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Reprinted from: Trends in new crops and new uses. 2002. J. Janick
and A. Whipkey (eds.). ASHS Press, Alexandria, VA.
Industrial Hemp: A New Crop with New Uses for North America*
Ernest Small and David Marcus
“Hemp” refers primarily to Cannabis sativa L. (Cannabaceae), although the term has been applied to dozens of species representing at least 22 genera, often prominent fiber crops. For examples, Manila hemp (abaca) is Musa textilis Née, sisal hemp is Agave sisalina Perrine, and sunn hemp is Crotolaria juncea L Especially confusing is the phrase “Indian hemp,” which has been used both for narcotic Asian land races of C. sativa (so-called C. indica Lamarck of India) and Apocynum cannabinum L., which was used by North American Indians as a fiber plant.
Cannabis sativa is a multi-purpose plant that has been domesticated for
bast (phloem) fiber in the stem, a multi-purpose fixed oil in the “seeds” (achenes), and an intoxicating resin
secreted by epidermal glands. The common names hemp and marijuana (much less frequently spelled marihuana) have been applied loosely to all three forms, although historically hemp has been used primarily for the fiber cultigen and its fiber preparations, and marijuana for the drug cultigen and its drug preparations.
The current hemp industry is making great efforts to point out that “hemp is not marijuana.” Italicized, Cannabis refers to the biological name of the plant (only one species of this genus is commonly recognized, C. sativa L.). Non-italicized, “cannabis” is a generic abstraction, widely used as a noun and adjective, and commonly (often loosely) used both for cannabis plants and/or any or all of the intoxicant preparations made from them.
Probably indigenous to temperate Asia, C. sativa is the most widely cited example of a “camp follower.”
It was pre-adapted to thrive in the manured soils around man’s early settlements, which quickly led to its
domestication (Schultes 1970). Hemp was harvested by the Chinese 8500 years ago (Schultes and Hofmann
1980). For most of its history, C. sativa was most valued as a fiber source, considerably less so as an intoxicant, and only to a limited extent as an oilseed crop.
Hemp is one of the oldest sources of textile fiber, with extant remains of hempen cloth trailing back 6 millennia. Hemp grown for fiber was introduced to western Asia and Egypt, and subsequently to Europe somewhere between 1000 and 2000 BCE. Cultivation in Europe became widespread after 500 CE. The crop was first brought to South America in 1545, in Chile, and to North America in Port Royal, Acadia in 1606. The hemp industry flourished in Kentucky, Missouri, and Illinois between 1840 and 1860 because of the strong demand for sailcloth and cordage (Ehrensing 1998).
From the end of the Civil War until 1912, virtually all hemp in the US was produced in Kentucky. During World War I, some hemp cultivation occurred in several states, including Kentucky, Wisconsin, California, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Kansas, and Iowa (Ehrensing 1998). The second world war led to a brief revival of hemp cultivation in the Midwest, as well as in Canada, because the war cut off supplies of fiber (substantial renewed cultivation also occurred in Germany for the same reason).
Until the beginning of the 19th century, hemp was the leading cordage fiber. Until the middle of the 19th century, hemp rivaled flax as the chief textile fiber of vegetable origin, and indeed was described as “the king of fiber-bearing plants,—the standard by which all other fibers are measured” (Boyce 1900).
Nevertheless, the Marihuana Tax Act applied in 1938 essentially ended hemp production in the United States, although a small hemp fiber industry continued in Wisconsin until 1958. Similarly in 1938 the cultivation of Cannabis became illegal in Canada under the Opium and Narcotics Act.
Hemp, grown under license mostly in Canada, is the most publicized “new” crop in North America.
Until very recently the prohibition against drug forms of the plant prevented consideration of cultivation of
fiber and oilseed cultivars in Canada. However, in the last 10 years three key developments occurred:
(1) much-publicized recent advances in the legal cultivation of hemp in western Europe, especially for new valueadded
products;
(2) enterprising farmers and farm groups became convinced of the agricultural potential of
hemp in Canada, and obtained permits to conduct experimental cultivation; and
(3) lobby groups convinced the government of Canada that narcotic forms of the hemp plant are distinct and distinguishable from fiber
and oilseed forms.
In March 1998, new regulations (under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act) were provided to allow the commercial development of a hemp industry in Canada, and since then more than a thousand licenses have been issued. Hectares licensed for cultivation for 1998–2001 were respectively, 2,500, 14,200, 5,487, and 1,355, the decreasing trend due to a glut of seed produced in 1999 and pessimism over new potential regulations barring exports to the US. Information on the commercial potential of hemp in Canada is
in Blade (1998), Marcus (1998), and Pinfold Consulting (1998). In the US, a substantial trade in hemp products has developed, based on imports of hemp fiber, grain, and oil.
The American agricultural community has observed this, and has had success at the state level in persuading legislators of the advisability of experimental hemp cultivation as a means of evaluating the wisdom of re-establishing American hemp production.
However, because of opposition by the federal government, to date there has only been a small experimental plot in Hawaii. Information on the commercial potential of hemp in the US is presented in the following. Cannabis sativa is extremely unusual in the diversity of products for which it is or can be cultivated.
Popular Mechanics magazine (1938) touted hemp as “the new billion dollar crop,” stating that it “can be used to produce more than 25,000 products, ranging from dynamite to Cellophane.” Table 1 presents the principal products for which the species is cultivated in Europe, all of which happen to be based on fiber. This presentation stresses the products that hold the most promise for North America, which also include a considerable range of oilseed applications
(Table 2; Fig. 1).
BASIC CATEGORIES OF CANNABIS AND THEIR FIELD ARCHITECTURE
Cannabis sativa is an annual wind-pollinated plant, normally dioecious and dimorphic, although sometimes
monoecious (mostly in several modern European fiber cultivars). Figure 2 presents the basic morphology
of the species. Some special hybrids, obtained by pollinating females of dioecious lines with pollen from
Table 1. Hemp fiber usage in the European Union in 1999 (after Karus et al. 2000).
Quantity consumed Relative Class of product (tonnes) percentage
Specialty pulp (cigarette paper, bank notes, technical filters, 24,882 87
and hygiene products)
Composites for autos 1,770 6
Construction & thermal insulation materials 1,095 4
Geotextiles 234 0.8
Other 650 2.2
Total 26,821 100
Table 2. Analysis of commercial Cannabis product potential in North America in order of decreasing value
monoecious plants, are predominantly female (so-called “all-female,” these generally also produce some hermaphrodites and occasional males). All-female lines are productive for some purposes (e.g. they are very
uniform, and with very few males to take up space they can produce considerable grain), but the hybrid seed is expensive to produce. Staminate or “male” plants tend to be 10%–15% taller and are less robust than the
pistillate or “female” (note the comparatively frail male in Fig. 3). So prolific is pollen production that an
isolation distance of about 5 km is usually recommended for generating pure-bred foundation seed.
