Companies like Facebook and Stripe are complicit in global warming by creating barriers to industrial hemp, which removes more carbon from the environment than any other commercial crop. They prohibit industrial hemp companies from using their advertising or transaction services. Stripe also seized funds from Abyssinia, a company trying to legalize industrial hemp in Ethiopia. Stripe gave Abyssinia a month to cease using its platform, and even though Abyssinia complied within the deadline, Stripe retained Abyssinia’s funds bef
ore the deadline.
Researchers from Cambridge like Darshil Shah, acknowledge hemp sequesters more carbon than any other commercial crop. Industrial hemp looks like tall stalks and has zero to negligible THC and CBD, the therapeutic drugs found in the bushier marijuana variety of the plant.
Abyssinia, a company trying to get Ethiopia to allow industrial hemp, was prevented from using Facebook advertising or Stripe because its initiative is hemp-related. The early-stage company Abyssinia wanted to be able to accept donations, but even before it could get approval for testing industrial hemp in Ethiopia, gatekeepers created barriers to stop it.
The US 2018 Farm Bill opened hemp for American farmers nationally, and Pakistan legalized industrial hemp in 2021. Stripe and Facebook are like Reefer Madness relics that lack the compassion and knowledge of hemp to make the world a better place.
Abyssinia has conducted studies to assess the nutritional, ecological, and economical impact of hemp on Ethiopia. A study by Abyssinia based on secondary sources examined the relative proliferation of hemp compared to corn acres in select countries. France was the leader with .044 hemp acres for every acre of corn. Canada was just over .02, and the United States was similar to China with about .005 acres of hemp per acre of corn (right).
Some countries in Africa have legalized medical cannabis, while others linger behind, unable to capitalize on hemp’s potential. Ethiopia has a rich history with coffee and might still have a future with hemp, if the technology gatekeepers will allow it.