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18th November 2012, 06:39 PM
In the Beginning, There Was Hemp.
Humans began using hemp more than 12,000 years ago. Evidence of the first human industry exists in a piece of hemp fiber dating back to 4,000 B.C. Since then, hemp, a versatile, non-psychotropic strain of the infamous cannabis plant, has been one of history’s most widely used plants with diverse applications ranging from food and medicine to textiles, rope, paper, and in the last century, biofuel, building materials and composites.
Hemp is as much part of the fabric of our country as the American flag, which Betsy Ross first sewed from pieces of hemp cloth. Benjamin Franklin’s famed kite was flown with a piece of hemp string. The Declaration of Independence was first drafted on hemp paper, as was the U.S. Constitution. Presidents George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson farmed hemp as a cash crop. Hemp canvas covered wagons as American settlers crossed the continental divide and Levis made of hemp outfitted miners during the Great American Gold Rush. Henry Ford, a hemp farmer, designed his first Model-T using hemp composites and ran its engine using hemp-oil fuel. Moms made apple pies with hemp filling and doctors cured headaches and other ailments with a myriad of hemp compounds and tinctures.
Hemp grows rapidly in adverse climate conditions without any pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers. It can be used to manufacture nearly anything conventionally made of petrochemicals, synthetic fibers, plastic and wood. Composites made of hemp are stronger, more durable and environmentally safer than any synthetic or wood composites on the market. It is a carbon consuming plant with remedial root systems that can transform toxic brown fields into fertile soil. It has premium value as a food source rich in essential nutrients, fatty acids, protein, fiber and healing properties. According to a number of environmental and scientific sources, hemp has the potential to revitalize our economy, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, alleviate world food shortages, slow deforestation and minimize greenhouse gas emissions.
An article published in a 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics predicted that hemp would become the world’s first billion-dollar crop. As predicted, it has, and continues to sustainably provide profitable returns for farmers throughout the world – except here in the United States, where farming hemp is illegal.
Ironically, the United States is the world’s largest importer of hemp products despite the prohibition. Deemed safe for public use by the FDA, USDA and FTC, imported hemp foods, textiles and industrial hemp products are readily available to consumers throughout the U.S. Yet, farmers have been forbidden to grow the profitable crop in the U.S. since 1937, when it was banned by congress – a ruling that has perplexed historians, environmentalists, scientists, doctors, farmers, politicians and economists alike ever since.
Most people erroneously confuse hemp with marijuana. It is erroneous because, while hemp and marijuana are of the same species, cannabis sativa L., they are distinctively separate plant varieties differentiated by vastly dissimilar properties and uses. The most important distinction between the two lies in their levels of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient that produces the “high” for which marijuana is famous. Because hemp contains only trace levels of THC, it would not produce even a remotely desirable effect for the recreational drug user, and in fact would induce nothing more than a bad headache.
“The chemist has aided in conserving natural resources by developing synthetic products to supplement or wholly replace natural products.”
– Lammont Du Pont 1939 –
Confusion, Conspiracy or Coincidence?
Origins of the widespread confusion can be traced back to a well executed, but factually misleading propaganda campaign designed to demonize cannabis in preparation for a pending legislative measure banning the crop. Propagated by Hearst publications and backed by Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon (former DuPont CEO and Standard Oil tycoon), the campaign coined “Reefer Madness” omitted any distinction between hemp and marijuana. Laden with racial undertones, the campaign characterized immigrant farm workers and African Americans toking on marijuana cigarettes with boldly-written captions stating that the “killer weed from Mexico” was responsible for “wild and crazy behavior” that lead to “widespread violence” and “murderous rampages” in southern farm towns.
To anyone familiar with the psychoactive mellowing effects of marijuana, and to any farmer knowledgeable about the distinction between the two varieties of cannabis, the propaganda campaign might have appeared ridiculous. However, the campaign launched on the heels of alcohol Prohibition and The Great Depression, and just in time for wartime economic recovery, distracted the public long enough to allow discrete lawmakers to avoid any would-be public protest of the ban. Passage of The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which banned use of all species of cannabis and subjected industrial hemp farmers to expensive taxes, went virtually unnoticed, except by farmers who had until then enjoyed profitable returns from such a resilient crop, and doctors. According to an editorial published in a 1937 editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the AMA was against the bill. AMA representative Dr. William C. Woodward testified before Congress that the AMA had become aware only two days before that the so called “killer weed from Mexico” was indeed cannabis, a benign drug that had been prescribed by doctors for centuries.
Strangely, in the 1942 U.S. government film titled “Hemp for Victory,” the very substance outlawed in 1937, was lauded as the one resource that could help the U.S. win World War II.
