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Much of the higher ground throughout this country is covered in green pine plantations, hugging the contours and creating visual beauty for the eye to behold… yet concealing the dehydrating, acidic environmental cancer caused by these trees. The damage that the forestry industry is doing to soil and water reserves in South Africa is well documented, and despite various conservation measures, the damage continues. Such a industry cannot be stopped overnight, indeed to do so would be irresponsible and short-sighted – and it is a huge employer – so maybe the answer is to find alternatives which can be phased in over a period of time, tackling the most sensitive areas first.

One such alternative is an annual, water-wise crop, easy to grow and not only yielding more paper producing pulp per hectare in a shorter time than pines, but also produces fibres for rope and cloth. Even the seeds can be used for the production of varnish! The benefits don’t end here… medicinally various cultivars of this plant are entrenched in the medical traditions of Chinese, European and African cultures. During the 19^th Century, various extracts were standard treatments for a variety of conditions and even Queen Victoria was often treated with this plant. Today, cancer and Aids treatments are supported with this plant – it is also a broncodilator, reduces high blood pressure, helps with eye conditions, acts as an analgesic with minimal side effects, reduces neurological activity and muscle spasm in cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis sufferers and is even used as a gentle laxative for the elderly! Arthritis and rheumatism are helped with this plant, which can also induce sleep and has a value as an antidepressant. In the 60 years leading up to 1900, over 100 medical papers had been published on the medical attributes of this plant alone.

Its name? Cannabis sativa… yes, better known as Marijuana! You know, that wacky stuff which puts you on another planet when smoked… or so the paradigm goes. Cannabis, or rather one of the sub species, C.sativa subsp, indicus, contains a substance known as Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC for short, which has sadly been abused and has clouded the importance of the plant as a whole and the other family member C. sativa subsp. sativa, also known as hemp, which has very little THC hence little narcotic effect and is cultivated under legal control in some countries. It is this plant which has application as a crop to gradually redress the ecological damage done by the pine forests.

Let us not forget that under strict control, subsp. indicus also has strong medical applications in this country, especially with its proven uses with Aids and TB patients. Education as to the consequences of its abuse must also be an important feature of any such project.

Maybe the legal system should review the restrictions on the Cannabis plant and look at the potential from the conservation aspect of this plant, not to mention the medical angles, and work with the positives of what is a truly under exploited and under researched crop. If you abuse marijuana, you can suffer a lack of motivation… if we continue to abuse our environment and do nothing to try and repair the damage when possible answers are staring us in the face, a lack of motivation will be the least of our worries!

David Lovell

Schagen

July 1999