Biofuel, Not Drugs

I wrote a piece a few weeks back on Afghanistan's potential biofuel revolution and I have had great responses all around. The more I think about this, the more sense it makes. Since some of you may have missed it, let me encapsulate this idea for you:

As of now, Afghanistan is the largest source of opium and heroin in the world due to their huge crops of poppies. Where poppies have been removed, cannabis has been planted, making them a major supplier of the world's hash and marijuana as well. Besides all of these drugs moving onto the international black market, the profits flow directly to the terrorist groups and warlords whom we are currently in the Middle East to subdue. With this simple plan, we can hook up to both ends of the pipeline and use it to solve problems instead of causing them. Here it is, in 4 easy steps:

1. First and foremost, the US buys every hectare of poppies grown in Afghanistan, paying above black market prices straight to farmers. Provided money talks (as it usually does) we remove all of the plants and thereby all of the opium and heroin which would have been produced from it. The black market for these drugs will experience a staggering drop in supply worldwide. The US can either destroy the poppies or sell them to Big Pharma for legal opiates.

2. The only condition we attach is that they replace these crops with industrial hemp for use as biofuel. They are long accustomed to growing cannabis for drug use and have cultivated the plant for thousands of years. Per acre, there is no more productive plant for biofuel, period. It needs no pesticides or fertilizer and it is sustainable. And they are already growing huge quantities of it all over.

3. The US arranges to buy every hectare of hemp grown in Afghanistan, again paying above black market prices straight to farmers. This takes all of their cannabis off the black market for drug usage and assures them a fair value for their efforts, not to mention a new supply of income, fuel, food and fiber.

4. We connect Afghanistan directly into the international biofuel chain, making them the largest producer of biofuel in the world. They grow industrial hemp and use the plant and seed mainly for biofuel, but also for food and fiber, among its thousands of other uses.

By taking all the drugs off of the black market and paying farmers directly for their crops, we take away a major source of funding for the Taliban, Al Qaeda and local warlords. We take away enemy funds for the War on Terror and illegal drugs from the War on Drugs. It is a win-win situation for the US, for Afghanistan and for the world. But it cannot be done unless we have an honest debate about hemp/cannabis and apply rigorously empirical scientific data.

We are on the cusp of understanding the power of hemp and truly harnessing the potential of the plant. Turning Afghanistan's "drug problem" into a biofuel solution needs only a change in how we frame hemp and cannabis and how we co-opt it's use into solving problems, not creating them.

Robbie Gennet 2009

link to previous column:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robbie-gennet/afghanistans-biofuel-revo_b_168399.html

Comments

[youngcynic]

Why do you think Australian troops are there? So that Australian based Macquarie Oil can either snatch up all the poppy and make ethanol or so the troops can keep the price of poppy high (by destroying the crops) so ethanol made with it stays expensive.
The (corrupt) Afghan government is paying DLA piper for their PR. DLA piper happens to host "one of the first petroleum lawyers," John H. Zentay.

All this so that, even if Afghan men can't feed their families, rich oil company execs can get richer and their families can get that plastic surgery they've always wanted.

[TonyOnly]

Point 1: The problem with biofuel is that it consumes far more energy to refine than petroleum. In some cases it even consumes more energy to produce than it provides. Unless there's huge spike in the price of oil, biofuel is not viable. As a lot of corn farmers have recently found out. --------------- Point 2: Like it or not, drug addiction is an issue in our society. Your plan would cause major hardship for the least fortunate people in our country. The rise in the price of drugs would cause a rise in the crime rate. If you think the addicts will just clean up when they can no longer afford it, you're sadly mistaken.

[SoMG]

Buying the fields is a good idea. Converting the crops is not. The Baby-Boom Generation is entering the severe-chronic-pain age. Also the "you've got six months to live" age. We need all the opiate drugs we can grow.

[Eric Pollitt]

Hemp is a lignocellulosic material that can be used as a biofuel. Most people see the term biofuel and think of ethanol. A huge debate abounds for the use of corn as a biofuel to produce ethanol.

Well, with hemp, the amount of energy to produce fuel is significantly less than with corn. While scientists are busy trying to find an enzyme to break-down lignocellulosic material, such as hemp, but also wheat grass, rice straw, etc its my opinion that they are going the wrong direction to provide the solution. You see, they want to break down lignocellulosic material into its three components of: cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignan (glue). Then, they want to ferment the cellulose into ethanol, but ethanol must be refined of all its water, and that takes energy. That's part of the problem with corn based ethanol.

Anyhow, a method that been around since Egyptian times is pyrolysis. "Pyrolysis is the technique of applying high heat to organic matter (lignocellulosic materials) in the absence of air or in reduced air. The process can produce charcoal, condensable organic liquids (pyrolytic fuel oil), non-condensable gasses, acetic acid, acetone, and methanol. The process can be adjusted to favor charcoal, pyrolytic oil, gas, or methanol production with a 95.5% fuel-to-feed efficiency."

Source: Biomass Resources for Energy and Industry

More information at the following URL: http://www.globalhemp.com/Archives/Essays/Biofuel/biomass_resources.html

[radmul]

Industrial hemp is not for drug usage. It contains no THC. Your idea is a massive waste of funds. legalize the drugs and remove the money. Then let them grow food to eat.

[RonGallion]

I have said for years that marijuana should be legal. It should be treated in the same category as beer. It would take it off the black market and taxable. It would go a long way in solving the southern border issue. I am no in favor of corn ethanol in gas, it only marginalize pollution output , and you get less miles per gallon because ethanol does not have the same combustion ratio as gasoline. A consequence congress did not see concerning corn is the price went sky high, so did food. We should not burn our food. I tell my wife that but she keeps burning dinner:)