Imagine there is a superhero plant that can save the world… Before brushing it off as hippie jargon, first consider that your life and mine could not at all exist without plants. This one is even capable of mediating mankind s age-old vexation of balancing the tug o` war between health and wealth, progress and preservation; and yet, it is shunned by the very society it aims to help. Like the amazing Spider-Man, this particular verdure has been labeled a menace. Why?
Of course, we are talking about HEMP. But we are not the only ones talking about it; in fact, we are smack dab in the middle of hemp history week 2012, which serves as a launch pad for farmers, retailers, and celebrities engage in a politico-educational movement geared toward re-legalizing the harvest of industrial hemp for a heathy future. For one of our own its hemp history week all year long.
Twenty-seven year old Redondo/Hermosa Beach native and resident Adam The Bat, as the RUHS class of 2002 graduate prefers to be known and introduced. or just Adam for short, is left unsettles by various aspects the society erected around him. Generally accepted norms in a socially engineered environment that just do not seem to add up have led him to become a locally proactive advocate for consciousness and freethinking, with a focus on hemp re-education.
Re-legalization and re-education, because while hemp once served as the backbone of America s agricultural heritage, it has been effectively prohibited in the U.S. for over 50 years by a happy marriage of corporate muscle and misguided legislation. Even though George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp, our Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper, and Ben Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper, and hemp has been grown for the last 12,000 years to be harvested sustainably for 1,000 s of products at up to 4 times the fiber wield per acre than any wooded forest…. even though Rudolph Diesel designed his engine to run on hemp oil… even though imported hemp products generate $420 million ( what a coincidence) in annual retail sales without U.S. farmers accruing a single bag of dimes… the Federal Bureau of Narcotics lumped industrial hemp in the same category as marijuana for sharing the same taxonomical genus of Cannabis, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration prohibits its growth and harvest to this day.
Adam says, “Hemp is a part of the family [Cannabis], but it is a male plant. If you were to try to smoke industrial hemp to get stoned, or high, or whatever, you would die from smoke inhalation before getting a head change.” In a world that claims to be “going green” he claims, “It is absolutely insane that we do not use hemp for our paper standard and building standard. Hemp produces 25% more pulp per acre for paper use then trees… I can fill the entire Easy Reader with hemp facts… It can be used for everything … It can be refined in to oil that will actually run a car… the majority of people do not understand this, because it is not what they are taught.” With a passion for music , in an attempt to do something about to spread the word and stimulate some level of conciseness pertaining to these matters, Adam funneled his zealous ideals into the creation of IndoRadioOnline.com.
IndoRadioOnline.com is an internet radio station that Adam refers to as alternative media and activism radio. The website features a verity of six deferent genres of music from well-known and unknown artist alike, while promoting the “free-thinking” consciousness associated with his stance on industrial hemp as well as medical marijuana. But it is much more then a wireless world for Adam, It is a local cultural movement of sorts he takes his Indo Radio to the streets of the South Bay with live music showcases.
It began in 2010 with IndoRadioOnline.com Presents Toke N Tuesdays at Patrick Molloy s in Hermosa Beach, which relocated to The Shore, and eventually pared to other venues as Wake Up Wednesdays. Adam has also been putting together Indo s Got Five On It shows which feature five bands for five dollars. The underlying theme of each event is to stimulate and share consciousness surrounding hemp and marijuana facts. It is common to see these facts projected behind the stage, as well as to hear them from the audience participants on the stage in between sets. A free raffle of hemp and cannabis related products always accompanies the Indo Radio Music showcases.
As for the pot thing, Adam says, ” It is a touchy subject. We are advocates for medical cannabis, medical and recreational use… but it has a lot of bad stigmas… like Devils Weed… Consuming cannabis, smoking cannabis – it is not for everybody. I have had it work miracles in my life, and I have seen it work miracles in other people s lives… For me, I feel that every use is medical in a way… Some people just need to come to a certain zone every day to remain who they are…But you have to know a lot about it to use it responsibly.
“I do not want people to think we are just a bunch of stoner trouble makers … We have some massive issues and it all comes back to the power in the people, the power to learn, the power to express, the power to consume. What you consume in your life is a huge thing! They refer to people as consumers… Huge businesses take the humanity out of a person and you turn into a consumer… You are what you eat, you are what you think… People grew up with this social engineering that is just not true. If you did your homework and think for yourself, you are going to come up with a totally deferent conclusion, I guarantee you. To some it all up in one word: Think”
A child s mind thrives on inquisition. We are born with infinite question about the world around us. As a generation pass down their collective knowledge throughout the ages, it is historically evident at times an indispensable piece of wisdom will slip the cracks, while at other times an atrocity becomes smoothed over as an accepted norm. Eventually people wake up, and they turn the tides.
IndoRadioOnline.com s Wake Up Wednesdays are every wednesday from 5 p.m. – 8p.m. (Summer Hours 7p.m. – 9 p.m.) on the sandy shore of 25th street Hermosa Beach. Adam is still organizing live music showcases in local venues, a couple of the most recent having been at Saint Rocke and The Dive @ Brixton, but the beach has become a consistent home for this otherwise roving movement.
“I did some research about the laws before having the gatherings,” he assures. “We want to respect the laws and the residents in the area, we go right out to the beach and it is awesome! I just feel like the beach really accents the vibe that we are trying to bring to the table.”
On the sand where the foot meets the earth and financial exchange is nonexistent, Indo Radio holds it weekly live jam in acoustic fashion while the same sharing of consciousness and ideas takes place in the glowing embrace of the sunset.
“It is like the weather, you never really know what it is gonna be until you are out there. You know there are gonna be free minds there, and thats it. And everybody is understanding and open. I planted a seed and i am watching this beautiful flower grow.” ER