Some hemp historians have attributed the hemp prohibition to the issues of racism, immigration and cultural inequities prevalent during the era, evidenced in the Reefer Madness campaign propagated by Hearst. Since American jobs were scarce during the Great Depression, and a large percentage of marijuana users happened to be migrant farm workers, some theories speculate that marijuana prohibition was enacted to preserve jobs for U.S. citizens that otherwise were given to immigrants.
Other historians, such as Robert Deitch, author of Hemp: American History Revisited, have compared hemp prohibition to alcohol Prohibition. Dietch contends that Prohibition was supported by oil interests (Standard Oil and Gulf Oil), not on moral grounds, but rather in an effort to prevent farm-produced ethanol (an alcohol-based fuel) from competing with petrochemical fuels. Similarly, hemp historians such as Jack Herer, author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes, place high-ranking political figures and business moguls from oil, pharmaceutical, timber and chemical companies squarely in the crosshairs of the hemp controversy – first, for driving the prohibition of the crop in the 1930s, and since then, for repeatedly blocking its repeal. As a group, lobbyists and politicians advocating for these industries have been widely considered the largest obstacle to the hemp law reformation to date.
Historians who blame the hemp prohibition on politics and greed suggest that big industry moguls in collaboration with policy makers were motivated to eliminate competition in order to profit from new technology in petrochemicals, synthetic fuels, pharmaceuticals, timber, paper and plastics. Whether merely coincidence or the result of a masterminded conspiracy, the facts are: hemp prohibition began at the height of the industrial revolution when petrochemicals developed by Standard Oil were poised to replace hemp as primary fuel sources; when synthetic pharmaceuticals would replace drugs made from cannabis; when DuPont patented nylon, polymers, synthetic textiles and sulfur dioxide, a toxic solvent that enables wood mulch to be made into paper; and when publishing giant William Randolph Hearst owned vast timberlands that could provide low cost wood that, with DuPont’s sulfur dioxide, could replace hemp as a paper resource for his publishing empire.
These events, along with the discovery of new fossil fuel resources and invention of industrial devices that processed synthetics, coincided with the invention of the decorticator, a high-volume machine designed to improve the rate of hemp production by automating the laborious process of separating long fibers from the cellulose herd. With that advantage, hemp had the potential to compete with the new synthetic “miracle fibers” entering the market. Hemp prohibition cleared the way for synthetics to secure a market for cording, textiles, dynamite, cellophane, composites and a host of other products conventionally made from hemp with practically no competition.
In a 2008 article titled “Debunking the Hemp Conspiracy Theory,” Steven Wishnia contends that theories about big-business conspiring to edge out competition are unsubstantiated. He noted that Hearst was one of the largest purchasers of paper in the early 1930s and didn’t need “hidden self-interest to trumpet fiendish menaces,” and that there was no financial connection between Hearst, DuPont and Standard Oil. About author and hemp activist Jack Herer he writes, “Herer more than anyone else revived the idea that the cannabis plant was useful for purposes besides getting high. Unfortunately, he’s completely wrong on this particular issue.” Unfortunately, Wishnia is wrong about that; cannabis, hemp, is useful for at least 25,000 other purposes, according to Popular Mechanics.
Regardless of which point of view has more merit, the fact remains that a wholly sustainable, highly productive and profitable crop was banned, a fact that seems absurd when reason is applied. In 1969 the Supreme Court ruled that the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was unconstitutional because receipt of the required government tax stamp would automatically incriminate the grower. The ruling left the door open for Standard Oil heir, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to add hemp to the list of Schedule 1 narcotics criminalized with harsh penalties under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.
“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.”
– Ronald Reagan –
The Pink Elephant in the Room
The absurdity continues. Federal law makes no distinction between a farmer growing industrial hemp and a drug lord growing psychoactive marijuana. Billions of U.S. dollars have been spent on a war waged in part over marijuana, but also in part over hemp. Trade of marijuana, now ruled by powerful drug cartels, has incited rising violence inside the U.S. and across its borders — more than had ever been reported prior to its prohibition.
Long anticipated remedial legislation addressing the issue of industrial hemp farming is again pending in Congress. HR 1009 is in committee phase, where it has remained stalled since 2007, quietly awaiting resolution. To date, it remains overshadowed by the pink elephant in the room – the larger debate about legalizing the other variety of cannabis, marijuana.
Because of the popular misperceptions about cannabis, vocal proponents of industrial hemp are often confused with advocates of marijuana legalization. Politicians from both liberal and conservative persuasions routinely shy away from hemp advocacy due to the stigma associated with marijuana, coupled with the issue that the industrial hemp variety of cannabis remains classified as a Schedule 1 narcotic.
Thirteen states, including Arizona and California, have cannabis-related measures on November ballots. While numerous states have already passed medical marijuana laws, nine states including Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont, and West Virginia have passed legislation to allow industrial hemp farming. To date farmers have been unable to secure Federal permits required to grow the crops. DEA officials continue to draw a hard line of enforcement under rationale that Federal laws trump state laws. The DEA also maintains that, due to the physical similarities between cannabis varieties, declassifying industrial hemp would lead to confusion and make it difficult, if not impossible, for law enforcement to control trafficking of the its psychotropic cousin.
