Michelle Aldrich: Cancer Free!

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—20— O’Shaughnessy’s • Winter/Spring 2013

Cannabis Healed My Cancer

By Michelle Aldrich

Editor’s note: Michelle Aldrich, 66, has been working for marijuana legalization —which she defines as "the right to grow it for free in your backyard"— for most of her life. She and her husband Michael live in a comfortable old apartment near the San Francisco Marina which they moved into 40 years ago. The following is adapted from a talk Michelle gave in July to the Women’s Visionary Congress.

I had smoked cannabis since 1967 but early in 2011 I kept saying I could not get high. I was smoking a lot. I now believe that THC was going to the tumor and lymph nodes, which is why the cancer did not spread more than it had.

On November 15, 2011, I was supposed to have lunch with Diane Fornbacher from the NORML Women’s Alliance. I was too sick to go. I felt like I had the flu.

That week I got a call from Linda Ward, who is now my therapist. I had been looking for a new therapist since 2009, when I got off all the meds that I had been taking for 20 years for depression —Prozac, Lamictal, and Trazadone. Rick Doblin [director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies] found Linda for me just when I really needed to talk to someone. The start of synchronicity.

I felt well enough to go see the doctor on November 22. It was my first visit with a physician’s assistant named Sally Holland. The first thing I told her was that I smoked marijuana. She asked if I vaporized? I told her I didn’t. Then I said my husband and I got the lifetime achievement award from

High Times Magazine last June. Her response was that her brother was the general counsel for High Times. I knew at that point that Sally and I would get along and I could trust her and didn’t have to educate her about cannabis. Lovely...

Sally said that I had bronchitis, which I usually get at least once a year. She asked when was the last time I had a chest x-ray. I said a long time. She sent me for a chest x-ray and gave me antibiotics. The next day Sally called to tell me I had pneumonia.

I saw Sally again on November 30 for a follow-up. I was still sick and was given more antibiotics. Sally informed me that the x-ray showed a growth on my right lung, which would need to be checked out. My first response was "cut it out" if it was so small. I wanted to be aggressive. I saw Sally again on December 9. She sent me for lab work and said the doctor wanted to see me.

On December 21, I saw Gary Feldman, MD, my primary care physician, who gave me a thorough workup. I told Gary about the heat I had felt in the middle of my chest for almost a year. The tumor and lymph nodes were right on my heart chakra. He sent me for a CT scan on December 23.

The CT scan showed that the tumor on my lung measured 23 x 28 millimeters. [25.4 millimeters = one inch.] There was also a growth on my left kidney.

On January 4

th, 2012, I had another CT scan to evaluate the growth they had found on my kidney.

On January 5

th I had an echocardiogram, a procedure using ultrasound to show a two-dimensional picture of the heart.

On January 6

th I had a CT fine-needle aspiration biopsy of the lung. Tissue was taken for analysis in a lab.

The results of the biopsy were supposed to be available on the ninth. They weren’t.

I saw the kidney doctor on January 11, and he said he thought the growth was a cyst and was not related to the growth on the right lung. This was seemingly good news.

On January 12

th I got a call from Dr. Gary Feldman. He said it was cancer on the right lung. It was "poorly differentiated non-small cell adenocarcinoma." He referred me to an oncologist, Dr. Ari Baron at California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC).

I was fortunate to get on MediCare when I turned 65.

I decided immediately to seek support from my network of friends in the medical cannabis community. I announced my diagnosis on Facebook.

I called Clint Werner, who had recently released his book

Marijuana Gateway to Health: How Cannabis Protects Us from Cancer and Alzheimers Disease. Clint, being a macrobiotic chef, told me to avoid sugar since "sugar feeds cancer. Avoid red meats and processed foods, no dairy and no wheat. Eat lots of fish, especially salmon."

I needed to change my eating habits. I had already avoided wheat for years — now, more restrictions.

Early that evening Dr. Donald Abrams called. A friend for some 20 years, Abrams is chief of Hematology and Oncology at San Francisco General Hospital. I told him that Ari Baron would be my oncologist. Dr. Abrams recalled that when Dr. Baron was a resident, he had taught him how to tie a bow tie.

Dr. Abrams recommended that I add supplements: 3,000 milligrams of Vitamin D, two Ultimate Omega fish oil capsules, and two 1,000 milligram Stamets 7 mushrooms to increase my immune system He wanted to be kept up to date and offered his help throughout the oncoming struggle.

Dr. Abrams had been working closely with Andrew Weil, MD, the founder and program director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Dr. Weil called me on Sunday. He offered sympathy and support, and also asked to be kept up to date on my condition. I have known him as Andy for 40 years. He was a Trustee of the Fitz Hugh Ludlow Memorial Library; Mike and I had been on the board.

And so I had my Dream Team of doctors.

On the morning of January 17th I emailed Jeannie Herer —Jack’s widow— to tell her about my situation. Then I went to see Dr. Baron for the first time. He wanted me to undergo more tests to determine the stage of the cancer. He referred me to Dr. Peter Anastassiou of CPMC, who would be my surgeon.

I saw Dr. Anastassiou and found out he was the doctor who had operated on Jack Herer, when he first needed heart surgery. He was also a friend of Dr. Tom O’Connell and had taken over his practice. More synchronicity.

