HEMP THROUGH HISTORY
Hemp is the oldest cultivated fiber plant in the world.
The first Gutenberg bible was printed on hemp paper.
Christopher Columbus' sails and ropes were made from hemp.
The first drafts of the Declaration of Independence were printed
on hemp paper.
Ben Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper.
The first American flag was made out of hemp.
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew it. In 1794 Washington
said, "Make the most of the hemp seed. Sow it everywhere."
"I feel the industrial
hemp crop could
very easily be the
soybean crop of the
new millennium."
- Jeffrey W. Gain,
USDA
"Industrial hemp is not marijuana, but rather a non-intoxicating plant
that has been cultivated and used in a multitude of ways around the
world for millennia." - Assemblymember Virginia Strom-Martin, California State Assembly
"Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?" - Henry Ford
Industrial Hemp
1. One acre of hemp can produce as much usable fiber as 4 acres of trees or two acres of cotton.
2. Hemp paper is longer lasting than wood pulp, stronger, acid-free, and chlorine free. (Chlorine is estimated to cause up to 10% of all Cancers.) Hemp paper can be recycled 7 times, wood pulp 4 times. Hemp fabric requires fewer chemicals than cotton and is stronger and longer lasting.
3. 5-10,000 Cancer related deaths are caused yearly from pesticide use. Cotton uses as much as 40% of all agricultural pesticides. Hemp uses no pesticides and crowds out weeds without herbicides.
4. Cotton has a drinking problem...extensive water subsidies. Hemp requires less water than cotton and grows in cooler climates.
5. Hemp should be worth $500 per acre if used for low end products such as particle board. If higher use products can be developed such as specialty paper and fabrics, the value could be even greater.
6. Hemp is an excellent rotation crop: it crowds out weeds and its deeptap roots break up hard pan soils.
7. Hemp particle board may be up to 2 times stronger than wood particleboard and holds nails better.
8. Low-THC fiber hemp varieties developed by the French and others have been available for over 20 years. It is impossible to get high from fiber hemp. Over 600,000 acres of hemp is grown worldwide with no drug misuse problem.
9. In 1941 Henry Ford built a plastic car made of fiber from hemp and wheat straw. Anything made from a hydrocarbon can be made from a carbohydrate. The 21st century should be the era of the carbohydrate (sustainable agricultural products.) Hemp plastic is biodegradable, synthetic plastic is not.
10. Hemp is the world's most versatile fiber. Almost any product that can be made from wood, cotton, or petroleum (including plastics) can be made from hemp. There are more than 25,000 known uses for hemp!
ACHIEVING A SUSTAINABLE PLANET!
* Hemp is among the earth's primary renewable
resources: trees cut down to make paper take 50 to 500
years to grow back while hemp can be cultivated in as
little as 100 days, and can yield 4 times more paper over
a 20 year period.
* Hemp does not require pesticides: while half the
pollutants in the U.S. today are sprayed on cotton plants,
hemp is naturally mildew resistant, requires no
pesticides, and maintains a healthy environment for the
surrounding streams, air, flora and fauna.
* Hemp slows ozone depletion: the industrial use of
fossil fuels, like petroleum, contributes to global warming
by rapidly increasing the amount of CO2 in our
atmosphere; however, hemp fuels, derived from the plant
itself, maintain the earth's natural O2/CO2 balance.
* Hemp Paper Can Save the Forests! One acre of cannabis
hemp, in annual rotation over a twenty year period would
produce asmuch pulp for paper as 4.1 acres of trees being
cut down over the same twenty year period. And while
hemp reaches full growth and can be harvested every
year, the trees which are cut down take hundreds of years
to return. The process of making paper from hemp uses
only 1/5 to 1/7 as much polluting, sulfer-based chemicals
and does not require the use of any chlorine bleach.
* Hemp as an Ecological, Renewable Fuel Source. Hemp
can also produce 10 times more methanol than corn,. the
second best living fuelsource. Hemp as fuel is renewable
whereas oil is not.
* Hemp as fuel is environmentally beneficial: It enriches
and prevents erosions, it burns clean and sulfur-free while
oil's sulfur content causes acid rain.
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