Meanwhile, industrial hemp trade outside of the U.S. is booming. Hemp is not only competing with, it is surpassing other cash crops in its productivity, sustainability and usability. Import of hemp products has grown more than 500% in the past few years; some argue that excluding U.S. farmers and would-be hemp product manufacturers from a potentially lucrative, “home grown” business is fostering unfair trade. A recent report issued by Canadian hemp producers, Manitoba Harvest, states that the company’s sales have grown more than 1,000% over the past 5 years, earning them a spot on the Profit 100 list of the fastest growing businesses in Canada. Growth in exports has helped the company reach new heights, with average monthly sales of nearly $1 million.
The company attributes a portion of its success in the food sector to recent controversy over Canadian flax production being overrun by genetically modified organism (GMO) seeds. Public demand for organic food sources not grown from GMOs or with petrochemical intervention gives Manitoba Harvest a competitive edge. According to the report, “Canadian flax foods are increasingly made from GMOs, an engineering concept which the European Union marketplace is opposed to using in food products. So it appears that this GMO health and environment issue might open up even more opportunities in the EU for Manitoba Harvest hemp foods.”
While decriminalizing industrial hemp would benefit farmers in the U.S., it also stands to threaten profits of corporate manufacturers of petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, food products, lumber materials, paper products and textiles – makers of nearly every segment of U.S. gross domestic product. Furthermore, it stands to wean industrial farmers off of the GMO/Round-Up merry-go-round, a cycle of insidious dependency on toxic chemicals, sterile seeds and government subsidies with powerful political backing. Considering that an organically grown acre of hemp yields on average 20 metric tons of chemical-free raw material that can be made into 100 metric tons of building materials, food products, medicines, paper, textiles, fertilizer, plastic substitutes, pest, weed and fungi remediation and bio fuel, powerful opposition to a hemp ban repeal is not surprising.
What is surprising is that hemp reform has not yet become a hot-bed priority in mainstream America. The pro-industrial hemp movement has garnered its share of high-profile advocates. In 1998, Anita Roddick, a human rights activist, environmentalist and founder of cosmetics chain, The Body Shop, shocked the conventional cosmetics industry by introducing a complete line of hemp-based cosmetics. That year, she also funded a documentary about noted hemp historian and author, Jack Herer called Emperor of Hemp. Up for a 2010 Academy Award for his role in The Messenger, actor Woody Harrelson walked the red carpet sporting a designer tuxedo made of hemp cloth. In 1996, Harrelson challenged law enforcement in Virginia by planting four industrial hemp seeds in public. He was eventually acquitted, but not before enduring a lengthy trial. Another act of civil disobedience occurred as David Bronner of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps along with several farmers from Vermont and North Dakota took shovels and hemp seeds to the front lawn of the DEA Museum in Washington, D.C. Their subsequent arrest was caught on video, where Bronner can be heard saying, “Our kids are going to come to this museum and say, ‘My God, your generation was crazy.’”
“That is not a drug. It’s a leaf.”
– Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger –
Why the Hemp Not?
Hemp, which can be produced organically, is 100% carbon neutral, making it one of the most sustainable, environmentally friendly raw materials of any cash crop. Virtually every element of the plant can be used to make thousands of products with practically no waste. Hemp does not require chemical fertilizers to thrive, even in depleted soil. Its root system has regenerative effects on the soil, and excess leaves and by-products can be mulched and composted to rejuvenate the soil seasonally, which enables farmers to reuse hemp acreage more frequently than other crops that require alternating acreage for topsoil rejuvenation. Hemp resists damage caused by weeds, fungus and insects, and its mulch can be brewed into a tea that serves as an organic insecticide and fungicide, which eliminate the need for petroleum chemicals to protect the crops. Hemp is also extraordinarily hardy, adaptable to nearly any climate or soil condition. Resistant to drought, high winds and hot climates, hemp can survive with less water in extreme conditions where other crops struggle, such as in the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico and mountains of Colorado and California.
For centuries, hemp was the primary resource for paper products, and in fact quality of hemp paper was considered far superior to that of wood-based paper due to its resistance to age-related blemishing such as yellowing, fungus, mites, and wear and tear. It is estimated that reintroducing hemp for the purposes of making paper has the potential to reduce the rate of deforestation by 50% worldwide. Unlike wood, hemp can be processed into paper without use of toxic chemicals such as sulfur dioxide.
The same can be said for hemp fibers used for making canvas and other textiles. Unlike cotton, hemp textiles are resistant to salt water degradation and mold, and can be grown pesticide free. For centuries, hemp canvas was the most common material used to make rigging lines and construct reliable, durable canvas sails on ocean-going ships because of its resistance to salt air corrosion. The word “canvas” was actually derived from the word “cannabis.” Its strong fibers have been used to back carpets and linoleum or made into fine, durable fabrics and textiles.