When I got home Jeannie Herer phoned to say that I should do the "Rick Simpson oil" —a highly concentrated cannabis extract that, taken at high doses, has reportedly had an anti-cancer effect. I had read about it but didn’t know where to get it or how to take it or —the biggest question of all— if it would work. Jeannie told me to call Valerie Corral from WAMM.

I talked to Valerie the next day and she brought me the first batch of what she calls "Milagro Oil" to a California NORML board meeting on January 21

st.

On January 19

th I met Dr. Charles McDonald, the head of the Pulmonary Function Lab at CPMC, who would be my pulmonologist. Michael and I supplied him with several research studies on smoking cannabis and lung function, since he would be doing an inservice training on the subject for the hospital staff. He scheduled me for a pulmonary function test and he would be doing the bronchoscopic ultrasound, which would tell us how far advanced the cancer was. He would focus on the lymph nodes.

I had the pulmonary function test on January 23

rd. Dr. Anastassiou would not do surgery until he knew that the function test was satisfactory. It was.

Either the PET scan showed a better picture or the tumor was growing.

After the January 24

th PET scan, the tumor measured 30x31mm. Either the PET scan showed a better picture or the tumor was growing. The PET scan shows inflammation in the body. It lights up the parts where the inflammation is. The tumor, the lymph nodes and the colon lit up. So I had to have a colonoscopy.

McDonald did the endobronchioscopic ultrasound fine-needle aspiration biopsy on January 25

th to finish determining the stage of the tumor. He said the lymph nodes were "big."

The final diagnosis was "Stage 3A poorly differentiated non-small cell metastatic adenocarcinoma of the right lung with bulky lymph node involvement." At least three of the lymph nodes were cancerous.

January 26

th, I had an MRI to make sure that it had not spread to my brain.

I saw Dr. Anastassiou and he mentioned bulky lymph nodes. He said he wanted to take out two lobes of my right lung butthat he could not operate until the lymph nodes had been reduced in size or sterilized. I would need chemotherapy to reduce the lymph nodes.

I looked up more information on the 27

th and found out that the survival rate for this adenocarcinoma is 25% in five years; but with bulky lymph nodes the five-year survival rate goes down to two-to-five percent.

I had nothing to lose by doing the oil except maybe the cancer. The oil couldn’t harm me. It would protect normal cells from damage while I was undergoing chemo. It was very scary to think that if this did not work, I might be dead by Christmas.

I needed to set a new course. A course correction. I needed to change my destiny. I did not want to die of lung cancer. I would do everything possible to restore my health: diet, chemo, acupuncture, and Cannabis oil. I knew I had a wonderful support group and a dream team of doctors.

On January 30

th, I saw Ari Baron. He explained that they could not do radiation since the lymph nodes were so close to the trachea. Chemo was scheduled every three weeks for four sessions.

On February 1

st, I had the last test, which was the colonoscopy. Three polyps were removed and it showed diverticulitis. I had now finished all the tests to prove I had cancer and where it was. Now I could start the oil and no one would be able to say "but you didn’t have cancer to begin with so how do we know it was the oil that worked?"

The doctors had not heard about cannabis oil and its potential for healing cancer.

We are very lucky to live in San Francisco where many doctors know about cannabis therapy and accept it as a part of the process of treating people with cancer, AIDS and other illnesses. But —except for Donald Abrams— they had not heard about cannabis oil and its potential for healing cancer. They accepted my use of the oil but were dubious that it would get rid of the cancer. I gave them the protocols from Israel. I would show them that it did work.

The "milagro oil" that WAMM provided me with was made by distilling an extract of cannabis until it contained 63% THC. Because the psychoactive effect can be so strong, Valerie recommends that patients start with a 10:1 mixture of hempseed oil (which is nutritious but not psychoactive) and milagro oil, then go to a 5:1 mix, and finally to pure oil as THC levels in the body build up. It took me 34 days before I worked up to taking the oil undiluted.

My regimen was going to be one gram of oil a day for 60 days. I could not stand the taste of it, so I put it in gel caps.

Another knowledgable friend recommended that I use a CBD tincture if I felt anxious from the oil. I followed that advice and it did help.

With each of the ratios, I started with five drops of milagro oil in the morning and five in the evening. I then increased the pm dose to 10 drops. I then increased the am dose to 10 drops until I finished each ratio.

M

ichelle Aldrich with

LindaWard...

W

ith Diane Fornbacher

T

he lungs, with the heart, fill the cavity of the thorax (chest). They rest on an arched muscle called the diaphragm which separates the thorax from the abdomen. The trachea (windpipe) is a flexible pipe that runs down the front of the neck from the root of the tongue to the top of the breast bone, where it branches into two bronchial tubes. These tubes divide and subdivide until they form very small closed tubes which, before they terminate, bulge out to form respiratory bronchioles.

The object of respiration is (1) to supply the blood with the oxygen necessary for the numerous oxidation processes constantly occurring within the body, and (2) to remove carbon dioxide and other oxidation products formed within the body. As blood passes through the lungs it comes in contact with the air, which removes impurities from it.

ontinued on next page


O’Shaughnessy’s

• Winter/Spring 2013 —21—

I finished the 10:1 oil on February 17

th. I finished the 5:1 oil on March 5th. I started the pure with oil that evening and woke up on the 6th with massive dry mouth. On March 25th, I started using a half of gram twice a day until I did the last oil on May 16th. Seventy-two days of using the pure oil. I did not get high at all.

