Cannabis sativa is prominently known as the origin of marijuana, the world's most widely used illicit recreational drug. ,However, The plant is also vitally useful as a viable source of stem fiber, healthy seed oil, and medicinal elements, all going through up-and-coming research, potential technological applications, and economic prospects.
Now, despite its ability to harm as a recreational drug, marijuana has a distinct potential for making available new products to benefit society and for bringing about extensive employment and immense profits. Misconceived policies, until recently, have hindered proper research on the beneficial attributes of cannabis, but there is now an uprising of societal, scientific, and political backing to reappraise and remove some of the hurdles to usage. Unfortunately, there is also a corresponding scarcity of objective analysis.
Regardless of whether it is legal and easy to buy marijuana, the fact remains that some countries are beginning to lessen and, in some cases, lift the ban on cannabis because of some of its minor benefits, which we will be exploring.
Biomass
Biomass, as we all know, is obtained from living organisms, both plants and animals alike. Usually, on an industrial scale, the biomasses from plants are economically viable. They are burned to produce heat or converted to biomass, and C. sativa is one of such plants.
Because of the increasing prices, risks, and environmental damage that have risen from using petrochemicals, there is now a demand for a significant shift towards biomass plants as an alternative energy source.
Presently, most biomass is derived from wood logs, which is a sustainability problem, as trees are a diminishing resource, hence the consideration of crops for biomass. But this has its flaws because planting crops for biomass instead of food will make food scarce and very expensive. But perhaps a more viable solution is one proposed by Rehman et al. (2013), in which he explored the use of wild-growing hemp in Pakistan as a source of biomass---which will solve the dilemma of the ethical issues surrounding the use of plants for fuel.
BioGas
This is presently being produced (mainly methane) in some countries from various feedstocks, animal waste, crop residue, sewage sludge, and household organic waste. The use of maize as biogas has long been practiced in Germany.
Because a steam pretreatment of hemp straw dramatically increases the conversion process of hemp into methane, there is, therefore, a massive potential for hemp to be used as a substitute for biogas.
Livestock feed
Because of the nutritional benefits of hemp seed, it is considered viable livestock feed, plus the adverse effects of growing hemp as a crop are benign to both humans and the environment. The seeds can be used as livestock feed, while other parts of the plants can be used for different medicinal, recreational, or nutritional purposes.
Hemp solid fuel
Hemp can be incinerated directly for energy, but surprisingly, this aspect of hemp has been uncharted. It is also a potential feedstock for manufacturing solid biofuels such as briquettes and pellets. Because this area of hemp has yet to be explored, it makes for a potential niche market, especially when they are made to be used as fuels for pellet stoves and boilers.
Ornamental use
Hemp has, in the time past, been grown for its decorative use. A remarkable example of this was one developed by Ivan Bosca, which had a short branched cultivar panorama. It was commercialized in Hungary in the 1980s (Journal of the IHA 1994) and has been put forward as the only ornamental hemp cultivar available.
Of course, the project was unsuccessful because several circumstances that prevented the private growing of cannabis as an ornamental crop were in place. The only problem is that the costs are slightly higher than the rest of the best seed banks. Fast forward to this time when beautiful ornamental cultivars of opium poppy are widely and freely grown in home gardens across North America. It is very surprising considering that it is still illegal across that region.
Tall-fiber cannabis sativa has been used in France as an ornamental maze; needless to say, if this is made legal, many folks will plant cannabis solely for its cosmetic use.
As a Protective companion plant
Judging from the name, these rare species of plants, are basically grown with other plants to assist those other plants either in fighting off certain plant diseases, or soil organisms, or to provide a symbiotic feeding relationship beneficial to the target plant.
A review that was done in (1997a) by McPartland showed that when hemp is grown near cotton and vegetable crops, it protects them to a certain degree against pests, particularly nematodes, which leads to the reduction of these pests in the soil and also prepares the ground by making it less threatening for the subsequent planting of new crops.
In conclusion, it is evident that cannabis, apart from the vast medical benefits being pushed forward as a potential reason for legalizing it by its advocates, it has a lot of potential outside the confines of medicine.
