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Northern Ireland showbiz reporter Paul Martin on how he beat cancer with cannabis oil

I won’t lie. I was terrified of what might happen. But as I ingested a small rice-grain size of the smelly, sticky black substance that loomed in front of me, it was an empowering declaration of war against my horrific cancer diagnosis.

I felt a little guilty, a little frightened and, well, a little like I could be breaking the law.

But having four children and a family who needed me to be alive this time next year, I figured, ‘Screw the law, screw medical conformity and screw the taboo status of cannabis. I’m going all in!’

Exactly 30 minutes before my first dance with this controversial substance, a parcel had arrived with £270 worth of 90% cannabis paste. My sister Suzanne had promised me it would cure me. I took her zealous predictions with a pinch of salt – I was stage four, after all, and more often than not there’s no coming back from that.

Over the next three months I upped my dosage and hoped for the best. I was ready for the worst. “Are you afraid of dying?” my good friend Stephen Nolan asked on his radio show. “No,” I replied without hesitation. “But I am terrified of my children growing up without me.”

Fast forward to last Wednesday.

I fell to the floor and shouted at the top of my voice ‘Thank you Jesus!’ Then I called Miss Ireland. I guess that’s why they call me Mr Showbiz. Precisely 52 seconds earlier, the anonymous voice from Belfast’s City Hospital called and banished in a swift expeditious moment what had amounted to seven months of mental and physical torture.

Her words were simple but megalithic in their momentousness: “You don’t have cancer any more, Paul. It’s over.” The strange thing is, I didn’t cry or feel emotional. Just grateful and extremely humbled.

I’m not one to pull out the God card every time something goes spectacularly well or life hits rock bottom – I leave that to the politicians in this country. But thanking a higher power seemed the right thing to do. Goodness knows I’d asked him or her enough times to get me through this.

The effortlessly benevolent former Miss Ireland Emir Holohan witnessed my miraculous transformation from haggard, washed-up, cancer-riddled showbiz writer to a healthy, exuberant and energised life force who dared to say, ‘Screw you, cancer.’

When I broke the good news that my cancer had bit the dust, the emotion from the brunette beauty and vibrant mum-of-six was tangible. I could sense the tears and utter relief as she burst into a passionate and untamed celebration of utter joy.

That moment alone made the months of turmoil, endless medicine and daily dates with facing my own mortality all worthwhile.

My mum embraced me, and we didn’t even have to say any words such was the magnitude of this joyous conclusion to our joint journey through hell.

Prior to the worldly deity that is Emir entering my life at the start of this dismal decline in health, the world around me had collapsed amid the end of my marriage. After that my physical and mental health went into a tumultuous decline.

By January, I was so ill I had to be rushed to the Royal by my horror-stricken mum Susan, and it was there that I took up a six-week residence.

I couldn’t even take comfort from the adage ‘at least you’ve got your health’. When doctors in the Royal announced I had roughly 48 hours to live, the message was clear: you’ve left it late and there are no guarantees you’ll see your 42nd birthday.

“Better late than never,” I quipped, before my eyes rolled back into an oblivion of illness. Gallows humour even in the darkest moments, in true showbiz fashion.

Under the watchful eye of Northern Ireland’s finest doctors, every antibiotic known to mankind was pumped into my rapidly evaporating body, which had plunged to just eight-and-a-half stone. Pneumonia, they call it.

That, coupled with enough sedatives and painkillers to sedate Guatemala, and slowly but surely, I mounted an unlikely comeback, punctuated by boosting calls and visits from Emir, though, heartbreakingly, none from my precious children.

But the worst was still to come. No sooner had I bounced back and was released from hospital, an odd shadow, roughly four centimetres in diameter, made a cameo appearance on my right lung, as if the past months hadn’t been dramatic enough.

“It’s probably nothing,” mulled the doctors as I lamented this unwelcome gatecrasher to my comeback party. “But we’ll biopsy it just in case.”

Six week later, I was battling stage four cancer of the lung and blood. At 42 I was kissing the lips of mortality. I was lucky to have the top doctors, nurses and equipment in my corner thanks to the forces at work at the City Hospital. But a machine can’t put an arm around you and say ‘we’re gonna beat this’. Thankfully, Emir did just that.

Then my sister Suzanne – a dynamic and enlightened presence just two years older than I – made a game-changing call that spun the world of cancer on its head and seemingly gave me a fighting chance.

“Cannabis oil, brother,” she announced with her buoyant London twang. “The f***ing pharmaceuticals hate it because they don’t have a piece of the pie. I’m telling you – it cures cancer.”

Her words immediately resonated. During my last hospital incarceration, at least three top medical aids nudged me and said, ‘Get on it,’ when the writing seemed to be on the wall for an impending cancer diagnosis.

But such is the ignorantly taboo concept of cannabis or THC oil, as it’s called on the high street, I felt divided over whether to give it a go or just stick to conventional medicine.

It didn’t take me long to find several compelling tales online of miraculous cancer comebacks by THC users. The decision was swift: my children needed a dad more than I needed to obey any draconian laws governing our treatment of this horrendous illness.

One call later and Suzanne had a batch of the highest concentration of 90% THC on its way to me, courtesy of a contact who harvested and mixed his own blend after curing himself years earlier. Was all this legal? The truth is, I didn’t care. Living my life and revelling in my beautiful children growing up was more important.

So I defiantly ignited my THC paste regime, taking a rice-grain-sized dollop of this Marmite-like, black, gooey substance every morning and night on a cracker.

Then, roughly four weeks later, a PET scan revealed some quite remarkable news. “We’re scratching our heads a little, Paul,” announced my specialist in Belfast’s City Hospital. “The stage four growth on your lung has shrunk by three centimetres and it’s not taking up any of the glucose we injected into you.” Roughly translated, it meant the tumour had gone from stage four to dead. Benign, Caput.