WAMM’s Full Extract Cannabis Oil was made with from both Sativa and Indica plants (mostly Indica). It is made by taking cannabis —buds, leaves and small stems— and distilling it down in an enclosed container using Everclear as the solvent until it becomes a concentrated oil.February 2

nd was the date of the first chemo. Michael stayed with me. I was given Alimta, Carboplatin, Avastin and a shot of Neulasta. I would sit in the chair for three or four hours with the drugs dripping into my veins.

It went well except that I was a little nauseous for a couple of days and constipated. The food had started tasting strange. I showed the nurses the Omicron vapor pen. They liked the no smell, no smoke and discreet delivery system. It could be used in hospitals.

During the second chemo session on February 24

th, Diane Fornbacher stayed with me. She had come out from the East Coast to interview me about taking the oil and surviving lung cancer. The adverse effect this time was just constipation plus the strange taste of food.

I started acupuncture on February 28

th at Quan Yin. SPARC, a San Francisco dispensary, provides low-cost acupuncture for patients through Quan Yin. It is drop-in on Tuesdays.

The third chemo session was on March 15

th. My friend Freddie from the South Bay spent the time with me. The constipation was better but the food taste was getting hard to deal with. I did not feel well and it was hard to eat.

The fourth and last chemo was on April 5

th. My friend Andie, who is a nurse, spent the time with me. This time I was nauseous for days and could not keep food down. My mouth started burning when I drank water. I finally used the vaporizer to help with the nausea. It worked.

At every chemo I tried to educate the other patients and the nurses about the oil and cannabis in general. I gave them a copy of Clint’s book for the library.

Not knowing if I was going to live or not, I started collecting Social Security. I made a will, a durable power of attorney and other medical directives.

It sounds okay, but when you eat the same thing every day for five months, it gets very unappetizing.

My appetite was fine until the beginning of April. But the diet I was following on the advice of Donald Abrams was unappealing: no dairy, no sugar, no wheat, no meat, chicken only once a month and only organic. I ate a lot of fish (salmon, mainly). I ate fruit for breakfast, a salad for lunch and salmon and vegetables for dinner. It sounds okay, but when you eat the same thing every day for five months, it gets very unappetizing.

An Adverse Effect

Something happened to my mouth after the last chemo on April 5. I stopped producing enough saliva to help the food go down, plus everything tasted horrible. On the way to the Patients Out of Time conference in Tucson, even drinking water burned my mouth. The doctors at the conference told me to take Biotene. It did not help.

After I got back from Tucson, I needed to eat, so I basically threw out the diet and ate anything that I could get down my throat, which was not much. It was very important that I got all the nutrition I could so I would be ready for surgery.

It was not until the beginning of July when I went to the acupuncturist that I was able to eat again. I had been surviving on anything I could get down to my stomach (milk shakes, soups). I survived the hospital on ginger ale. I was 172 pounds when I started and now weigh 137.

I had known Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi for more than 20 years. I had seen her in early April at a political event at City Hall. I took her hands in mine and told her I had lung cancer. "Please stop the feds from taking my medicine away," I said. I could tell that she was dismayed by my news and urged me to meet with members of her staff.

On April 16

th I met with members of Pelosi’s office and urged that she take a stand against the federal intervention that was threatening my health, my recovery and my life. It may have helped that she could put a name and face on someone who would be helped by using cannabis. A week later she issued a press release calling for an end to the raids. It was the strongest statement she had ever made in support of medical cannabis. The Speaker of the House also got 73% of her fellow Democrats to vote "yes" on the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment to the appropriations bill that would defund DEA raids on state medical marijuana providers. One day it will pass.

On April 17

th I had a CT scan. At 6 pm Ari Baron’s nurse called to say the tumor had shrunk by 50% and the lymph nodes were significantly reduced. No new disease. The doctor, she said, was "ecstatic."

Peter Anastassiou said it was a great response to the chemo and I reminded him that I believed it was mainly from the cannabis oil. He said the key thing is the lymph nodes, which had totally regressed. He wanted to do a biopsy. If the lymph nodes were negative, he said, then we can remove the tumor. He was thinking that he might be able to remove a small section instead of removing two lobes of the right lung. I wanted to wait until I finished the oil, plus I was going to the conference in Tucson.

The pathology report from the April 17

th CT scan reported "significant interval decrease in size of primary middle-lobe lung cancer with marked regression of mediastinal and right hilar lymphadenopathy suggesting response to therapy."

Chemo does not touch diverticulitis… it had to be the oil that healed it.

The CT scan of April 17

th showed a few scattered diverticula were present in the colon but no evidence to suggest divertculitis. It had disappeared. Chemo does not touch diverticulitis… it had to be the oil that healed it.

The trip to Tucson for the Patients Out of Time conference was a disaster. My mouth burned every time I drank water. I had extremely sore inner lips and mouth. I could hardly eat. I was nauseous, starving and had cramps in my intestines. I became very anxious and had several panic attacks.

