Who Killed the Hemp Plant?

Friday, April 3, 2009

Who Killed the Hemp Plant?

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Who Killed the Hemp Plant? by Roland Ratliff

What's better, hemp or cotton? I bet you probably already know the answer, but I'll elaborate anyway. Cotton has been our major textile crop in the U.S. for many years. Why? Well, one can only guess. While cotton does make a nice fabric and is relatively strong, hemp has proven to be a much superior plant with a plethora of attributes that begs the question, why?

It has been cultivated for at least 12,000 years. The ancients knew the basic benefits and relied on it as a textile crop for many things. The seafaring folk used hemp for sails and ropes for millenia. As a matter of fact, the word canvass is derived from cannabis. It was a required crop of the American colonies, and remained a major crop until the 1950s. Did you know...

Henry Ford experimented with hemp in his auto manufacturing.

BMW is experimenting with it to make cars more recyclable.

Much of birdseed has hemp seeds.

The oil once greased machinery.

Most paints, resins, shellac and varnish were made with flax seed and hemp oils.

Rudolf Diesel designed his motor to run on hemp oil.

Kimberly Clark uses it in their factory in France to make bibles because it lasts longer and doesn't yellow.

Construction products like MDF, OSB, beams, studs and posts.

Can be used superiorly in over 25,000 products.

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp.

Industrial hemp and marijuana are both classified as Cannabis Sativa. A species with hundreds of varieties. It is a member of the mulberry family. The industrial strains are bred to maximize fiber and seed and/or oil, while marijuana is bred to maximize THC.

While they look alike to the untrained eye, they are easily distinguishable. Industrial breeds have a THC content of .05% and 1%. Marijuana's content is much higher, around 20%. This renders industrial breeds all but unsmokable.

Many of the varieties in North America have been lost. Seed banks were never maintained and therefore will have to be re-introduced by new genetic breeding, using both foreign and domestic 'ditchweed' strains that went feral after cultivation ended. What's worse, is many state National Guard units spend their weekends eradicating these strains in the ignorant belief that they are helping stop drug use. Duh...

There was a Popular Mechanics issue, back in 1938, that claimed hemp to be the "New Billion Dollar Crop". The reason? Hemp is much stronger than cotton. The fibers are longer, stronger, more absorbent and more mildew resistant than cotton. And, fabrics made with at least one-half hemp block the sun's UV rays more than any other fabric. It can be made into a variety of fabrics, including linen quality. Did you know...

Growers cannot hide marijuana in their fields. The tight rows and pollenisation will ruin any marijuana attempts. And, the industrial breeds are usually harvested before they go to seed.

It can be made into fine quality paper. The long fibers allow such paper to be recycled several times more than wood-based paper.

Because of the low lignin content, it can be pulped using less chemicals than with wood. It's natural brightness can do away with the need to use chlorine bleach, which means no toxic dioxin being dumped into rivers and streams. Instead, they can use hydrogen peroxide, which is gentler and kinder to the environment.

It grows well in a variety of climates and soil types. It is naturally resistant to pests, which eliminates the need for dangerous pesticides. No herbicides are needed, due to the tightly spaced competitive nature of the plant. On top of that, it leaves a virtually weed-free field for growing a following crop.

Hemp can displace wood fiber and save forests for watershed, wildlife habitat, recreation, oxygen production, carbon sequestration (which will reduce global warming), and many other benefits.

Used as a rotator crop, the soil needs no fertilizer, the plant actually replaces vital nutrients into the soil drained by vegetable crops.

It can yield 3 to 8 tons of fiber per acre. This is four times whan an average forest yields.

There are many uses for this 'high' quality plant. Not just in industry, but in make-up, food stuffs and medicine. So, one must wonder...."who killed the hemp plant?"

Written by R. D. Ratliff

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