A final biopsy presented a four-week wait for results which would either mean I would have to endure full-on tough chemo for months, or celebrate what felt like the greatest bullet dodge in medical history. Thankfully it was the latter, and earlier in the week I was given the all clear.

From stage four cancer to not even a dose of chemo although I had radiotherapy. I had my life back, my children’s futures to look forward to and an incredible woman in my corner. The world spins again.

I’m pleased to say that thanks to the combined forces of conventional medicine and the much maligned cannabis plant, recent rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.

As my favourite songwriter Bob Dylan has said: “The only things I know how to do is keep on keeping on.” His words certainly ring true.

No matter what we’re faced with in the glorious uncertainty of life, none of us can do much more than that. But at least I’m keeping on with a life warrior in a Miss Ireland, my adoring kids and my wonderful family in my corner.



Originally published by Paul Martin at: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/news/northern-ireland-showbiz-reporter-paul-martin-on-how-he-beat-cancer-with-cannabis-oil-38351447.html

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Project in Morocco combines hemp and solar to go totally off grid

A team of organizations has completed construction of a ground-breaking eco-building in Morocco that combines hemp construction with a high-tech solar energy system for total independence from the electrical grid.

The SUNIMPLANT project, designed as a single-family dwelling, was created as an entrant in the recent “Solar Decathlon” organized by the United States Department of Energy and Morocco’s Centre de recherche en Energie solaire et Energies nouvelles. The biannual international competition challenges teams of students to design and construct solar-powered buildings. The most recent edition was hosted in Ben Guerir, Morocco, the first time the competition has been held on the African continent.

Advanced ‘space ship’

“This ‘space-ship’ is advanced in time and reflects a turn not only in North Africa but in hemp construction, which doesn’t have comparable prototypes anywhere in the world,” said Monika Brümmer, a German architect and natural builder who led the project.

While the building was designed as a stimulus for rural development, the technology also has application in urban settings, Brümmer noted.

Owner at Spain-based Cannabric, Brümmer is also a co-founder of Adrar Nouh (2017), an NGO which promotes the use of indigenous hemp stalk for rural development and sustainable employment in Morocco’s impoverished High Rif. Adrar Nouh was started in 2017 by Brümmer and Abdellatif Adebibe, a Moroccan expert in alternative development in the Rif region.

monika-brummer
Monika Brümmer

The challenge was to create a hemp composite using vegetable-based bio-resins, avoiding technical or synthetic components, Brümmer said. The cylindrical envelope of the circular building, with minimal exposure of the 24 exterior panels, gives interior comfort through optimal damping and thermal phase shift, and osmosis of the components in the hempcrete formulation, Brümmer said.

Nature meets high-tech

Built for around $120,000, the building’s price tag was less than half the cost of the most expensive buildings in the competition. Additional features of the 90 sq. m. SUNIMPLANT building include:

  1. A double skin façade that employs a mixture of hemp, earth, pozzolan and lime, all sourced locally; and bio-composites incorporating hemp technical fibers that were produced via vacuum injection technology.
  2. A spherical, aerodynamic outer skin comprising 24 semi-flexible photovoltaic panels. Sponsored by DAS-Energy, the panels are exposed to all faces for their use of sun and light, with maximum 40% losses.
  3. Curved bio-composite panels made with hemp wool, which increase the performance of the photovoltaic panels by protecting their back side against the weather extremes of the semi-arid region of Ben Guerir, where temperatures reached 42°–46°C (107°– 114°F) in the shade during the construction phase last August and September.
  4. High-performance glass from French glassmaker Saint Gobain.

International cooperation

Brümmer said even greater performance could have been achieved if original plans to install hemp-clay boards for the internal partitions and floors, and other minor modifications, had not been abandoned due to funding constraints.

Adrar Nouh contributed the architectural design, developed the hemp materials and cooperated in the construction of the building. Other participants on the SUNIMPLANT project were Morocco’s National School of Architecture and National School of Applied Sciences, both based in Tetouan, Morocco, and Germany’s Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics.

Originally published by Hemp Today at: https://hemptoday.net/moroco-hempcrete-project/

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All Cannabis Use is Medicinal

Even if the user misidentified it as ‘recreational.’

The medical cannabis movement is sweeping through the nation with such momentum that even conservative legislators are evolving to see the benefits.  All cannabis use appears imminent west of Colorado and north of Virginia while medical cannabis is plowing through the South.  This is exciting news, but we must remain diligent and see this to the end.  There is one phrase that is slowing cannabis law reform; “Recreational Cannabis.”

“Recreational cannabis use” is the most detrimental phrase our industry faces today.

Over half the U.S. population supports “recreational use” of cannabis.  Unfortunately, those whose don’t support recreational use, oppose it vitriolically.  “Recreational cannabis” is exactly what the opposition is fighting to prevent.

The flip side to this is that over 80% of Americans support medical cannabis use and over 85% support freedom in healthcare decisions.  All of these statistics are trending upwards.

In the South, “recreational cannabis use” is a non-starter and a debate that cannot be empirically won.  On the other hand, “medical cannabis use” is a debate we win.  And we don’t need to manipulate our messaging to change the debate, we need only to correctly identify ‘medicinal use.’

Cannabis and The Human Body

Cannabis is imperative to maintaining a healthy body.  Cannabinoid ligands fuel and balance the human endocannabinoid system, a system that regulates the immune system, mood, sleep patterns, appetite, and pain sensation.  Just like vitamins, the human body needs cannabinoids to function properly.  Due to cannabis prohibition, most Americans suffer from endocannabinoid deficiency syndrome.  Endocannabinoid deficiencies manifest themselves in the form of autoimmune diseases, depression, bipolar disorders, neurodegenerative conditions, inexplicable pain, and sleep disorders.

