The production of agricultural hemp makes a good deal of sense. That is not my position because I am a pot-head and I think that the use of an exact looking and related plant is cool or is a way to passive-aggressively “screw the man.” I do not smoke pot. I am an adult with adult responsibilities and the consumption of marijuana, in any of its forms, takes away all of my drive and initiative to accomplish any goals that I set for myself. I can’t and won’t have that. That point made, agricultural hemp is useful on so many levels: as rope and cordage, as a blend for and an alternative to cotton cloth, polymer additives, a plastics alternative, food oil, bio-mass fuel source, erosion hampering, a crop rotation option, the reduction of pesticides, animal feed and bedding products, paper, cardboard, building materials, etc... With all its usefulness, hemp is not quite the wonder crop that it is sometimes touted as being, there are some problems: Processing the hemp can be expensive and the costs of producing some hemp products is enough to price those products out of the hands of general consumers. There is not currently a huge market in either the US or the developing world for hemp based products. The sudden legalization and mass production of hemp crops in the US would cause the price per ton to drop drastically, which could then make the crop unprofitable to grow. These problems, however, are surmountable. Once one takes a logical unbiased look at the pros and cons of producing agricultural hemp it is plain to see that while there are hurdles to overcome and that hemp is not the answer to every pressing agricultural issue currently on the table for small US farmers, it is part of one solution and is a good start to more responsible farming practices at home and abroad.

The history of laws concerning hemp production is muddy and riddled with personal bias and monetary agendas. Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst led the crusade to ban hemp in the early 20th Century. Hearst owned millions of acres of prime timber land and a machine that simplified the process of making paper from hemp had just been invented. It has been argued that Hearst used his power as a publisher to create public panic about the evils of hemp and marijuana, tying the two plant strains together in the minds of the public and law makers. At the same time as Hurst was publishing articles condemning hemp, Pierre Dupont held patent rights to the sulfuric acid wood pulp paper process. In 1937 Dupont also patented nylon rope made from synthetic petrochemicals. It seems that because these men and their companies’ frequent lobbying, along with Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon (a purported Dupont supporter), Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937. By placing a prohibitively high tax on hemp production this law crippled the hemp industry, which benefited the interests of the timber, petrochemical, and cotton industries.
After the 1937 Marijuana Tax law, new Dupont “plastic fibers,” under license since 1936 from the German company I.G. Farben (patent surrenders were part of Germany’s World War I reparation payments to America), replaced natural hempen fibers. Dupont also introduced Nylon (invented in 1935) to the market after they’d patented it in 1938. Cotton production and use for the bulk of US consumers garments exploded and the wood pulp paper industry had virtually no competition, except within itself. All this occurred even after the benefits of agricultural hemp were highlighted in the national press. Popular Mechanics describes hemp as “The new billion dollar crop”. The article was actually written in the spring of 1937, before cannabis was criminalized. Also in February 1938, Mechanical Engineering calls hemp “The most profitable and desirable crop that can be grown.”

Hemp was briefly re-legalized during W.W.II. The Japanese invasion of the Philippines cuts off the U.S. supply of Manila hemp. The U.S. government immediately distributes 400,000 pounds of cannabis seeds to farmers from Wisconsin to Kentucky. The U.S. government produced the movie Hemp for Victory to encourage farmers to grow hemp for the war effort. The War Department felt that the crops usefulness to US troops far outweighed the arguments against its use. Even county 4H clubs were asked to grow hemp to help their country in wartime. The parachute that saved George H.W. Bush's life in World War II was made of hemp fiber, not nylon.

