Mr Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters, and guests. Grass, hash, pot, marijuana, cannabis. It goes by many names, and, as I have discovered, has many uses. The scientific name is cannabis, and botanically, it is one of the most advanced plant families on earth, having male, female and hermaphroditic plants. It uses the sun more efficiently than virtually any other plant, reaching 12 to 15 feet in one growing season, and can be grown in almost any soil or climate conditions on earth. There are different strains of cannabis which go loosely by the names of marijuana and hemp. Marijuana is grown and bred to maximise the flowers, buds and leaves, which contain a psychoactive chemical called Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. It is this concentration of THC which produces the effect of 'being high'. Marijuana is planted sparsely so the plants will be bushier. Hemp, on the other hand is bred to maximise stalk fibre. It is sown tightly so that the plants compete for the light and shoot straight for the sun. All resources go to the stalk so only the top part of the plant is leafy. There is a negligible THC content - you could smoke a whole field of hemp and not get 'high'. Over the past few years, cannabis has become increasingly the object of the media's attention, as more people begin to learn the possible benefits of it. In September of last year the English Independent on Sunday launched a 'Decriminalise Cannabis' campaign, which they say they will continue until the law is changed. A recent study into the harmful effects of cannabis, interestingly suppressed by the World Health Organisation, found it to be safer than alcohol or tobacco. The states of California and Arizona have now legalised cannabis for medical use. While researching for this speech I was amazed to discover that smoking cannabis is effective in stopping asthma attacks, relieving glaucoma, and reducing tumours (both benign and malignant). The list of conditions and diseases that can be treated is surprisingly long. It is now used to treat HIV/Aids patients as it slows immune system decrease. It is, in short, on of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. Now, although cannabis is of great medicinal value, I have learnt that it has many other uses in the form of hemp. (hold up twenty pound note). This note is made from hemp. 1 acre of hemp can replace 4 acres of trees, and can be harvested three times a year, as opposed to an average one harvest every 20 to 25 years. Therefore one acre of hemp will produce at least 240 times more paper than an acre of trees. Cannabis hemp also produces more oxygen than most plantation trees. It can be used to make plastics, clothing fabrics and oil. It is also a primary source of food and protein for humans and animals. For most of our history cannabis has been our planet's largest agricultural crop and most important industry, producing the majority of earth's fibre, fabric, lighting oil, paper and medicines. I had to wonder, why is such useful plant illegal. I have to say I was shocked, saddened, and angry at what I learnt. In the late 1930's the munitions company DuPont patented the process of making plastic and synthetic fibre out of oil and coal. DuPont collaborated with other industrialists in the oil, chemical and paper industries and with american government officials including the Secretary of the Treasury and the chief of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. They used the mexican term, marijuana, ignoring the word 'hemp' and the scientific term 'cannabis' in order to mislead the public. Only two days before marijuana was made illegal the American Medical Association discovered that the plant being outlawed was in fact one and the same as the medically known cannabis - the benign substance used in the treatment of hundreds of illnesses in every culture throughout our entire history. In his book 'the Emperor Wears No Clothes' Jack Herer issues this challenge to the world to try and prove him wrong - 'If all fossil fuels and their derivatives, as well as the deforestation of trees for paper and agriculture, are banned from use in order to save the planet and reverse the greenhouse effect: then there is only one renewable resource able to provide the overall majority of our paper, textiles and food, meet all the world's transportation, home and industrial energy needs, reduce pollution, rebuild the soil and clean the atmosphere all at the same time, our old stand-by that did it all before, Cannabis Hemp'. Herer put this challenge to a man called Steve Rawlings, who was the highest ranking officer in the US Department of Agriculture at the time, and the man in charge of reversing the greenhouse effect. His reply was "It's a wonderful idea, and I think that it might work, in fact it's probably the only thing that will work. But, of course, you can't use it" "You're kidding, why not?" "It's illegal. You can't use something illegal… No, not even to save the world" But remember, cannabis has only been illegal for 60 years. For 6 billion years before that it was being used as it should. Ever get the feeling you've been cheated, cos I do.