The American Medical Association(AMA) and US Food and Drug Administration(FDA) considers all of these as legitimate medical conditions.  They approve and sell thousands of different drugs developed to treat all of them.

Now, let’s delve into the mind of a ‘recreational’ cannabis user.

Recently, I’ve been interrogating self-proclaimed ‘recreational’ cannabis users to find out what’s so fun about smoking weed.  Their initial answer is always the same; “I don’t know, I just like it.”  But after digging with some questions, it always turns out the same.

Recreational cannabis users are using cannabis for medical purposes, they just don’t realize it.

Here are the post prodding answers and the medical condition that the ‘recreational user’ is treating using cannabis.  I’ve also added common drugs and medications that are the AMA and FDA’s more popular treatments.

“It makes me relax.” – Anxiety.  Xanax, Klonopin, Valium, Prozac, Cymbalta, Wellbutrin, and the generics.

“It helps me sleep.” – Sleep disorder/Anxiety. Ambien, Lunesta, Unisom, Nyquil

“It calms me down.” – ADHD/Anxiety – Ritalin, Adderall, Vyvanse

“It helps me think.” ADHD – see above

“It helps my stomach calm down.” GI, IBS, IBD. Pepto, Pepcid, Prilosec, I don’t know the RX drugs for this.

“It helps me talk to people.” Social anxiety – Alcohol

“It makes spending time with my spouse more fun.” – Sexual dysfunction/Anxiety. Viagra, Cialis, that new female viagra.

These are all medicinal applications.

I encourage all “recreational” cannabis users to reevaluate their use.  If there is a prescription or over-the-counter drug designed to treat something that cannabis helps you with, that’s medical use.  If they sell something at GNC or Vitamin World that cannabis helps you with, that’s medical use.  You may not use these other medications because you already know that cannabis is a superior treatment, you just didn’t realize it.

Our society defines recreationally using a drug or medicine as “abuse.”  Exclaiming that you use any drug recreationally is the first step into a 12 step.  If you still don’t think that your cannabis use is medicinal, please call it ‘therapeutic’ so that you don’t look like an addict and hinder the entire movement.  When we have medical, I promise that you’ll be able to find a doctor that will write you a recommendation.

Originally published by Daniel Macris at: https://halcyonorganics.com/all-cannabis-use-is-medical/

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Raid on family farm reflects Sweden’s regressive approach to hemp

Stakeholders say the recent raid at a family hemp farm in Sweden reflects lingering ignorance among authorities that is holding back the sector in Scandinavia’s biggest market of 10 million consumers.

Michael Henell and crew at Magic Herb, Öland, Sweden

“The whole thing is probably about ignorance on the part of the police as they must have mistaken the industrial hemp for marijuana and therefore destroyed the cultivation,” Michael Henell said of law enforcement on the island of Öland, where Henell and his family operate Magic Herb, a boutique hemp company that grows and sells hemp buds and products based on extracts.

Henell said police raided his legal hemp business unannounced Aug. 13 while he and and his family were away on vacation, destroying his small hemp crop and, armed with a search warrant, seizing finished products that were stored in the family’s home.

‘No excuse’

It is legal to grow certified varieties of hemp in Sweden under permitting by the Swedish Board of Agriculture.

“I have triple checked that all papers are correct for the cultivation. We have had hemp for several years and it has never been a problem,” said Henell, who had approval of both local administrators and the national agriculture board for a hemp grow of about 1,000 plants that he was cultivating both outdoors and in a greenhouse.

Henell believes ignorance is no excuse. “It is utterly damning that the police can come and destroy our life’s work, for which we have shed blood, sweat and tears. Our entire annual harvest has now been destroyed by the police,” he said.

Prejudice lingers

Swedish authorities’ prejudice against hemp is rooted in aggressive national anti-cannabis campaigns carried out in the 1970s and ’80s, according to David Appelgren, Chairman of the Swedish Hemp Association, a 200-member strong group that advocates for the sector.

David Appelgren, Chairman, Swedish Hemp Association [Photo by: Crelle]

“Slowly, we’re turning. Most youth understand hemp is a regular thing, and even older people are using CBD,” said Appelgren, who tours Sweden educating about hemp. “But they’ve been pushing this agenda for 40 years,” he said of anti-cannabis elements in the country. “It’s still in the culture and hard to get rid of.”

Little grown

Hemp barely registers in Swedish agriculture. Modern-era records that date to 2004 show 150 hectares were under hemp that year. By 2007, hemp fields had grown to 829 hectares, but then started to decline. A total of 170 hectares were cultivated this year, according to government statistics. Appelgren estimates there are about 150 hemp operators in Sweden, most of which are small family businesses like Henell’s.

Hemp grown in Sweden since 2004, in hectares

The sector has survived only because of court cases that went against the government, both Henell and Appelgren said. Most notable, hemp farmer Ulf Hammarsten received damages from the Swedish state after his hemp crop was repeatedly destroyed by authorities. EU officials found in Hammarsten’s favor in 2003, ruling that national legislation prohibiting the cultivation and possession of industrial hemp was incompatible with the “common organization of markets” under EU law.

Swedish hemp history

Hemp is in Sweden’s history, archeologists have found, with cultivation generally presumed to have begun in sometime in the second half of the first century AD, as indicated by pollen records. Finds of seeds demonstrate that the plant was locally cultivated and processed during that epoch.

Hemp fiber is also revealed in subfossil remains found at Lindängelund in the region of Malmö, signalling the earliest evidence of hemp retting in Scandinavia discovered so far. Experts also have said they found evidence of small scale fiber processing in settlements through 400 AD. Remains of hemp later found in lake sediments indicate that the retting of hemp eventually relocated from settlements to lakes shores, where processing became larger in scale and more integrated into the agricultural system of the time.