Hemp fibers are now also being made into a variety of non-toxic building materials such as concrete, plaster, paints, furniture oil, cellulose products and plastic alternatives. Hemp stock is widely used throughout the world as the primary ingredient of Hempcrete, a permeable, breathable concrete alternative that is being used for paving roads and making block walls in construction applications. As building materials go, hemp’s durability, breathability and insulating qualities combined with its zero toxicity make the material stronger, healthier and more energy efficient than any other construction material used in the U.S. today. The Push House in Ashler, North Carolina was the first hempcrete home in the U.S. Builders David Mosrie and Anthony Brenner plan to build more homes out of the material.
“Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?”
–Henry Ford –
Driving Hemp Home
Henry Ford's hemp harvest
A more noteworthy application of hemp is its use in making biofuels and composites conventionally made with petroleum products for use in the automotive industry. In 1896, Rudolph Diesel’s first motor engine was designed to run on biofuel made from vegetables and grains including hemp. Henry Ford was a hemp farmer who used hemp to manufacture and fuel his automobiles through the 1940s. The December, 1941 edition of Popular Mechanics Magazine reported that the Ford Motor Company had completed 12 years of research and has assembled a prototype plastic body car made from 70 percent fiber (wheat straw, hemp) and 30 percent resin. The plastic panels could withstand a blow 10 times greater than steel without denting; the car weighed 1000 lbs less.
Modern automakers are reintroducing hemp features into their new car designs. The 2011 Ford Explorer is made of hemp composites. Canadian automaker Motive Industries recently revealed their design of their hemp-bodied Kestral. In 2008, more than 25% of the Lotus Eco Elise supercar prototype’s composite materials were made of hemp. It is estimated that each car made demands a minimum of 10 to 20 pounds of fiber. With an average of 13 million cars produced annually, there is a potential market of 260 million pounds of fiber annually in North America alone. Each pound of hemp fiber is sold for between $.05 and $.30 each, compared to plastic compound at $.20 to $.60 per pound, which adds up to significant savings for automakers, and best of all, millions of dollars for otherwise struggling farmers.
As an organic food source, hemp is one of the world’s most nutritious substances with one of the largest concentrations of Omega 3 fatty acids of any known food. Widely considered a superfood, hemp is also rich in proteins, minerals, antioxidants and amino acids. For centuries it has been a household staple, used for making flour for cakes, breads and fillings for pies and other culinary dishes. Health food manufacturers use hemp in a variety of protein supplements and powders, and given its zero toxicity, hemp has become a popular base for cosmetics, personal hygiene products and cleaning supplies.
It is worth noting that on October 7, 2003 US Patent 6630507 was assigned to the United States of America, as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services. The patent protects “Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants” for the purposes of providing “…a new class of antioxidant drugs, that have particular application as neuroprotectants, although they are generally useful in the treatment of many oxidation associated-diseases,” according to Patent Storm database.
“Growing hemp as nature designed it is vital to our urgent need to reduce greenhouse gases and ensure the survival of our planet.”
– Jack Herer –
Harvesting Hemp: a Carbon Neutral Future
What is most noteworthy is hemp’s sustainability factor. Producing petroleum synthetics requires consumption of non-renewable resources and processing of highly toxic raw materials that emit tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. The process of producing hemp fiber is carbon neutral, given that during the life of the plant it has consumed more carbon than it takes to process it into fuels or composites ready for use. The amount of paper that can be produced from a single acre of hemp requires four acres of mature forest to produce, and whereas a forest may take a century to regenerate, hemp fields can reproduce within a year. Whereas cotton crops use up to 50% of the world’s supply of pesticides, hemp’s resistance to insects allows it to grow without the use of any pest control chemicals. Its ability to grow in and regenerate mineral-depleted farmland and contaminated “brown” fields means it needs no chemical fertilizers, unlike other industrialized crops.
As commercial farmers throughout the U.S. battle the new industrial farming empire controlled by monolithic GMO producers, relying heavily on the government subsidies that perpetuate the unsustainable chemical farming thrust upon them, the legalization of industrial hemp can break the cycle of dependence and generate a fully sustainable, profitable and remedial crop that can be grown organically without chemical or GMO interference.
As our nation grapples with economic hardship and environmental threats, the movement toward a more sustainable future is gaining steam with the promise of a better life. Our forefathers placed high value on a substance that remains one of our planet’s most abundant and regenerative renewable resources. Reintroduction of industrial hemp has the potential to alleviate global warming, starvation and poverty. George Washington once exclaimed, “Make the most you can of the Indian Hemp seed and sow it everywhere!” We ask, why the hemp not?
“Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country.”
–Thomas Jefferson–
Humans began using hemp more than 12,000 years ago. Evidence of the first human industry exists in a piece of hemp fiber dating back to 4,000 B.C. Since then, hemp, a versatile, non-psychotropic strain of the infamous cannabis plant, has been one of history’s most widely used plants with diverse applications ranging from food and medicine to textiles, rope, paper, and in the last century, biofuel, building materials and composites.
Hemp is as much part of the fabric of our country as the American flag, which Betsy Ross first sewed from pieces of hemp cloth. Benjamin Franklin’s famed kite was flown with a piece of hemp string. The Declaration of Independence was first drafted on hemp paper, as was the U.S. Constitution. Presidents George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson farmed hemp as a cash crop. Hemp canvas covered wagons as American settlers crossed the continental divide and Levis made of hemp outfitted miners during the Great American Gold Rush. Henry Ford, a hemp farmer, designed his first Model-T using hemp composites and ran its engine using hemp-oil fuel. Moms made apple pies with hemp filling and doctors cured headaches and other ailments with a myriad of hemp compounds and tinctures.
Hemp grows rapidly in adverse climate conditions without any pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers. It can be used to manufacture nearly anything conventionally made of petrochemicals, synthetic fibers, plastic and wood. Composites made of hemp are stronger, more durable and environmentally safer than any synthetic or wood composites on the market. It is a carbon consuming plant with remedial root systems that can transform toxic brown fields into fertile soil. It has premium value as a food source rich in essential nutrients, fatty acids, protein, fiber and healing properties. According to a number of environmental and scientific sources, hemp has the potential to revitalize our economy, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, alleviate world food shortages, slow deforestation and minimize greenhouse gas emissions.
An article published in a 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics predicted that hemp would become the world’s first billion-dollar crop. As predicted, it has, and continues to sustainably provide profitable returns for farmers throughout the world – except here in the United States, where farming hemp is illegal.
Ironically, the United States is the world’s largest importer of hemp products despite the prohibition. Deemed safe for public use by the FDA, USDA and FTC, imported hemp foods, textiles and industrial hemp products are readily available to consumers throughout the U.S. Yet, farmers have been forbidden to grow the profitable crop in the U.S. since 1937, when it was banned by congress – a ruling that has perplexed historians, environmentalists, scientists, doctors, farmers, politicians and economists alike ever since.
Most people erroneously confuse hemp with marijuana. It is erroneous because, while hemp and marijuana are of the same species, cannabis sativa L., they are distinctively separate plant varieties differentiated by vastly dissimilar properties and uses. The most important distinction between the two lies in their levels of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient that produces the “high” for which marijuana is famous. Because hemp contains only trace levels of THC, it would not produce even a remotely desirable effect for the recreational drug user, and in fact would induce nothing more than a bad headache.
“The chemist has aided in conserving natural resources by developing synthetic products to supplement or wholly replace natural products.”
– Lammont Du Pont 1939 –
Confusion, Conspiracy or Coincidence?
Origins of the widespread confusion can be traced back to a well executed, but factually misleading propaganda campaign designed to demonize cannabis in preparation for a pending legislative measure banning the crop. Propagated by Hearst publications and backed by Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon (former DuPont CEO and Standard Oil tycoon), the campaign coined “Reefer Madness” omitted any distinction between hemp and marijuana. Laden with racial undertones, the campaign characterized immigrant farm workers and African Americans toking on marijuana cigarettes with boldly-written captions stating that the “killer weed from Mexico” was responsible for “wild and crazy behavior” that lead to “widespread violence” and “murderous rampages” in southern farm towns.
To anyone familiar with the psychoactive mellowing effects of marijuana, and to any farmer knowledgeable about the distinction between the two varieties of cannabis, the propaganda campaign might have appeared ridiculous. However, the campaign launched on the heels of alcohol Prohibition and The Great Depression, and just in time for wartime economic recovery, distracted the public long enough to allow discrete lawmakers to avoid any would-be public protest of the ban. Passage of The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which banned use of all species of cannabis and subjected industrial hemp farmers to expensive taxes, went virtually unnoticed, except by farmers who had until then enjoyed profitable returns from such a resilient crop, and doctors. According to an editorial published in a 1937 editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the AMA was against the bill. AMA representative Dr. William C. Woodward testified before Congress that the AMA had become aware only two days before that the so called “killer weed from Mexico” was indeed cannabis, a benign drug that had been prescribed by doctors for centuries.
Strangely, in the 1942 U.S. government film titled “Hemp for Victory,” the very substance outlawed in 1937, was lauded as the one resource that could help the U.S. win World War II.
Some hemp historians have attributed the hemp prohibition to the issues of racism, immigration and cultural inequities prevalent during the era, evidenced in the Reefer Madness campaign propagated by Hearst. Since American jobs were scarce during the Great Depression, and a large percentage of marijuana users happened to be migrant farm workers, some theories speculate that marijuana prohibition was enacted to preserve jobs for U.S. citizens that otherwise were given to immigrants.