I came home very depressed and just wanted to die, if I could not even eat. Linda came over when I got back and convinced me to "Not make any decisions right now, you’re in an altered state from not being able to eat." Her advice saved my life and I was willing to be aggressive again.

On May 8

th Ari said he didn’t understand why I was still having mouth problems and did not know if it was from the chemo. We scheduled a PET scan on May 10th, which would tell me if I could have surgery or not. He said the chemo drugs were long gone from my system. Anything that happened between then and surgery on May 18th could be attributed to the oil.

On May 10

th I signed on to participate in a clinical trial involving stem cells that might help shrink or kill tumors. The tumorous tissue removed from my lungs would be given to the researchers.

The report on the May 10

th PET scan said "Disappearance of previously described subcarinal nodal conglomerate and the right middle lobe mass has nearly completely resolved." Dr. Anastassiou called and said "Spectacular... Active cells light up and nothing is lighting up... No tumor was visible on the PET scan."

The lymph nodes had completely shrunk and there was "virtually complete resolution of the tumor," which was pretty remarkable. In other words the cancer was gone.Peter could not say there was no active disease yet because of the high recurrence rate of lung cancer and a resection was warranted.

We had learned a new word in Tucson –apoptosis— which means reprogramming the cancer cells to kill themselves.

In the pre-surgery report Dr. Anastassiou wrote: "homeopathic therapies including hemp oil had putative benefit of directing apoptosis by stimulation of the cannabinoid receptors on the tumor cells." We had learned a new word in Tucson –apoptosis— which means reprogramming the cancer cells to kill themselves. It’s a wonderful word for a miracle.

I finished the oil on May 16

th and had the surgery on May 18th. It took three hours. Dr. Anastassiou removed six lymph nodes and the (2.5cm) remains of the tumor from the right middle lobe. The residual tumor was a thin rim surrounding a necrotic core. What was left of the tumor turned out to be dead tissue. He used VAT (video-assisted thoracoscopy), a surgical procedure that allows for a quicker recovery time since it is minimally invasive. But two ribs got broken during the process.

Even though the surgery went well, I was sicker than a dog. Thank goodness that I don’t remember much of it. I was allergic to dilaudid. I threw up for days even after they switched me to morphine. I was released on May 23rd even though I was still nauseous. That was the wrong thing to do. The pills they gave me I could not keep down. I was back in the emergency room on Friday for four bags of fluid.

They readmitted me and the next thing I remember was them asking for permission to install a stent in my heart. They thought I was having a heart attack. I wasn’t. It is called stress cardiomyopathy or Broken Heart Syndrome. They thought it was probably from all the vomiting and loss of fluid. It is reversible but it takes time. I was finally discharged on May 31

st. Fourteen days in the hospital. And they sent me home with a bladder infection. So much for hospitals…

He had never seen lung cancer totally eradicated by chemo, much less in four months.

Dr. Anastassiou had visited me every day in the hospital. I finally asked him if he had gotten it all. He said yes, that I was now what they call NED (No evidence of disease). They use that terminology for lung cancer. Other cancers they say you are in remission. He had never seen lung cancer totally eradicated by chemo, much less in four months. I assume cannabis oil was the factor that made the difference.

It has been a long road back. The hardest part of the whole process was the restricted diet. For weeks I experienced sweats and the chills that alternated all day long. The

Michelle Aldrich

from previous page

A

t che

motherapy

A
bout to undergo aPETScan

W

ith Peter Anastassiou, MD

With husband mike

continued on next page



with

asyringe ofmilagro oil.

A
t the Women’s Visionary Congress. —22— O’Shaughnessy’s • Winter/Spring 2013

whole month of June was spent getting my system back to functioning normally. Finally, after acupuncture treatment on July 2

nd, I wanted to eat. At that point I decided to eat anything I could. This gave me enough energy to be able to walk. I started with four blocks in 10 minutes. By mid- July I was up to 12 blocks in 27 minutes. When I told my story of illness and healing at the Women’s Visionary Conference on July 28 I was still weak and lacking stamina, but getting better day by day.

I cannot say that I am cured (at least so the doctors don’t get all their feathers ruffled) until I am disease-free for five years. So I say that I have been "healed by the milagro oil." I do not need more chemo since there is nothing left for the chemo to work on.

Michael says that this is a magic plant. It counters cancer and if it was the flowers of a petunia plant that killed cancer it would be all over the front pages of newspapers round the world. But this is cannabis, which the government maintains there is no medical use for (no matter what the science says). I believe I have proved them wrong.

My cancer was healed by a combination of milagro oil, chemotherapy, healthy diet, acupuncture, brilliant, empathetic doctors, and loving support from many friends. I am truly blessed.

I want to thank my husband, Michael for being there through all the ups and downs of this journey. He has been my support, my scribe, my driver, my cook and of course the love of my life.

I truly believe that if it wasn’t for Valerie and the oil I would not be alive today.

Every day I read about people dying of cancer and I know I was able to heal my body of cancer. Why is this health-giving plant not available to everyone? People should not have to go through the suffering that cancer brings. We need to get this information out to the world.

