What if there was a plant that had over 60,000 uses?
A plant that had the ability to heal some of the deadliest diseases we know?
Could replace many chemical medicines for problems like depression and insomnia?
A plant that could reduce the growing and devastating effects of deforestation?
Preventing the habitat destruction of many endangered animals?
A plant that was illegal for reasons that simply don't make sense?
That plant is cannabis and the name alone invokes various thoughts in our minds.
Maybe your parents have their views on it, and that has rubbed off on you.
Or perhaps you associated it with people sitting in their rooms and smoking it.
But linking cannabis to something that just gets you high
is like saying water only serves one purpose.
This video is about to get interesting so sit back and relax.
Let's take things back to the basics.
There are three species of cannabis:
all of which can be split, although usually the sativa type,
into an industrial compound referred to as hemp,
which is where the industrial side of cannabis comes in.
Hemp has been used for thousands of years and its usability is unlike anything else.
It can be used for oil for cooking and converting to fuel.
The seeds, which are among the most nutritional ones on the planet,
supply nearly every mineral and vitamin the body needs.
It can be used for clothing, and not only needs half the amount of water than cotton
but also requires no chemicals or fertilisers.
It can also be used as housing insulation, fibre boards; and it's a phytoremediation,
a plant that can remove toxins, radiation and contamination from water and soil.
Hemp was used in the agricultural fields around the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site
to help remove the heavy metals and radiation from the unusable land.
Scientists behind the plant used hemp as a phytoremediation, and stated
that as well as being excellent for the job of removing harmful waste,
the hemp could then be converted to bio-diesel afterwards.
Now, the conversion to bio-diesel is far from environmentally friendly,
but the fact that this plant has the ability to do this is incredible.
Hemp's natural process of removing harmful toxins
was also considered for the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima.
Due to the strict cannabis laws in Japan, hemp was not used, though.
But the two main resources that can be produced using hemp
that could have a deep impact on planet and our lives are paper and plastic.
According to a study conducted in 1916,
it's believed one acre of hemp over the course of twenty years
can produce four to ten times the amount of paper than trees.
And, although the deforestation problem we face now is attributed to many things,
reducing the need for tree paper by using hemp
would still reduce the damaging effects paper production has
which sees roughly four billion trees being cut down a year for that purpose.
Yet, less than 0.1% of the paper we use is made with hemp.
Hemp plastic, which can not only be made to be completely biodegradable,
reducing extensive pollution on beaches and destruction to marine life,
can also be produced with little or no chemicals,
which we all know makes up the majority of plastic we use today.
Those who discredit the broad use of hemp as a material say
it can be costly and overlong to produce the equivalent of what we have today,
and they're right.
However, cheaper is not always best,
as shown with the impact of chemical-laden and non-degradable products we consume.
Hemp would most likely cost more to use, but the overall impact would be justified.
Where do I begin with the medical side of cannabis?
Let's start with what scientists and researchers believe
is the reason it has profound benefits in the first place.
So far they have been able to identify 483 chemical compounds within the plant,
80 of which are called cannabinoids.
Though the studies are becoming a lot more popular,
so far we do not know a whole lot about these 80 cannabinoids
or their effect on humans, as the research has been focused on just a few of them,
such as delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol,
by far the most studied chemical,
binding the receptors in your nervous and immune system when heated,
causing you to get high, and it's the only compound in cannabis to do so.
It's the chemical that medical marijuana is most active in,
as it acts as a side-effect-free muscle relaxant,
anti-inflammatory, anti-depressant,
and current studies are showing that it could be used as a therapy for anxiety,
the side effects of chemotherapy, cancer growth reduction, Crohn's disease,
chronic pain, insomnia or multiple sclerosis, just to name a few.
The next one is tetrahydrocannabinolic acid,
which is the same chemical as the one just talked about in its unheated form,
which means it's a non-psychoactive compound.
This is administered by juicing cannabis like wheat grass or any other plant,
as it contains medical properties that are lost when heated.
Though the chemical is in its early stages of research,
it's thought to be an effective treatment as an anti-inflammatory
and of a variety of illnesses without any significant side effects,
and will not give patients the feeling of a high either.
