From: vprasad@uoft02.utoledo.edu
Newsgroups: sci.environment
Subject: Lot of questions about hemp
Date: 12 Oct 92 18:46:18 EST
Organization: University of Toledo, Computer Services

                                
	Hello to all the knowledgeable netters out there:

	I have a question that has been bugging me for quite some time
	now, and I hope you can shed some light on this topic. Also,
	please pardon me if this is an FAQ.

	Many might have heard about the drive to make hemp legal,on the 
	grounds that it can help reverse many of the major ecological 
	disasters of today, like top soil erosion, global warming etc.
	Apparently, growing hemp holds the top soil together and retards
	the rate of depletion, also that its leaves can be used for	
	producing paper, that it can provide alternative fuel for
	automobiles which burns clean and so on. Frankly, I am skeptical
	of such claims - it is like promising the moon. I would like to
	get as much info. as I can get on this topic - any pointers to	
	books [which must be available in the local library or must be
	affordable, BTW. You see, I am a poor graduate student! :-( ]
	are much appreciated.

	My main question is, assuming that all these claims are true, what
	exact property of hemp makes it so unique that all of the above 
	touted benefits can only be obtained from hemp and not from any of
	its cousins from the plant kingdom? Surely there must be some plants
	whch belong to the same family as hemp, yet are not narcotic, isn't
	it? Or, is it that all the plants of that family *are* narcotics?

	Another question. I think environmental consciousness is a fairly
	recent phenomenon (~ 30 years??); but hemp has been illegal for
	quite some time before that. Am I mistaken? If I am not, then how
	was it possible for the amount of research needed to unequivocally
	assert that indeed hemp may save the planet Earth? Simple possession
	of a sample of hemp is enough to put one behind bars! I make another
	guess that, such a research simply could not have been done in the
	United States. It must have been done primarily in some South 
	American countries where hemp is freely available, legal or not.
	True?

	All these questions are partly inspired by the following post which
	appeared in soc.culture.indian.telugu, particularly the underlined
	comments.........
-------------------------------------------------------
>Subject: Telugus growing Marijuana in their backyards!!!!??!!!
>From: punati@cbnewsk.cb.att.com (yashodhar.punati)
>
>Two weeks ago a couple of police cars pulled in my friend's driveway
>and the men in blue scared the daylights out of my friend's dad
>(who only understands telugu). The object of all the excitement,
>apparantly, is the weed (??) in their backyard vegetable patch.
>Some friendly (yea!!) neighbour of their's called the cops to
>complain about the marijuana crop  in their backyard. 
>
>The old man somehow conveyed to the cops that his son would be
>home by 5:30pm, so they waited for him to get home.
>
>Finally when the son got home he was able to convince the cops
>that the weed is not Marijuana but our favorite "GONGURA". He had
>to explain what it is used for etc.. Finally they left him
>alone after taking a few samples for the lab.
>
>(As weird and funny as this sounds, this is a true story told to me 
>by the old man Mr Inaganti).
>
>Come to think of it, both Gongura and Marijuana come from the
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>same family (I am drawing from my High school Botany knowledge; so
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>if someone knows any better, please correct me.) - Cannabis.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>Infact another friend was told my his neighbour: " hey RAAAVI, 
>you might wanna be careful with that stuff. It looks  like Marijuana,
>move it into the backyard and cover it up where no one can see it"
>
>
>Yashodhar Punati
>-- 
>/*  yp@alux2.att.com "All opinions are mine, not my employer's"     
>
> "In the beginning, man created beer, and it was good. God was   
>  created shortly thereafter." Gospel According to Brew, 1:1      */
--------------------------------------------------------

	For the benefit of the readers of this group:

	Telugu is a language spoken in south-central part of India, with
	nearly 60 million speakers. SCIT was formed to facilitate discussions
	on the culture of telugu people of India.

	"Gongura" is the name of a tropical plant (in telugu ofcourse, I'd
	be damned if I know the actual biological name of the plant), which 
	I suspect, grows only in our region in the entire world - I've never
	been able to locate this plant any where else even within India. It 
	grows to a maximum height of 2-3 ft., with tender stalks. It's 
	leaves are used in many delicious dishes; more commonly, they are
	pickled and stored in jars for long term use. This plant came to be
	so much identified with the telugu culture, so much so that we 
	Telugus, can be fairly accused of being hooked on this plant! :-)
	Next time you go to a nearby Indian stores, check a jar of gongura
	pickle out and write me later if you aren't hooked! :-) Seriously,
	I assure you that it isn't any dope.

	You see, I'm hoping that all such claims are indeed true, as are the
	comments underlined from the SCIT post. Then the drive for 
	legalisation of cannabis can be stopped and that effort can be more
	productively spent on researching this gongura plant for all those
	potential benefits; then may be we telugus can claim that we knew it
	all along! :-) :-) :-)

	You can post or Email your responses to me. Looking for a flooded
	mailbox when I return tomorrow!

	Siva Prasad.			vprasad@uoft02.utoledo.edu

	P.S:	If this indeed is an FAQ, somebody please do me the favor
		of mailing me a copy. Thanks in advance.