Originally published by Hemp Today at: https://hemptoday.net/raid-on-family-farm-reflects-swedens-regressive-approach-to-hemp/

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Farmers learn how to cash in on growing cannabis for medicinal use

Norfolk farmers are learning how they can benefit from growing cannabis – more lucrative per gram than strawberries.

Farmers are being encouraged to look at the business potential of growing cannabis. Pic: Cathal McNaughton/PA WireFarmers are being encouraged to look at the business potential of growing cannabis. Pic: Cathal McNaughton/PA Wire

Property giant Savills, better known for selling high-end homes, has teamed up with cannabis specialists to launch a business venture for UK growers.

A new joint project called Crop17 will help farmers with knowing the best land for the crop, sourcing equipment and navigating the legal minefield of the Class B drug.

Although cannabis is illegal in Britain, several countries and states across the world have legalised it, leading to a boom in exports from the UK.Medicinal cannabis plants being grown in a glasshouse at the British Sugar in Wissington. Picture: ArchantMedicinal cannabis plants being grown in a glasshouse at the British Sugar in Wissington. Picture: Archant

Alex Bragg, a director at Savills, said: “The UK agriculture sector is embarking upon a period of unprecedented change. A phasing out of subsidies, a new dawn for trade, adapting to meet climate change targets and a huge growth in agtech presents the industry with huge challenges and opportunities. For the forward-thinking and innovative farmer and grower adapting into new markets is a key priority.”

Kit Papworth, director of farm contracting business LF Papworth, based at Felmingham, near North Walsham, has been invited to attend a Savills conference in London on hemp cultivation in the UK. He said: “The hemp and CBD (Cannabidol) oil markets have a huge potential, for both the oil and the biomass produced by the plant, which can be used in industry, building materials and for sequestering carbon.

“Farming in a post-Brexit world means we have to look closely at all of the opportunities and this is just one of many that we are considering.”

The worldwide legal cannabis industry generated revenues in the region of £11.5bn in 2019 – expected to grow to around £35bn by 2024. The total number of medical cannabis prescriptions issued in the UK could surge from a few hundred to more than 185,000 by the end of 2023 if the country follows a similar path to Australia, whose medical cannabis programme has grown rapidly since the government relaxed restrictions in 2018.

The active ingredient in cannabis – Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – is illegal in the UK but Cannabidiol (CBD) is not. However, all CBD products sold in the UK have to be imported typically from the US, Canada and Columbia.

Originally published at: https://www.edp24.co.uk/business/savills-launches-project-to-help-farmers-grow-cannabis-for-medical-use-1-6518384?fbclid=IwAR3iboq5CdMz9ANQRc9Ob3TbAEY1t0Hmy4pwyegkJHkvCUo8RRDncbd4JJ8

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Simpa’s Open Letter

To whom it may concern,

We have all unwittingly been sowing the seeds of distrust, dismay, and despair within our own community by supporting the continued subdivision of our noble cause; ending Cannabis prohibition. These seeds have quietly taken root and have been growing unchecked in all corners of our community for decades. Activism, advocacy, anarchism, and academia have all seen this narrowing of interest and passion to smaller actions and campaigns around “Medical Cannabis”, “Industrial Hemp” and “Marijuana” that has been to the detriment of all parties and the wider world.

This particularly peculiar and pernicious flora has come to fruition in recent years. Its first bounty is now being harvested in the form of “Legalised Medical Cannabis” in the UK. This corporate victory was primarily achieved by the weaponising and astroturfing of our community to push their narrative, agenda, and the pharmaceutical paradigm until we ourselves began believing it. When the legislation passed on November 1st 2019, our once loud and proud orchestral annunciation of truth and justice was left broken, raspy and cacophonous, unable to muster little more than a death rattle in opposition as we choked on the scale and scope of their betrayal.

We have all been misled into supporting and championing divisive singular narrative campaigns around cannabis. We have been led to advocate for Hemp over Cannabis, and inferior “legal” cannabinoids over other illegal ones, leaving the socially corrosive and criminalising status quo unchallenged. This has allowed for the individual synthesizable, patentable, and profitable components of the plant to be commodified, commercialised, and monopolised by corporate proponents who claimed to uphold the same ideals and serve our collective common goal of “freeing the weed” once and for all.

This has never been more self- evident than the current situation in Europe as the EU now moves to clarify its position on CBD as a narcotic, using the interpretation of the fraudulent and fascistic 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotics as its justification. The Convention states that any and all components or derivatives of the plant Cannabis Sativa L are Schedule IV meaning they have “particularly dangerous properties” and are “likely liable for abuse” so therefore must remain illegal.

If they take this position it would put all of the CBD and Hemp companies and individuals that have profiteered from the perpetuation of prohibition – while Cannabis dealers and community champions faced incarceration – back in the pile with the rest of us. So, isn’t now the most opportune moment to cease these nonsensical definitions and divisions? To stop individual pursuits of profit? To band together to once and for all to liberate this plant from a century of propaganda, paranoia, and prohibition?

The British government as we know tried to get around these restrictions for medicinal use years ago by updating their original 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act with the Misuse of Drugs Regulation 2001. This allowed for Schedule 1 (1971 scheduling) drugs to be lawfully controlled, possessed, and supplied by prescription, while non-controlled supply and production of the exact same substance remained illegal. This greatly helped GW Pharmaceuticals and it’s vulture capitalist investors use the legislation as protection. They later got Home Office approval to launch their first Cannabis-based drug, Sativex, in 2006, thus avoiding prosecution for cultivating, processing, and distributing a Schedule 1 drug.