A “perigonal bract” subtends each female flower, and grows to envelop the fruit. While small, secretory, resin-producing glands occur on the epidermis of most of the above-ground parts of the plant, the glands are very dense and productive on the perigonal bracts, which are accordingly of central interest in marijuana varieties. The root is a laterally branched taproot, generally 30–60 cm deep, up to 2.5 m in loose soils, very near the surface and more branched in wet soils.
Extensive root systems are key to the ability of hemp crops to exploit deep supplies of nutrients and water. The stems are erect, furrowed, and usually branched, with a woody interior, and may be hollow in the internodes. Although the stem is often woody, the species is frequently referred to as a herb or forb. Plants vary enormously in height depending on genetic constitution and environment (Fig. 4), but are typically 1–5 m (heights of 12 m or more in cultivation have been claimed).
More on Industrial Hemp and how we can make a difference…
About 6% of contiguous United States land area put into cultivation for biomass could supply all current demands for oil and gas. Very few people know what "biomass conversion" or "pyrolysis" mean–not only in terms of their dictionary definitions, but in terms of what they mean as alternative sources of energy, to the limited, expensive and dirty petro-chemical, nuclear, or coal sources. The only reason the U.S.– and every other nation on earth–can't once again become energy independent and smog free is because people are not educated concerning the facts about solutions to the environment/energy "crisis" continuously lamented and tepidly addressed "leaders", claiming they are the best informed to decide what to do. The knowledge exists right now for our lifeline to the future and the health and well-being of the Seventh Generation yet unborn. Everyone of us must learn about this existent lifeline and teach everyone else we know what the facts are the way out of the current "crisis".
INDUSTRIAL HEMP IS THE NUMBER ONE biomass producer on earth: 10 tons per acre in approximately four months. It is a woody plant containing 77% cellulose. Wood producers 60% cellulose. This energy crop can be harvested with equipment readily available. It can be "cubed" by modifying cubing equipment. This
method condenses the bulk, reducing trucking costs from the field to the pyrolysis reactor. And the biomass cubes are ready for conversion.
Industrial Hemp is drought resistant, making it an ideal crop in the dry western regions of the country. Hemp is the only biomass resource capable of making America energy independent and our government outlawed it in 1938.
The argument against industrial hemp production does not hold up to scrutiny: Industrial hemp grown for biomass makes very poor grade marijuana. The 20-40 million Americans who smoke marijuana would loath to smoke industrial hemp grown for biomass, so a farmer's industrial hemp biomass crop is worthless as marijuana.
Excerpt from Herer "Emperor Wears No Clothes" 1991 edition p. 136
Industrial Hemp FACT of the Day #2
Dewey and Merrill, "bulletin #404, Hemp Hurds As Paper-Making Material" U.S.D.A. Washington, D.C. Oct. 14, 1916.
There appears to be little doubt that under the present system of forest use and consumption the present supply cannot withstand the demands placed upon it. By the time improved methods of forestry have established an equilibrium between production and consumption, the price of pulp wood may be such that a knowledge of other raw materials may be imperative.
Semi-commercial paper-making tests were conducted, therefore, on hemp hurds, in cooperation with a paper manufacturer. After several trials, under conditions of treatment and manufacture which are regarded as favorable in comparison with those used with pulp wood, paper was produced which received
very favorable comment both from investigators and from the trade which according to official tests would be classified as No. 1 finished printing paper. (p. 25)
The new paper process used industrial hemp "hurds"–77% of the hemp stalk's weight, which was then a wasted by-product of the fiber-stripping process. In 1916, USDA Bulletin #404, reported that ONE ACRE OF CANNABIS (industrial) HEMP, in annual rotation over a 20-year period, WOULD PRODUCE AS MUCH PULP FOR PAPER AS 4.1 ACRES OF TREES BEING CUT DOWN over the same 20 year period. This process would use only 1/4 to 1/7 as much polluting sulfur-based acid chemicals to break down the lignin that binds the fibers of the pulp, or even none at all using soda ash. The problem of dioxin contamination of rivers is avoided in the hemp making process. HEMP PROVIDES FOUR TIMES AS MUCH PULP WITH AT LEAST 4-7 TIMES LESS POLLUTION.
As an example: If the new (1916) hemp pulp paper process were legal today, it would soon replace about 70% of all wood paper, including computer printout paper, corrugated boxes and paper bags.
Industrial Hemp FACT of the Day #3
Pinch Hitters for Defense – Popular Mechanics – December 1941
Over in England it's saccharine for sugar; on the continent it's charcoal "gasogenes" in the rumble seat instead of gasoline in the tank. Here in America there's plenty of sugar, plenty of gasoline. Yet there's an industrial revolution in progress just the same, a revolution in materials that will affect every home.
After 12 years of research, the Ford Motor Company has completed an experimental automobile with a plastic body. Although its design takes advantages of the properties of plastics, the streamline car does not differ greatly in appearance from its steel counterpart. The only steel in the hand-made body is found in the tubular welded frame on which are mounted 14 plastic panels, 3/16" thick. Composed of a mixture of farm crops and synthetic chemicals, the plastic is reported to withstand a blow 10 times as great as steel without denting. Even the windows are of plastic. The total weight of the plastic car is about 2,000 lbs., compared with 3,000 lbs. for a steel auto of the same size. Although no hint has been given as to when plastic cars may go into production, the experimental model is pictured as a step toward materialization of Henry Ford's belief that some day he would "grow automobiles from the soil".
When Henry Ford recently unveiled his plastic car, the result of 12 years of research, he gave the world a glimpse of the automobile of tomorrow, it's tough panel molded under hydraulic pressure of 1500 lbs. per square inch from a recipe that calls for 70% of cellulose fibers from wheat straw, INDUSTRIAL HEMP, and sisal plus 30% resin binder. The only steel in the car is its tubular welded frame. The plastic car weighs a ton less than a comparable steel car. Manufacturers are already taking a low-priced plastic car to test the public's taste by 1943.
Poster's note: If anyone remembers this process, I would be interested in hearing comments.
Industrial Hemp FACT of the Day #4
Paints and Varnishes
For thousands of years, virtually all good paints and varnishes were made with industrial hemp seed oil and/or linseed oil.
For instance, in 1935 alone, 116 million lbs. [National Institute of Oilseed Products congressional testimony *against* the 1937 Marijuana Transfer Tax Law] of industrial hemp seed were used in America just for paint and varnish. As a comparison, consider that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, along with all America's state and local police agencies, claim to have seized for all of 1988, 651.5 tons of American-grown marijuana–seed, plant, root, dirt clump and all. [National Narcotics Intelligence (duh) Consumer's Committee, NNICC Report, 1988 DEA Office Release, El Paso, TX, April, 1989.] The hemp drying oil business went principally to DuPont petro-chemicals/[Slomand, Larry, "Reefer Madness" Grove Press N.Y, N.Y. 1979, pg 72].
