March 8, 2010 – The smell of sweet skunk and sounds of cannabis coughing were tell-tale clues for the location of the 11th-annual Victoria Cannabis Convention.

Many members of Victoria’s cannabis community gathered this past Sunday, Feb. 28, in UVic’s David Strong Building, to celebrate and educate people about marijuana’s benefits.

The event was hosted by Hempology 101, a non-profit society that looks to educate the public on marijuana’s medicinal, industrial, environmental and social benefits. The society gathered a who’s-who of marijuana activists to speak on issues confronting the marijuana community, marijuana’s history and new opportunities and products from this plant.

The list of speakers included lawyers, police and advocates.

Bill Finley from Victoria’s Hemp & Company spoke of “the beauty of this plant, from an environmental perspective.”

His company views their role beyond retail sales to include environmental education and excellence, right down to the construction of their stores. They recognize that their product, hemp, is a sustainable source of fabric, food, bio-fuel, paper and natural beauty products, all grown without toxic chemicals.

Finley, like other speakers, talked about “the many misconceptions that prevent hemp from realizing its potential” and the reefer madness that surrounds marijuana as medication and a social drug.

Ted Smith, president of Victoria’s Hempology chapter, sees the marijuana advocates’ biggest threat as “the Conservatives’ agenda to throw pot growers in jail with whatever C-crap [Bill C-15] they come up with next.”

Smith is also concerned about “the complete lack of [marijuana] research being done in Canada.” Currently, the only federally funded marijuana research is directed toward schizophrenia.

The conference wasn’t about re-hashing the issues marijuana activists and enthusiasts face, but focused more on education and building a sense of community.

Smith felt that the convention was a success.

“If one person decides they are going to do more out of this day, we have done real well,” he said. “[Cannabis conventions, with people] just getting together and speaking has not only informed people, but has made them feel like they are part of a greater community of people that are interested in more than just partying and getting high — to me, that’s really powerful and can have a great impact.”

Government and Bill C-15

The Conservative Crime Bill C-15 has been put on hold until Parliament resumes. But just how tough Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to be remains to be seen.

The Liberal party has not been very vocal on the issue either. However, on his last visit to Victoria where he spoke to students at UVic, Liberal leader Micheal Ignatieff said he would not legalize marijuana.

The NDP’s Libbie Davies — MP for Vancouver East — and Victoria MP Denise Savoie have both publically commented on the new legislation.

“There’s a lot of information, both in the U.S. and in Canada, that shows that mandatory minimum sentencing regimes for drug offences are ineffective,” Davies told media. “It’s based on the U.S.’s war on drugs, which has been a complete failure.”

Savoie has similar feelings on the issue.

“The current federal government’s approach to drug policy is poorly targeted, attacks symptoms while ignoring root causes and misses creative economic opportunities,” said Savoie. “This U.S.-styled war on drugs is simplistic, knee-jerk and counter-productive: we already spend 73 per cent of our drug strategy on enforcement, yet drug use continues to rise.” Source.

November 26, 2009 – Alberta Canada is going green, but not in the way some might think. Just outside the town of Vegreville, the Alberta Research Council is working to add hemp farming to Alberta’s list of lucrative industries.

The Vegreville nursery is home to the largest research and production facility of hemp in North America. Industrial hemp grown in Alberta can be used in a number of products ranging anywhere from textiles to fibreglass. Products made from hemp have less environmental impact than those made from glass or plastics, and in many cases are more energy efficient.

Jan Slaski, breeder and plant physiologist at the Vegreville facility, explained why this is the case.

“Bio composites produced from hemp are more environmentally friendly. Replacing glass fibre with bio-fibre produces a much lighter product. A lighter product means that your car, boat, or airplane is lighter and uses less fuel. High-end European car manufacturers, particularly German manufacturers, use bio-composites in their panels,” he said.

Historically, hemp has been grown in Canada for hundreds of years, but was banned in 1938 due to the associations hemp has with marijuana. This ban was later lifted in 1998. Industrial hemp, unlike marijuana, does not contain high levels of THC, the compound in marijuana that causes intoxication.

According to Slaski, Canada has very strict guidelines for hemp farmers.

“Cultivating hemp in Canada is regulated by Health Canada,” he stated. “The hemp that can be grown in Canada is strictly industrial hemp, and can only contain less than 0.3 per cent THC.”

This amount of THC is not enough to associate industrial hemp with narcotics. Such a low amount of chemical in industrial hemp should take the negative drug associations out of the industry.

The varieties of hemp currently grown in Alberta have mostly European origins. Researchers at the ARC have adapted European varieties to thrive in Alberta’s climate. Researchers have tested about 80 different cultivars (or plant varieties) from different regions to distinguish which varieties grow best in Alberta soil. The ARC has identified a Polish cultivar, also known as the Silesia variety, which has a 20–40 per cent higher crop yield than the cultivars presently allowed for cultivation in Canada. The group owns the sole rights to this variety of hemp in North America, and covers all aspects of hemp from development to processing to production, which is a benefit to the Alberta economy.

“ARC is offering solutions from seeds to the final product. This means we work with hemp to develop new cultivars and new agricultural practices. The new cultivars have a high yield and are adapted to our Alberta climate conditions,” Slaski said “We then take the hemp stock to our facilities in Millwoods, and soon we will have a processing facility in Vegreville, and process it.

The ARC oversees the hemp from seed to the final product. This means that all research, farming, and processing of the fibres is done locally keeping jobs and revenue within Alberta.

Slaski argued that this is a huge benefit to Alberta farmers and the overall economy. It’s also a benefit to individual farmers because hemp is a very lucrative crop.

“Farmers here in the province look for cash crops. They want something they can finally start making money on and hemp provides that opportunity,” Slaski said. Because industrial hemp is relatively new to Alberta, bio-composites are a bit more expensive, but the ARC is setting industry standards.

“At this point, it is a niche market,” Slaski said. “Working with mainstream industry, working with auto industries, buildings, textiles, it means we can get a much larger volume of materials produced and we can re-establish hemp as a valuable crop to Alberta.” By Krista Allan. Source.