With the world in shambles from the economic downturn, global warming, and now a pandemic, many are seeking alternative avenues to build a more sustainable, stable economy. The cultivation and processing of Industrial Hemp is a growing market that not only could revive the economy but also could simultaneously provide food, clothing, medication, grain, nutrients, building materials, biodegradable plastics, and fuel. It will also provide jobs, a healthier lifestyle, and help reduce climate change.

Now, let us not confuse industrial hemp with marijuana. Both plants come from the same species of the cannabis plant; however, hemp lacks the hallucinogenic compound THC. Hemp is cultivated for the other components of the plant; leaves, flowers, seeds, stalk, and even the roots. From the entire plant, there are over 50,000 different products that can be made using eco-friendly processes. There are already many building products, nutritional foods, and clothing being manufactured from hemp, far more efficiently and eco-friendlier than the many other harmful products that hemp products can replace.

The industrial hemp industry has expanded tremendously since the laws were changed in 1998, allowing for commercial growing with licensing and controlled by Health Canada. Since then, hemp has been harvested for its grain and seeds as a superfood and the flower for the medicinal CBD extraction. Recently, the demand for hemp fibre has been growing in Alberta. In Vegreville, there has been a fibre processing plant since 2011, and the town of Bruderheim recently got a new 40,000-square-foot hemp processing facility. 

What is needed now is a market for the making of hemp products. A Local Circular Economy could be built around the hemp industry that would create employment, make the local economy sustainable, and combat climate change. The creation of a local network of Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) could provide locally most of the required nutritional fresh superfoods, toxic-free, environmentally friendly building products, paper, fabric, rope, and plastics. These SMBs could also be making many of the parts in the new electric vehicles to be produced at Ford’s Oakville assembly plant with the more eco-friendly and durable hemp plastic.

With so many economic and eco-friendly benefits, a Sustainable Circular Hemp Economy producing superior ecologically clean products locally could become the sustainable economic backbone, replacing the many boom and bust industries that harmfully fluctuate the economy. The infrastructure is in place in Canada, with many acres of industrial hemp already grown and processing plants for developing the industrial hemp industry.

It is time for Canadians to make the M.A.D. Move and Make A Difference towards improving our economy, health, lifestyle, and the environment by insisting that we want more eco-friendly and durable products made from hemp instead of the industry standard toxic producing products produced and used today. Contact your government officials and demand an Industrial Hemp Green Economic Recovery. It is up to us to make the change.