Congress and the Treasury Dept. were assured through SECRET TESTIMONY given by DuPont in 1935-37 directly to Herman Oliphant, Chief Counsel for the Treasury Dept., that industrial hemp seed oil could be replaced with synthetic petro-chemical oils MADE PRINCIPALLY BY DUPONT. (Poster's note: Sound like a conspiracy.)
Oliphant was solely responsible for drafting the Marijuana Tax Act that was submitted to Congress.[Richard Bonnie and Charles Whitebread, "The Marijuana Conviction", Univ. of Virginia Press 1974].
EAT HEMP so our Farmers can GROW INDUSTRIAL HEMP in thee UNITED STAES …AGAIN !!!
Industrial Hemp FACT of the Day #5
Building Materials and Housing
Because one acre of hemp produces as much cellouse fiber pulp as 4.1 acres of trees (Dewey & Merrill, "Bulletin #404," U.S. Dept Ag., 1916), industrial hemp is the perfect material to replace trees for pressed board, particle board and core concrete construction molds.
Pratical, inexpensive construction material which is fire resistant, with excellent thermal and sound insulating qualities, can be made using a process called Environcore(c). This process, developed by Mansion Industries, applies heat and compression to agricultural fiber to create strong contruction
paneling, replacing dry wall and plywood.
Industrial Hemp has been used throughout history for carpet backing. Hemp fiber has potential in the manufacture of strong, rot resistant carpeting–eliminalting the poisonous fumes of burning synthetic materials in a house or commerical fire, along with allergic reactions associated with new synthetic carpeting.
Plastic plumbing pipe (PVC) can be manufactured using renewable hemp cellulose as the chemical feedstocks, replacing non-renewable petroleum-based chemical feedstocks.
So we can envision a house of the future built, plumbed, painted and furnished with THE WORLD'S NUMBER ONE RENEWABLE SOURCE–INDUSTRIAL HEMP.
Herer,"The Emperor Wears No Clothes: 1991 edition p. 10.
Industrial Hemp FACT of the Day #6
HEMP FOR VICTORY
Transcript of the original 1942 U.S.D.A. film, "Hemp for Victory" extolling some of the many uses of this ancient plant and premier world resource.
Long ago when these ancient Grecian temples were new, hemp was already old in the service of mankind. For thousands of years, even then, this plant had been grown for cordage and cloth in china and elsewhere in the East. For centuries prior to about 1850 all the ships that sailed the western seas were rigged with hempen rope and sails. For the sailor, no less that the hangman, hemp was indispensable.
A 44-gun frigate like our cherished Old Ironsides took over 60 tons of industrial hemp for rigging, including an anchor cable of 25" in circumference. The Conestoga wagons and prairie schooners of pioneer days were covered with industrial hemp canvas. Indeed the very word canvas comes from the Arabic word for hemp. In those days industrial hemp was an important crop in Kentucky and Missouri. Then came cheaper imported fibers for cordage, like jute, sisal and Manila hemp, and the culture of hemp in America declined.
But now with Philippine and East Indian hemp in the hands of the Japanese, and shipment of jute from India curtailed, American industrial hemp must meet the needs of our Army and Navy as well as of our Industry. In 1942, patriotic farmers at the government's request planted 36,000 acres of seed hemp, an increase of several thousand percent. The goal for 1943 is 50,000 acres of seed hemp.
In Kentucky much of the industrial hemp acreage is on river bottom land such as this. Some of these fields are inaccessible except by boat. Thus plans are afoot for a great expansion of a hemp industry as a part of the war program. This film is designed to tell farmers how to handle this ancient crop now little known outside Kentucky and Wisconsin.
This is industrial hemp seed. Be careful how you use it. For to grow hemp legally you must have federal registration and tax stamp. This is provided for in your contract. Ask your county agent about it.
Industrial Hemp FACT of the Day #7
Introduction from "Marijuana: Medical Papers," Tod H. Mikuriya, M.D.,
Medi-Comp Press, 1973, pp. xiii-xxvii, describing some of the recent history of western medical explorations into the salutory medicinal benefits of hemp drugs_a history that is almost completely unknown to people at the end of the 20th century, but, throughout the majority of the 19th century, was commonly known and experienced by much of the population:
Introduction
Medicine in the Western World has forgotten almost all it once knew about therapeutic properties of marijuana, or cannabis.
Analgesia, anticonvulsant action, appetite stimulation, ataraxia, antibiotic properties and low toxicity were described throughout medical literature, beginning in 1839, when O'Shaughnessy introduced cannabis into the Western pharmacopoeia.
As these findings were reported throughout Western medicine, cannabis attained wide use. Cannabis therapy was described in most pharmacopoeial texts as a treatment for a variety of disease conditions.
During the second half of the 1800s and in the present century, medical researchers in some measure corroborated the early reports of the therapeutic potential of cannabis. In addition, much laboratory research has been concerned with bioassay, determination of the mode of action, and attempts to solve the
problems of insolubility in water and variability of strength among different cannabis specimens.
"Recreational" smoking of cannabis in the twentieth century and the resultant restrictive federal legislation have functionally ended all medical uses of marijuana.
In light of such assets as minimal toxicity, no buildup of tolerance, no physical dependence, and minimal autonomic disturbance, immediate major clinical reinvestigation of cannabis preparations is indicated in the management of pain, chronic neurologic diseases, convulsive disorders, migraine headache, anorexia,
mental illness, and bacterial infections.
Recently declassified secret U.S. Defense Department studies reconfirm marijuana's congeners to have therapeutic utility.
Cannabis indica, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis americana, Indian hemp and marijuana (or marihuana) all refer to the same plant. Cannabis is used throughout the world for diverse purposes and has a long history
characterized by usefulness, euphoria or evil_depending on one's point of view. To the agriculturist cannabis is a fiber crop; to the physician of a century ago it was a valuable medicine; to the physician of today it is an enigma; to the user, a euphoriant; to the police, a menace; to the traffickers, a source of profitable danger; to the convict or parolee and his family, a source of sorrow.
This book is concerned primarily with the medicinal aspects of cannabis.
The Chinese emperor Shen-nung is reported to have taught his people to grow industrial hemp for fiber in the twenty-eighth century B.C. A text fromthe period 1500-1200 B.C. documents a knowledge of the plant in China–but not for use as fiber. In 200 A.D., the use of cannabis as an analgesic was described by the physician Hoa-tho.[44]
In India the use of hemp preparations as a remedy was described before 1000 B.C. In Persia, cannabis was known several centuries before Christ. In Assyria, about 650 B.C., its intoxicating properties were noted.[44] Except for Herodotus' report that the Scythians used the smoke from burning hemp seeds for intoxication, the ancient Greeks seemed to be unaware of the psychoactive properties of cannabis. Dioscorides in the first century A.D. rendered an accurate morphologic description of the plant, but made no note of it's intoxicating properties.