Other historians, such as Robert Deitch, author of Hemp: American History Revisited, have compared hemp prohibition to alcohol Prohibition. Dietch contends that Prohibition was supported by oil interests (Standard Oil and Gulf Oil), not on moral grounds, but rather in an effort to prevent farm-produced ethanol (an alcohol-based fuel) from competing with petrochemical fuels. Similarly, hemp historians such as Jack Herer, author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes, place high-ranking political figures and business moguls from oil, pharmaceutical, timber and chemical companies squarely in the crosshairs of the hemp controversy – first, for driving the prohibition of the crop in the 1930s, and since then, for repeatedly blocking its repeal. As a group, lobbyists and politicians advocating for these industries have been widely considered the largest obstacle to the hemp law reformation to date.
Historians who blame the hemp prohibition on politics and greed suggest that big industry moguls in collaboration with policy makers were motivated to eliminate competition in order to profit from new technology in petrochemicals, synthetic fuels, pharmaceuticals, timber, paper and plastics. Whether merely coincidence or the result of a masterminded conspiracy, the facts are: hemp prohibition began at the height of the industrial revolution when petrochemicals developed by Standard Oil were poised to replace hemp as primary fuel sources; when synthetic pharmaceuticals would replace drugs made from cannabis; when DuPont patented nylon, polymers, synthetic textiles and sulfur dioxide, a toxic solvent that enables wood mulch to be made into paper; and when publishing giant William Randolph Hearst owned vast timberlands that could provide low cost wood that, with DuPont’s sulfur dioxide, could replace hemp as a paper resource for his publishing empire.
These events, along with the discovery of new fossil fuel resources and invention of industrial devices that processed synthetics, coincided with the invention of the decorticator, a high-volume machine designed to improve the rate of hemp production by automating the laborious process of separating long fibers from the cellulose herd. With that advantage, hemp had the potential to compete with the new synthetic “miracle fibers” entering the market. Hemp prohibition cleared the way for synthetics to secure a market for cording, textiles, dynamite, cellophane, composites and a host of other products conventionally made from hemp with practically no competition.
In a 2008 article titled “Debunking the Hemp Conspiracy Theory,” Steven Wishnia contends that theories about big-business conspiring to edge out competition are unsubstantiated. He noted that Hearst was one of the largest purchasers of paper in the early 1930s and didn’t need “hidden self-interest to trumpet fiendish menaces,” and that there was no financial connection between Hearst, DuPont and Standard Oil. About author and hemp activist Jack Herer he writes, “Herer more than anyone else revived the idea that the cannabis plant was useful for purposes besides getting high. Unfortunately, he’s completely wrong on this particular issue.” Unfortunately, Wishnia is wrong about that; cannabis, hemp, is useful for at least 25,000 other purposes, according to Popular Mechanics.
Regardless of which point of view has more merit, the fact remains that a wholly sustainable, highly productive and profitable crop was banned, a fact that seems absurd when reason is applied. In 1969 the Supreme Court ruled that the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was unconstitutional because receipt of the required government tax stamp would automatically incriminate the grower. The ruling left the door open for Standard Oil heir, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to add hemp to the list of Schedule 1 narcotics criminalized with harsh penalties under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.
“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.”
– Ronald Reagan –
The Pink Elephant in the Room
The absurdity continues. Federal law makes no distinction between a farmer growing industrial hemp and a drug lord growing psychoactive marijuana. Billions of U.S. dollars have been spent on a war waged in part over marijuana, but also in part over hemp. Trade of marijuana, now ruled by powerful drug cartels, has incited rising violence inside the U.S. and across its borders — more than had ever been reported prior to its prohibition.
Long anticipated remedial legislation addressing the issue of industrial hemp farming is again pending in Congress. HR 1009 is in committee phase, where it has remained stalled since 2007, quietly awaiting resolution. To date, it remains overshadowed by the pink elephant in the room – the larger debate about legalizing the other variety of cannabis, marijuana.
Because of the popular misperceptions about cannabis, vocal proponents of industrial hemp are often confused with advocates of marijuana legalization. Politicians from both liberal and conservative persuasions routinely shy away from hemp advocacy due to the stigma associated with marijuana, coupled with the issue that the industrial hemp variety of cannabis remains classified as a Schedule 1 narcotic.
Thirteen states, including Arizona and California, have cannabis-related measures on November ballots. While numerous states have already passed medical marijuana laws, nine states including Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont, and West Virginia have passed legislation to allow industrial hemp farming. To date farmers have been unable to secure Federal permits required to grow the crops. DEA officials continue to draw a hard line of enforcement under rationale that Federal laws trump state laws. The DEA also maintains that, due to the physical similarities between cannabis varieties, declassifying industrial hemp would lead to confusion and make it difficult, if not impossible, for law enforcement to control trafficking of the its psychotropic cousin.
