Week 29 - Hemp Hysteria

For quite a while I have been hearing about hemp, it’s illegality, it’s ban, the environment, Woody Harrelson…you get the picture. All I know about hemp is, it’s a plant you can make clothing from. Well it turns out the history of hemp is pretty interesting and it’s versatility can really help the environment, there’s just one little problem. Read on!


History (from hemp.com)

1. Hemp has been cultivated since 2800 BC in China.


2. Thomas Jefferson and George Washington grew hemp.


3. In the early 1940’s, children participating in 4H clubs grew hemp.


4. Hemp is naturally archival quality and can be safely bleached using hydrogen peroxide.


5. The first paper was made from hemp as well as the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, the first draft of the U.S. Constitution, and even the first Gutenberg Bibles.


6. 90% of all ship sails from at least Fifth Century BC until the late 19th century were made from hemp.


7. In 1941 Henry Ford built a hemp fueled and fabricated automobile that weighed only two/thirds the amount of a steel car and could resist blows 10 times as great without denting.

Uses for Hemp (various sources)

1. Hemp is harvested for its fibers to make clothing. Hemp clothing is warmer, softer, more absorbent, extremely breathable and significantly longer lasting than clothing made from cotton. It is nice to have clothing that looks like linen, feels like flannel, and wears two to three times longer than other fabrics.


2. The seeds are an excellent nutritional source that can provide quality fats and proteins. The protein contained in hemp seeds is the most complete and body available of any in the plant kingdom.


3. Hemp seed oil is utilized for it’s healing qualities in many salves and cosmetics but can also be used to create paint, varnishes, lubricants, and much more.


4. One acre of hemp produces as much paper as 4 acres of trees. Also, making paper from hemp uses only a fraction of the chemicals required to turn trees into paper.


5. The high fiber content of hemp makes it a natural resource for building materials, papermaking, and even biodegradable plastics.


6. Hemp is a presently viable environmentally sound energy source.


7. Hemp is natures longest, strongest, most durable fiber. Just about anything that can be made out of wood or plastic can be made from hemp, and is biodegradable.

Why Hemp Is a Great Crop to Grow (from rootedtonature.com)

1. Hemp plants have anti microbial properties, so they are not very susceptible to pests and do not have to rely on pesticides, fertilizers, or herbicides to grow. Hemp’s dense growth habit also crowds out weeds. These properties taken together make hemp a good choice for organic farming.


2. With a relatively short growth cycle of 100-120 days, it is an efficient and economical crop.


3. Hemp can be grown in cooler climates than cotton, replenishes the soil it grows in, and produces three times more fabric per acre than cotton.

The Problem

In spite of hemp’s versatility, in 1970 Congress designated hemp, along with its relative marijuana, as a “Schedule 1” drug under the Controlled Substances Act, making it illegal to grow without a license from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Although both hemp and marijuana are from the species: cannabis sativa, hemp contains virtually no THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Apparently smoking large amounts of hemp flowers can produce a headache, but not a high. Industrial hemp has no illicit uses. While it is theoretically possible to get permission from the government to grow hemp, the DEA would require that the field be secured by fence, razor wire, dogs, guards and lights, making it cost-prohibitive.

Have I mentioned the U.S. is the only developed country that continues to ban hemp as an agricultural crop? Britain lifted their ban of hemp in 1993, with Germany and Canada (which in 2005, tripled the amount of acreage dedicated to growing hemp to meet rising demand) soon following suit. Europe has subsidized hemp production since the 1990s.

So What Now?

From about.com: American farmers are intensifying their lobbying efforts to lift the U.S. ban. State legislatures in Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia have all passed laws that would make hemp legal if the U.S. government were to allow it. But a hemp farming bill introduced into Congress this past year [2006] by Texas Republican Ron Paul stalled out due to opposition from the DEA and the White House. For its part, the DEA maintains that allowing American farmers to grow hemp would undermine the “war on drugs,” as marijuana growers could camouflage their illicit operations with similar-looking hemp plants.

Okay I don’t know a lot about the intricacies of the illegal drug trade, but I do know marijuana is the least of our problems when we are talking about street drugs. I just don’t buy the idea we will have an influx of dealers growing marijuana by disguising it with an industrial hemp crop (now college students,…). Considering the fact one is able to say, mix up a batch of crystal meth in their kitchen, the logic appears outdated. It just seems strange that other countries have embraced it (they can‘t be any less concerned about their drug issues), while the U.S. drags it’s feet.

What We Can Do

On the plus side, the government does not ban the import of items made from hemp (what, people won‘t try to smoke their shirts?), so we can purchase them legally. We can help the environment by supporting companies that manufacture these items. This may also go a long way in showing a demand for such products.

If you wish to learn more about and/or show your support for re-legalizing hemp, you can visit votehemp.com. This website provides a ton of information: who is lobbying for what, where our tax dollars are being spent in the fight against drugs, why it won’t be legalized, the value of hemp etc.

This is a complex issue; one I can’t possibly sum up in this post. If you feel there is value in a hemp crop, you can email your legislators via the votehemp.com website. If not, you will at least learn enough about it to quell the urge to giggle and wink when someone says the word!