EAT HEMP so our Farmers can GROW INDUSTRIAL HEMP in thee UNITED STAES …AGAIN !!!
Industrial Hemp FACT of the Day #8
More Info on Medical Uses.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Arabic writers described the social use of cannabis and resultant cruel but unsuccessful attempts to suppress its non-medical use. [44] Although Galen described the use of the seeds for creating warmth, he did not describe the intoxicating qualities of hemp. Of interest is the paucity of references to hemp's intoxicating properties in the lay and medical literature of Europe before the 1800s.[44] The therapeutic use of cannabis was introduced into Western medicine in 1839, in a forty-page article by W. B. O'Shaughnessy, a thirty-year-old physician serving with the British in India.[27]
His discussion of the history of the use of cannabis products in the East reveals an awareness that these drugs had not only been used in medicine for therapeutic purposes, but had also been used for recreational and religious purposes.
O'Shaughnessy is not primarily known for his discovery of hemp drugs, but rather for his basic studies on intravenous electrolyte therapy in 1831, and his introduction of the telegraph into India in the 1850s.[26] After studying the literature on cannabis and conferring with contemporary Hindu and Mohammedan
scholars O'Shaughnessy tested the effects of various hemp preparations on animals, before attempting to use them to treat humans. Satisfied that the drug was reasonably safe, he administered preparations of cannabis extract to patients, and discovered that it had analgesic and sedative properties.
O'Shaughnessy successfully relieved the pain of rheumatism and stilled the convulsions of an infant with this strange new drug. His most spectacular success came, however, when he quelled the wrenching muscle spasms of tetanus and rabies with the fragrant resin. Psychic effects resembling a curious delirium, when an overdose was given, were treated with strong purgatives, emetics with a blister to the nape of the neck, and leeches on the temples.[27]
The use of cannabis derivatives for medicinal purposes spread rapidly throughout Western medicine, as is evidenced in the report of the Committee on Cannabis Indica of the Ohio State Medical Society, published in 1860. In that report physicians told of success in treating stomach pain, childbirth psychosis, chronic cough, and gonorrhea with hemp products.[25]
A Dr. Fronmueller, of Fuerth, Ohio, summarized his experiences with the drug as follows:
I have used hemp many hundred times to relieve local pains of an inflammatory as well as neuralgic nature, and judging from these experiments, I have to assign to the Indian hemp a place among the so-called hypnotic medicines next to opium; its effects are less intense, and the secretions are not so much suppressed by it. Digestion is not disturbed; the appetite rather increased; sickness of the stomach seldom induced; congestion never. Hemp may consequently be employed in inflammatory conditions. It disturbs the expectoration far less than opium; the nervous system is also not so much affected. The whole effect of hemp being less violent, and producing a more natural sleep, without interfering with the actions of the internal organs, it is certainly often preferable to opium, although it is not equal to that drug in strength and reliability. An alternating course of opium and Indian hemp seems particularly adapted to those cases where opium alone fails in producing the desired effect.
Industrial Hemp FACT of the Day #9
More Interesting Medical Stuff
Because cannabis did not lead to physical dependence, it was found to be superior to the opiates for a number of therapeutic purposes. Birch, in 1889, reported success in treating opiate and chloral addiction with cannabis,[5] and Mattison in 1891 recommended its use to the young physician, comparing it favorably with the opiates. He quoted his colleague Suckling:
With a wish for speedy effect, it is so easy to use that modern mischief-maker, hypodermic morphia, that they [young physicians] are prone to forget remote results of incautious opiate giving.
Would that the wisdom which has come to their professional fathers through, it may be, a hapless experience, might serve them to steer clear of narcotic shoals on which many a patient has gone awreck.
Indian hemp is not here lauded as a specific. It will, at times, fail. So do other drugs. But the many cases in which it acts well, entitle it to a large and lasting confidence.
My experience warrants this statement: cannabis indica is, often, a safe and successful anodyne and hypnotic.[23] In their study of the medical applications of cannabis, physicians of the nineteenth century repeatedly encountered a number of difficulties. Recognizing the therapeutic potential of the drug, many experimenters sought ways of overcoming these drawbacks to its use in medicine, in particular the following:
Cannabis products are insoluble in water.
The onset of the effects of medicinal preparations of cannabis takes an hour or so; its action is therefore slower than that of many other drugs. Different batches of cannabis derivatives vary greatly in strength; moreover, the common procedure for standardization of cannabis samples, by administration to test animals, is subject to error owing to variability of reactions among the animals.
There is wide variation among humans in their individual responses to cannabis. Despite these problems regarding the uncertainty of potency and dosage and the difficulties in mode of administration, cannabis has several important advantages over other substances used as analgesics, sedatives, and hypnotics:
The prolonged use of cannabis does not lead to the development of physical dependence. [11, 13, 14, 24, 39, 44] There is minimal development of tolerance to cannabis products. (Loewe notes a slight "beginner's
habituation" in dogs, during the first few trials with the drug, as the only noticeable tolerance effect.[20]) [11, 13, 14, 24, 44] Cannabis products have exceedingly low toxicity.[9, 21, 22, 24] (The oral dose required to kill a mouse has been found to be about 40,000 times the dose required to produce typical symptoms of intoxication in man.)[21] Cannabis produces no disturbance of vegetative functioning, whereas the opiates inhibit the gastrointestinal tract, the flow of bile and the cough reflex.[1, 2, 24, 44, 46] Besides investigating the physical effects of medicinal preparations of cannabis, nineteenth-century physicians observed the psychic effects of the drug in its therapeutic applications.[4, 27, 33] They found that cannabis first mildly stimulates, and then sedates the higher centers of the brain. Hare suggested in 1887 a possible mechanism of cannabis' analgesic properties: During the time that this remarkable drug is relieving pain a very curious psychical condition manifests itself; namely, that the diminution of the pain seems to be due to its fading away in the distance, so that the pain becomes less and less, just as the pain in a delicate ear would grow less and less as a beaten drum was carried farther and farther out of the range of hearing.
Industrial Hemp FACT of the Day #10
Even more good medical stuff….
