Dietzen, who created the well-known “Renew Sports Car” out of hemp, has since expanded his scope to find out how we can reduce our carbon footprint with the plant in other ways.
Nearly seven years ago, Bruce Dietzen had an idea: attempting to make a lighter, stronger car using hemp.
The idea came after reading "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" by Jack Herer, which includes information about the hemp plant and its various uses. Mentioned in the book is Henry Ford's 1941 car, which Dietzen cites as an inspiration. The car contained cellulose fibers derived from hemp, wheat straw, and sisal.
"When I read that [book], I thought, 'If Henry Ford did it in this old-fashioned way, which [used] a thermal compression type of technology, and newer technology uses woven fiberglass and carbon fiber, using woven hemp instead might work better.' And lo and behold, it did," Dietzen says.
Thus, the "Renew Sports Car" was born, and the first of two prototypes launched in 2015. But a lot has changed for the creator of the Renew Sports Car since then, with his sole focus shifting away from just hemp cars to how this versatile plant can help "save an inhabitable planet,” Dietzen says.
Dietzen started with a deconstructed first-generation Mazda Miata and made the car's body panels and upholstery with 65% woven hemp and 35% bio epoxy. "It still had a gasoline engine, and I burned a biofuel in it," he says.
He adds that the car’s hemp fiber body was lighter compared to those built with aluminum, which is commonly used as an auto body material. He also says that hemp is more bend resistant than steel—one of the most common metals auto manufacturers use.
Dietzen adds that while production of traditional automotive materials, like steel and carbon fiber, tend to contribute CO2 to the atmosphere, hemp cultivation has been shown to sequester carbon, making it a more sustainable alternative.
Dietzen's original goal was to create a "carbon-negative" car by 2025, but he says he wasn't on track to do so. One of the main hiccups was the low demand, plus the time and cost to make the cars.
"To make these one at a time is very expensive, and they were handmade [by me]," he says. "To make one, it's about $80,000 to convert it. I did get [a second] order from a customer and completed it in time for the NoCo [Hemp Expo in 2021]. So, I brought it to NoCo and showed it off [there]," he says, adding that the car was delivered to a private collector following the event.
Dietzen notes that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) pointed out that if measures are not taken to address the climate crisis by 2030, then "we could hit an irreversible tipping point," he said in an email.
Dietzen believes industrial hemp poses a promising solution.
“I shifted my focus away from the car to DrawdownHemp a year ago in order to make a much bigger contribution to the planet by identifying the highest impact measures hemp could make to address the climate crisis,” he said in an email.
According to a presentation Dietzen gave at the eighth annual NoCo Hemp Expo March 28, some of the organization's findings on ways hemp and its byproducts can be used to sequester or avoid CO2 in the atmosphere include:
using hempcrete to fill abandoned oil wells leaking methane;
making most buildings out of hempcrete and hemp blocks;
adding hemp biochar to all abandoned and active croplands;
using hemp to replace products typically made out of carbon intensive fiberglass, carbon fiber, rolled steel, and aluminum (i.e. sporting goods, vehicle bodies, autonomous delivery vehicles, structural building materials, etc.);
using phytoremediation techniques on superfund sites (polluted locations in the U.S.);
replacing beef with hemp grain;
using hemp plastics, and more.
"Our initial findings suggest that 2-4 gigatons of CO2 could be sequestered or avoided per year if industrial hemp were strategically grown and utilized on a massive scale worldwide," he said in an email.
"[We must] convince the [Biden administration] that hemp is one of the most critical and important technologies to engage with on many different levels,” he says. "Hemp is a versatile commodity that we can use to help save an adaptable planet."
Editors Note: This story was originally posted at 4:00 PM March 31 and has been updated 9:40 AM April 1 to include photos of the Renew Sports Car and DrawdownHemp group.
The bill’s sponsor said the regulation of these products needs to be clear-cut.
Tennessee lawmakers debated a dual measure March 30 that would ban the sale or possession of hemp-derived products containing more than 0.3% THC on a dry-weight basis.
During a subcommittee hearing Wednesday, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. William Lamberth, said regulation for these products needs to be clear-cut, News Channel 9 reported.
“I am not banning delta-8 THC or any other type of THC in this bill. We’re just setting an upper limit of 0.3% [THC],” William said.
But Sam O’Sullivan, with the Tennessee Health Alternatives Association, disagreed. “If this bill were to pass, I know it just says it’s 0.3 percent, but that is a ban,” O’Sullivan said.
Opponents of the bill also argue that the measure would significantly impact businesses selling such products and hinder individuals who use these products for medicinal benefits.
“Nobody is dying from delta-8,” Ted Terry, a delta-8 user, told News Channel 9. “People are dying from alcoholism every day.”
