Industrial Hemp Does Nearly Everything But Get You High

The introduction of hemp for industry would add many jobs, for farmers, machine builders, machine operators, manufacturers all while improving the environment. Hemp has proven to be a valuable plant in America before and I think it could again.

Our planet has been polluted with products, which require dangerous chemicals to produce and fill our landfills with products, which take many, many years to biodegrade.

the way I see it, our country can do nothing but benefit if we were to industrialize hemp. We can start manufacturing domestically, open up factories that will give many Americans jobs. It's a real shame that we haven't picked up on this earlier.

hemp rules

it mystifys me why the Obama folks are so resistent to utilizing something that would quickly rejuvinate the economy at little cost. its a very green outlay and recrop all the way around.
hopefully someone gets their attention before the economy sinks any further.

good post my friend

true !

It's been common knowledge for a while that industrial hemp has a variety of uses, all positive. It can be a substantial crop if legislators takes their heads out of you know where...

If it can be used to make fabric and rope, surely it can be used to make paper products?

If only it got us high, it would be perfect.

voted up!

Dang it.

big industry outlawed it so it wouldn't take over all there products.(which it would) timber wool, even some basic food products. but no. big industry slapped a good ol monopoly down and even had it outlawed as a drug that just gets you high.
BUT NO ONE IN THERE RIGHT MIND WILL EVEN REMOTELY ENJOY SMOKING INDUSTRIAL HEMP.
kinda a scary thought. businesses that makes so much money, and has enough power to makes laws..
in the future if it is made legal again, you WILL have silly stoners trying to smoke there hemp t-shirts ,but hey, they'll learn.
the freedom of a good honestly green business has been treated like a witch bye the same people who plunder our planet for money.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This is the kind of homegrown American industry that can help move the economy back into a production based economy rather than a speculative one with Wall St making the majoryity of our GDP. It is that people are still clinging to lies and misconceptions of industrial hemp. Spread the message and let's bring industrial hemp back into the american economy.

South Carolina better get into this business to offset their new anti-tobacco philosophy.

I love reading the history of this country. It is so conflicting.
If you would look at the root "evil" of this topic, the government banning it because it's closely related to Cannabis Marijuana. Yes that's right Illegal Drugs.
That's the root problem and most interesting part when compared to the history of drug prohibition in this country.

During the Gold Rush thousands of chinese immigrants were brought in to mine gold.
However after the gold rush you still had thousands of chinese left. So in efforts to clean house law makers band certain habits and traditions that can only be found in chinese culture. Things band were the traditional pony tail with partily shaven head that only the chinese were sporting, traditional chinese clothing, and the uniquely chinese recreational drug use of opium. It was prejudice along with some good old progaganda claiming that chinese men were luring white woman into opium dens to get them high and have sex with would the first Illegal drug law be passed.

Is it not interesting? If only this country were less prejudice then, would we not be spending so much money inprisoning non-violent drug users and inforceing unconstitutional drug laws with a strong hemp driven economy to boot now.

And I say Unconstitutional because laws are only to punish those who impeed or conflict with the constitutional rights of others. Smoking pot or doing whatever short of building a bomb in your own home impeeds or conflics with the rights of others how?

industrial hemp is a cash crop that every one can benefit from on global scale in the grand scheme of things. it be used to make virtually anything you would need in day to day life. from clothes to computers.the old folks in the big house on the need to pull there heads out there rears and see whats right in front of them;$$$$$$$$! I mean really how don't those money grubbers see it......

I truly believe if we reap ALL of the benefits of this divine gift, we can begin to change much of the self-destructive course of humanity.

Industrial hemp production can provide us with nutrient rich hemp seed, fabric that is stronger and softer than cotton, and most importantly, a sustainable source of clean energy.
A hemp-based industry would create jobs, sales would bring tax revenue. Hemp fiber can be compacted and used in construction, saving trees. Additionally, as it is a plant, it removes CO2 from the air, This could be implemented into a "carbon credit" incentive-based system for big corporate polluters.
Hemp played a role in the foundation of the United States, as well (almost as much as tobacco). The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,and even Ben Franklin grew hemp strains of cannabis (in addition to the marijuana strains).
When you start to think about it, it becomes evident that a lot of the issues of the 21st century could be alleviated by this humble plant. All it will take is a shift in perception on the part of the masses; hopefully it won't come too late...

So, Why Isn't It Legal Yet? Oh Yeah, That's Right, It Can Make You Silly! But So can Alcohol, so why isn't that illegal? I'm Confused... A Thing That Can Create Millions of Jobs Worldwide is Illegal, But Something That only has once, which is Making you Feel Different, is Legal? It's a Conspiracy Man...

Sorry about the wall of text but this wall contains more information about the topic than the article does.

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 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.

INDUSTRY FACTS

*Henry Ford experimented with hemp to build car bodies. He wanted to build and fuel cars from farm products.

*BMW is experimenting with hemp materials in automobiles as part of an effort to make cars more recyclable.

*Much of the bird seed sold in the US has 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 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 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 hemp number over 25,000.

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 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.

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 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 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, 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.

*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.

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%, 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 hemp seed meal, hemp oil and seed can be made into tasty and nutritional products.

Prepared by the North American Industrial Hemp Council, October 1997

Yeah, it still doesn't preform fellatio...

You're not supposed to get a high off of it. It's not a drug strain, and it's been sterilize not to get you high....

http://current.com/search.htm?s=on&v=on&r=off&context=&context_i...

A link to posts about hemp and industry at current.com. Hemp could be an environmentally friendly industry unto it's self. The conversation always reverts to the 'drug', when it should be geared toward industry. America needs industry and jobs.

Cannabis is no more dangerous than many of the legal substances already widely used in America. Hemp is environmentally friendly for industry. Why spin 'madness', while ignoring the benefits of hemp? Industry pays for the 'spin', to demonize the plant, which would compete for their market shares. Follow the money.