by Annie Gaffney, ABC, Queensland
Did you know that up until the nineteen forties, if you were going camping your tent would have been made of canvas, and the tie down ropes would have been made of hemp.
The material hemp comes from the Cannabis Sativa plant, and it has stacks of applications. You might have even bought yourself a hemp shirt for instance.
It's exciting to hear though that hemp is now being used in a new building material that could be the way forward when it comes to producing truly sustainable housing. Dr Andrew Katelaris is a medical doctor and cannabis campaigner. He's appeared in a documentary called The Hemp Revolution and he's organised two courses on this new building product called hempcrete.
Dr Katelaris has long championed the use of medical marijuana for pain relief in patients. According to an ABC Catalyst online article, he's described as a maverick in the area of the science on this though. He was charged by police back in 2006 for growing a large crop of cannabis and was banned by the NSW medical tribunal for self administration of the drug and giving it to patients. Annie started by asking him to clarify these issues.