The subsequent “legalising” of “Medical Cannabis” in 2018 went a step further by creating a new class of Cannabis as a drug in Schedule 2. “Medical Cannabis” is defined in the legislation as a “Cannabis-based product designed to use in humans” acknowledging that it has some “accepted medical value” The deliberately use of “Cannabis-based” is ambiguous and Orwellian language, that I suspect has been used to allow for non-Cannabis derived medications under the interpretation of the law. It was also enough to placate the average advocate and naive tabloid reader into believing that everyone needing cannabis for its medicinal benefits are now legally allowed to access it.

In reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth. To date, the NHS has only issued TWO prescriptions and there have been less than a hundred private prescriptions handed out by the ever-growing gentrifying and profiteering private clinics. These establishments are predominately patronised by those fortunate enough to be able to afford hundreds of pounds for the pleasure of being told that “Medical Cannabis” can greatly reduce their symptoms and help them manage their condition.

Although some of these clinics are importing raw flower, they are primarily pushing tinctures and pharmacological extractions before the raw plant. I fear that this is part of a much larger plan to switch the market we were tricked into helping build from a plant that anyone can easily grow at home to synthetic cannabinoid analogs, non-cannabis-derived cannabinoids, and other “Cannabis-based” pharmaceuticalised drugs. This would negate the restrictions of the conventions altogether and greatly compounding some of the most sinister socioeconomic and individually destructive elements inherent in prohibition.

I worry that the CBD industry and the emerging private British healthcare sector – which will be created through impending US trade deals – will be Cannabis-free in the coming years. By the perfecting of synthesising and extraction techniques of non-Cannabis derived cannabinoids, terpenes, and other compounds present in Cannabis, they will nullify and mute the medical argument as an avenue to truly relegalise cannabis for all therapeutic uses. Only the therapies that they approve and profit from personally will be allowed to flourish.

It is these lessons that I implore you to learn from to help us all avoid the next big astroturfing project that is coming from the same minds behind the campaign to “Legalise Medical Cannabis” in the UK. Their next target is the “Hemp Industry” or as it should be known as, the “INDUSTRIAL CANNABIS” industry. In exactly the same way we empowered the medical paradigm, we are doing the same by calling the industrial properties and applications of Cannabis, “Hemp”. Cannabis is Cannabis. End of.

The regurgitation of these misnomers will only further confuse and coerce the layman into believing that “Hemp” and “Cannabis” are different plants. One with the potential to grow a brighter future and the other a dangerously addictive drug that causes psychosis. The continuation of this paradigm by stigmatising and segregating the industrial, medicinal, and individual conscious expanding uses of the Cannabis plant has been to the detriment of every living creature on earth.

It is the same plant that produces the full extract cannabis oil (FECO) that can help treat Cancer, Crohns, and countless other conditions that gives us the raw materials to negate the toxic and environmentally destructive practices and by-products of some of the most polluting industries on the planet.

The day to day processes and procedures of these global industries; Energy, Fashion, Agriculture, Construction, and Transportation, are currently contributing to an ecological and environmental genocide. From endocrine disruptive chemicals like Dioxins that are used to colour timber pulp paper (which is now so ubiquitous that they are present in all mammalian breast milk), to the Schedule one carcinogens BPAs and BPZs present in all petroleum-based plastics (and now found in the faeces of all humans), to the earth-scarring mineral mining techniques that tear open the earth to remove elements that are no longer needed in a world where Cannabis is legal. All of these crimes against nature are a direct result of the vilifying and demonising of this plant nearly a century ago.

There is no such thing as a “medical cannabis plant” or a “hemp plant” – There is only Cannabis and its innumerate cultivars. The misuse of nomenclature is a tool that this small cabal of cannibalistic capitalists wields to subjugate and divide our movement for their own sinister fiscal ends. We must above all else first standardise the terminology around Cannabis. This ultimately means accepting the truth, there is only Cannabis and its industrial, medicinal, and conscious expanding properties and applications.

We have cultivated the Cannabis and delicately woven its fibres into the ever-tightening noose around our necks by allowing the subjugation and arbitrary distinctions of “Medical Cannabis” “Hemp”, and “CBD”. Allowing these independent industries to arise and operate while the common man remains criminalised, creates a profit incentive for those industries to fight to continue their monopolies by demonising the other aspects of this wonderful plant.

In commercialising certain parts of Cannabis we have allowed it to be taken over, controlled, and regulated by vulture capitalists and ruthless individuals intent on profiting from the perpetuation of prohibitive policies.

The UK is not the USA. The factors that have allowed for dispensaries, GYO, the use of flowers as “medicine” and an industrial sector will not happen here while we are governed by these pirates in power. They will seek with every action to accumulate more control and wealth from the creation of any new Cannabis-based industry, be it medicinal, industrial or commercial.

Ultimately, until we stop infighting over the potential crumbs that fall from their table and focus on building our own damn table, there can be no tangible progress. Without a parlay between the individual fractured industries, the various activist and advocate groups within the community and wider industry, there can be only one outcome: The “legalisation” and “medicinalisation” of a plant whose potential could have saved the world, into just another soulless commodity destined to destroy it.

In all good conscience, no individual or industry should be allowed to profit while others remain criminalised and incarcerated. Our only option for resistance at this point is to revolt against the installation of the Prohibition 2.0 paradigm and the co-opting of our culture and community.

We must unify to cultivate a future fair and equitable for all consumer and non-consumer alike by tearing up the antiquated, racist, and fascistic drug laws. So I ask you, what better time than now to sow the seeds of equity, justice, and prosperity? My friends, its time we call for a Cannabis revolution and rebellion.

Solidarity and salutations,

Simpa Carter

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Check Out This Solar-Powered House Made With Hemp

And it’s surprisingly chic

Exterior of house with solar roof, wood-colored walls, and lots of windows.

