Not Quite Ecology

I ran across this abstract on PubMed.  It is from the Nov-Dec 2006 issue of Molecular Pharmacology in which the authors explain how the active ingredient in marijuana, THC, blocks the aggregation of a certain type of peptide implicated in the development of Alzheimer's Disease.

Yet another argument for the legalization of medical marijuana.

OK, let's link this back to ecology, or at least environmental issues, since this blog is, after all, called "Ecolosophy".

Marijuana and it's botanical cousin, hemp, are easy to grow throughout much of North America, but it is illegal to grow them as crops.  However, if marijuana and hemp cultivation were legalized, the crops could become important  in areas of the United States where tobacco and cotton were once grown.  I have heard (but cannot find reliable citations) that hemp is gentler on the soil than many other crops, requiring fewer pesticides and fertilizers.  However, since such assertions are unsupported in the literature I searched, I will focus on the one aspect of hemp that is indisputable: its utility as a natural fiber.  Hemp was once important in the manufacture of ropes and clothing; there is still a niche market for hemp clothing, but the market could be greatly expanded if widespread cultivation of hemp were legalized.

I realize that with the previous paragraph I transitioned from medical marijuana to hemp, but the fact is that it wouldn't take much marijuana to support the medical industry.  Supporting the recreational market for marijuana might be a different matter, but let us assume for the moment that any legalization would preclude recreational smoking.  In that case, the cultivation of hemp is the important factor.  But, being illegal, it cannot be grown for use as a textile, which is the type of cultivation that would actually use significant amounts of acreage.  Following legalization, however, cultivation of hemp could have far-reaching effects.

Legalization of hemp would be beneficial for the environment and for agriculture.  It would reduce the mass of synthetic materials dumped in landfills.  It would provide an alternative, carbon-neutral, sustainable fiber source for clothing, carpets, landscaping textiles, and industrial fibers.  It would also breathe new life into agricultural areas where tobacco and cotton are no longer profitable.

Of course none of these things will happen without a compelling reason to make hemp cultivation legal, which brings us back around to the legalization of medical marijuana.  Hemp cultivation is illegal because of the plant's botanical similarity to marijuana even though the hemp plant doesn't produce enough THC to be used as a drug.  It is more or less "guilty by association".  So, we need an argument in support of marijuana, and the evidence presented in the paper in Molecular Pharmacology is another piece of the puzzle.