The devastated environments and job markets of the American Northwest and other timber regions stand to make a dramatic comeback one hemp is reintroduced to the domestic paper industry.

    Recent studies indicate that depletion of the ozone layer threatens to substantially reduce world loblolly pine production (the major source of pulp for paper)—by up to 30% or even 50%, depending on the fluctuation of the density of the ozone shield. But hemp not only resists the damage caused by increasing ultraviolet radiation—it actually flourishes in it.

    Paper mills can return to full production levels and loggers will find new work in hemp trades.

    Truck drivers can continue to haul pulp to the mills, and lumber for construction, although the price of lumber will go down as other demands on our timber resources are reduced by substituting farm-grown hemp for forest-grown wood pulp.

    There will also still be a lot of work to do in reforestation. Our rivers will go through a period of recovery when hemp replaces wood pulp in the paper industry resulting in a 60-80% reduction of paper-making chemicals being dumped into them.

    This means more fish and more fishing, as well as increased camping and tourism in the beautiful and vital new-growth forest regions—and the spared old-growth forests.

the authorized on-line version of Jack Herer’s “The Emperor Wears No Clothes”

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