This zero-carbon house in Cambridgeshire, England, literally comes from the land. Built on the 53-acre Margent Farm, the Flat House takes advantage of the property’s biggest resource—hemp.

London studio Practice Architecture worked with the farm to design the house, which was constructed in two days using prefabricated panels made from hempcrete, a mixture of hemp and lime.

Kitchen with double-height ceiling and lots of windows

The paneled facade of the house is clad in hemp-fiber tiles that are bound with a sugar-based resin made from agricultural waste. “The materials are breathable meaning they regulate the moisture in the air, resisting damp and mould and leading to a healthier environment and air quality,” the architects told Dezeen. The house also goes off-grid with a biomass boiler and solar panels on the roof.

Inside, the hemp panels are left bare, framed by a timber support system, which gives the walls a cool, neutral-toned texture. Though the house is made from humble materials, it still exudes an air of sophistication. The open-plan lower level has an atmospheric double-height ceiling and a wall of windows light up the dining area. Light timber stairs lead to a mezzanine and the bedrooms.

Desk in upstairs mezzanine area
Kitchen with yellow cabinets
Close up of timber staircase

Originally published By Liz Stinson  on Jan 14, 2020 at: https://www.curbed.com/2020/1/14/21059197/solar-powered-home-zero-carbon-hemp-practice-architecture?fbclid=IwAR3sJly2pC2apWEC5pfV2EH9aLmRcLRMpyB3Bks7cgu6YKvxF6ySF4vV6Ok

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Planes Can Plant 1 Billion Trees A Year With Seed Bombs

Can nature win the war on climate change? Maybe with a little help from humanity.

Using old reconditioned military planes, we can plant one billion trees a year. The planes will “tree bomb” deteriorated forests that have been devastated by commercial logging.

tree bombs

The proposed program uses some of that fastest growing trees in the world, which grow over 10 feet per year. These trees can fully counter the negative effects of de-forestation within a few years.

“A fleet of unused and decommissioned C-130 Hercules cargo planes, originally created to drop land mines, could be recommissioned as foresters,” the Guardian states.

“Lockheed Martin — the quintessential military innovation company — and Aerial Forestation Inc, of Newton took an old rusty idea from former UK RAF pilot Jack Walters and turned it into a reality. The planes will be outfitted to each drop up to 900,000 trees in one day and with 2,500 C-130’s sitting unused in 70 different countries, this idea could make for a lot of little saplings.”

tree bombs reforestation

The cargo planes will drop cones of seeds that bury themselves in the soil. The tree bombs don’t explode on impact but rather their casing dissolves over time and they contain a measure of fertilizer and enough moisture to ensure that the tree takes root.

tree bombs

“The possibilities are amazing,” says Peter Simmons, a Lockheed Martin representative. “We can fly at 1,000 ft at 130 knots planting more than 3,000 cones a minute in a pattern across the landscape – just as we did with landmines, but in this case each cone contains a sapling. That’s 125,000 trees for each sortie and 900,000 trees in a day.”

Watch the video below to see aerial reforestation and tree bombs in action: https://youtu.be/aForyreNuYU

Originally published at: https://www.sunnyskyz.com/blog/1467/Planes-Can-Plant-1-Billion-Trees-A-Year-With-Seed-Bombs?fbclid=IwAR2Q3VHgRCW0voLHDYoZ4r0VXVZN_IRLyzQ32cNZirYS9FDaQpDdtrA45YQ

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How to Make Your Body More Alkaline [15 Tips to Raise Your pH Levels]

Are you looking for a few simple tips how to make your body more alkaline?  Or do you want to raise your pH levels? 

If so, then it’s not too hard to achieve these outcomes!

In this article, you will get a comprehensive guide on how to alkalize your body. First, you’ll learn about the difference between your various pH levels. Then you will discover a simple strategy to test if your body is alkaline or acidic. Finally you can check out the 15 tips on how to make your body more alkaline. 

Why Does Your Body Become Alkaline or Acidic?

Before we get into all the tips on how to make your body alkaline, let’s discuss the reasons why you might have an in-balance in your pH levels.

There are two main factors that contribute making your body too acidic.

  1. The foods we eat. (soda, meats, coffee, chocolate, flour sugar) 
  2. The amount of stress in our bodies and how we deal with it. 

So you might wonder: “If I changed the foods that I ate and reduced my stress, would that make my body more alkaline?”

The simple answer is it depends.

Let’s talk about the pH levels in your body work…

Can you remember the pH scale? This scale measures how acidic or basic a substance is. If a substance is neither acidic nor basic, it is neutral. The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14.

Understanding the pH Level in Your Body

Most people don’t stop to consider the acid/alkaline balance in their blood, but an optimal pH is actually crucial to one’s health. Human blood is a solution, meaning that it is made up of a uniform distribution inside a liquid.

Having a balanced pH protects our bodies from the inside out. Some even say that diseases and disorders cannot grow in a body whose pH is in balance. An imbalanced pH allows unhealthy organisms to grow, damages tissues and organs, and hurts the immune system.

The body’s optimal pH is 7.36, which is just barely alkaline.

Because most people are too acidic, it is best to focus on alkalizing the body to maintain proper health. To measure your pH, you can dip a piece of litmus paper in your saliva or urine as soon as you wake up, before eating or drinking anything.

An acidic environment in one’s body will decrease its ability to repair damaged cells and detoxify heavy metals. It also creates an environment for tumor cells to thrive, and it makes the body more susceptible to fatigue and illness.

Acidosis is more common in today’s society than it was in centuries past due to the drastic changes in our eating patterns as compared to those who came before us.

Choosing to eat more alkaline foods can help to change your pH balance. This allows your body to function at its best.

However, many of the foods that people love are very acidic. Eating too many acidic foods over time stresses the body’s natural functions and can leave you feeling tired and sluggish.

