Hemp biofuel blazes competition

by Grant BanksResearchers at University of Connecticut have found that industrial hemp has properties th...

Researchers at University of Connecticut have found that industrial hemp has properties that make it attractive as a raw material for biofuel production

While the food versus fuel debate continues to put crop-based biofuel production on the back burners it might just be Cannabis sativa that blazes the competition. Researchers at University of Connecticut have found that industrial hemp has properties that make it viable and even attractive as a raw material, or feedstock, for producing biodiesel. Hemp biodiesel has shown a high efficiency of conversion (97 percent) and has passed laboratory’s tests, even showing properties that suggest it could be used at lower temperatures than any biodiesel currently on the market.
The plant’s ability to grow in infertile soils also reduces the need to grow it on primary croplands, which can then be reserved for growing food according to Richard Parnas, a professor of chemical, materials, and biomolecular engineering at UConn.
“For sustainable fuels, often it comes down to a question of food versus fuel,” said Parnas, noting that major current biodiesel plants include food crops such as soybeans, olives, peanuts, and rapeseed. “It’s equally important to make fuel from plants that are not food, but also won’t need the high-quality land.”
Cannabis sativa is known for it’s ability to grow like a “weed” in many parts of the world, needing little fertilizers, or high-grade inputs to flourish. But the seeds, which house the plant’s natural oils, are often discarded. Parnas points out that this apparent waste product could be put to good use by turning it into fuel.
“If someone is already growing hemp they might be able to produce enough fuel to power their whole farm with the oil from the seeds they produce. The fact that a hemp industry already exists means that a hemp biodiesel industry would need little additional investment,” he said.
Although growing hemp is not legal in the U.S., Parnas hopes that the team’s results will help to spur hemp biodiesel production in other parts of the world. And while the Proposition 19 ballot in California to legalize Marijuana was defeated last week, the pathways have been opened for more discussion on Cannabis sativa production in the U.S..
As for other industries that utilize Cannabis plants, Parnas makes a clear distinction between industrial hemp, which contains less than one percent psychoactive chemicals in its flowers, and some of its cousins, which contain up to 22 percent.
“This stuff,” he pointed out, “won’t get you high.”
http://www.gizmag.com/hemp-biodiesel-dope-biofuel/16852/

Cannabis Scratch and Sniff Cards

Dutch officials in Rotterdam and The Hague are hoping upwards of 30,000 people will commit their olfactory glands to the pursuit of illegal marijuana grow operations in Holland. The crime-busting plan involves sending out scratch & sniff cards impregnated with marijuana scent to 30,000 homes, hoping to educate people on how pot plants smell, so they can call police when they sniff-out an illegal grow-op.
The 8 by 4 inch (20 by 10cm) card calls on citizens to “Assist in combating cannabis plantations!”, with helpful sleuth hints such as looking for places where the curtains are always drawn, where there are buzzing noises, or illegal electrical hook-ups and, of course, the sweet, hay or sage-like aroma of healthy cannabis plants.
The Dutch government decriminalized the use and possession 5grams (0.18 ounces) of cannabis back in 1976, and people can generally grow up to five plants for their personal use without facing prosecution. However, black-market and criminal activities are valued at around €2 billion euros (US$2.7 billion) annually and may number up to 40,000 grow-ops.
Each year around 6000 illegal grow-ops are found, with around 300 in Rotterdam, according to Richard Anderiesse, who is part of the city’s cannabis task force. Concern about the grow–ops, apart from being illegal, include the risk of fire and water loss due to illegal tapping into the supplies.
http://www.greenmuze.com/nature/garden/3215-cannabis-scratch-and-sniff-cards-.html

The DEA wants to make it easier to sell marijuana

… if you’re a pharmaceutical company.
It was, of course, fascinating (although unsurprising) how fast Marinol was able to get moved from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3. Marinol is, after all, synthetic THC (or dronabinol) and marketed to function the same as marijuana (although its limitations can be quite severe compared to whole plant cannabis).
Marinol has, interestingly, even marketed itself as “legal marijuana.”
Well now the DEA is concerned that some companies who want to sell “legal marijuana” might have a hard time doing it, so they’ve published a notice of proposed rulemaking that would allow them to open up the definition of Marinol in Schedule 3 to include “Any drug product in hard or soft gelatin capsule form containing natural dronabinol (derived from the cannabis plant) or synthetic dronabinol (produced from synthetic materials).”
After all, they want companies to be able to market alternative versions and generic versions of Marinol…. just so long as it isn’t actually cannabis.

(ii) Any drug product in hard or soft gelatin capsule form containing natural dronabinol (derived from the cannabis
plant) or synthetic dronabinol (produced from synthetic materials) in
sesame oil, for which an abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) has been approved by the FDA.

Once again you have the DEA and the FDA working together to make sure that the pharmaceutical companies are taken care of without having to worry about trivialities like proving “accepted medical use.”

When drug products that reference Marinol® receive FDA approval, they will have a currently accepted medical use in the United States.

Actual cannabis, on the other hand, is claimed by the DEA to not have a currently accepted medical use in the United States, despite reams of evidence.
You can comment on the proposed rule making by January 3. Not sure what good it’ll do. Not even sure what comment I’d make… “Yes, please expand the definition because that might eventually lead to…” or “No, don’t let the other drug companies in until cannabis itself gets invited…” Not that the DEA is going to be interested in what I have to say.
http://www.drugwarrant.com/2010/11/the-dea-wants-to-make-it-easier-to-sell-marijuana/comment-page-1/

Schwarzenegger: ‘No One Cares If You Smoke a Joint’

 
 

Schwarzenegger

 

 

 

Tmz :    Soon-to-be-former governor of Kaleefornia Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn’t have been more blunt on the topic of weed last night — telling Jay Leno that in CA, “No one cares if you smoke a joint or not.”Ahnald hit “The Tonight Show” to talk about the recent elections, when Leno brought up a pro-pot bill the gov just signed, making cannabis possession “like a speeding ticket.”
Arnold went on to explain that Prop 19 — which would have sorta-legalized the recreational use of weed — wasn’t defeated in Kaleefornia because it was a bad idea … but because it was written poorly.
It ain’t the first time Arnold’s spoken out in support of weed — dude famously puffed on a joint in the 1977 documentary, “Pumping Iron.”

http://foreign.peacefmonline.com/entertainment/201011/103617.php