Hemp

Hemp has been used for making cloth and rope since 8,000 B.C.E.
Americans were legally bound to grow hemp during the Colonial Era and Early Republic.
The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 effectively began hemp prohibition in the US.
Land used for the production of true hemp had reduced to less than 200 acres in the US by the time it became illegal in 1937.
When Japan cut off supplies of Manila hemp fiber in WWII, the US gov't encouraged domestic hemp (different from Manila hemp) growth by subsidizing hemp cultivation and producing a movie about hemp called "Hemp For Victory."
In 1942, 14,000 acres of fiber hemp were harvested in the United States.
The only hemp illegal in the US is the "true hemp" which contains THC.

Industrial hemp can yield 3-8 dry tons of fiber (for making paper) per acre. This is four times what an average forest can yield.
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.
Hemp paper also has a much greater resistance to decomposition, is not subject to age related yellowing, and can be recycled much more often than wood.
Nothing can compete with forests for paper pulp as far as saving energy and absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Trees harvested about every 15 to 20 years for paper pulp is far more energy efficient and vastly more efficient at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than hemp or any other annual plant.
There is no direct link between growing hemp and saving the rain forest(s).
Some of the world's most productive and best-managed forest lands are located in the United States.
Worldwide hemp paper pulp production makes up about 0.05% of the world's annual pulp production.
There is currently no production of 100% true hemp paper.
Tree and hemp pulp making processes are different and require different technologies.
Hemp pulp costs $2500/ton versus $400/ton for wood pulp.
The number of trees is greater today - an estimated 230 billion - than at any time since the turn of the century, and timber growth (in cubic feet) exceeds annual harvest by 33 percent.

critics contend that it is economically absurd to consider ethanol from grain as a replacement for petroleum, when industrial ethanol is made from petroleum feedstocks because it is far cheaper than fermented ethanol.
Current costs associated with the processes of converting hemp cellulose into ethanol are about $1.37 per gallon of fuel produced, plus the cost of the feedstock.
The technical feasibility of hemp as a source of biomass for energy is clearly without question, however economic realities, i.e. the current selling price of energy in the United States, dictate integration of processes, markets and technologies to become feasible.

Energy output (burning):

The claim that hemp is needed to replace petroleum fuel is misleading because corn is already meeting market demands for vegetable-based ethanol fuel. Other more economically produced plants such as sorghum, sugar cane, and sugar beets can be and are being used worldwide for that purpose.

Hemp can be grown without harmful pesticides and can help fight invasions of weeds.
Hemp can be used to control weeds and restore grazing lands. The US currently uses poisonous herbicides to do this, which can enter into water supply and food.
The expenditure of energy to produce an annual hemp crop, whether from gasoline or other fuels, or from the lungs of animals or humans, would produce and release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Close to 50% of all the world's pesticides are sprayed on cotton.
Hemp is an annual crop and production is just as damaging to soil productivity and loss of soil from erosion as most of the common field crops, and more damaging than some.
Corn and other grass crops do a better job of preventing soil erosion than hemp.
The expenditure of energy to produce an annual hemp crop, whether from gasoline or other fuels, or from the lungs of animals or humans, would produce and release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Hemp has a highly allergenic pollen. 70% of people tested are reactive to hemp pollen.
In countries where hemp is grown commercially pesticides and fertilizers are used similarly as they are with all other commercial crops.

Hemp demands a rich, well-drained soil loose and rich in organic matter. Poor soils won't do.
Hemp grows best on lands that would produce a high yield of corn.
If hemp is grown outdoors, marijuana will not be grown close by to avoid producing lower-grade marijuana (cross-breeding results in lower THC).
While it is theoretically possible to get permission from the government to grow hemp, DEA would require that the field be secured by fence, razor wire, dogs, guards, and lights, making it cost-prohibitive.
The European Union subsidizes its farmers to grow industrial hemp.
Canada legalized the growing of hemp in 1997. Marijuana growth in Canada has since become so widespread that cracking down on marijuana is all but impossible.
Hemp has a 100 day growing cycle.
Hemp is extremely difficult to process and requires specialized machinery.
Manila hemp is superior to regular hemp. Manila hemp contains no THC, doesn't grow in the US but is imported from the Philipines.
True Hemp (the illegal kind that contains THC) is only grown for fiber and birdseed on a limited scale in Russia and some eastern European nations.
Legalizing hemp would have a negative impact on struggling hemp industries in many poorer countries.
Field crops such as corn, sorghum, alfalfa, and many other field crops produce more tonnage per acre than hemp.
Today industrial hemp is cultivated in Canada, China, Russia, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, England, Poland and many other Eastern European countries.

Products that can be made from hemp
- rope
- cooking oil
- can be combined with old plastic milk jugs and molded into two-by-fours
- paper
- horse bedding
- twine
- canvas
- cloth & clothing
- animal feed (sterilized seeds)
- insulation
- cosmetics
- plastics
- paints
- ethanol
- food (sterilized seeds)
Hemp cloth is stronger, longer lasting, more resistant to mildew, and cheaper to produce than cloth made of cotton
Poppy seed muffins are legal despite containing a higher level of controlled substance (opiate) than hemp (THC).
Synthetic fibers such as nylon are much stronger and more durable than fibers produced from hemp.
Synthetic rope produced from plastics is stronger and cheaper than hemp rope.
Cotton is the number one fiber crop of the world because it is the cheapest and most useful.
Much of the bird seed sold in the US has hemp seed (sterilized before importation), the hulls of which contain about 25% protein.

Industrial hemp and marijuana are both classified by taxonomists as Cannabis sativa, a species with hundreds of varieties.
While industrial hemp and marijuana may look somewhat alike to an untrained eye, a 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%.
The US Drug Enforcement Agency classifies all C. sativa varieties as "marijuana."
It is still legal to sell and use hemp products in the United States.
Industrial hemp plants differ from marijuana plants in THC concentration, size of buds, leaf structure, growth cycle and plant height (NOT leaf color).