Broken Secrets

You Can’t Grow Hemp in the US But You Can Import It

June 1, 2010 at 5:00 am Chad Upton 12 comments

Hemp is a plant with a long and interesting history, especially in the United States.

Farmers cannot freely grow hemp in the US, but many companies import hemp products for resale, mostly from Canada and the UK.

The problem is that hemp is from the same plant family (genus) as marijuana. But hemp is not a drug, it is a raw material that is used much like cotton. We all know that cotton is great, we use it for making: t-shirts, socks, denim for blue-jeans, fishnets, coffee filters, paper and many other things. Considering everything we use it for, it’s a miracle plant.

But, cotton has some limitations. It can only be grown in areas that get a lot of sunshine, have consistent rainfall and long frost-free periods. Cotton also requires a lot of pesticides: 50% of the world’s pesticides are sprayed on cotton.

Imagine a plant with all the benefits of cotton, but it has even stronger fibers, could be grown anywhere in the country and doesn’t require pesticides or herbicides.

That plant is called hemp.

At the risk of sounding like a huge hippie, hemp is a perfect plant. Frankly, I am not a hippie — I only own one hemp product: hemp protein powder.

Hemp as a food source is one example of why it’s so perfect. The seeds contain all of the essential fatty acids and essential amino acids required for a human to be healthy. It also contains a lot of fiber, another essential part of the human diet.

When used as a textile, hemp is stronger and more mildew resistant than cotton. For that reason, hemp is an excellent material for making canvas boat sails, and it was used for that exact purpose by Christopher Columbus.

In fact, the word “canvas” actually comes from the 13th century Anglo-French word for “cannabis” — the plant family that it stems from.

In 1942, the US government made a short film called Hemp for Victory, promoting hemp growth to farmers. You see, during World War II, hemp was used for military uniforms, canvas, rope and other necessities.

Some great Americans also grew hemp for commerical purposes. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp on their farms. In fact, the Declaration of Independence was originally written on hemp paper (the final copy was written on parchment).

Benjamin Franklin started a paper mill that made paper exclusively from hemp. Henry Ford grew hemp on his estate, combining it with some other substances to create car bodies and fuel for vehicles. He was way ahead of his time since biofuels are now a hot topic for reducing our dependence on oil. Even modern diesel engines of today can run on hemp seed oil.

Then, in 1948, marijuana became a restricted substance. Although hemp is from the same plant family  as marijuana, congress exempted industrial hemp growers from this law. I guess they didn’t see a reason to lock up one family member, just because the other family member could cause some trouble. However, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics lumped all cannabis together and the DEA continues to do so today.

It’s not known for sure why hemp was lumped together with cannabis, since you can’t get “high” from hemp. But, according to the 1985 book, The Emporer Wears No Clothes, the author Jack Herer states that DuPont played a key role in the criminalization of hemp. By stopping the growth of hemp, DuPont would have a monopoly on producing plastic and paper under their recently patented processes that used coal, oil and wood pulp respectively.

Today, there are a small number of states that have laws allowing restricted growth of hemp, mostly by government and educational institutions for research purposes. However, because federal laws prohibit hemp growth, they must receive permission from the DEA to do so.

Other countries that produce hemp include: Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Great Britain, France, Russia, Spain and about 22 other countries.

I didn’t know much about hemp until researching this article, and I don’t think most other people know much about it either. Now that I understand its benefits, I hope the federal government catches up with most other developed nations and legalizes hemp production. Given the health, environmental and economic benefits of hemp, it hurts the people, our planet and our economy by restricting it.

Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton

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Sources: Wikipedia (Hemp, Cannabis, History of Cannabis), NAIHC

Entry filed under: Be Efficient, Be Green, Food and Drink, Health and Beauty. Tags: acid, amino, cannabis, essential, Food and Drink, hemp, oil, seed.