In them ol' hempen fields back home...

Hemp growing
Research scientists in Teagasc have been growing marijuana for the past few years to research a number of lucative uses.

The site in Oakpark, Co Carlow, hosts a plantation of a low THC version of the world's favourite plant.

Because cannabis grows very fast it creates a large biomass which can be burned to create electricity. The ESB are planning a demo energy unit in the midlands, where they will burn various waste matter.

Jim Crowley at Teagasc sees this as a waste of good cannabis: "We are burning a very good product."

He points to its excellent paper making potential - it generates four times as much paper as a comparable area of forest: "There's a lot of work going on in Sweden, they're interested in using it to replace wood in the pulping process."

"It can also be chopped up and used as horse bedding - it remains dry and can be easily shoveled," says Crowley.

It's toughness makes it a successful building material: "Medite in Clonmel are buying balls of hemp from us for a test run. They're interested in using it to strengthen their ply wood products while reducing weight. It can be used for composting to replace peat products," says Crowley.

So far there's very few hemp businessess in Ireland, although a hemp shop recently opened in Galway, and someone in Clare is importing hemp from Eastern Europe to make clothes.

The hemp produced at Teagasc contains only 0.3 percent THC, which is impossible to get high on - marijuana contains 5 to 12 percent THC. Despite this, Teagasc were tipped off about a possible raid on the plantation. Unscrupulous dealers would attempt to pass off the hemp as smoking quality marijuana.

Planting is in Mid to late April. "We'd like to plant earlier, but we need to avoid the frost, which you can get as late as May," says Crowley. They sow about 500/600 plants per square metre, and the low THC seed costs about £50/60 per acre.

England has at least one successful, large scale producer of hemp. Hempcore (TEL/FAX: 00 44 1371-820066/69). They have 2,000 to 3,000 acres in xxx. They got into the market through horse bedding, where much of the hemp ends up. They also sell it for paper to the cigarette companies who use it to make the paper for regular tobacco cigarettes.

The French hemp industry is also well established.

Cannabis cultivation is covered by the Misuse of Drugs Acts, 1977 and 1984. The Department of Health are the ones who issue licences to grow hemp. They look for, among other things, a signed up end user, and they are pretty strict about how the product is disposed of. Licence application to: Ms. Elizabeth Roche, Department of Health, Drugs Section, Community Health Division, Hawkins House, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-6714711.

Don't forget your EU grant for growing cannabis - strange but true! You get more details from the European Commission.

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