"Hemp can save the planet," said the hippie, smiling and handing me a flyer.  "I'll read it later," I assured him, walking away and thinking "yeah, right--what a great rationalization for someone who wants to smoke pot all the time."
         At home, I thought I'd skim the thing before tossing it out.  Packed with small print and detailed information, it turned out to be well written and demanded careful reading.  It convinced me to open my mind about hemp, and I've been interested in the plant's many uses ever since.  Hemp makes excellent paper, so we could let trees grow larger and reserve wood for higher purposes than pulp.  Hemp makes durable fabrics of many textures.  High quality, clean fuel can be produced from hemp "biomass."  Hemp seeds are a concentrated food, and hemp seed oil has many uses.
         The hemp plant--cannabis sativa--grows well in many climates, is drought tolerant, disease resistant, germinates early and matures in 120 days at a height of 10-15 feet.  It is naturally resistant to both weeds and insects and thus requires little or no use of pesticides and herbicides.  The plant has a deep taproot which aerates the soil and brings minerals to the surface.  It produces a phenomenal amount of cellulose fiber that is much stronger than the fiber in wood or cotton.  The plant varieties used for industrial fiber production are virtually drug-free, whereas the varieties cultivated by marijuana growers are relatively poor in fiber quality.
         We have a long relationship with this plant.  Sailing ships used hemp rope and were powered with hemp sails.  Soldiers' uniforms and flags were made of hemp.  The horse-drawn wagons of our westward migration were covered with hemp canvas ("canvas" derives from the word "cannabis").  The first Levi's blue jeans were made of hemp.  George Washington and Thomas Jefferson cultivated the plant.
         Hemp paper is stronger and more durable than paper from wood pulp.  It does not yellow with age, and can be recycled many more times than wood-derived paper.  The Gutenberg Bible and Declaration of Independence were printed on hemp paper.  Many countries today use hemp in their paper currency.  Wood's high lignin content hinders paper-making; many poisons are used and generated in paper production to remove this substance.  Hemp is low in lignin, and the processes used to make paper from hemp are much cleaner.  Hemp has more than twice the available cellulose as wood, and produces 3-8 tons of dry fiber per acre per year, more than twice the amount of the fast-growing Southern Pine.  Thus, hemp can produce four times as much paper per acre as wood.  Some re-tooling will be needed, but with the necessary political will we could begin soon to meet many of our paper needs with industrial hemp production.
         Hemp fibers are very long, and thus ideally suited for use in composite fiber board:  with hemp, pressed board can be made that is lighter and stronger than plywood.
         Hemp has a long history of use in textiles.  In addition to heavy-duty uses  like rope, canvas, or carpet backing, modern techniques allow hemp to be processed  into smoother textures approximating that of linen or even silk.  Hemp is much more durable than cotton; hemp clothing lasts longer.  Hemp produces more than twice the usable fiber per acre as cotton, and more than five times the fiber of flax (linen).  Due to the pesticide war on insects, cotton is today the most polluting crop grown by humanity.  In the San Joaquin Valley, devastating soil salinity problems result from heavy (government subsidized) irrigation of cotton crops.  As noted, hemp is drought tolerant and thrives without pesticides or herbicides.
         In addition to the uses of hemp fiber, hemp can be converted into methanol and ethanol--clean burning fuels which can help us reduce air pollution and its attendant health problems, while decreasing our dependence on oil and reserving versatile petroleum for higher uses than just burning.  For this "biomass" energy production, fast growing plants that are high in cellulose and low in lignin are best.  Hemp is ideally suited, and this could be feasible on a very large scale.
         Hemp seeds and hemp seed oil are drug free and edible, and contain admirable proportions of essential fatty acids.  Still, these are high-fat foods and should thus be used only in moderation.  Hemp seed oil has been used in paint, and remains useful today in cosmetics, salves, and ointments.
         The latin name "cannabis sativa" means "useful hemp."  If this plant is so
wonderful, why haven't we been using it?  The political history is instructive.  Hemp had been widely used, but in the early 20th century the techniques for processing hemp fiber remained labor intensive and therefore expensive.  In the 1930s DuPont patented nylon, which promised great profits in clothing and rope production.  At this time DuPont also patented the processes and sold the chemicals that were used in wood-pulp paper manufacturing.  William Randolph Hearst owned many newspapers and extensive timberlands.  DuPont and Hearst agreed to a large deal which promised to provide Hearst with very cheap paper with which to dominate the newspaper industry.  Hemp threatened this arrangement:  a "decorticating" machine had been invented which greatly facilitated hemp processing; hemp was poised to become competitive with wood pulp for paper production.  The Hearst papers began running articles about the evils of marijuana, often wildly exaggerating the dangers.  The infamous movie "Reefer Madness" is representative of this campaign, which culminated in the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, effectively banning
the hemp plant by taxing it prohibitively.  Hearst and DuPont had influenced government to squelch their potential competition.  DuPont's annual report of 1937 referred happily to "the extent to which the revenue-raising power of government can be converted into an instrument for forcing acceptance of sudden new ideas of industrial and social reorganization."   It is ironic that many people of the time were unaware that marijuana came from the same plant as the well known and appreciated hemp fiber.
         During World War II this ban was temporarily lifted, as hemp was needed for the war effort.  Production increased and a patriotic movie called "Hemp for Victory" was released.  Following the war, the prohibition on hemp was reinstated and remains today.  History has even been re-written to eliminate the plant:  a display on the history of textiles at the Smithsonian Institution makes no mention of the important role hemp has played.
         It is time for public commitment to study and utilize the stupendous benefits this plant offers us.  Non-drug, fiber rich hemp is being grown in Canada, China, Russia, France, England, Germany, Holland, and other countries.  It's time for a change.  Hemp can be a powerful ally in our work to meet human needs while healing the planet.
 
 

        GlobalHemp.com has a great deal of information.  Check under archives>essays--the essays on "The Extinction of Kentucky Hemp" and "Energy Farming" are especially helpful.
        Here's a good article on Hemp paper.
        Hempisphere offers information on hemp products as well as general information on the history and uses of hemp.
        HempWorld has lots of information and articles from back issues of HempWorld magazine.
        Here's some information on the history of hemp and the banning of hemp in the United States.
        Hempseed.com is another website devoted to education about hemp.