Currently, the Drug Enforcement Agency considers hemp and marijuana to be the same plant, so it is illegal to produce hemp in the United States, although US imports hemp from places as close as Canada. Many people think that allowing hemp to be cultivated in this country would essentially legalize marijuana, but that is a fallacy. Although both industrial hemp and marijuana are classified as Cannabis Sativa, only certain strains could get a person “high” and bear little resemblance to the hemp that would be used as an agri-business crop. Cannabis sativa contain two main cannibinoids, tetra hydra cannibinol (THC) and Cannibidiol (CBD). Marijuana, which is capable of getting people high, has a THC concentration of ten to fifteen percent. Industrial hemp contains less than one percent of THC, which is not enough to alter anyone’s conscience, no matter how much is smoked. Furthermore, agricultural hemp contains a much higher percentage of CBD, which actually blocks the effects of THC. Trying to get high off of hemp is comparable to smoking poppy seeds for its minuscule amount of opium–both are pointless.

Because hemp and marijuana look identical, many people are afraid that farmers will actually grow marijuana in a field of hemp, but doing so would be pointless. The cross-pollination of the plants would yield marijuana that has a much lower amount of THC while an increased amount of CBD. The hemp, however, would not increase in THC and thus any deviant farmer would in essence be selling “ditchweed,” which would have no street value.

Industrial hemp can both replace cotton and be used as a cotton blend material. Cotton is typically grown with large amounts of chemicals, the most of any US crop, which have been shown to be harmful to people, wildlife and our ground water supply. Close to 50% of all the world's pesticides are sprayed on cotton and approximately 60% of all chemicals used in American agriculture today are used in cotton growing. Hemp grows well in a wide variety of climates and soils, Hemp is almost self-fertilizing and it requires exponentially less fertilizer and pesticides than cotton and most commercial crops.

Industrial hemp can yield 3-8 dry tons of fiber per acre. This is four times what an average forest can yield. It can replace wood fiber and help reduce our dependency on wood pulp products. Trees take approximately 20 years to mature - hemp takes 4 months. Paper made from hemp lasts for centuries, compared to 25-80 years for paper made from wood pulp. The plant’s strong roots anchor into the soil to easily control erosion and mudslides in run-off areas. There are clear bonuses to hemp as a product. Hemp is known for having a large biomass production. Provided it is followed by Soybeans in a crop rotation, the plant is extremely environmentally friendly. Soybeans are essential for following hemp so as not to degrade the soil. Another of the major advantages of hemp is that almost all of the plant gets used when processed. Little waste means more profit for both farmers and refiners. This makes hemp a practical choice as well.

So, should America invest into such a crop as hemp? I believe the answer is yes, just not yet on the global market. Despite the fact that the hemp world market fluctuates, there is still plenty of opportunity at home. In order to produce a decent amount of crop the U.S. would only have to use 50,000 acres. This is nothing compared to the 2,190,510 acres the U.S. has at their disposal. In fact it comes to about 2%. Hemp is the perfect crop for small farmers, it would open a new market just for them. They could easily fill the growing need and reduce importation of hemp. So as long as the crop supplies primarily the U.S. there would be no major economic problems.

Hemp was the first crop ever cultivated for textile production. Until the 1820s in America (and until the 20th Century in most of the rest of the world), 80% of all textiles and fabrics used for clothing, tents, bed sheets and linens, rugs, drapes, quilts, towels, diapers, etc. - and even our flag, “Old Glory”, were principally made from the fibers of cannabis. For hundreds, if not thousands of years (until the 1830s) Ireland made the finest linens and Italy made the world’s finest cloth for clothing with hemp. Hemp is softer than cotton, warmer than cotton, more water absorbent than cotton, has three times the tensile strength of cotton and is many times more durable than cotton. In 1776 mothers of our present day blue-blood “Daughters of the American Revolution” (the DAR of Boston and New England) organized “spinning bees” to clothe Washington’s soldiers, the majority of the thread was spun from hemp fibers. Were it not for the historically forgotten (or censored) and currently disparaged marijuana plant, the Continental Army would have frozen to death at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