Elisha Millan, owner of Grass Roots, a hemp and CBD dispensary in Chattanooga, Tenn., also told New Channel 9 that we should be helping "individuals get treatment for their pain, rather than penalize them for the method that they choose to do so.”
The legislation would authorize financial institutions and insurers to provide services to the state’s medical cannabis businesses.
As the federal push to provide safe banking to the cannabis industry has repeatedly stalled in Washington, D.C., some state lawmakers are now trying to take the matter upon themselves.
Most recently, Pennsylvania legislation that aims to authorize financial institutions and insurers to provide services to the state’s medical cannabis business found unanimous support in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee March 30.
The legislation, Senate Bill 1167, is sponsored by Republican Sen. John DiSanto and has 13 bipartisan co-sponsors. DiSanto serves as the chair of the Banking and Insurance Committee.
“Access to financial and insurance services is essential for operating any business and it is against the public interest to relegate a multibillion-dollar industry to deal in piles of cash,” DiSanto said in a press release. “Banking this cash safely in Pennsylvania provides certainty for businesses, is a huge opportunity to grow our economy, and should ultimately lower costs for medical cannabis consumers.”
Pennsylvania is one of 37 states to legalize medical cannabis, while 18 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized adult-use cannabis.
While some cannabis businesses utilize local and regional banking in the U.S., options are limited with the plant still illegal under federal law. By and large, the cannabis industry operates in cash without federal clarity providing safe harbor to financial institutions servicing cannabis clients.
In part, that’s made many cannabis retailers targets of violent crime. Notably, there was a string of fatal incidents involving cannabis dispensary robberies in Tacoma, Wash., and Seattle earlier this month.
In December 2021, California experienced a mass of robberies in the Bay Area, including “hundreds” of roving caravans taking aim at dispensaries in Oakland.
RELATED: Bay Area Cannabis Mayhem: 175 Shots Fired, Products Worth Millions Stolen
While U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter has provided a beacon of hope to industry stakeholders via his sponsorship of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which has passed the House six times, his legislation has failed to make any sort of meaningful headway in the Senate.
Now, state lawmakers are taking it upon themselves to provide their legal cannabis businesses a means to move away from cash-heavy operations.
Earlier this month in Oklahoma, House lawmakers voted 75-11 to pass a bill that aims to create a payment tracking ecosystem, including the development of “hack-resistant” technologies to open the door for convertible virtual currency transactions in the state’s medical cannabis industry.
While the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued guidance in 2014 regarding expectations for financial institutions seeking to provide services to cannabis-related businesses, federal law does not immunize those institutions from prosecution.
As a result, many licensed cannabis businesses have struggled to access traditional banking and insurance services, creating a public safety risk associated with cash operations.
While Pennsylvania’s S.B. 1167 does not require financial institutions and insurers to provide services to state-legal cannabis clients, the proposal grants safe harbor protections from “adverse state regulatory or legal action for servicing the industry,” according to DiSanto’s release.
In addition, the legislation intends to permit Pennsylvania’s medical cannabis operators the ability to deduct ordinary business expenses when filing state taxes, a standard practice for non-cannabis businesses in the state, DiSanto said.
Meredith Buettner, executive director for the Pennsylvania Cannabis Coalition, applauded DiSanto and Sen. Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia, for their work to advance the legislation. Street co-sponsors the bill and serves as minority chair for the Banking and Insurance Committee.
“S.B. 1167 will not only expand financial access for Pennsylvania’s legitimate cannabis-related businesses but will also create significant tax savings for medical marijuana operators that can be passed on to patients without significant loss of revenue for the commonwealth,” Buettner said in the release.
As of March 7, there were 156 medical cannabis dispensaries with product available in Pennsylvania.
Since commercial sales launched in April 2018, the state has recorded $4.8 billion in market sales, including $1.9 billion by growers/processors to dispensaries, and $2.9 billion from dispensaries to customers, according to the Pennsylvania Health Department.
Sen. Mark Koran has introduced a bill that would allow the Department of Health to license at least two more vertically integrated companies in the state.
A Minnesota lawmaker wants to double the number of licensed medical cannabis operators in the state.
Sen. Mark Koran, R-North Branch, introduced legislation March 29 that would allow the Minnesota Department of Health to license at least two more vertically integrated companies in the state, according to a 5 Eyewitness News report.
Currently, Minnesota has two licensed cannabis operators: LeafLine Labs and Vireo Health, which does business as Green Goods in the state.
Koran told 5 Eyewitness News that his proposal could help increase medical cannabis production, promote more competition and drive prices down for patients.
“There could be a lot of benefits to adding two more medical cannabis producers by 2024,” Koran said. “More competition can lead to better prices for patients and then we have to ask ourselves, ‘What does success look like?’ so that we are careful to not dilute the market.”