Cannabidiol is similar and has been linked as an effective aid for anxiety,
nausea, acne, schizophrenia
and many neurodegenerative diseases.
The studies haven't gone on long enough to know full benefits cannabis may have,
and there's a reason for that.
It's been illegal in nearly every country since the early 1900s.
Let's talk about that.
We have established that cannabis has thousands of industrial uses,
and many of these can be produced with less of an impact on the environment
than conventional products,
and that cannabis may have more medical benefits
than any other natural, untouched product in the world.
So why would something with all these uses and benefits be illegal?
It can't be due to the high when smoked because if that was the case
and the law wanted to protect us, then why would alcohol and tobacco,
substances that kill millions every year, or even refined sugar,
linked to a lot of health complications human suffer from today, be legal?
That just wouldn't make any sense.
But if it's not illegal due to health concerns, then why is it?
Well, it's confusing and there's lots of false information about the subject,
although it seems there are three supposed reasons.
First, in 1929 Harry Anslinger, the head of the prohibition department in the US,
was dealing with the backlash of the alcohol ban,
and once this was removed, his department were practically non-operational.
So they came up with an idea to tell people cannabis was a devil drug
that turned men into wild beasts
that would attack women.
Apparently, Harry contacted 30 scientists asking for proof to show to the public,
but 29 of them said they could not find valid proof that the drug was dangerous.
The second explanation is linked to the 1900s Mexican immigration to the US.
When the Mexicans arrived, they brought marijuana as a medicine and relaxant.
In order for the US to have an excuse to search and deport the immigrants,
marijuana became the perfect drug to criminalize and label dangerous.
And lastly, one that many people reside to when asked why cannabis is illegal
is that major companies, mainly DuPont, became worried at the many uses of hemp,
more specifically nylon,
which DuPont invented around the same time the cannabis laws were being enforced.
It was profitable to back and promote the government's decision to tell people
cannabis was a drug to make people high when in fact it was to ban the use of hemp
from being a nylon alternative.
It's hard to prove why it's illegal, as no authentic records seem available.
One or a combination of the above seems the reasoning for the US to ban cannabis,
resulting in other countries to follow.
But regarding the last theory, I wouldn't say big corporations are greedy
and do not want to use hemp.
If this theory is factual, I think it's now gotten to the stage
where it's too far gone for them to make the change to hemp,
since after it was made illegal, all manufacturing was grounded to a halt
and no new technology was used to advance the hemp production,
meaning that getting to it now would be very costly.
Whatever the reason, cannabis is illegal in the majority of places,
be it an outdated racial action or the greed of big corporations.
Only now, nearly 100 years later, as it's becoming less frowned upon,
are doctors and researchers realising how powerful it could be.
For me, everything on this planet serves a purpose,
whether it's the bees and wasps that pollinate plants and flowers
or whether it's you who fulfils your purpose in life.
It seems everything has some reason for being here,
and many say cannabis has the purpose of providing humans with thousands of uses
with very little impact on the planet.
Yet, because just one of many things it's used for makes you high,
the law has perhaps stinted the research and industrial production
of one of the most incredible materials on the planet.
To finish off, I want to state I am not a cannabis activist by any means.
Probably like you, I never thought of hemp apart from the fact that it can be smoked
till I started researching for this video, which I wanted to talk about for a while,
because it's made me, and hopefully you, realise
that there is so much more to it than that.
That doesn't mean the benefits of cannabis can justify smoking weed, though.
For some people smoking it can cause social and life problems,
and the effects have been shown to possibly harm a developing young brain.
So if you're unhappy, don't have a job and smoke weed in your room all day,
I know you need to be going after life.
Though weed's linked to busting depression and anxiety, and many other problems,
quitting your habits could be the best thing you do.
Certainly do not think to now go out and smoke weed for its health benefits
because medical and recreational cannabis can vary massively,
and the potential for long-term side effects is still being researched.
Those taking cannabis for medical benefits mostly don't want to get high
and only require a small amount of the drug in the first place.
An amount that would not have any mind altering effects,
but still seem to help relieve and prevent many illnesses.
I hope you've enjoyed this video.
I'll see you in the next one.