The common use of hemp in the economy of the early republic was important enough to occupy the time and thoughts of our first U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, who wrote in a Treasury notice from the 1790s, “Flax and Hemp: Manufacturers of these articles have so much affinity to each other, and they are so often blended, that they may with advantage be considered in conjunction. Sailcloth should have 10% duty...” The covered wagons went west (to Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Oregon, and California) covered with sturdy hemp canvas tarpaulins, while ships sailed around the “Horn” to San Francisco on hemp sails and ropes. Homespun cloth was almost always spun, by people all over the world, from fibers grown in the “family hemp patch.” In America, this tradition lasted from the Pilgrims (1620s) until hemp’s prohibition in the 1930s. Hemp cloth is stronger, longer lasting, more resistant to mildew, and can be cheaper to produce than cloth made of cotton. Hemp ropes are known for their strength and durability. All of the first ascents in the Alps and the first ascent of Mt. Everest were accomplished by men trusting their lives to hemp ropes. From 70-90% of all rope, twine, and cordage was made from hemp until 1937. It was then replaced mostly by petrochemical fibers (owned principally by DuPont) and by Manila (Abaca) Hemp, with steel cables often intertwined for strength - brought in from our “new” far-western Pacific Philippines possession, seized from Spain as reparations for the Spanish American War in 1898.

The original Levi Strauss jeans were made from a hempen canvas. It just so happens that the oldest relic of human industry is a bit of hemp fabric dating back to approximately 8,000 B.C. and it has been known for ages that hemp fiber is longer, stronger, more absorbent and more isolative than cotton fiber. Hemp was recognized as the hottest fabric of the 1990s by Rolling Stone, Time, Newsweek, Paper, Detour, Details, Mademoiselle, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Der Spiegel, ad infinitum. All have run, over and over again, major stories on industrial and nutritional hemp.

Until 1883, from 75-90% of all paper in the world was made with cannabis hemp fiber including that for books, Bibles, maps, paper money, stocks and bonds, newspapers, etc. The Gutenberg Bible (in the 15th Century); Pantagruel and the Herb pantagruelion, Rabelais (16th Century); King James Bible (17th Century); Thomas Paine’s pamphlets, “The Rights of Man,” “Common Sense,” “The Age of Reason” (18th Century); the works of Fitz Hugh Ludlow, Mark Twain, Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” (19th Century); and just about everything else was printed on hemp paper. The first draft of the Declaration of Independence (June 28, 1776) was written on Dutch (hemp) paper, as was the second draft completed on July 2, 1776. This was the document actually agreed to on that day and announced and released on July 4, 1776. On July 19, 1776, Congress ordered the Declaration be copied and engrossed on parchment (a prepared animal skin) and this was the document actually signed by the delegates on August 2, 1776. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp. Ben Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper.
What we (the colonial Americans) and the rest of the world used to make all our paper from was the discarded sails and ropes sold by ship owners as scrap for recycling into paper. The rest of our paper came from our worn out clothes, sheets, diapers, curtains and rags sold to scrap dealers, made primarily from hemp and sometimes flax. Our ancestors were too thrifty to just throw anything away, so, until the 1880s, any remaining scraps and clothes were mixed together and recycled into paper. Rag paper, containing hemp fiber, is the highest quality and longest lasting paper ever made. It can be torn when wet, but returns to its full strength when dry. Barring extreme conditions, rag paper remains stable for centuries. It will almost never wear out. Many U.S. government papers were written, by law, on hempen “rag paper” until the 1920s. Hemp paper also requires less bleaching and results in decreased water pollution due to byproduct waste.

Hemp is an outstanding perfect archival medium. The paintings of Van Gogh, Gainsborough, Rembrandt, etc., were primarily painted on hemp canvas, as were practically all canvas paintings. A strong, lustrous fiber, hemp withstands heat, mildew, insects and is not damaged by light. Oil paintings on hemp and/or flax canvas have stayed in fine condition for centuries.

