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Hemp Facts - Part 1Various parts of the plant can be utilized in the making of textiles, paper, paints, clothing, plastics, cosmetics, foods, insulation, animal feed and other products.
Hemp produces a much higher yield per acre than do common substitutes such as cotton and requires few pesticides. In addition, hemp has an average growing cycle of only 100 days and leaves the soil virtually weed-free for the next planting.
The hemp plant is currently harvested for commercial purposes in over 30 nations, including Canada, Japan and the European Union. Although it grows wild across much of America and presents no public health or safety threat, hemp is nevertheless routinely uprooted and destroyed by law enforcement. Each year, approximately 98% of all the marijuana eliminated by the DEA's "Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program" is actually hemp.
Despite America's bureaucratic moratorium on industrial hemp cultivation, a domestic industry exists and continues to grow. In the US, retailers and manufacturers annually import approximately 1.9 million pounds of hemp fiber, 450,000 pounds of hemp seeds, and 331 pounds of hempseed oil from Canada and other nations that regulate hemp farming. (Federal law permits the importation of hemp fiber, sterilized seeds, and ingestible hemp-based products containing no THC.)
Thomas Jefferson was one of the first to smuggle marijuana into America. He understood the importance of a crop of a plant then known only as hemp. He smuggled rare seeds into America so as to help provide with our freedom and eliminate our need to import hemp from England and other countries.
In 1776, the first and second drafts of the Declaration of Independence were written on paper made of hemp.
In 1781, Gov. Thomas Jefferson was obliged to pay for war goods with bails of hemp.
In 1792, Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton urged congress to place an import tariff against hemp at $20 per ton in order to stimulate domestic production of the plant.
The first marijuana law was enacted in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 requiring all farmers to grow Indian hemp seed. More mandatory hemp cultivation laws were enacted in Massachusetts in 163, in Connecticut in 1632 and in the Chesapeake Colonies into the mid-1700's. Why? Because over 50,000 different products (from paper and cloth to oil and food) can be made from the plant.
Hemp was considered legal tender in most of America from 1631 until the early 1800's. You could pay your taxes with hemp throughout the country for over 200 years.
Ben Franklin started one of America’s first paper mills using hemp so as to allowed America to be independent from England to supply the need for paper.
Various hemp extracts were used in some of the most prescribed medicines until the 1890’s. Eli Lilly, Parker-Davis, Smith Brothers, Squibb and several major European companies produced medicines with hemp extract.
Van Gogh painted masters on canvass made from the stalk & with paints made from the seed.
George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson grew it. Abraham Lincoln read by lamps that burned it. Levi Strauss built an empire making clothes from it.
In February 1938, Popular Mechanics reported in the article 'New Billion Dollar Crop'; "Hemp is the standard fiber of the world. It has great tensile strength and durability. It is used to produce more than 5,000 textile products ranging from rope to fine laces, and woody hurds reaming after the fiber has been removed contain more than 70% cellulose, and can be used to produce more than 25,000 products ranging from dynamite to cellophane. From the farmer's point of view, hemp is an easy crop to grow and will yield from 3-6 tons per acre on any land that will grow corn, wheat or oats. It has a short growing season, so that it can be planted after other crops are in. It can be grown in any state in the Union. The long roots penetrate and break the soil to leave it in perfect condition for the next years crop."
In 1916, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture released Bulletin 404 that predicted: "Once a decorticating and harvesting machine is developed, cannabis (hemp) will become America’s largest agricultural industry." The bulletin also states that: "One acre of hemp yields as much pulp for paper as 4.1 acres of tree."