In his definitive survey of the literature and report of his own studies, deceptively titled "Marihuana, America's New Drug Problem," Walton notes that cannabis was widely used during the latter half of the nineteenth century, and particularly before new drugs were developed:
This popularity of the hemp drugs can be attributed partly to the fact that they were introduced before the synthetic hypnotics and analgesics. Chloral hydrate was not introduced until 1869 and was followed in the next thirty years by paraldehyde, sulfonal and the barbitals. Antipyrine and acetanilide, the first of their particular group of analgesics, were introduced about 1884. For general sedative and analgesic purposes, the only drugs commonly used at this time were the morphine derivatives and their disadvantages were very well known. In fact, the most attractive feature of the hemp narcotics was probably the fact that they did not exhibit certain of the notorious disadvantages of the opiates. The hemp narcotics do not constipate at all, they more often increase than decrease appetite, they do not particularly depress the respiratory center even in large doses, they rarely or never cause pruritis or cutaneous eruptions and, most important, the liability of developing addiction is very much less than with opiates.[44] The use of cannabis in American medicine was seriously affected by the increased use of opiates in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
With the introduction of the hypodermic syringe into American medicine from England in 1856 by Barker and Ruppaner, the use of the faster acting, water-soluble opiate drugs rapidly increased. The Civil War helped to spread the use of opiates in this country; the injected drugs were administered widely-and often indiscriminately-to relieve the pain of maimed soldiers returning from combat. (Opiate addiction was once called the "army disease."[41]) As the use of injected opiates increased, cannabis declined in popularity.
Cannabis preparations were still widely available in legend and over-the-counter forms in the 1930s. Crump (Chairman, Investigating Committee, American Medical Association) in 1931 mentioned the proprietaries "Piso's Cure," "One Day Cough Cure" and "Neurosine" as containing cannabis.[44] In 1937 Sasman listed twenty-eight pharmaceuticals containing cannabis.[36] Cannabis was still recognized as a medicinal agent in that year, when the committee on legislative activities of the American Medical Association concluded as follows:
. . . there is positively no evidence to indicate the abuse of cannabis as a medicinal agent or to show that its medicinal use is leading to the development of cannabis addiction. Cannabis at the present time is slightly used for medicinal purposes, but it would seem worthwhile to maintain its status as a medicinal agent for such purposes as it now has. There is a possibility that a re-study of the drug by modern means may show other advantages to be derived from its medicinal use.[32] Meanwhile, in Mexico, the poor were smoking marijuana to relax and to endure heat and fatigue. (Originally marijuana was the Mexican slang word for the smoking preparation of dried leaves and flowering tops of the Cannabis sativa plant-the indigenous variety of the hemp plant.)
Industrial Hemp ~ Washington ~ May 12, 2011 ~ Senate Bill In Support of Industrial Hemp Farming
By Vote Hemp
Published: Thursday, May. 12, 2011 – 7:21 am
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2011 — Senate Bill In Support of Industrial Hemp Farming Expected to Follow
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2011 /PRNewswire-US Newswire/ — For the fourth time since the federal government outlawed hemp farming in the United States over 50 years ago, a federal bill was introduced on May 11, which if passed, will remove restrictions on the cultivation of industrial hemp, the non-drug oilseed and fiber varieties of Cannabis. The chief sponsor, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter last week seeking support for H.R. 1831, The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011. H.R. 1831 is almost identical to H.R. 1866, which was introduced in the 111th Congress in 2009.
"We are pleased to see the re-introduction of the Industrial Hemp Farming Act in Congress. Vote Hemp is currently working with a Democratic Senator who is preparing to introduce companion legislation in the Senate in support of industrial hemp farming," says Vote Hemp President, Eric Steenstra. "It is due time for the Senate as well as President Obama and the Attorney General to prioritize the crop's benefits to farmers and to take action like Rep. Paul and the cosponsors of H.R. 1831 have done. With the U.S. hemp industry valued at over $400 million in annual retail sales and growing, a change in federal policy to allow hemp farming would mean instant job creation, among many other economic and environmental benefits," adds Steenstra.
U.S. companies that manufacture or sell products made with hemp include Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, a California company that manufactures the number-one-selling natural soap in the U.S. as well as best-selling hemp food manufacturers, such as French Meadow Bakery, Living Harvest, Manitoba Harvest, Nature's Path, Nutiva and Sequel Naturals who make their products from hemp grown in Canada. Sustainable hemp seed, fiber and oil are also used by major companies such as Ford Motors, Patagonia and The Body Shop.
"Public support for industrial hemp farming is growing in leaps and bounds in the U.S.," explains Steenstra. "The second annual Hemp History Week, celebrated from May 2-8, 2011 featured over 550 events in all 50 states. The campaign mobilized the support of tens of thousands of consumers, grass-roots activists and many high-profile celebrities from health and wellness experts to TV and entertainment personalities, professional athletes and renowned musicians."
H.R. 1831 was introduced by chief sponsor Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) with 21 original cosponsors, including Rep. Baldwin (D-WI), Rep. Blumenauer (D-OR), Rep. Clay (D-MO), Rep. Cohen (D-TN), Rep. DeFazio (D-OR), Rep. Ellison (D-MN), Rep. Farr (D-CA), Rep. Frank (D-MA), Rep. Grijalva (D-AZ), Rep. Hinchey (D-NY), Rep. McClintock (R-CA), Rep. McDermott (D-WA), Rep. Miller (D-CA), Rep. Moran (D-VA), Rep. Nadler (D-NY), Rep. Pingree (D-ME), Rep. Polis (D-CO), Rep. Rohrabacher (R-CA), Rep. Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Stark (D-CA) and Rep. Woolsey (D-CA).
To date, seventeen states have passed pro-hemp legislation, and six states (Maine, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont and West Virginia) have already authorized the licensing of farmers to grow the crop. However, despite state authorization to grow hemp, farmers in these states risk raids by federal agents, prison time and land forfeiture if they plant the crop, due to the failure of federal policy to distinguish oilseed and fiber varieties of Cannabis (i.e., industrial hemp) from psychoactive varieties.
IMAGINE it being legal to grow Industrial Hemp again here in the United States !
Hemp was the first plant known to have been domestically cultivated. The oldest relic of human history is hemp fabric dated to 8,000 BC from ancient Mesopotamia, an area in present-day Turkey.
The paintings of Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Gainsborough, etc., were primarily painted on hemp canvas, as were practically all canvas paintings.
Hemp sails and ropes carried the European settlers to America for hundreds of years – 1492 to the advent of steamships in the early 1800's.
Cannabis hemp was legal tender (money) in most of the Americas from 1631 until the early 1800s. You could pay your taxes with cannabis hemp throughout America for over 200 years.
You could even be jailed in America for not growing cannabis during several periods of shortage, e.g., in Virginia between 1763 and 1767.
HEMPstead, Long Island; HEMPstead County, Arkansas; HEMPstead, Texas; HEMPhill, North Carolina; HEMPfield, Pennsylvania; among others, were named after cannabis growing regions, or after family names derived from hemp growing.
Maps, log books, Bibles, books were all made of rag bond paper that had a high hemp content from recycled clothes of homespun hemp, sails, ropes, tents made of hemp.