Hemp pulp and fiber offer a biodegradable alternative to plastic. The hemp cellulose is so versatile that it can be polymerized to make almost any type of plastic product, without the use of petroleum. This includes plant-based cellophane. Plastic plumbing pipe (PVC pipes) can be manufactured using renewable hemp cellulose as the chemical feed stocks, replacing non-renewable coal or petroleum based chemical feed stocks.

For thousands of years, virtually all paints and varnishes were made with hemp seed oil and/or linseed oil. For instances, in 1935 alone, 116 million pounds (58,000 tons) of hemp seed were used in America just for paint and varnish. The hemp drying oil business went defunct principally to DuPont petrochemicals. Congress and the Treasury Department were assured through secret testimony given by DuPont in 1935-37 directly to Herman Oliphant, Chief Counsel for the Treasury Department, that hemp seed oil could be replaced with synthetic petrochemical oils made principally by DuPont. Oliphant was solely responsible for drafting the Marijuana Tax Act that was submitted to Congress.
Until about 1800, hemp seed oil was the most consumed lighting oil in America and the world. From then until the 1870s, it was the second most consumed lighting oil, exceeded only by whale oil. Hemp seed oil lit the lamps Abraham Lincoln as a child. It was the brightest lamp oil. Hemp seed oil for lamps was replaced by petroleum, kerosene, etc., after the 1859 Pennsylvania oil discovery and John D. Rockefeller’s 1870-on national petroleum stewardship. In fact, the celebrated botanist Luther Burbank stated, “The seed [of cannabis] is prized in other countries for its oil, and its neglect here illustrates the same wasteful use of our agricultural resources.”

In the early 1900s, Henry Ford and others recognized an important point - that up to 90% of all fossil fuel used in the world today (coal, oil, natural gas, etc., should long ago have been replaced with biomass such as: cornstalks, cannabis, waste paper and the like. Biomass can be converted to methane, methanol or gasoline at a fraction of the current cost of oil, coal, or nuclear energy - especially when environmental costs are factored in - and its mandated use would end acid rain, end sulfur-based smog and reverse the Greenhouse Effect on our planet. Henry Ford dreamed that someday automobiles would be grown from the soil. In 1941 the Ford motor company produced an experimental automobile with a plastic body composed of 70% cellulose fibers from hemp. The car body could absorb blows 10 times as great as steel without denting. The car was designed to run on hemp fuel. Because of the ban on both hemp and alcohol the car was never mass produced.

This can be accomplished if hemp is grown for biomass and then converted through pyrolysis (charcoalizing) or biochemical composting into fuels to replace fossil fuels energy products. One product of pyrolysis, methanol, is today used by most race cars and was used by American farmers and auto drivers routinely with petroleum/methanol options starting in the 1920s, through the 1930s, and even into the mid-1940s to run tens of thousands of auto, farm and military vehicles until the end of World War II. Methanol can even be converted to a high-octane lead-free gasoline using a catalytic process developed by Georgia Tech University in conjunction with Mobil Oil Corporation.

Hemp seed is 30% oil in volume. This oil is of such quality that it can easily be pressed into a form appropriate for food, such as salad dressings, or used in a wide variety of health care and beauty products. Hemp seed is also a complete protein source, high in B-vitamins and a perfect ratio of essential fatty acids. Hemp seed was regularly used in porridge, soups and gruels by virtually all the people of the world up until this century. Monks were required to eat hemp seed dishes three times a day, to weave their clothes of it, and to print their Bibles on paper made with its fiber. Hemp seed can be pressed for its highly nutritious vegetable oil, which contains the highest amount of essential fatty acids in the plant kingdom. These essential oils are responsible for our immune responses and clear the arteries of cholesterol and plaque. The byproduct of pressing the oil from the seed is the highest quality protein seed cake. It can be sprouted (malted) or ground and baked into cakes, breads and casseroles. Hemp seed protein is one of mankind’s finest, most complete and available-to-the-body vegetable proteins. Hemp seed is the most complete single food source for human nutrition.
Hemp seed was - until the 1937 prohibition law - the world’s number-one bird seed, for both wild and domestic birds. It was their favorite of any seed food on the planet; four million pounds of hemp seed for songbirds were sold at retail in the U.S. in 1937. Birds will pick hemp seeds out and eat them first from a pile of mixed seed. Birds in the wild live longer and breed more with hemp seed in their diet, using the oil for the feathers and their overall health. Hemp seed produces no observable high for humans or birds. Only the most minute traces of THC are in the seed. Hemp seed is also the favorite fish bait in Europe. Anglers buy pecks of hemp seed at bait stores, then throw handfuls into rivers and ponds. Fish come thrashing for the hemp seed and are caught by net and hook. No other cast bait is as effective, making hemp seed generally a desirable and a nutritious food for humans, birds, and fish.

