The Leaf THE LEAF March-April 2019 | Page 13

by strict implementation of policy on the local level. Perhaps there is still room for an organic solution to rise from the soil. Australians could rally their representatives to take the bold step of legalising the cultivation of cannabis plants, thus permitting the industrial production of hemp on a wide scale. Australia could be the new hemp mecca, people could still buy their clothes from Australia (albeit made from a different material), and the new crop would act as less of a drain upon the fragile Murray-Darling ecosystem. Do you think Australians should review their regulatory policy to allow for the cultivation of hemp as a substitute crop for resource- intensive cotton?