Hemp Rediscovered

Hemp Rediscovered

“Make the most of the hemp seed and sow it every where,” a quote by George Washington in 1794 (qtd. In “Get the Scoop”). In early American history hemp was an essential crop, it was used to make rope, sails, lamp oil, and almost anything else. Henry ford built a car out of hemp than ran on hemp fuel oil. The original Levi jeans were fashioned out of hemp fibers. And even the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were written on hemp paper (“Get The Scoop”). In fact, hemp was one of the largest produced crops in the US until it’s demise in 1937 under the Marihuana Tax Act. This act of congress was aimed at Americas newest enemy, marijuana or cannabis sativa C, but the bill also criminalized the cultivation of marijuana’s cousin cannabis sativa L, commonly referred to as hemp. Hemp had one more day in the spot light in 1942 when it was called into battle in World War II under a flag that read “Hemp for victory” (“About”). The Tax Act was quickly reenacted after the war and hemp has not been grown legally on American soil since.

The reason hemp is such a valuable plant, is that it grows fast, dense, and easily. The germination period for hemp is about one hundred days depending on the application for which it is being used (“About”). In comparison with other cash crops this is good, but in comparison with some of the resources it can replace, such as trees and fossil fuel, there is nothing better. Hemp provides a much higher yield than other American cash crops, and can be used for so many things that it’s market value should remain stable with increased production. Also, hemp can be grown without pesticides and it actually replenishes the soil so it can be rotated with other crops to produce higher yields of bath (Field 1).

The maintainability of the hemp industry relies on demand, but with hemp’s 25,000 different uses this is no great barrier (“About”). With current processing technology every part of the cannabis sativa L plant is useful. The seeds can he hulled and used in food for flavor and as a protein supplement. These seeds can also be crushed into hemp-seed oil which is used as lamp oil or as a moisturizing ingredient in cosmetics and soaps.