Cannabis is a healing plant and can even

Michelle Aldrich

from previous page

M
ichelle Aldrich getting dosing instructions fromValerie Corral

O’Shaughnessy’s

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Hemp Healthy Cooking: Hemp for Lunch

My cookbook, Hemp Healthy Cooking: Hemp for Lunch is now available online and as an iPad app on Cookbook Cafe -- the new grassroots way by @bakespace to publish and shop for cookbooks! Get it now and please click the share button below to tell your Friends. http://www.bakespace.com/cookbooks/detail/Hemp-Healthy-Cooking%3A-Hemp-for-Lunch/553/ !

Robert Platshorn’s “Should Grandma Smoke Pot” To Air In Prime Time, South Florida

image via: blacktunadiaries.com

Our good friend Bobby Platshorn is a man on a mission – to convert the AARP-demographic to supporting marijuana law reform. Thanks to very generous supporters who donated the big bucks, Platshorn’s groundbreaking TV show, Should Grandma Smoke Pot?, will be airing in prime time starting tomorrow on various South Florida cable and broadcast outlets.
Silly US Parole Board, grounding Bobby to Florida without his supper. Now you just made him mad.

Grandma Comes to Prime Time

Controversial Medical Marijuana Expose to Air in Prime Time on South Florida TV

South Florida 2/3/13: Should Grandma Smoke Pot? The controversial television show produced by former pot smuggler and founder ofThe Silver Tour, a nonprofit teaching seniors about medical marijuana, Robert Platshorn, will air in prime time at 7pm on WHDT-TV. Recently featured on The Daily Show, CNN Money and on the front page of The Wall St Journal, the show will be seen this Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with a special airing on Sunday evening on South Florida’s largest high definition TV station.
The show features well known doctors like Dr. Andrew Weil, researchers from major universities, legal experts and current medical marijuana patients, including South Florida stock broker Irvin Rosenfeld, who for over twenty seven years has received free marijuana from the federal government. Grandma is a mini version of Platshorn’s well publicized Silver Tour Show that has been teaching seniors the benefits of medical marijuana.
After The Silver Tour began receiving international acclaim on the front pages of newspapers like the Wall St Journal, Robert (who is featured in the movie Square Grouper) and award-winning editor Walter J. Collins produced Grandma to meet demand by seniors for more information about medical marijuana.
Platshorn, who spent almost thirty years in federal prison for smuggling Colombian marijuana to South Florida, became a full time legalization activist after leaving prison four years ago. While traveling the country to promote his memoir Black Tuna Diaries, he met hundreds of Americans who were using cannabis successfully to treat a variety of ills. The groups with the biggest need were seniors. Living in Florida with its huge senior population and no legal medical marijuana convinced Robert that changing the law here and in other states that outlawed cannabis was the only solution.

After hearing Platshorn, a former famous pitchman, speak at a local legislative meeting, State Senator Jeff Clemens (D-WPB) has filed a new bill for medical marijuana in Tallahassee. Amazingly, the new bill, similar to Colorado’s medical initiative, appears to have bi-partisan support. Florida could join the eighteen states and Washington DC that already allow its use.
The US Parole Commission, who claim Platshorn is still on “Special Parole”, was so upset by his recent successes as an advocate that they ordered, “you may no longer travel to promote legalization of cannabis”. In spite of this setback, Robert sends out his message via television. Should Grandma Smoke Pot? can be seen on WHDT-TV in South Florida on cable and broadcast TV from South Beach to Vero Beach beginning this Monday.
For more info, photos or interviews: Robert Platshorn, email tunaville@yahoo.com, cell 954-773-6967 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 954-773-6967 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

“The Hemp Plant, Humankind's Savior - 50,000 Uses and Counting”

Written By: Jeff Meints

01-23-2007

The hemp plant was one of humankind's first cultivated plants and there is quite a lot to educate oneself about this greatly historical plant. With the help of the hemp plant we, as a society could eliminate smog from current fuels, create a cleaner energy source that can replace nuclear power, remove radioactive waste from the soil, and eliminate smog from our skies in more industrialized areas. The hemp plant could assist in eliminating non-biodegradable plastics and cars by reintroducing Henry Ford's 100 year old dream of building cars made from hemp with a plastic hemp car body that can withstand a blow 10 times as great as steel without denting, weighs 1 thousand pounds less than steel, hence improving gas mileage, can run on a vegetable oil based all natural hemp fuel, and has a completely biodegradable body. Nationwide hemp production could eliminate deforestation by converting current paper to hemp paper which can be recycled up to 8 times where as our current wood pulp is only recyclable up to 3 times, and we could thrive from eating hemp seeds and feeding it to our animals and livestock.

Industrial hemp can make our future roads, highways and freeways from hemp based concrete, which lasts for centuries. Society can benefit from the hemp plant's attributes such as oxygen production, hemp's dense root structure, and hemp's nutrient and nitrogen production back into the soil. Chemicals in cannabis can be used in medicines and are estimated to treat around 250 diseases and illnesses, from which studies have shown inhibits the growth of cancer cells in rats, as well as a long list of other ailments. Finally, we could make an estimated 50,000 products ranging from building composites, cellophane, dynamite to shampoo, textiles, twine and yarn. If the US grew industrial hemp it could stop wars, save the environment, boost our economy, improve general health and well being, virtually end our reliance on any foreign entity, and save humankind from itself. But wait, wait, wait. I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning.

