp paper is really a beautiful experience. I use the pure raw hemp fiber and beat it into a pulp. It takes a good beater machine to get the pulp because the fibres are so strong and durable. Once you have a pulp you make the paper using the standard paper making process. The paper that I have made so far is a fine arts paper. It can be run through a printer but at the moment I am researching the different mechanical methods and plant resin coatings that can be used to reduce the bleeding of the ink. I’m also experimenting with different weights, sizes and thicknesses and techniques such as
block printing. What I love about hemp is that there are so many applications for the whole plant; the seeds, hurd and the fiber. I see an imbalance at the moment with so many companies selling hemp seeds - they are all selling the same thing just putting it in a different package. We need more people to create new products from not just the seeds but the stalk. That is one reason I also wanted to promote the use of hemp for paper. We need to remember that hemp is so versatile; there are so many different things that we can do with it. The paper industry is relatively new industry so we still have a way to go but I believe we can make it from hemp. Article Resources 1. http://www.jackherer.com/thebook/
3. http://www.greenfieldpaper.com
2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ health-science/hemp-legalization-effort-gatherssteam/2013/01/13/f8b984f0-5a94-11e2-9fa9-5fbdc9530eb9_story_2.html
4. http://www.celesa-pulp.com/ 5. http://tree.org
LOVELY HEMP HEARTS FOR VALENTINES DAY v
LIGIA POP
(www.ligiaskitchen.com)
INGREDIENTS Base ½ cup 1 tsp 3 tbsp ¼ cup 3 tbsp 2 tbsp
hulled hemp seeds raw vanilla powder raw cacao powder water honey psyllium husks
Glaze 2 cups frozen strawberries 1 cup water 3 tbsp honey
Topping ¼ cup pomegranate seeds
DIRECTIONS Place the ingredients for the base in a bowl and mix well with a spoon until combined. Place two heart shaped moulds on a plate and spoon the mixture into the moulds. Smooth the top of the mixture to get a nice flat surface, and then place the pomegranate seeds on top of the cakes. To make the glaze, blend the strawberries, honey and water until smooth. Pour the glaze around the cakes and savour every mouthful. For more details see the video at http://budurl.com/enc4 Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
15
16 Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
SO YOU WANNA BE A HEMP FARMER? Q & A WITH GORDON SCHIEFELE For many people, when they first learn about hemp and the wide array of products that can be made from the crop, they start to wonder whether they should grow hemp. It’s a romantic notion, but is it as easy as it sounds? In this Q & A Dionne Payn interviews Canadian Plant Breeder and Scientist, Gordon Schiefele, who gives an on the ground insight of how to grow hemp. WHY DO YOU THINK CANADA WAS ABLE TO RECOGNIZE EARLY ON THAT GROWING HEMP WAS SUCH A GOOD OPPORTUNITY WHEREAS THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAVEN’T REALISED THAT YET?
I believe it was two or three fold, one was the approach we took was realistic, scientific and nothing to do with the historical background. Here was a fibre research crop that has significant potential for future industry, for example, the natural fibre industry. We deliberately distanced ourselves as much as possible from from marijuana and we had several politicians that were strongly in support of the effort and were very influential. We also had some extremely astute and professional people involved that were working with Health Canada to construct the initial regulatory system. And there was an urgency put forward at that time to have it completed by 1998, which it was. WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT GROWING HEMP?
The hardest thing is to reconcile that hemp is very easy to grow. However to grow it successfully it requires a great deal of careful management and recognizing it is uniquely different than any other crop we have grown in Canada in the past, including flax.
So that is the first profound admission that has to take place. I don’t know how to grow it, I have to learn and its going to take me a year to 2 years before I can consider myself a successful hemp grower. Those are the first couple of key things that have to be admitted to. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS TO PEOPLE THAT DECIDE THAT THEY WANT TO GROW HEMP?
Be prepared to lose money in the first couple of years. Many farmers get discouraged and quit. It takes strong persistence and almost a religious commitment of devotion and dedication to the crop to grow it and manage it successfully. The first real benefits are just the satisfaction that you have done that. The other thing is that hemp cannot be grown in isolation, there has to be a core of growers in an area that work together and share equipment. Growing the crop is one phase, processing and marketing the crop are the next 2 phases. Growers have to determine what their market is going to be before they start growing so they can meet the market demands. Is it going to be for fibre, is it going to be for grain and etc. And also very early on it will be essential to develop their own plant genetics which is another aspect of developing the industry. WHAT ARE YOUR REASONS FOR SUGGESTING THAT FARMERS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO LOSE MONEY IN THE FIRST COUPLE OF YEARS?
Hemp is expensive to grow, it’s a high fertility crop, plus it’s a new crop, which has to compete with conventional established crops that are being grown in the area. To grow a profitable crop, firstly you need to have the right genetics to have a variety that is adapted to your locality Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
17
and will be economically profitable. So the first few years you have to experiment with all kinds of existing commercial varieties from other areas that have been growing hemp. And most of the European production is in Northern Europe, north of the 48th latitude so they’re very early varieties. And in Ontario we’re around the 42nd latitude and require much later varieties than are normally grown in Europe. So we had to start a breeding program and develop our own varieties which is a similar situation to Australia. ONCE YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL AND YOU HAVE YOUR GENETICS WORKED OUT, WHAT SORT OF LEVEL OF PROFITABILITY COULD A FARMER EXPECT A COUPLE OF YEARS DOWN THE ROAD?
