- HEMP FACTS
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- 1) Hemp is among the oldest industries on the planet,
going back more than 10,000 years to the beginnings of pottery. The Columbia
History of the World states that the oldest relic of human industry is
a bit of hemp fabric dating back to approximately 8,000 BC.
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- 2) Presidents Washington and Jefferson both grew hemp.
Americans were legally bound to grow hemp during the Colonial Era and Early
Republic. The federal government subsidized hemp during the Second World
War and US farmers grew about a million acres of hemp as part of that program.
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- 3) Hemp Seed is far more nutritious than even soybean,
contains more essential fatty acids than any other source, is second only
to soybeans in complete protein (but is more digestible by humans), is
high in B-vitamins, and is 35% dietary fiber. Hemp seed is not psychoactive
and cannot be used as a drug. See TestPledge.com
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 4) The bark of the hemp stalk contains
bast fibers which are among the Earth's longest natural soft fibers and
are also rich in cellulose; the cellulose and hemi-cellulose in its inner
woody core are called hurds. Hemp stalk is not psychoactive. Hemp fiber
is longer, stronger, more absorbent and more insulative than cotton fiber.
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- 5) According to the Department of Energy, hemp as a biomass
fuel producer requires the least specialized growing and processing procedures
of all hemp products. The hydrocarbons in hemp can be processed into a
wide range of biomass energy sources, from fuel pellets to liquid fuels
and gas. Development of biofuels could significantly reduce our consumption
of fossil fuels and nuclear power.
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- 6) Hemp grows well without herbicides, fungicides, or
pesticides. Almost half of the agricultural chemicals used on US crops
are applied to cotton.
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- 7) Hemp produces more pulp per acre than timber on a
sustainable basis, and can be used for every quality of paper. Hemp paper
manufacturing can reduce wastewater contamination. Hemp's low lignin content
reduces the need for acids used in pulping, and it's creamy color lends
itself to environmentally friendly bleaching instead of harsh chlorine
compounds. Less bleaching results in less dioxin and fewer chemical byproducts.
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- 8) Hemp fiber paper resists decomposition, and does not
yellow with age when an acid-free process is used. Hemp paper more than
1,500 years old has been found. It can also be recycled more times.
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- 9) Hemp fiberboard produced by Washington State University
was found to be twice as strong as wood-based fiberboard.
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- 10) Eco-friendly hemp can replace most toxic petrochemical
products. Research is being done to use hemp in manufacturing biodegradable
plastic products: plant-based cellophane, recycled plastic mixed with hemp
for injection-molded products, and resins made from the oil, to name just
a very few examples.
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- Hemp History
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- Hemp is among the oldest industries on the planet, going
back more than 10,000 years to the beginnings of pottery. The Columbia
History of the World states that the oldest relic of human industry is
a bit of hemp fabric dating back to approximately 8,000 BC.
-
- Presidents Washington and Jefferson both grew hemp. Americans
were legally bound to grow hemp during the Colonial Era and Early Republic.
-
- In 1937 Congress passed the Marihuana Tax Act which effectively
began the era of hemp prohibition. The tax and licensing regulations of
the act made hemp cultivation unfeasable for American farmers. The chief
promoter of the Tax Act, Harry Anslinger, began promoting anti-marijuana
legislation around the world. To learn more about hemp prohibition visit
http://www.JackHerer.com or check out "The Emperor Wears No Clothes"
by Jack Herer
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- Then came World War II. The Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor shut off foreign supplies of "manilla hemp" fiber from
the Phillipines. The USDA produced a film called Hemp For Victory to encourage
US farmers to grow hemp for the war effort. The US government formed War
Hemp Industries and subsidized hemp cultivation. During the War and US
farmers grew about a million acres of hemp across the midwest as part of
that program.
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- After the war ended, the government quietly shut down
all the hemp processing plants and the industry faded away again.
