Ukraine Goes Green
There was a time when cannabis produced most of the clothes or food in Ukraine, but the real contemporary use of this plant on a very large scale involves the energy market and biofuels. Both Ukraine and Putin’s Russia are looking in that direction.
Indian hemp was brought to Eastern Europe by Scythian tribes from Siberia, circa 2,500 years ago. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote about the popularity of hemp smoke rituals among the Scythians. Cannabis has always been important for Ukrainian culture and industry, and was especially so between the 15th and mid-20th centuries.
In the 15th century, the local people of today’s Moldova and Ukraine were able to have their taxes paid in cannabis. After World War II, Ukraine became a major food supplier of the Soviet Union. It is believed that with its rich fields, the country is able to feed the whole of Europe. Also the fuel and energy industry as well as heavy industry, especially weapons, were very strong branches.
The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev dreamed of transforming the Crimean Odessa, known as the Pearl of the Black Sea, into a world center of the hemp-hashish industry and of legalizing marijuana throughout the entire USSR. Unfortunately, he could not fulfill his plans.
He was ousted from power by fans of vodka drinking. Russian influence continued to be huge after the break-up of the USSR; as a result of the recent conflict with Russia, exporting goods to the east has become even more unprofitable and difficult. Ukraine needs a chance to open its famous barns to western markets.
In current times, when fuel resources are becoming depleted, the hemp industry can bring great relief to the world system, if not a solution to many problems. Importantly, growing hemp can restore land contaminated as a result of man-made disasters, because hemp can "suck" from the ground almost all harmful substances.
After the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe in 1986, the government funded experiments with soil decontamination using cannabis in the exclusion zone. After the outbreak of radiation after Fukushima, within just two weeks Japanese scientists came to Ukraine and tried to use these technologies to clean up the affected area - says Alexander Ignatuk, president of the Association For The Ukrainian Industrial Hemp.
The Green Economy and Dollars
How come “controversial” hemp gets mentioned in the main-stream media mostly in times of war, famine, or other disasters?
Take the famous “Hemp for Victory” propaganda movie during WW2 – whose mere existence the U.S. government would later deny! In 2014 Bloomberg reported that the U.S. was looking into acquiring Ukrainian hemp seed as a form of aid. "We are now involved in trying to figure out ways in which we might be able to use the industrial hemp seeds that are created in the Ukraine in the U.S." Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack told Bloomberg.
Ukraine is the world's fourth largest provider of hemp seed. Hemp activists welcomed the news, as this action would kill two birds with one stone: help Ukraine by exporting hemp seeds, while boosting the U.S. economy by giving farmers and industry a new crop and resource.
There must be something of great importance about this plant… No wonder former CIA Director Jim Woolsey, who served under both presidents Clinton and Bush, later made a seemingly odd career move and served on the board of the North American Industrial Hemp Council. Woolsey says that hemp, if allowed in the U.S., could become a low-water-consuming, easy-to-grow source of biofuels.
Already in 2009 researchers from the Ukrainian Council of Agricultural Sciences had created a variety of cannabis without any THC content at all. This greatly simplified the legal conditions for growing the plant. In 2012 the government significantly clarified and reformed the laws on the cultivation and processing of hemp.
It seems that Ukraine is facing a great opportunity to become a leader in hemp production in Europe which will result in the improvement of the living conditions of the people (diet, work etc.). Now, hemp products are not cheap by local standards as the price depends on the number of permits.
As a result of the recent abolition of senseless, restrictive laws regarding industrial hemp, as well as the war costs the price of hemp products is destined to fall soon. Now a pair of nice hemp shoes goes for about 30 euros; a hemp shirt or a large bottle of hemp oil can be found for a couple of euros.
These are very reasonable prices for foreigners. Ukrainian entrepreneurs know that they can succeed in western markets, even with the customs and transportation costs.
S
Sebastian Daniel