Hemp was used for clothing, military uniforms, ship's rigging, shoes, parachute webbing, baggage, and much more. Christopher Columbus' ships were fully rigged in hemp. The U.S.S. Constitution, "Old Ironsides," was outfitted with over 40 tons of hemp rigging.
Benjamin Franklin started one of America's first paper mills with cannabis. This allowed America to have a free colonial press without having to beg or justify paper and books from England.
It was not just any string that connected Ben Franklin to the clouds above for his famous experiment, it was hemp string.
Thomas Jefferson drafted both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution on hemp paper.
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew cannabis on their plantations. Jefferson, while envoy to France, went to great expense—and considerable risk to himself and his secret agents—to procure particularly good hemp seeds smuggled illegally into Turkey from China. The Chinese Mandarins (political rulers) so valued their hemp seeds that they made their exportation a capital offense.
Betsy Ross allegedly made the first flag of the United States of America out of the finest, strongest fiber available, hemp fabric.
When Rudolph Diesel produced his famous engine in 1896, he assumed that the diesel engine would be powered by a variety of fuels, especially vegetable and seed oils. Rudolph Diesel, like most engineers then, believed vegetable fuels were superior to petroleum. Hemp is the most efficient vegetable.
The difference is that the vegetable source is renewable, cheap and clean, and the petroleum or coal sources are limited, expensive and dirty. By volume, 30% of the hemp seed contains oil suitable for high-grade diesel fuel, as well as aircraft engine and precision machine oil. Henry Ford's experiments with methanol promised cheap, readily-renewable fuel. And, if you think methanol means compromise, you should know that many modern race cars run on methanol.
Henry Ford himself manufactured the body of an automobile from hemp-based plastic in 1941. The plastic was much lighter than steel and could withstand ten times the impact without denting. The car was even fueled by clean-burning hemp-based ethanol fuel.
In the 1930s, the Ford Motor Company also saw a future in biomass fuels. Ford operated a successful biomass conversion plant that included hemp at their Iron Mountain facility in Michigan. Ford engineers extracted methanol, charcoal fuel, tar, pitch, ethyl acetate, and creosote—all fundamental ingredients for modern industry, and now supplied by oil-related industries.
The United States Census of 1850 counted 8,327 hemp "plantations" (minimum 2,000 acre farms) growing cannabis hemp for cloth, canvas and even the cordage used for baling cotton. (This figure does not include the tens of thousands of smaller farms growing cannabis, nor the hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of family hemp patches in America.)
In 1942, after the Japanese invasion of the Philippines cut off the supply of manila (Abaca) hemp, the U.S. government distributed 400,000 pounds of cannabis seeds to American farmers from Wisconsin to Kentucky, who produced 42,000 tons of hemp fiber annually for the war effort until 1946. In 1942–43 farmers were made to attend showings of the USDA film Hemp for Victory, sign that they had seen the film and read a hemp cultivation booklet. Farmers from 1942 through 1945 who agreed to grow hemp were waived from serving in the military, along with their sons; that's how vitally important hemp was to America during World War II.
Hemp advocates dig into the details of a diary kept by Lyster Dewey from 1896 to 1944. Dewey cultivated hemp on a plot called Arlington Farms, which today is the site of the Pentagon. Read more…
Special Circular – November, 1942 – "What about growing Hemp?"
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Hemp – Farmers' Bulletin No. 1935 U.S. Department of Agriculture
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"Hemp For Victory" – By the US Department of Agriculture 1942
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December, 1942 – Bulletin P 49 – "Hemp A War Crop For Iowa"
Read more…
HEMP SEED: THE MOST NUTRITIONALLY COMPLETE FOOD SOURCE IN THE WORLD
Part One
by Lynn Osburn
Hemp Line Journal, July-August pp. 14-15, Vol. I No. 1
Seeds of the plant cannabis sativa, hemp seed, contain all the essential amino acids and essential fatty acids necessary to maintain healthy human life. No other single plant source has the essential amino acids in such an easily digestible form, nor has the essential fatty acids in as perfect a ratio to meet human nutritional needs.
The importance of hemp seed nutrients to human health cannot be fully appreciated without some understanding of bio-chemistry in life. Unfortunately, any attempt to understand the flow of life leads into the realm of the most troublesome of the three infinities — the infinitely complex.
Some deep thinkers believe life is a paradox not to be understood but experienced to the fullest. However, the Sages have said, "Know thyself." At any rate it is paradoxic to attempt simplifying the infinite complexity of flowing life. Yet, it is far better for the health and development of any thinking and feeling, uniquely individual human being, to pursue knowledge than to lounge in ignorance. Read more…
HEMP SEED: THE MOST NUTRITIONALLY COMPLETE FOOD SOURCE IN THE WORLD
Part Two: HEMP SEED OILS AND THE FLOW OF LIFE FORCE
by Lynn Osburn
Hemp Line Journal, pp. 12-13,21 Vol. I No. 2
Hemp seed oil comprises 35% of the total seed weight. This oil has the lowest amount of saturated fatty acids at 8%, and the highest amount of the polyunsaturated essential fatty acids at 80%, total oil volume. Flax seed oil comes in second at 72% combined total essential fatty acids.
Linoleic acid (LA) and linolenic acid (LNA) cannot be made by the human body and must be obtained through the diet, so they are called essential fatty acids (EFA). LA and LNA are the most important fatty acids in human nutrition and health. They are involved in producing life energy from food and the movement of that energy throughout the body. EFAs govern growth, vitality and state of mind. Still, much is unknown about their functioning in the body.
Fat is the second most abundant substance in the human body (water is first). The exact percentage varies with diet, exercise, genetic disposition, age and gender. The average is 15% to 22% of body weight as fat. The average adult American eats 135 lbs. of fat each year. That works out to over 50% of all calories consumed. The percentage and types of fats eaten are 34% saturated, 40% monounsaturated and 15% polyunsaturated fatty acids (fats are really fatty acids). Many U.S. health organizations recommend fat consumption be reduced to 30% of calories in the diet, with the fats divided equally between saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Some private researchers believe this is still to much fat in the diet and it will not help to reduce the incidence of fatty degeneration and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Read more…
General
Hemp is a variation of cannabis sativa. It is the most useful plant known to mankind. In fact, cannabis sativa means useful (sativa) hemp (cannabis). Hemp is not marijuana.
Hemp is used to make over 25,000 consumer products. From hemp apparel and accessories to house wares and hempseed oil cosmetics, hemp is an eco-shopper's dream. Some of the products made are: clothing, shoes, diapers, rope, canvas, cellophane, paints, fuels, chain lubricants, biodegradable plastics, paper, fiberboard, cement blocks, food, cosmetics, and soap. Hemp is the longest and strongest natural fiber known to man.
