Industrial Hemp on the Horizon?
World War II Poster (Photo Credit: Hemphasis.net)The United States is the only industrialized nation that bans farmers from growing industrial, non-psychoactive hemp, but a group of lawmakers in Washington are trying to change that.
Last week, House Representative Ron Paul, a Republican from Texas who is also running for president in 2008, was joined by 9 Democratic co-sponsors in introducing House Resolution 1009, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2007. The bill would "remove restrictions on the cultivation of non-psychoactive industrial hemp." Paul gave his reasons for sponsoring the bill:
It is indefensible that the United States government prevents American farmers from growing this crop. The prohibition subsidizes farmers in countries from Canada to Romania by eliminating American competition and encourages jobs in industries such as food, auto parts and clothing that utilize industrial hemp to be located overseas instead of in the United States. [...] By passing the Industrial Hemp Farming Act the House of Representatives can help American farmers and reduce the trade deficit — all without spending a single taxpayer dollar.
Currently, industrial hemp is illegal because the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) doesn't distinguish between different varieties of Cannabis sativa. The variety used for recreation and medicine contains large amounts of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, THC, while industrial hemp contains almost none. The requirement in Canada, where industrial hemp farming is legal, is that the leaves and flowering parts of the plant contain 0.3% or less THC.
Long story short: Smoking industrial hemp is about as psychoactive as smoking organic arugula. (To my knowledge, no research has been done on the effects of smoking non-organic, chemical-laden and pesticide-laced arugula. It's probably not a very good idea.)
The major concern from the DEA's perspective seems to be that farmers can or will grow other, more lucrative varieties of Cannabis hidden among the industrial plants. If your answer to that is, "So what?", well, that's just, like, your opinion, man. VoteHemp.com's more articulate answer is threefold: Industrial hemp is grown differently, needs to be harvested at a different time, and cross-pollination between the different varieties would reduce the THC potency of the marijuana plants, making it a poor business decision to try it in the first place.
Why is hemp an environmentally friendly crop? There are three main areas where hemp is an attractive alternative to the current status quo: clothing, paper, and energy. Hemp is often discussed as a replacement for cotton in clothing and other products. In the United States, more than 25% of all pesticides are sprayed on cotton fields. Hemp grows well without pesticides and herbicides. Hemp also yields three times more fiber per acre than cotton.
For paper production, an acre of hemp yields more pulp per acre than forests. Unlike trees, hemp can also be harvested each year, leaving what's left of the earth's forests to work their carbon sequestration magic.
Finally, hemp seeds contain about 30% oil. That hemp oil, aside from being edible, can be used for biofuel production.
More industrial hemp resources:
North American Industrial Hemp Council
Vote Hemp
Andy Kerr on Industrial Hemp
Tags: agriculture, biofuel, climate+change, forests, hemp, legalization, legislation, paper, Politics, Ron+Paul
February 21st, 2007 at 6:45 am
Good news, and a great article. As a veteran of many Hemp Fests and someone who’s been supporting the industrial hemp movement for some time, I am constantly amazed at the many uses of this plant. And I now know lots of fun tidbits, for instance: Hemp seed is one of the healthiest foods out there because it is a complete protein that provides all the essential amino acids we need. Hemp is extremely versitile as well, and can be used to make anything from plywood to paint. It is a very hardy plant and usually doesn’t require pesticides. Hemp paper can be recycled more than paper made from trees as well. For more info on hemp, its history and uses, and why it became illegal in the first place, I recommend the book “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” by Jack Herer.
I really hope this bill passes, but there are many industries that industrial hemp would threaten, and I have a feeling they’ll be sending their lobbyists out in full force. Hemp is a safer and better alternative for many products we use, so the cotton, timber, paper, pharmaceutical, chemical, and oil companies definitely don’t like it. DuPont was a major force in getting it made illegal in 1937 because they didn’t want hemp cloth to compete with their newly invented nylon. Let’s hope Congress can ignore the lobbyists from these big industries and do the right thing for the environment and America’s farmers.
~Megan Prusynski
my site | volksvegan adventures | unplug
February 21st, 2007 at 7:33 am
Great info, Megan. Thank you!
February 21st, 2007 at 8:51 pm
It seriously boggles my mind when something is so obvious. As Megan mentioned, there are endless uses for hemp minus the pestacides and soil erosion and wasted land productivity of our conventional options! I hope this bill passes too! If it did, hemp would certainly be the greenest option!
February 22nd, 2007 at 7:56 pm
There's a lot of waste surrounding the 'War on Drugs' hysteria. Hemp's not for me but if someone wants to smoke a little rope, who really cares anyway?
I say bring back hemp in any form people like and get government the heck out of our lives. It's a great raw material for many products and shouldn't be banned just because of the remote potential of someone, GOD FORBID, getting a little buzz.
March 3rd, 2007 at 12:03 am
Dude, this is an effin’ great post! I had no idea about the whole cross-pollinization thing; makes all the doubts just — *poof* — disappear. As in, “…in a cloud of smoke…” Get it? Huh? Get it?
Thanks, darlin’!
May 19th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Great post, and great news! The U.S. has been a little slow to grasp the many benefits of industrial hemp, which is cultivated throughout the world. Why permit importation of hemp products, and not cultivate it ourselves? After all, the American Flag was made with hemp. Say, has anyone tried hemp milk?