June 13, 2013
Hemp dream for East Coast economy
The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party’s Ikaroa Rawhiti candidate is touting hemp farming as a way to breathe life into the rural Maori economy.
Michael Appleby says accidents in the forestry industry have become a concern in the electorate, with falling pine trees a greater risk to workers than cannabis.
He says if forestry owners switched to hemp forests, they could harvest the trees annually with 25 times the production value of a pine harvest.
Mr Appleby says hemp provides the warmest, driest, cheapest and most environmentally sustainable materials for home construction, and hemp foods are also set for a massive market expansion.
There would also be job opportunities in textiles, construction, foods, insulation and biofuels.