Meanwhile, industrial hemp trade outside of the U.S. is booming. Hemp is not only competing with, it is surpassing other cash crops in its productivity, sustainability and usability. Import of hemp products has grown more than 500% in the past few years; some argue that excluding U.S. farmers and would-be hemp product manufacturers from a potentially lucrative, “home grown” business is fostering unfair trade. A recent report issued by Canadian hemp producers, Manitoba Harvest, states that the company’s sales have grown more than 1,000% over the past 5 years, earning them a spot on the Profit 100 list of the fastest growing businesses in Canada. Growth in exports has helped the company reach new heights, with average monthly sales of nearly $1 million.
The company attributes a portion of its success in the food sector to recent controversy over Canadian flax production being overrun by genetically modified organism (GMO) seeds. Public demand for organic food sources not grown from GMOs or with petrochemical intervention gives Manitoba Harvest a competitive edge. According to the report, “Canadian flax foods are increasingly made from GMOs, an engineering concept which the European Union marketplace is opposed to using in food products. So it appears that this GMO health and environment issue might open up even more opportunities in the EU for Manitoba Harvest hemp foods.”
While decriminalizing industrial hemp would benefit farmers in the U.S., it also stands to threaten profits of corporate manufacturers of petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, food products, lumber materials, paper products and textiles – makers of nearly every segment of U.S. gross domestic product. Furthermore, it stands to wean industrial farmers off of the GMO/Round-Up merry-go-round, a cycle of insidious dependency on toxic chemicals, sterile seeds and government subsidies with powerful political backing. Considering that an organically grown acre of hemp yields on average 20 metric tons of chemical-free raw material that can be made into 100 metric tons of building materials, food products, medicines, paper, textiles, fertilizer, plastic substitutes, pest, weed and fungi remediation and bio fuel, powerful opposition to a hemp ban repeal is not surprising.
What is surprising is that hemp reform has not yet become a hot-bed priority in mainstream America. The pro-industrial hemp movement has garnered its share of high-profile advocates. In 1998, Anita Roddick, a human rights activist, environmentalist and founder of cosmetics chain, The Body Shop, shocked the conventional cosmetics industry by introducing a complete line of hemp-based cosmetics. That year, she also funded a documentary about noted hemp historian and author, Jack Herer called Emperor of Hemp. Up for a 2010 Academy Award for his role in The Messenger, actor Woody Harrelson walked the red carpet sporting a designer tuxedo made of hemp cloth. In 1996, Harrelson challenged law enforcement in Virginia by planting four industrial hemp seeds in public. He was eventually acquitted, but not before enduring a lengthy trial. Another act of civil disobedience occurred as David Bronner of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps along with several farmers from Vermont and North Dakota took shovels and hemp seeds to the front lawn of the DEA Museum in Washington, D.C. Their subsequent arrest was caught on video, where Bronner can be heard saying, “Our kids are going to come to this museum and say, ‘My God, your generation was crazy.’”
“That is not a drug. It’s a leaf.”
– Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger –
Why the Hemp Not?
Hemp, which can be produced organically, is 100% carbon neutral, making it one of the most sustainable, environmentally friendly raw materials of any cash crop. Virtually every element of the plant can be used to make thousands of products with practically no waste. Hemp does not require chemical fertilizers to thrive, even in depleted soil. Its root system has regenerative effects on the soil, and excess leaves and by-products can be mulched and composted to rejuvenate the soil seasonally, which enables farmers to reuse hemp acreage more frequently than other crops that require alternating acreage for topsoil rejuvenation. Hemp resists damage caused by weeds, fungus and insects, and its mulch can be brewed into a tea that serves as an organic insecticide and fungicide, which eliminate the need for petroleum chemicals to protect the crops. Hemp is also extraordinarily hardy, adaptable to nearly any climate or soil condition. Resistant to drought, high winds and hot climates, hemp can survive with less water in extreme conditions where other crops struggle, such as in the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico and mountains of Colorado and California.
For centuries, hemp was the primary resource for paper products, and in fact quality of hemp paper was considered far superior to that of wood-based paper due to its resistance to age-related blemishing such as yellowing, fungus, mites, and wear and tear. It is estimated that reintroducing hemp for the purposes of making paper has the potential to reduce the rate of deforestation by 50% worldwide. Unlike wood, hemp can be processed into paper without use of toxic chemicals such as sulfur dioxide.
The same can be said for hemp fibers used for making canvas and other textiles. Unlike cotton, hemp textiles are resistant to salt water degradation and mold, and can be grown pesticide free. For centuries, hemp canvas was the most common material used to make rigging lines and construct reliable, durable canvas sails on ocean-going ships because of its resistance to salt air corrosion. The word “canvas” was actually derived from the word “cannabis.” Its strong fibers have been used to back carpets and linoleum or made into fine, durable fabrics and textiles.
