Time to Get Real About Hemp

Hemp is another word that refers to the Cannabis plant. Some people also call it 'weed'.  Marijuana is one kind of hemp that works as a natural mood stimulant. People can get high assimilating it into their bodies. 

It wasn't always a crime to be caught with hemp, marijuana, weed; whatever you want to call it. Up until the early 1930s, hemp was a commonly prescribed medicine and was used in many other ways. That changed when William Randolph Hearst of the Hearst Publishing empire decided to vilify hemp by planting false stories in his newspapers to whip up public hysteria against it.  As a consequence, Congress voted to define all varieties of the hemp plant as a dangerous narcotic and made it a felony crime to grow or to use hemp in any way. What was Hearst's motivation for using his influence to get hemp outlawed?  It appears Hearst's liquor and cigarette advertisers were likely behind the criminalization of cannabis. Their motivation was not complicated. They simply didn't want marijuana competing with cigarettes and alcohol for the public's recreational stimulant dollars.  Bottom line: for the last 80 years, all varieties of cannabis have been classified as illegal narcotics.

The psychoactive chemical group found in some varieties of hemp that make them a narcotic stimulant  is called THC or tetra-hydro-cannabinol.  THC is found in moderate to high concentration in varieties of hemp grown for use as mood stimulants. 

There are many varieties of hemp that have extremely low amounts of THC, making them totally useless for narcotic stimulation.  These are categorized by the term, industrial hemp. Despite that, the law makes no distinction.  Even the industrial varieties of hemp are illegal under the law. 

Industrial hemp grows quickly, and requires very little fertilizer. Hemp is also sometimes called 'grass',  possibly because, like a lawn, it's a perennial that can be harvested over and over.  As an agriculture crop, hemp has high value because the cost to grow it is low and the value of a harvest is relatively high.  When I say 'high', I'm not making a pun.  The value of industrial hemp is high because it can be converted for use in so many ways.  Hemp plant fibers are strong,  making them useful for making paper, textiles, and even building materials.  Hemp oil is useful for nutritional supplements, and for making many kinds of food products. The graphic below provides a sense of the many ways hemp can be useful to society.

 

 

In many countries, industrial hemp is grown legally. In the U.S.,  there is a Federal ban on growing industrial hemp. But it is legal for clothing, food supplements and other products made from hemp to be imported to the U.S. from other countries.  

 

Canada lifted its ban preventing farmers from growing industrial hemp a few years ago.  

 

Just this past week, legislation was passed in California lifting the ban on the state's farmers growing industrial hemp.  Other states appear ready to take the same legislative leap forward. 

 

Right now, most paper products are made from cellulose fiber harvested from trees.  It takes time to grow a tree.  The amount of paper fiber that could be produced using hemp, or other fast growing farm crops like kanef or switch grass, is much greater than can be obtained from slower growing tree crops.

 

 

If I was a farmer, I would seriously consider putting some of my cropland into the production of industrial hemp.  Low cost to produce, high potential crop demand.  What's not to like about that. 

 

 

 

Here is a link for a trade organization pressing to lift restrictions on industrial hemp production.... http://www.industrialhemp.net/