Hemp for Food
Hemp seeds are drug-free and extremely nutritious. They can be eaten whole, pressed into edible oil like soybeans, or ground into flour for baking. They are one of the best sources of vegetable protein. Hemp seed has the second highest amount of protein of any food (soy being the highest). Hemp seed protein closely resembles the protein found in the human blood, making it easier to digest than soy protein. They contain a full complement of essential amino acids, essential fatty-acids (EFA'S), and have been shown to lower blood cholesterol and dissolve plaque in coronary arteries. As a supplement to the diet, these oils can reduce the risk of heart disease.
Hemp for Body Care
Hemp seed oil is perfectly suited for hair and skin care. Its nutritional value, combined with its moisturizing and replenishing EFA's, make it one of the best vegetable body care foundations. Hemp seed oil's EFA complement includes polyunsaturated fatty acids, omega-3, omega-6, omega-9, linoleic acid, and gamma linoleic acids (GLA's). Although they are very effective in skin care maintenance, GLA's are rarely found in natural oils. Hemp is an excellent source of GLA's.
Paper from hemp
There is no tree or plant on Earth capable of producing as much paper per acre as hemp. Hemp paper is naturally acid-free. The oldest printed paper in existence is a 100 percent hemp Chinese text dated to 770 AD. Thomas Jefferson drafted both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution on hemp paper.
One acre of hemp can produce as much paper as four acres of trees. Hemp paper is suitable for recycle use 7 or 8 times, compared to 3 times for tree paper.
The hemp paper process also utilizes less energy and fewer chemicals than tree paper processing and doesn't create the harmful dioxins, chloroform, or any of the other 2,000 chlorinated organic compounds that have been identified as byproducts of the wood paper process.
Hemp was an important source of paper fiber until the early 1900's when chemicals were developed to advance the wood paper pulp industry. Wood pulp paper rode the chemical revolution to its apex before the public health hazards of toxic chemicals were an issue and before the environmental consequences of clear-cutting forests were appreciated.
Hemp is a sustainable, annual crop that is ready for harvest just 120 days after going to seed, compared to trees which take tens or hundreds of years to reach maturity. Further, harvesting hemp doesn't destroy the natural habitats of thousands of distinct animal and plant species.
Hemp as fuel
Hemp seeds have provided a combustible fuel oil throughout human history. More importantly, though, the same high cellulose level that makes hemp ideal for paper also makes it perfect for ethanol fuel production. Ethanol is the cleanest-burning liquid bio-alternative to gasoline.
Ethanol is derived from plant cellulose. Plants absorb carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight and produce oxygen and cellulose, which contains the sun's energy captured in plant cells. When ethanol combusts, it releases energy, water vapor, and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is then absorbed by plants, along with water and sunlight, to create more oxygen and cellulose. It is a clean and sustainable cycle.
Since gasoline engines are a primary source of carbon monoxide and greenhouse gases, alternative fuels such as ethanol could contribute significantly to the rejuvenation of our atmospheric air quality. Hemp provides a sustainable, renewable, and natural alternative to toxic fossil fuels.
Raw Food is a Powerful entry to Spiritual Enlightenment and to bringing a Sustainable, Green Living Way of LIVE to each Soul and our Planet Earth…even small moves in this direction will make a Huge difference.
Blessings of Love ~ Peace ~ Joy and Total Infinite Abundance !!!
Why was Industrial Hemp made ilegal to grow here in the USA…FollowTheMoney…
Industrial Hemp Facts
Industrial Hemp Ecology Facts
* Hemp growers can not hide marijuana plants in their fields. Marijuana is grown widely spaced to maximize leaves. Hemp is grown in tightly-spaced rows to maximize stalk and is usually harvested before it goes to seed.
*Hemp can be made into fine quality paper. The long fibers in hemp allow such paper to be recycled several times more than wood-based paper.
*Because of its low lignin content, industrial hemp can be pulped using less chemicals than with wood. Its natural brightness can obviate the need to use chlorine bleach, which means no extremely toxic dioxin being dumped into streams. A kinder and gentler chemistry using hydrogen peroxide rather than chlorine dixoide is possible with hemp fibers.
*Industrial Hemp grows well in a variety of climates and soil types. It is naturally resistant to most pests, precluding the need for pesticides. It grows tightly spaced, out-competing any weeds, so herbicides are not necessary. It also leaves a weed-free field for a following crop.
*Hemp can displace cotton which is usually grown with massive amounts of chemicals harmful to people and the environment. 50% of all the world’s pesticides are sprayed on cotton.
*Hemp can displace wood fiber and save forests for watershed, wildlife habitat, recreation and oxygen production, carbon sequestration (reduces global warming), and other values.
*Hemp can yield 3-8 dry tons of fiber per acre. This is four times what an average forest can yield.
Industrial Hemp Health Facts
*If one tried to ingest enough industrial hemp to get ‘a buzz’, it would be the equivalent of taking 2-3 doses of a high-fiber laxative.
*At a volume level of 81%, industrial hemp oil is the richest known source of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids (the “good” fats). It’s quite high in some essential amino acids, including gamma linoleic acid (GLA), a very rare nutrient also found in mother’s milk.
*While the original “gruel” was made of industrial hemp seed meal, hemp oil and seed can be made into tasty and nutritional products.
Industrial Hemp History Facts
*Hemp has been grown for at least the last 12,000 years for fiber (textiles and paper) and food. It has been effectively prohibited in the United States since the 1950s.
*George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew industrial hemp. Ben Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper. Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper.
*When US sources of "Manila hemp" (not true hemp) was cut off by the Japanese in WWII, the US Army and US Department of Agriculture promoted the "Hemp for Victory" campaign to grow industrial hemp in the US.
*Because of its importance for sails (the word "canvass" is rooted in "cannabis") and rope for ships, industrial hemp was a required crop in the American colonies.
Industrial Hemp Industry Facts
*Henry Ford experimented with hemp to build car bodies. He wanted to build and fuel cars from farm products.
*BMW is experimenting withindustrial hemp materials in automobiles as part of an effort to make cars more recyclable.
*Much of the bird seed sold in the US has industrial hemp seed (it's sterilized before importation), the hulls of which contain about 25% protein.
*Hemp oil once greased machines. Most paints, resins, shellacs, and varnishes used to be made out of linseed (from flax) and hemp oils.
*Rudolph Diesel designed his engine to run on industrial hemp oil.
*Kimberly Clark (on the Fortune 500) has a mill in France which produces hemp paper preferred for bibles because it lasts a very long time and doesn't yellow.
*Construction products such as medium density fiber board, oriented strand board, and even beams, studs and posts could be made out of industrial hemp. Because of hemp's long fibers, the products will be stronger and/or lighter than those made from wood.
*The products that can be made from industrial hemp number over 25,000.