Hemp fibers are now also being made into a variety of non-toxic building materials such as concrete, plaster, paints, furniture oil, cellulose products and plastic alternatives. Hemp stock is widely used throughout the world as the primary ingredient of Hempcrete, a permeable, breathable concrete alternative that is being used for paving roads and making block walls in construction applications. As building materials go, hemp’s durability, breathability and insulating qualities combined with its zero toxicity make the material stronger, healthier and more energy efficient than any other construction material used in the U.S. today. The Push House in Ashler, North Carolina was the first hempcrete home in the U.S. Builders David Mosrie and Anthony Brenner plan to build more homes out of the material.
“Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?”
–Henry Ford –
Driving Hemp Home
Henry Ford's hemp harvest
A more noteworthy application of hemp is its use in making biofuels and composites conventionally made with petroleum products for use in the automotive industry. In 1896, Rudolph Diesel’s first motor engine was designed to run on biofuel made from vegetables and grains including hemp. Henry Ford was a hemp farmer who used hemp to manufacture and fuel his automobiles through the 1940s. The December, 1941 edition of Popular Mechanics Magazine reported that the Ford Motor Company had completed 12 years of research and has assembled a prototype plastic body car made from 70 percent fiber (wheat straw, hemp) and 30 percent resin. The plastic panels could withstand a blow 10 times greater than steel without denting; the car weighed 1000 lbs less.
Modern automakers are reintroducing hemp features into their new car designs. The 2011 Ford Explorer is made of hemp composites. Canadian automaker Motive Industries recently revealed their design of their hemp-bodied Kestral. In 2008, more than 25% of the Lotus Eco Elise supercar prototype’s composite materials were made of hemp. It is estimated that each car made demands a minimum of 10 to 20 pounds of fiber. With an average of 13 million cars produced annually, there is a potential market of 260 million pounds of fiber annually in North America alone. Each pound of hemp fiber is sold for between $.05 and $.30 each, compared to plastic compound at $.20 to $.60 per pound, which adds up to significant savings for automakers, and best of all, millions of dollars for otherwise struggling farmers.
As an organic food source, hemp is one of the world’s most nutritious substances with one of the largest concentrations of Omega 3 fatty acids of any known food. Widely considered a superfood, hemp is also rich in proteins, minerals, antioxidants and amino acids. For centuries it has been a household staple, used for making flour for cakes, breads and fillings for pies and other culinary dishes. Health food manufacturers use hemp in a variety of protein supplements and powders, and given its zero toxicity, hemp has become a popular base for cosmetics, personal hygiene products and cleaning supplies.
It is worth noting that on October 7, 2003 US Patent 6630507 was assigned to the United States of America, as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services. The patent protects “Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants” for the purposes of providing “…a new class of antioxidant drugs, that have particular application as neuroprotectants, although they are generally useful in the treatment of many oxidation associated-diseases,” according to Patent Storm database.
“Growing hemp as nature designed it is vital to our urgent need to reduce greenhouse gases and ensure the survival of our planet.”
– Jack Herer –
Harvesting Hemp: a Carbon Neutral Future
What is most noteworthy is hemp’s sustainability factor. Producing petroleum synthetics requires consumption of non-renewable resources and processing of highly toxic raw materials that emit tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. The process of producing hemp fiber is carbon neutral, given that during the life of the plant it has consumed more carbon than it takes to process it into fuels or composites ready for use. The amount of paper that can be produced from a single acre of hemp requires four acres of mature forest to produce, and whereas a forest may take a century to regenerate, hemp fields can reproduce within a year. Whereas cotton crops use up to 50% of the world’s supply of pesticides, hemp’s resistance to insects allows it to grow without the use of any pest control chemicals. Its ability to grow in and regenerate mineral-depleted farmland and contaminated “brown” fields means it needs no chemical fertilizers, unlike other industrialized crops.
As commercial farmers throughout the U.S. battle the new industrial farming empire controlled by monolithic GMO producers, relying heavily on the government subsidies that perpetuate the unsustainable chemical farming thrust upon them, the legalization of industrial hemp can break the cycle of dependence and generate a fully sustainable, profitable and remedial crop that can be grown organically without chemical or GMO interference.
As our nation grapples with economic hardship and environmental threats, the movement toward a more sustainable future is gaining steam with the promise of a better life. Our forefathers placed high value on a substance that remains one of our planet’s most abundant and regenerative renewable resources. Reintroduction of industrial hemp has the potential to alleviate global warming, starvation and poverty. George Washington once exclaimed, “Make the most you can of the Indian Hemp seed and sow it everywhere!” We ask, why the hemp not?
“Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country.”
–Thomas Jefferson–