So, which foods are alkalizing and which are acidic? As stated, the scale goes from 0 to 14, and you want to shoot for a balanced pH of 7. Our food today is far too high in acid-producing animal products such as meat, eggs, and dairy.

Alkaline-producing foods:

  • spinach
  • broccoli
  • carrots
  • cauliflower
  • collard greens
  • strawberries
  • wild rice

Acid-producing processed food & drinks:

  • white flour
  • meat & eggs
  • sugar
  • chocolate
  • cream cheese
  • coffee
  • soft drinks
  • fruit juices

Neutral foods (slightly acidic):

  • cooked beans
  • coconut
  • salmon

Neutral foods (slightly basic):

  • apples
  • olives
  • bananas

It is far too low in alkaline-producing foods such as fresh vegetables like spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, collard greens, strawberries, and wild rice.

Additionally, we eat acid-producing processed foods such as white flour and sugar, and drink acid-producing beverages like coffee and soft drinks. Popcorn, cream cheese, chocolate, fruit juices, and nuts are all acidic foods that harm our overall health.

Some more neutral foods that are only slightly acidic include cooked beans, coconut, and salmon. On the other hand, some foods that are only slightly basic are apples, olives, and bananas.

Further, all grains, whether they are whole or not, increase acidity in the body. Many people eat most of their quota of plant food in the form of processed wheat or corn. The problem is, if you do not consume enough alkaline-promoting foods to counteract this, the body can become prone to disease.

Calcium-rich dairy products actually lead to osteoporosis because they create acidity in the body. When your bloodstream acquires too much acid, it will take calcium out of the bones because calcium is an alkaline substance.

This will then help the body balance the pH level. So while many people think that eating calcium is the key to strong bones, the best way to prevent osteoporosis is actually to eat a lot of alkaline green leafy vegetables.

How to Tell If Your Body Is Alkaline or Acidic

The big question here is, “How can you tell if your body is too alkaline or acidic?”

The quickest way to get this information is to measure your body’s pH level by using pH level strips that you can purchase at your local pharmacy or online. However, if you don’t have these handy and you want to know where you stand now, here are some symptoms of being too alkaline or too acidic.

Symptoms of Being Too Acidic

If your body is too acidic, you are likely to experience a lot of fatigue, even if you feel as if you are getting enough sleep at night. You may also have joint pain, headaches, chronic pain, or a stiff neck.

You are likely to feel an overall sense of sluggishness, and even depression at times. Many people whose bodies are too acidic also suffer from irritability and brain fog.

Symptoms of Being Too Alkaline

This is much less common than being too acidic, but can come with equally as disturbing symptoms. People who are too alkaline may suffer from hand tremors, nausea, vomiting, confusion, lightheadedness, and muscle twitching.

If you are still not sure after looking through these symptoms, here’s a great video from Dr. Eric Berg. https://youtu.be/m_AKdZ2E1oo

15 Ways to Make Your Body More Alkaline

As you can see, there can be a lot of negative consequences if your body is too acidic. An alkaline body is hard work, but worthwhile. If you’d like to balance it by becoming more alkaline, then here are 15 tips on how to make your body more alkaline.

1. Check your pH levels regularly.

pH Strips are relatively easy to purchase online. They give a fast and accurate reading of your body’s acidity and alkaline levels. The results of these test strips will help guide you in keeping your pH levels balanced so your body can properly process essential nutrients.

These strips give you a convenient method to monitor your pH levels in the privacy of your home. You can use either saliva or urine to test your pH. Results appear 15 seconds after your test is administered, and the strips come with an easy-to-read chart to see what range you are in.

2. Start your day with a tall glass of water with a hint of lemon.

Lemon might seem too acidic, but it actually has the reverse effect because it helps boost your metabolism. Clean water and a slice of freshly squeezed lemon is one of the most highly rated energy boosters of all time.

Water with lemon gives the body clean energy through both hydration and oxygenation that provide extraordinary energy and mental clarity.

When added to your water, fresh lemon helps oxygenate the body and optimize enzyme function. This fruit is known to stimulate the liver’s natural enzymes and assist the liver in the process of getting rid of toxins such as uric acid.

Start your day with a tall glass of water with a hint of lemon.
Start your day with a tall glass of water with a hint of lemon.

3. Eat more dark and green vegetables.

When we think of healthy foods, we usually think about the color green. Similarly, when we think about nature, we think about the color green. Green is a color that is associated with all of the good aspects of life, but when it comes to choosing what is for lunch, we typically have a reluctance towards green foods.

Unfortunately, our taste buds have been conditioned to love artificial flavors and sugars. Food manufacturers have made us crave intense flavors that can only be found in packaged products.

So, how can you get yourself to eat more dark and green vegetables? Start by exposing yourself to new vegetables and experimenting with them in the kitchen. You likely don’t know that you will like some of these foods until you try them.

Also, make them easily available. When you reach for a snack, make sure that you already have cut-up vegetables in the fridge rather than a bag of potato chips.

4. Get more exercise.

Exercise helps your body sustain and restore its neutral pH balance of tissues, as well as blood and cellular fluids. Doing aerobic exercise is the best way to maintain the acid-alkaline equilibrium in your body because it works your muscles and can help reduce the accumulation of acid in your system.

When it comes to exercising, make sure to do at least one form of activity each day, whether that is walking, dancing, gardening, swimming, etc. Also, the more you exercise, the better off your overall health will be.

Get more exercise.
Lace up and get more exercise.

5. Limit your alcohol intake.

Alcohol changes your pH by altering your kidneys’ ability to maintain substances such as phosphate in your blood. Imbalances of substances in the blood can significantly decrease the effectiveness of your body’s metabolism.