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- During the period from 1937 to the late 60's the US government
understood and acknowledged that Industrial Hemp and marijuana were distinct
varieties of the cannabis plant. Hemp is no longer recognized as distinct
from marijuana since the passage of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)
of 1970. This is despite the fact that a specific exemption for hemp was
included in the CSA under the definition of marijuana.
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- The United States government has published numerous reports
and other documents on hemp dating back to the beginnings of our country.
Below is a list of some of the documents that have been discovered:
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- * 1797: SECRETARY OF WAR: U.S.S. CONSTITUTION'S HEMP
- * 1810: JOHN QUINCY ADAMS - RUSSIAN HEMP CULTIVATION
- * 1827: U.S. NAVY COMMISSIONER - WATER-ROTTED HEMP
- * 1873: HEMP CULTURE IN JAPAN
- * 1895: USDA - HEMP SEED
- * 1899: USDA SECRETARY - HEMP
- * 1901: USDA LYSTER DEWEY RE; HEMP & FLAX SEED
- * 1901: USDA LYSTER DEWEY 13 PAGE ARTICLE ON HEMP
- * 1903: USDA LYSTER DEWEY RE; PRINCIPAL COMMERCIAL PLANT
FIBERS
- * 1909: USDA SECRETARY - FIBER INVESTIGATIONS: HEMP/FLAX
- * 1913: USDA LYSTER DEWEY - HEMP SOILS, YIELD, ECONOMICS
- * 1913: USDA LYSTER DEWEY - TESTS FOR HEMP, LIST OF PRODUCTS
- * 1916: USDA BULLETIN 404 - HEMP HURDS AS A PAPER MAKING
MATERIAL
- * 1917: USDA - HEMP SEED SUPPLY OF THE NATION
- * 1917: USDA - CANNABIS
- * 1927: USDA LYSTER DEWEY RE; HEMP VARIETIES
- * 1931: USDA LYSTER DEWEY RE; HEMP FIBER LOSING GROUND
- * 1943: USDA - HEMP FOR VICTORY - DOCUMENTARY FILM
- * 1947: USDA - HEMP DAY LENGTH & FLOWERING
- * 1956: USDA - MONOECIOUS HEMP BREEDING IN THE U.S.
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- These documentes and many more are published online by
USA hemp historian extraordinaire, John E. Dvorak. His Digital Hemp History
Library is the most complete source for historical hemp documents and data
anwhere. To visit the Library click here.
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- You can also check out literary references to Industrial
Hemp from Aesop's Fables to the present: http://www.ofields.com/OFIELDS_HEMP_HISTORY.html
http://www.thehia.org/hempfacts.htm
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- Comment
- From Karma Blank
2-27-4
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- Thank you so much for this page on the wonders of hemp!
When I was in high school and almost everyone I knew started smoking pot,
I began reading up on the subject. I wanted to know what this mysterious
plant was all about before I tried it. I was amazed by the suppressed history
I uncovered. Not only has cannabis been smoked/eaten for millenia for spiritual
& recreational purposes, the fiber it produces has been right there
all along. This truly is a wonder plant, and I'm glad to see Rense.com
spreading the word. People need to know about this plant and the real reason
it's illegal.
Comment
From Alton Raines
2-27-4
I really appreciate this consolidated information which we can all take
and shove in the face of all these "hannitized" pro-drugwar idiots
who live in feigned fear of the dreaded "devil weed." This is
an arsenal of powerful information about hemp which can and should be used
by every thinking person against the idiots -- print this out, fold it
up, keep it with you and when you hear someone bemoaning our economic situation,
whip it out and show them that there IS an answer; when someone is prattling
on about the dying agriculture economy in America, shove this in their
face. It's a matter of EDUCATION. A little here, a little there. People
have GOT to overcome the propagandized fear of the hemp plant. It's not
the devil's weed, it's a magnificent gift of God, who said to man "And
God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon
the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of
a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat (use, consumption)."
Genesis 1:29. He has given us EVERY herb and seed bearing plant and tree.
Not just some. And no government has a right a outlaw any one of them!
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