Studies have shown that hemp's biomass can be converted into energy and could replace nuclear power and our current fossil fuels.[Belle, Mika] Just by farming 6 percent of the US's acreage this could be achieved. "Hemp grown in biomass could fuel a trillion-dollar-per-year industry, while at the same time create more jobs, clean our air, and distribute wealth to our communities and away from centralized power monopolies." Hemp's biomass can be converted into gasoline, methanol, and methane at a fraction of the current cost of oil, coal, or nuclear energy.

An article from Montana State University states, “When burned in a diesel engine, bio-diesel replaces the exhaust odor of petroleum diesel with a smell something akin to french-fries. Bio-diesel is 11 percent oxygen by weight and contains no sulfur, so instead of creating sulfur-based smog and acid rain as by-products, it produces 11 percent oxygen instead. Bio-diesel can be made from domestically produced, renewable oilseed crops such as hemp.” The hemp grown through government farming and regulation is called “industrialized hemp” and contains no more than 0.03 percent THC content, which is not a high enough percentage for drug use. Canada, China, and England are examples of countries who have never prohibited, but instead have responsibly grown, produced, and thrived off of industrialized hemp [Hemp].

Imagine being able to dump our nuclear waste somewhere that wouldn't have any adverse effects on the surrounding environment. The hemp plant can help with that as well. A nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Russia had a meltdown April 1986 and experiments have shown that the hemp plant can help remove the toxicity in the soil. “There is an estimated 30,000 sites in the United States are estimated to be needing hazardous waste treatment” and the hemp plant is the answer to this terrible environmental issue.[The McGraw Hill Companies].

Henry Ford had a dream of “cars made from the soil” and created the first bio-fueled car and also, a car made from hemp. The body of the car was made out of veggie-plastics made from flax, wheat, hemp, and spruce pulp.[Davis, Richard M] As an experiment, Ford struck the door with an ax in the dead of winter and it didn't leave a dent. The material was “ten times” stronger than steel and yet one-third the weight, hence saving on gas mileage. “Popular Mechanics Magazine, Vol. 76, No. 6, December,1941. Title: Auto Body Made of Plastics Resists Denting Under Hard Blows.“[Carver, George Washington] Henry Ford's dream was saving American lives, human lives. The car was completely bio-degradable and so with that Henry Ford achieved his dream of “a car made from the soil.”[Malmo-Levine, David] Fords cars were in my definition: the poor person's car. A car you could sustain on your own, distilling your own alcohol, or hemp and creating your own fuel in your own backyard while saving your family thousands of dollars per year. Hemp oil was even used, as grease to lubricate parts within the car's engine. [Malmo-Levine, David]

Ford's dream materialized before me, as I learned how he made a car grown from the soil, a car made out of and run off of hemp, and a plastic that is scientifically documented to be ten times stronger than steel and one thousand pounds less in weight. If this were our implemented into current day driving would be like bumper cars and getting into a crash might no longer be such an intensive insurance matter. If all the cars on the road were made with hemp the injuries and deaths would become considerably less. Industrial Hemp must again become our main crop producer and be used in the making of every single car produced in America. The hemp plant could saves millions of American lives. “Car accidents involving other moving vehicles accounted for the large majority of accident deaths in California in 2004 with 1,336 deaths due to collisions with other vehicles. This accounts for about 35% of all fatal car wrecks throughout the state. Telephone poles, palm trees, street signs and other stationary objects accounted for another 1,072 auto accident deaths in 2004.” [Resource 4 Accidents]

Despite Industrial Hemp having 50,000 uses, Dupont, Rockefeller, Hearst, Mellon and their constituents cornered the industrial and medicinal market with political propaganda. Dupont created Nylon, owned General Motors and was “one of the top ten U.S. based petroleum and natural gas producers and refiners.”[DuPont] Rockefeller owned Standard Oil and was soon known as the “richest man in modern history.”[Rockefeller] This is a political science paper and can be viewed at one of my Blogs here at http://marijuana-tax-act-1937.blogspot.com/. But lets not get off topic, so big business and capitalistic politics thrived and outlawed the hemp plant that had sustained the United States of America, since the days of our founding fathers and all for someone else's selfish monopolistic goals.[Malmo-Levine, David] Henry Ford achieved his dream, but he was denied any true public recognition and any further industrial hemp progression. Every citizen of America was denied Henry Ford's hemp dream of a car made from the soil.

In 100 BC, hemp paper was invented in China using hemp and mulberry. Since 100 AD, when the Romans wrote a guide to farming hemp it has since been farmed all over the known world. From the Germans, Franks, Vikings, Chinese (who have never prohibited the use of hemp all-throughout history), English, Canadians, Egyptians, and even Americans all grew, produced, and thrived off of hemp. In 1150 AD, Muslims created the first paper mill and for the next 700 years hemp paper was what most civilizations wrote upon.[Schaffer, C.] Civilizations around the world and for example; during the Napaleonic Era, ship’s sails, ropes, and sailor’s clothing were made from hemp.

Hemp paper can be recycled up to eight times while the current pulp wood fiber can only be recycled three times. By farming hemp throughout the United States and even the world it could assist in reducing deforestation by 50 percent, or more.[Hemphasis] George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were two examples of historical spokespersons for growing hemp and in 1619 the Virginia Company made hemp cultivation mandatory, which increased commerce with England and helped the American economy thrive. Our Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper and our first American Flag was made out of hemp. [Schaffer, C.] These historical economical and industrial concepts and examples can easily be applied to present day.