When you drink a light form of alcohol, like a beer, you are drinking a significant amount of water while also reducing your kidneys’ ability to get rid of that water. This results in a fluid overload and a change in phosphate levels that then decreases the acidity of your blood, making your pH level rise.

In fact, a single drink of alcohol can begin to change your normal kidney function. If your liver is already damaged from previous alcohol consumption, alcohol’s effects on your kidneys will only become more harmful.

6. Add a teaspoon of natural baking soda to water and drink it first thing in the morning.

Sure, this doesn’t taste so great, but is a quick way to alkalize your body. It is an easy method, and you can feel the effects of it right away. To do this, mix a teaspoon of natural baking soda in a cup of water and drink it as soon as you wake up.

Among other health benefits, drinking baking soda dissolved in a bit of water helps balance the body’s pH and promotes overall well-being while increasing energy.

7. Reduce your intake of acidic foods.

Limiting your intake of acidic foods can help manage your pH levels, help preserve bone density, prevent kidney stones, and eliminate symptoms of acid reflux.

Foods that are acid-forming in the body should be eaten in strict moderation. Some of these foods include processed cakes and breads, processed cereals, eggs, peanuts, walnuts, pasta, rice, oats, and cold cuts.

When it comes to beverages, limit your intake of alcohol, milk, caffeinated drinks, and drinks that contain artificial sweeteners.

Reduce your intake of acidic foods.
Pasta is an acid-forming food. Eat it in strict moderation.

8. Drink more alkaline water.

You have probably heard some of the health claims that are out there about alkaline water. While a few say that it can help slow the aging process, prevent chronic disease, and regulate your body’s pH level, what exactly is the hype around alkaline water?

Alkaline water has a higher pH level than normal drinking water. Because of this, alkaline water can help neutralize the acid in your body. While normal drinking water typically has a neutral pH of 7, alkaline water has a pH of about 8 or 9.

9. Take multivitamins to supplement your diet.

Many of the vitamins included in a multivitamin will help you alkalize your body. For example, vitamins A and C boost the immune system and strengthen the body’s cells while also making the body more alkaline.

Vitamin D also helps the body maintain an alkaline state while also improving calcium absorption and helping the body maintain healthy mineral levels.

While you may not get enough of these important vitamins and minerals in your diet, taking a multivitamin every day can help your body maintain a healthy pH level.

10. Go for a brisk walk.

Exercise helps move any acidic waste products that are stuck in your body so your organs can eliminate them more effectively.

Each day, go for a brisk walk or incorporate another form of cardio into your day somehow. Grab a friend and start a walking routine together, and stick with it.

Go for a brisk walk.
Walk with a friend.

11. Eat raw, unsalted almonds.

Snack on raw, unsalted almonds throughout the day to help combat acidity in your body. Almonds are rich in natural alkaline minerals such as calcium and magnesium, which help balance out the acidity in your body while also balancing your blood sugar.

If you feel the need to reach for some chips or cake, opt for raw, unsalted almonds instead. They will keep you fuller longer, and have a better effect on the pH of your blood.

12. Reduce your intake of sugar.

The most acidic things you can put into your body are foods that are full of sugar, such as sodas, candy, and cakes. Sugar is actually everywhere you look, in plain sight, as well as being hidden in common food items.

Products like ketchup, yogurt, and even pasta sauce are full of sugar. Sugar comes in many forms, such as high fructose corn syrup, artificial sugar, corn syrup solids, fructose, sucrose, and dextrose, just to name a few.

Sugar (in all of its forms) is very acidic. When you stop to think about how prevalent sugar is in foods (and often in high amounts), it is easy to see its influence in contributing to an imbalanced pH in the blood.

13. Reduce your caffeine intake.

Caffeine is often found in coffee and other drinks that are meant to provide you with a pick-me-up. You may be used to reaching for a soda in the mid-afternoon to help get you through the day, or even an after-dinner cup of coffee to help you finish up some work at the end of the night.

However, caffeine is an acidic factor that can damage the pH of your body. Instead of drinking caffeinated drinks, replace them with either water or tea.

Reduce your caffeine intake.
Drink less coffee to be less acidic.

14. Reduce the amount of stress in your life.

Studies have shown that your emotional state affects the pH levels in your body. Stress affects the neuron-endocrine system, which leads to higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. As is the truth with any form of stress, half of the battle is realizing that the stress is happening.

Practicing mindfulness and recognizing what is challenging you, and whether you are having a helpful or hindering response is an important part of making sure your negative thoughts don’t have a lasting effect on your body.

Building a mindfulness practice will help you become aware of your emotions and allow them to pass without judgment. Once you are aware of your stress, take some steps to find inner peace to help you cope, which will also help keep your pH balanced and avoid harming your bones.

15. Focus on consuming lots of high-alkaline foods.

While you are avoiding foods that make your body produce more acidic, make sure to also add in foods that help your body come to a more alkaline state.

Eat a diet rich in fruits, nuts, legumes, and vegetables. Think about raw Brussels sprouts, raw Swiss chard, raw mustard greens, raw eggplant, sweet potatoes, and yams.

If you get stuck, Ross Bridgeford has a list of seven of the most alkaline foods:

  • Spinach
  • Kale
  • Cucumber
  • Broccoli
  • Avocado
  • Celery
  • Bell pepper

The Dangers of a Body that is Too Acidic

Think about some of the dangers of having a body that is too acidic. It can lead to fatigue, headaches, chronic pain, lack of appetite, increased heart rate, depression, and more.

Without quick treatment, acidosis can lead to several more serious health problems, such as kidney stones, chronic kidney problems, kidney failure, bone disease, and delayed growth.

Found this alkaline body post helpful?

I hope you enjoyed this post on how to make your body more alkaline. If your body is too acidic it can actually be life threatening unless you change your pH balance. So I hope you take it seriously!