Because one acre of hemp produces as much cellulose fiber pulp as 4.1 acres of trees, hemp is the perfect material to replace trees for pressed board, particle board and for concrete construction molds. Practical, inexpensive fire-resistant construction material, with excellent thermal and sound-insulating qualities, is made by heating and compressing plant fibers to create strong construction paneling, replacing dry wall and plywood. William B. Conde of Conde’s Redwood Lumber, Inc. near Eugene, Oregon, in conjunction with Washington State University (1991-1993), has demonstrated the superior strength, flexibility, and economy of hemp composite building materials compared to wood fiber, even as beams. Hemp-based fiberboard produced by Washington State University, hemp fiberboard was found to be twice as strong as wood-based fiberboard. Isochanvre, a rediscovered French building material made from hemp hurds mixed with lime, actually petrifies into a mineral state and lasts for many centuries. Archeologists have found a bridge in the south of France, from the Merovingian period (500-751 A.D.), built with this process.

Hemp has been used throughout history for carpet backing. Hemp fiber has potential in the manufacture of strong, rot resistant carpeting - eliminating the poisonous fumes of burning synthetic materials in a house or commercial fire, along with allergic reactions associated with new synthetic carpeting.

Some have called hemp a wonder plant. Hemp is a plant known for its hardiness and numerous products. It is an environmentally friendly crop and there is little waste in the processing. This makes hemp one of the most practical raw sources on the market. When everything is said and done the question arises is Industrial Hemp worth marketing? Many sources say yes and just as many say no. It has nothing to do with marijuana. Only the introduction of Industrial hemp and the type of effect it would have on the U.S economy.

Hemp products are great, yes, but is the product really that marketable. Most major countries in the world produce hemp on a small to large scale. The U.S. is one of the few that is not on that list. So the question then arises why aren’t we? There are a lot of factors that go into this besides the fact that legalizing hemp is a stepping stone for legalizing marijuana. Processing the hemp is expensive. “In general, the technology which has traditionally been used to process hemp (and is still being used in China and Eastern Europe) is not ideal for modern agriculture because of the high labor demand and therefore high costs of these methods.” Millions would have to be spent in order to develop technology to fuse this gap. When examined the price gap is a big one. “For example, typical bleached softwood pulp currently sells for about US$800 per ton while hemp pulp sells for about US$2100 per ton.” This is over a 250% gap. Yet the importation of hemp is increasing to be around twenty five million dollars a year. This proves that Americans have an interest in hemp, for its better qualities even though it has cheaper counterparts.

While the amount of hemp that the U.S. imports every year is growing, the seed prices have been dropping for the past thirty-six years as it is a market that is little competition. The major cause of this is the lack of competition in the global market is China's virtual monopoly on hemp seed. They control about three quarters of the world market. During the mid 80s they flooded the market with seed and prices plummeted. It wasn’t until the early 90’s that China’s production cutbacks finally came into effect.

Taking everything into consideration, I think that agricultural hemp needs to be explored further as a viable US crop and that the current prohibition of the plant for agricultural purposes is senseless.