We feel that today in Ontario a farmer should be able to make a net field profit of $200-300 for grain production. The net profit comes after paying for land rental and all of the expenses involved in growing the crop. For fibre we’re not too sure yet because we still don’t have a fibre industry and aren’t growing the crop exclusively for fibre. WHAT MACHINERY DO YOU USE TO HARVEST THE CROP?
Harvesting is one of the more challenging areas where the crop clearly identifies itself as unique. And up to this point planting is nothing exceptional other than it’s very important to have good uniform seed depth, shallow seeding so you get very uniform emergence to make sure you get a good solid canopy for weed control. When it comes to harvesting, if you want to harvest for grain you must obviously go to something that can combine and thresh the grain so conventional combines will
18 Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
work. When several farmers work together in a region the combine can commute back and forth and work together. One combine can be set up to do the harvesting by having some modifications made. Usually the best fit combine models are John Deer, the larger models 9500, 9550, 9600 models of John Deer combine a large capacity and some minor modifications and the head should be a draper head which is also unique. After the grain is harvested, the remaining straw in the field can be harvested for fibre, usually a haybine used for cutting hay with a sickle bar or a discbine will work to swath the straw in to swathes. They are dried and then a conventional large round baler is used to package the straw into large round bales. WHAT EXACTLY IS CHALLENGING ABOUT THE HARVESTING PROCESS?
Hemp is hemp, it has a mind of its own, there’s no other crop like it. There are some days where it has a mind where it just won’t let you harvest at all. It will just wrap, wrap, wrap [around the machinery] and give you nothing but headaches. And then another day, it might work fine! Hemp is very temperamental and the big thing is to respect that it doesn’t tear, the straw does not tear but it wraps. So anything in the equipment that would lend itself to wrapping is where you have to give your attention for additional protection. Interview recorded between Dionne Payn and Gordon Scheifele. The full interview, transcript and workbook are available at www.hemplifestylemagazine.com/hemp-farming
WIN A PAIR OF
HEMP SOCKS! WIN A PAIR OF STRIPY HEMP SOCKS FROM NOMADS HEMP WEAR.
For your chance to win simply answer the following question...
WHO IS SAID TO HAVE MADE THE FIRST US FLAG FROM HEMP? Send your entry to admin@hemplifestylemagazine.com by Friday 9th February 2013. Entry is open to Hemp Lifestyle Magazine subscribers. The winner will be picked at random and will be notified by Wednesday 13th February. Thank you for entering the competition and good luck!
ADVERTISE IN
HEMP LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE
If you are looking to advertise to industrial hemp enthusiasts, green and environmentally conscious readers then consider advertising through the Hemp Lifestyle Magazine and website. Your ads can be ordered online and paid for through Paypal, bank deposit or cheque. Click here for online ordering With advertising starting from $15 per month, we can help you make your marketing dollars count. Choose the service that’s best for you. ADVERTISE IN HEMP LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE SPECIFICATION (INCH)
PRICE PER MONTH (AUD)
Full page: 7.125 (W) * 9.875 (H)
50
1/2 page horizontal: 7.125 (W) * 4.75 (H)
28
1/2 page vertical: 3.5 (W) * 9.875 (H)
28
1/4 page: 3.5 (W) * 4.75 (H)
15
VISIT WWW.HEMPLIFESTYLEMAGAZINE.COM/ADVERTISE TO ORDER YOUR ADS ONLINE
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The artwork is the responsibility of the advertiser and must be of a high quality and relevant to the magazine. Hemp Lifestyle Magazine has the right to refuse any advertising that is not in alignment with the niche, the target market or the Hemp Lifestyle Magazine brand. Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14
19
SUBSCRIBE
WHY SUBSCRIBE
?
FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN
HEMP BASICS HEMP & YAK SWEATER $45 VALUE!
Never miss an issue of Hemp Lifestyle Magazine Get access to all of our back issues Downloadable copy of Hemp Lifestyle Magazine delivered to your inbox
This 55% hemp 45% yak wool round neck sweater from Hemp Basics is a beautiful combination of hemp fiber with yak wool. Yak fiber is soft and smooth with wonderful hand similar to camel. The yak fibers are the soft under coat of down which the yak sheds annually and are gathered for combining with hemp fibers to create soft downy yarns that are used to knit this beautiful garment.
Your print subscription delivered directly to your door (shipping included) 2 bonus issues of Hemp Lifestyle Magazine sent with your first package 60 Day Money Back Guarantee for digital and paid subscriptions
Please select from the following 12 month subscription options
Digital Magazine only
USD $37
Print & Digital Magazine Ship to UK & US - USD $108 Ship to Rest of the World - USD $156 Order your subscription to Hemp Lifestyle Magazine by credit or debit card, through Paypal our secure payment processor.
TO ORDER VISIT WWW.HEMPLIFESTYLEMAGAZINE.COM/PAID-SUBSCRIPTIONS
THE NEXT ISSUE of Hemp Lifestyle Magazine is due out on the 1st May 2013. That’s right, from the 1st May we will be publishing Hemp Lifestyle Magazine, four times a year. Look out for a new look to the magazine as well as the website. In the meantime we will still be updating the Hemp Lifestyle Magazine blog and Facebook page, so you can get your regular dose of hemp news and views. Be sure to email us at admin@hemplifestylemagazine.com with suggestions of what you would like to see in the magazine. Warm wishes and keep hemping!
Dionne Payn and the team at Hemp Lifestyle Magazine
20 Hemp Lifestyle Magazine 14