A new law went into effect on March 1 to allow Minnesota’s medical cannabis patients to access flower, and Dr. Stephen Dahmer, chief medical officer at Green Goods, told 5 Eyewitness News that the company’s average unit price dropped by nearly 30% since the rule change. He added that he does not believe that licensing more medical cannabis operators in the state is necessary at this time.
Nevertheless, Koran’s bill has attracted bipartisan support, 5 Eyewitness News reported, although it has not yet had a committee hearing.
The committee advanced four amendments for the legislation to end the federal prohibition of cannabis; House floor consideration expected April 1.
Federal legislation to end cannabis prohibition is expected to advance to the House floor April 1 after Rules Committee members voted 9-4 in favor of attaching four amendments to the bill on Wednesday evening.
Overall, the committee entertained 22 amendments to the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which aims to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, provide expungements for cannabis offenses and impose a federal tax on cannabis that would help fund programs for those adversely affected by the drug war.
Sponsored by U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., the legislation, House Bill 3617, was first introduced in July 2019 and was passed by the full lower chamber via a 228-164 vote in December 2020. That marked the first time a full body of Congress voted on a broad cannabis decriminalization bill.
RELATED: U.S. House Passes MORE Act
“I was proud to introduce this long overdue legislation to reverse decades of failed federal policies based on the criminalization of marijuana,” Nadler said during his opening remarks before the Rules Committee on Wednesday.
“It would also take steps to address the heavy toll these policies have taken across the country, particularly among communities of color,” he said. “Last time, the House voted on a bipartisan basis to address this issue. Unfortunately, the Senate failed to act, so I’m pleased that we’re moving forward again.”
Despite the federal government’s continued criminalization of cannabis, 37 states have legalized medical cannabis for commercial sale without low-THC restrictions, while 18 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized adult-use cannabis.
Nadler highlighted three main focuses of his 92-page bill, which would:
“For far too long, we have treated marijuana as a criminal justice problem instead of as a matter of personal choice and public health,” Nadler said. “Whatever everyone’s views are on the use of marijuana, for recreational or medicinal use, the policy of arrests, prosecution and incarceration at the federal level has proven both unwise and unjust.”
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., a member of the House Judiciary Committee, argued that while members are busy taking up considerations on the MORE Act, they’re ignoring issues such as the “border crisis, inflation, crime rates, etc., to talk about legalization of marijuana at the federal level.”
He neglected to mention that 68% of Americans support full legalization, according to a November Gallup Poll; 91% of U.S. adults support federal legalization of medical cannabis, according to an April 2021 Pew Research Center survey; and an estimated 40,000 people remained incarcerated for cannabis offenses in the U.S., according to Forbes.
“This isn’t just about legalization though. This is a marijuana stimulus bill,” Biggs said. “H.R. 3617 doesn’t just federally deschedule marijuana. It incentivizes marijuana use and distribution, and it’s reckless in its approach, provides no limits on or requirements to clearly identify the potency of the marijuana or its extracts or concentrates.”
States that have legalized medical or adult-use cannabis have strict rules and regulations in place regarding properly packaging and labeling products to provide consumers with THC content, in addition to ensuring those products are tested by approved laboratories.
Among the 22 amendments considered by the committee, four were approved to advance to the House floor:
Revealed earlier this month, a new White House employee conduct guideline states that individuals who have invested in cannabis companies can be denied security clearances under President Joe Biden’s administration.
RELATED: Biden Anti-Cannabis Stock Policy Revealed in New Uncovering
Raskin’s amendment would require a review process for security clearances being denied or rescinded going all the way back to May 1971.
Notable among MORE Act amendments that the Rules Committee blocked from advancing were submitted by Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Andy Harris, R-Md.
While the MORE Act aims to impose a federal excise tax on cannabis products starting at 5% and increasing to 8% by the fifth year of implementation, Mace’s blocked amendment proposed a structure to reflect a flat tax equal to 3%, which is in line with the States Reform Act (SRA) she sponsors. Competing legislation, SRA also aims to end federal cannabis prohibition.
Mace offered two additional amendments to the MORE Act. One aimed to require the Secretary of Transportation to withhold federal funding for states that legalize adult-use cannabis for those under 21. The other aimed to require responsible advertising provisions be included in the bill.
Meanwhile, Harris offered an amendment that would have blocked any portion of the bill from being carried out until the Comptroller of the U.S., the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Secretary of Transportation “have studied the societal, public health and public safety implications of enactment of the bill, and the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse has certified that the societal, public health and public safety benefits of enactment of this bill outweigh the societal, public health and public safety risks.”
Further consideration and a full chamber vote on the MORE Act are expected to come as soon as Friday.
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