TODAY'S WORLD HEMP INDUSTRY:

AUSTRALIA - Tasmania research trials began in 1995. Victoria commercial production since1998. New South Wales has research. In 2002 Queensland began production.

AUSTRIA has a hemp industry including production of hempseed oil, medicinals and Hanf magazine.

CANADA started to license research crops in 1994 on an experimental basis. In addition to crops for fibre, one seed crop was experimentally licensed in 1995. Many acres were planted in 1997. Licenses for commercial agriculture saw thousands of acres planted in 1998. 30,000 acres planted in 1999. In 2000, due to speculative investing, 12,250 acres were sown. In 2001 ninety-two farmers grew 3,250 acres. A number of Canadian farmers are now growing organically certified hemp crops.

CHILE has grown hemp in the recent past for seed oil production.

CHINA is the largest exporter of hemp paper and textiles. The fabrics are of excellent quality. (ma)

DENMARK planted its first modern hemp trials in 1997. Committed to utilizing organic methods.

FINLAND had a resurgence of hemp in 1995 with several small test plots. A seed variety for northern climates was developed: Finola, previously know by the breeder code 'FIN-314'. In 2003, Finola was accepted to the EU list of subsidized hemp cultivars. (hamppu)

FRANCE harvested 10,000 tons in 1994. France is the main source of low-thc producing hempseed. (chanvre)

GERMANY only banned hemp in 1982, but research began in 1992 and many technologies and products are being developed. Clothes and paper are being made from imported raw materials. Germany lifted the ban on growing hemp November, 1995. Mercedes and BMW use hemp fiber for composites. (hanf)

GREAT BRITAIN lifted hemp prohibition in 1993. Animal bedding, paper and textiles have been developed. A government grant was given to develop new markets for natural fibers. 4,000 acres were grown in 1994. Subsidies of $230 Eng. pounds per acre are given by the govt. for growing.

HUNGARY is rebuilding their hemp industry, and is one of the biggest exporters of hemp cordage, rugs and hemp fabric to the U.S. They also export hemp seed and hemp paper. Fiberboard is also made. (kender)

INDIA has large stands of naturalized Cannabis and uses it for cordage, textiles, and seed oil.

JAPAN has a religious tradition requiring the Emperor wear hemp garments, so there is a small plot maintained for the imperial family only. They have a thriving retail market selling a variety of hemp products. (asa)

NETHERLANDS is conducting a four year study to evaluate and test hemp for paper, and is developing processing equipment. Seed breeders are developing new strains of low-THC varieties. (hennep)

NEW ZEALAND started hemp trials in 2001. Various cultivars are being planted in the North and South.
POLAND currently grows hemp for fabric and cordage and manufactures hemp particle board. They have demonstrated the benefits of using hemp to cleanse soils contaminated by heavy metals. (konopij)

ROMANIA was the largest commercial producer of hemp in Europe in the late 80's and early 90's. Total acreage in 1993 was 40,000 acres. Some of it is exported to Hungary for processing. They also export to Western Europe and the United States. (cinepa)

RUSSIA maintains the largest hemp germ plasm collection in the world at the N.I. Vavilov Scientific Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR) in Saint Petersburg. They are in need of funds. (konoplya)

SLOVENIA grows hemp and manufactures currency paper.

SPAIN grows and exports hemp pulp for paper and produces rope and textiles. (cañamo)

SWITZERLAND is a producer of hemp and hosts one of the largest hemp events: Cannatrade.

EGYPT, KOREA, PORTUGAL, THAILAND, and the UKRAINE also produce hemp.

USA - The United States granted the first hemp permit in over 40 years to Hawaii for an experimental quarter acre plot in 1999. The license has been renewed since. Importers and manufacturers have thrived using imported raw materials. Twenty-two states in the United States have introduced legislation. VT, HI, ND, MT, MN, IL, VA, NM, CA, AR, KY, MD, WV have passed legislation for support, research, or cultivation. The National Conference of State Legislators has endorsed industrial hemp for years.