Industrial Hemp Scientific Facts
*Industrial hemp and marijuana are both classified by taxonomists as Cannabis sativa, a species with hundreds of varieties. C. sativa is a member of the mulberry family. Industrial hemp is bred to maximize fiber, seed and/or oil, while marijuana varieties seek to maximize THC (delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana).
*While industrial hemp and marijuana may look somewhat alike to an untrained eye, an easily trained eye can easily distinguish the difference.
*industrial hemp has a THC content of between 0.05 and 1%. Marijuana has a THC content of 3% to 20%. To receive a standard psychoactive dose would require a person to power-smoke 10-12 hemp cigarettes over an extremely short period of time. The large volume and high temperature of vapor, gas and smoke would be almost impossible for a person to withstand.
*If hemp does pollinate any nearby marijuana, genetically, the result will always be lower-THC marijuana, not higher-THC hemp. If hemp is grown outdoors, marijuana will not be grown close by to avoid producing lower-grade marijuana.
*Hemp fibers are longer, stronger, more absorbent and more mildew-resistant than cotton.
*Fabrics made of at least one-half industrial hemp block the sun's UV rays more effectively than other fabrics.
*Many of the varieties of hemp that were grown in North America have been lost. Seed banks weren't maintained. New genetic breeding will be necessary using both foreign and domestic "ditchweed," strains of hemp that went feral after cultivation ended. Various state national guard units often spend their weekends trying to eradicate this hemp, in the mistaken belief they are helping stop drug use.
*A 1938 Popular Mechanics described industrial hemp as a "New Billion Dollar Crop." That's back when a billion was real money.
*Hemp can be made in to a variety of fabrics, including linen quality.
Industrial Hemp Legal Facts
*The US Drug Enforcement Agency classifies all C. sativa varieties as "marijuana." While it is theoretically possible to get permission from the government to grow industrial hemp, DEA would require that the field be secured by fence, razor wire, dogs, guards, and lights, making it cost-prohibitive.
*The US State Department must certify each year that a foreign nation is cooperating in the war on drugs. The European Union subsidizes its farmers to grow industrial hemp. Those nations are not on this list, because the State Department can tell the difference between hemp and marijuana.
*Hemp was grown commercially (with increasing governmental interference) in the United States until the 1950s. It was doomed by the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which placed an extremely high tax on marijuana and made it effectively impossible to grow industrial hemp. While Congress expressly expected the continued production of industrial hemp, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics lumped industrial hemp with marijuana, as it's successor the US Drug Enforcement Administration, does to this day.
*Over 30 industrialized democracies do distinguish hemp from marijuana. International treaties regarding marijuana make an exception for industrial hemp.
*Canada now again allows the growing of industrial hemp.
Want some Hemp Products, Want to support and be involved in the Hemp industry ?
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Hugh Downs (Highly Respected TV Journalist & Political Commentator) Click here to listen to an audio file from Hugh Downs on the possibilities of Hemp.
Henry Ford – Industrial Hemp, The Fuel of the Future !!!
When Henry Ford told a New York Times reporter that ethyl alcohol was "the fuel of the future" in 1925, Henry Ford was expressing an opinion that was widely shared in the automotive industry. "The fuel of the future is going to come from fruit like that sumach out by the road, or from apples, weeds, sawdust, Hemp — almost anything," Henry Ford said. "There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter that can be fermented. There's enough alcohol in one year's yield of an acre of potatoes to drive the machinery necessary to cultivate the fields for a hundred years."
Henry Ford recognized the utility of the hemp plant. He constructed a car of resin stiffened hemp fiber, and even ran the car on ethanol made from hemp. Henry Ford knew that hemp could produce vast economic resources if widely cultivated.
Industrial Hemp, TEN Times Stronger than steal !
Hemp, I Love it !
Want some Hemp Products, Want to support and be involved in the Hemp industry ?
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George Wasshington grew Hemp, Industrial Hemp for the sailing industry, for ropes and sails.
Hemp, Industrial Hemp Fibers, for Hemp ropes.
Hemp, Industrial Hemp being harvested years ago.
Hemp – Inustrial Hemp History, which George Washington was a part of.
*Hemp has been grown for at least the last 12,000 years for fiber (textiles and paper) and food. It has been effectively prohibited in the United States since the 1950s.
*George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp. Ben Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper. Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper.
*When US sources of "Manila hemp" (not true hemp) was cut off by the Japanese in WWII, the US Army and US Department of Agriculture promoted the "Hemp for Victory" campaign to grow hemp in the US.
*Because of its importance for sails (the word "canvass" is rooted in "cannabis") and rope for ships, hemp was a required crop in the American colonies.
Video about George Washington, and the Industrial Hemp farm he grew hemp on and what he did with hemp.
Old Industrial Hemp Farm, perhaps similar to the Hemp Farm that George Washington had.
Hemp – Industrial Hemp Scientific Facts Goerge Washington was Aware of.
*Industrial hemp and marijuana are both classified by taxonomists as Cannabis sativa, a species with hundreds of varieties. C. sativa is a member of the mulberry family. Industrial hemp is bred to maximize fiber, seed and/or oil, while marijuana varieties seek to maximize THC (delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana).
*While industrial hemp and marijuana may look somewhat alike to an untrained eye, an easily trained eye can easily distinguish the difference.
*Industrial hemp has a THC content of between 0.05 and 1%. Marijuana has a THC content of 3% to 20%. To receive a standard psychoactive dose would require a person to power-smoke 10-12 hemp cigarettes over an extremely short period of time. The large volume and high temperature of vapor, gas and smoke would be almost impossible for a person to withstand.
*If hemp does pollinate any nearby marijuana, genetically, the result will always be lower-THC marijuana, not higher-THC hemp. If hemp is grown outdoors, marijuana will not be grown close by to avoid producing lower-grade marijuana.
Hemp Farm on the Ten Dollar Bill, Wow, How Kooool is That !!!
*Hemp fibers are longer, stronger, more absorbent and more mildew-resistant than cotton.
*Fabrics made of at least one-half hemp block the sun's UV rays more effectively than other fabrics.
*Many of the varieties of hemp that were grown in North America have been lost. Seed banks weren't maintained. New genetic breeding will be necessary using both foreign and domestic "ditchweed," strains of hemp that went feral after cultivation ended. Various state national guard units often spend their weekends trying to eradicate this hemp, in the mistaken belief they are helping stop drug use.
*A 1938 Popular Mechanics described hemp as a "New Billion Dollar Crop." That's back when a billion was real money.
*Hemp can be made in to a variety of fabrics, including linen quality.
Lets Legalize the Growth of Hemp, Industrial Hemp in te USA.
Using Industrial Hemp Products is a Very Green way of Being !
More HEMP info coming…stay tuned !
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