“Hemp seeds contain beneficial omega fatty acids and amino acids, more than any other source.” The seeds can be used in a number of food dishes in baking, prepared as tea, any type of food like ice cream, and milk. Cultures all over the world have consumed hemp seeds in times of famine to prevent starvation which has saved millions of lives.[Saunders, Clare] The nutritional facts astounding, for example; hemp seeds contains 20 percent complete and highly digest-able protein.[Earth Friendly Network] Canadian Hemp seed exports surged 300 percent a few years back and China, and other eastern countries have to this day never prohibited hemps cultivation and use it extensively. [Hemp]

“Only 1 acre of hemp is said to produce more oxygen than 25 acres of current forest.” [Bryon, Alan D.] Theoretically, if our cities had greenhouses on top of all the office buildings, like in Los Angeles, filled with hemp then the massive output of oxygen would be a massive intake of carbon dioxide. This in turn should make our cities skies once again blue, healthy and smog free. Methane is one of the main producers of green house gases and one of the many major causes for dramatic global climate change. [Hopwood, Nick, and Jordan Cohen] Therefore, our farmers can grow hemp in our cow pastures, so the hemp plants can have first hand absorption of methane gases via cow farts, and burps. The cows can also eat directly from the hemp plants around them, which would eliminate the need to use hormones and steroids, due to hemp's nutritional facts.[Earth Friendly Network]

Hemp has a superior connection with the earth compared to other plants. When you plant hemp in an area that is infested with Canadian Thwack Grass, or Canadian Thistle Grass, the hemp plant's dense root structure will smother out these invasive weeds and make that land again arable.[West, D.P.] Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to Congress back when the colonies were first founded that requested that the government grow hemp instead of tobacco.[Hemp] Tobacco drains all nitrogen and nutrients from the soil, which leaves the land less arable, or harder to farm upon. Hemp restores nutrients and nitrogen back into the soil. [Davis, Richard M.] Another attribute is that hemp is drought and disease resistance, which gives hemp the added advantage of being able to be grown in even the most dry to wet climates and has little-to-no need for pesticides, because the hemp plant is highly resistant to plant diseases, illnesses, and pests. Hemp's dense root structure helps prevent mudslides, erosion, and natural catastrophes. The hemp plant is one of the only plants that can be harvested year-around in states like California, or Florida for example, due to the harsh climates in those regions.[Davis, Richard M.]

In France there are bridges centuries old made out of a mixture of hemp and lime. This process is called Iso'Chanvre and is another great example of possible industrial innovations regarding the hemp plant.[Rawganique] Society could build roads and bridges that wouldn't require continuous repairs and wouldn’t require endless tax payer dollars each year. Clothes, pottery, shoes, jewelry, shampoos, pies and so much more can be made from hemp and no part of the plant would go unused. From hemp’s roots, stems, leaves, and even what might be considered waste from the hemp plant can be produced into any of the estimated 50,000 products.

Our current education doesn’t teach us that Columbus sailed across the Atlantic with the rope on his ships, the caulking and rigging, and yes the sails, all were made from hemp.[Schaffer, C.] There was also no mention in our history books of the endless crates of hemp seeds Columbus and the other ships brought with them. Not only did they survive by eating the hemp seeds, but they planted the seeds in America and overtime, hemp now creates an estimated 50,000 products.[Carver, George Washington] The hemp plant's most common product is it's fiber, especially the bast fibers which are extremely strong and durable.

Hemp can also be used in building composite material such as beams, studs, fire resistant building materials, fiberboard and even such things as paint, varnish, ink and carpet. There seems to be a consensus that hemp building composite materials are stronger, more durable and flexible than our currently used wood pulp composite building material. “In 1935, two years before being outlawed, 116 million pounds of hemp seed were used in the United States to produce paint and varnish.”[Robbins Pet Care] Is there anything hemp can't be made out of? Hemp wood composite is fire durable, which would benefit those who lived in fire sensitive areas.

Regarding marijuana: You can avoid the whole problem of growing hemps psychoactive counterpart cannabis aka marijuana by growing the plants in a controlled environment and exposing the female plants to male plants. When the female plants are pollinated by the male plants their (THC) or Tetra-hydra-cannibanol level begins to drop. The longer the plants are held in these pollinating and harsh conditions, the THC level will continue to drop and you can maintain the THC percentage to stay below 0.03 percent making it impossible to use the plant as a drug.[Innvista] If other countries can responsibly produce and cultivate hemp for industrial uses then there is no reason why America cannot responsibly produce and cultivate the hemp plant too. Unless we aren't a responsible nation?

