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Hello all my fellow environtally-minded people. Just figured I'd post some facts about a commonly misunderstood plant, hemp. This is only part of one article, I'll be posting more each week as I can. Hemp is an amazing plant and if the United States grew it we could cut down the logging industry, make fuel, make more sustainable, stronger clothing, plus thousands more products. Do read on:

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.

It's also is good clothing material.

Sooo....Why is prohibited?

Wow, quite the read there, quite fascinating.

I've known about Hemp for a while know, about it's ability to act as a substitute for cotton, but I didn't know about some of these other things.

Hmm...I'm indeed looking forward to hearing more about this wonder fiber.

Say since we have a Hemp thread maybe someone should make a Bamboo thread. Even though Hemp does substitute wood Bamboo is a real knockout whenever it comes to sustainable lumber.

Well hemp.com had the following facts:

Quote:

The reemergence of hemp is slowly but steadily progressing within the United States. Due to the similar leaf shape, hemp is frequently confused with marijuana. Although both plants are from the species cannabis sativa, hemp contains virtually no THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) (less than .3%), the active ingredient in marijuana. Industrial hemp has no illicit uses, it is the equivalent of non-alcoholic beer.

And in response to funwithjoysticks's question,

Quote:

Hemp clothing is warmer, softer, more absorbent, extremely breathable and significantly longer lasting than clothing made from cotton. It is nice to have clothing that looks like linen, feels like flannel, and wears two to three times longer than other fabrics.

This is interesting...

Quote:

One acre of hemp produces as much paper as 4 acres of trees.

Cotton uses tons of pesticides. Some random statistics from my brain (I should check these but I'm pretty sure they are right): One cotton t-shirt needed about a pound of pesticides to be grown. Cotton production uses 25% of all the pesticides used in the world annually.

Hemp grows like a weed, and needs practically no pesticides. Plus, it uses land (less wild land turned into farms) and water more efficiently.

Hemp's banned in the US because the government has jellybeans for brains. No, really. Supposedly people will grow stands of marijuana in hemp fields.

Contrary to DavidOshi, hemp is Cannibus sativa, but not marijuana. They're different subspecies, hence the confusion. However, you can't smoke hemp: there's no THC, the chemical that produces the desired effects in marijuana. (One grower said all she got from standing a field of burning hemp was a headache.) Hemp is grown for it's stalk, marijuana for the leaves. They're not interchangeable.

I've heard it was banned partly because it competed with the cotton and timber industries as a source of fiber. I don't know if this is true or not, but it would make sense. For now, us Americans have to rely on imported hemp, which is part of the reason it's more expensive.

Well i was talkign to my dad about that. although marijuana and hemp aren't the same he thinks it would be easier to hide marijuana in with the hemp.

that might be true, but i'm for legalizing marojuana anyway

It's one step closer to hemp-ness!! 3nodding