Industrial Uses of Hemp
Not Just For Stoners Anymore
Industrial hemp has had many effective uses over the centuries. These include paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, incense, food, and fuel. Its first recorded use was in China around 6000 BC. The earliest known woven fabric was apparently of hemp. One of the earliest domesticated plants, hemp is a relatively environmentally friendly crop, requiring few pesticides for its cultivation.
As an industry today, hemp is steadily becoming more accepted and popular. With a quick Google search one can find hemp handbags, clothing, jewelry, and many other everyday items.
The hemp plant is one of six identified by the Australian Department of Primary Industries as a source of natural resin to reduce the building industry's reliance on fossil fuels.
A study released in 2006 by marijuana policy researcher Jon Gettman called cannabis the number 1 cash crop in the United States. "Marijuana has become a pervasive and ineradicable part of the national economy,” said Gettman.
Flower Power
The main difference between the recreational drug marijuana and the non-psychoactive cannabis used for industrial and commercial purposes is the inclusion of THC (Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main (though not the only) psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Although hemp is not officially illegal, the United States government does not consistently distinguish between the two.
According to Hemp.com, a website active in promoting the industrial use of hemp, “smoking large amounts of hemp flowers can produce a headache but not a high.”
Researchers at the University of Minnesota, let by Professor David Marks, claim to have identified THC-producing genes in the cannabis plant, and that they are moving closer to engineering a totally drug-free cannabis plant to produce hemp fiber and oil.
Marijuana Law
America’s first marijuana law, enacted at Jamestown Colony, Virginia in 1619, stated that all farmers were required to grow Indian hempseed. During times of shortage in Virginia between 1763 and 1767, one could be jailed for not growing hemp. It was such a critical crop for a number of purposes, especially during wartime, that the government went out of its way to encourage growth. Even the Declaration of Independence is said to have been drafted by Thomas Jefferson on hemp paper.
Marijuana was not made illegal in the US until 1937. In the 1930's, William Randolf Hearst had invested heavily in the timber industry to support his newspaper chain and didn’t want to see the development of hemp paper in competition. Some activists claim that Hearst's propaganda against cannabis was one of the main reasons for its initial criminalization.
Nil THC Content Cannabis
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