Archaeologists have found evidence linking hemp and its psychoactive counterpart marijuana back to 8,000 BC when agriculture and hemp textile industries began in Europe and Asia [Medical Cannabis]. By 3725 BC, Shen Nung Pen Ts'ao of China wrote of cannabis in the world's first medical text and Ts'ao declared cannabis as “a superior herb.”[Schaffer, C.] Cannabis sativa have been used for medicinal purposes for 4,800 years and has been prescribed for over 250 illnesses and diseases, for example: Asthma, insomnia, often used to treat pain in childbirth, migraines, used for AIDS and Cancer patients allowing them to have an appetite, glaucoma, relieves anorexia in Alzheimer's patients, mental health, it can be used as suppositories for relieving the pain of hemorrhoids, and depression are just a few examples of the many conditions that cannabis alleviates.[Medical Cannabis] Recent studies in Italy have shown that a chemical found in marijuana, inhibits the growth of cancer cells in rats. THC pills, or Marinol, synthetic THC, are made with the ingredients necessary for the specific treatment of those disease, or illness, but some patients cannot swallow these pills, due to their condition and that is when smoking the plant is applied. There are countless other examples of marijuana’s beneficial medicinal properties, but here are two final and thought provoking examples to contemplate over: Medicinal marijuana is used to treat alcohol addiction and other drugs such as heroin and is used to treat post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in war veterans.

With the facts and knowledge acquired, it is apparent that hemp is humankind's savior and that hemp must be re-implemented into our countries way of life. General George Washington stated, “Grow it everywhere, hemp is greatly viable for winning the war and sustaining a future fantastic for America.”

Are we at war with nature, or perhaps is nature at war with us? Hemp is grown by almost every civilized country and hemp benefits those countries economies and their countries citizen’s health. To not take the scientific approach in making the decision to legalize and produce industrial hemp is dooming humankind to more needless sufferings and perhaps even another Ice Age. Our current dramatic, devastatingly, unpredictable weather breaks records each year and these violent weather patterns are the first signs of nature's end means. If the icebergs of the world melt, the sea level will raise by 20 feet, or more and force extinction upon millions of animal and plant species, and kill and displace millions of human beings worldwide. The Philippines, Hawaii, Florida and countless other countries, cities and homes will all be underwater if this were to occur.[Climatecrisis.net] Can you imagine watching the sunset with your child and as the low tide rolls out it reveals the rooftops of houses now underwater.

Only by the legalization of Industrial Hemp and its removal from Schedule 1 of The Controlled Substance Act, can we start working immediately towards the one thing that can save humankind from itself.[110th Congress] America would have a cleaner fuel and energy source, we would dispose of nuclear waste more efficiently, we'd create cars that could reduce traffic fatalities and are completely biodegradable, we'd have a paper product that can be recycled up to 8 times, instead of just 3 times, we'd reduce deforestation by 50 percent nationwide and eventually, worldwide, we'd have an endless supply of food products, livestock bedding, livestock feed and the benefits of the endless nutritional facts backing hemp. imagine roads, freeways and highways that wouldn't require monthly repairs and endless taxpayer dollars, preventing landslides and improving our farming industry by using hem, as a crop rotator, having an estimated 50,000 industrial bio-degradable products, and regarding medicinal marijuana, having over 250 medicinal uses that could ease the suffering of so many people who simply can’t afford the proper care, or treatment.

The facts and history of hemp show boldly how important it is to humankind that we should all support hemps production and usage for our countries economical and health related benefits. With the debate of global warming over and as I like to call it, “dramatic global climate change” fast approaching we need someone, or something to save us from humankind's destination. There are many facts and products that haven’t been discussed here and there is so much more relating to the history and benefits of the hemp plant for humankind. Only with relentless and patient education and constant communication can society overcome the propaganda and misperception surrounding the hemp plant. These fallacies have masked the history and extraordinary uses and benefits of the hemp plant. We, as a society, must continue learning and teaching others about the hemp plant and we must always network what we learn to others. If you've learned something from reading this article that you hadn't known before you can help by spreading this knowledge of hemp to anyone and everyone. Can you imagine the gold mine waiting in everyone's backyards, or empty fields, or, those thousands of acres of unused land nationwide, or along the sides of our freeways and highways?

The hemp plant is humankind's savior and the more society knows, the sooner we can put into action what we have learned and the better off our future generations will be. There are an estimated 50,000 industrial uses that can benefit every aspect of our daily lives from this one humble and misunderstood plant, and the facts can't be denied any longer. I think I see a light at the end of this long, dark tunnel.

So remember to Seek the facts, Confront the truth, and Pass it on.

Hemp Healthy Cooking: Hemp Oil Vinigarette with fresh Lemon and Balsamic...

Majority of Americans Think Feds Shouldn’t Arrest Marijuana Consumers, Growers, or Sellers in Legalized States

by Erik Altieri, NORML Communications DirectorFebruary 1, 2013

According to a Reason-Rupe Public Opinion survey released this week, not only do a majority of Americans believe the federal government should not arrest consumers of cannabis in states that have elected to regulate it, but that view extends to growers and sellers as well.
The poll, conducted from January 17th to 21st, revealed that 72% of Americans thought the federal government should not arrest users of marijuana in states that pass laws regulating it. The majority of them also believe this protection should extend to other aspects of the legalized industry. 68% of respondents responded that the federal government should not arrest growers and 64% said they should also not arrest sellers.
When presented with the question, “Some people argue the government should treat marijuana the same as alcohol. Do you agree or disagree?” 53% replied in the affirmative and only 45% disagreed.
You can view the full poll results here.

Andrew Weil, MD at Cannabis Therapeutics Conference, Tucson, AZ