Is a hemp-fueled utopia only a pipe dream? Or could hemp legitimately save the planet?
Did you know that the hemp plant can be used for between 25,000 and 50,000 products? Not just today, either. Historically speaking, hemp was a lifesaver and it signaled the expansion of the world and even expansion of the mind.
However, the big businesses that influence every decision made in our country hate competition and have led the charge in a propaganda war against the plant. Corporatism strikes again!
Here’s the truth about hemp – and why Big Business doesn’t want you to know.
First – Hemp Cannot Get You High
Hemp and marijuana are two different plants! They are in the same family but are different plants. The only “euphoria” you can get from hemp is the giddy feeling you get when you dream of a world run on hemp and what a godsend this magical plant is.
But I promise that’s it. You would have to smoke 2,500 pounds to get high and, of course, that’s humanly impossible. It is only a calculated, 90-year smear campaign against cannabis that propagates such silliness. The restrictions in the U.S. make hemp seem otherworldly when in reality it was among the most ubiquitous materials in history.
Hemp is simply a variety of Cannabis sativa a.k.a. Indian hemp or industrial hemp. It is bred for industrial use. Marijuana (C. Sativa, C. Indica or C. Ruderalis) is a name for a strain of C. Sativa that has the frosty, flowering buds where all the resin (cannabin) hangs out. That’s where the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is, and that’s the stuff that gets you high. Both plants contain some THC, but believe me, “Puff the Magic Dragon” wasn’t code for hemp!
Both plants have cannabinoids and both have THC, but hemp is better known for its cannabinoids and that’s why it is used to make CBD oil (which doesn’t get you high).
Hemp’s Origins – in the World and U.S.
As far as written history goes, we owe hemp’s origins to Central Asia with their fiber cultivation as early as 2800 B.C., but there have been Chinese fibers discovered as old as 10,000 years. Hemp production found its way to the Mediterranean and Europe around 100 A.D. and blossomed in the middle ages. Later it was planted in Chile and came over to America with the Puritans – both in the ship and as ships’ sails – where it became a staple of the U.S. until about WW2. You may have heard that the Declaration of Independence was penned on hemp paper.
Unfortunately, industrial hemp agriculture became highly taxed in 1937 and pretty much eradicated industrial crops. You can read about the conspiracy to end hemp production in The Emperor Wears No Clothes, by Jack Herer. About 30 states have some laws allowing some cultivation of hemp but zero-tolerance THC regulation and pressure from the DEA makes it difficult to really fire up the economy with hemp.
How can Hemp Save the World?
Here are just a few ways that hemp can rock our world.
- Food
- Fuel, biofuel “hempoline”
- Energy/Batteries
- Housing
- Plastics Alternative
- Medicine
- Clothing
- Other textiles – canvas, bedding, carpet, shoes, furniture, etc…
- Soil restoration
- Paper, Packaging, Wrappers
- Personal Care
- Environmental – Radiation – Cleanup
- Rotation & Cover Crops
- Livestock/animal feed, Animal bedding
- Rope and other tools, parts, etc.
- Paint
- Insulation
- Agriculture & Horticulture – Weed control, Mulch
But those aren’t the only benefits of hemp.
Additionally, here are the things we would no longer need to rely so heavily on…and the reasons that hemp isn’t catching on.
- Free-trade – America could be fully self-sustaining (and so could other countries!)
- The Federal Reserve – No need to grovel to these vultures, our economy would be booming with all the jobs and products we could produce.
- Lumber & Deforestation – It takes just 14 weeks to grow enough hemp to build a house! Unlike trees, which can take 20 years to grow. Paper products, packaging, furniture and more would no longer rely on mowing down precious forests that take lifetimes to rebuild. Deforestation not only displaces people and animals but disrupts the ecology. Trees clean the earth and water supply so it’s devastating when large groups of them are suddenly gone. “ One acre of hemp can produce as much paper annually as four acres of trees,” writes Green Flower.
- Big Agri – Good-bye GMO cotton with all your nasty pesticides. Hemp is one of the hardiest plants and requires barely any pesticide use. It matures within months Family farmers could rejoice again and be proud to fuel the country with hemp while supporting their families. Hemp could replenish the soil cutting the need for so much synthetic fertilizer. Hemp increases microbes in the soil. By “feeding the world,” there would be no need to pretend that GMOs will help the hungry.
- Big Oil & the War Machine – Because hemp is a renewable source that can create fuel, there’s no need to jack up prices and pretend that supplies are running out. There would be no need to occupy other countries for their resources.
- Big Food, Big Pharma & Psychiatry – Nutrition and food for all – grow your own. Make medicine. Recently hemp showed potential for treating ovarian cancer. CBD oil was recently found to help schizophrenia symptoms. Hemp contains the top 10 essential amino acids, B vitamins, magnesium, calcium and iron, Omega 3, 6, and 9 essential fatty acids and more. It can literally feed the world! Its seeds and leaves can be used for cooking, dairy-alternatives, seed-butters, oils and more. Let’s not forget pet and livestock food and medicine.
- Plastics (*cough* Big Oil) – No more dinosaur resources, no more non-biodegradable chemicals entering our food and water supply. Plastic would be history and that could save the world! Think about all the things made with plastic…and just thrown away after one use. Hemp could rid the earth of that pollution. Throw your packaging in the yard. Get takeout in a hemp box and eat with a hemp fork without filling up a landfill.
- Hormone & Fertility Clinics – Plastic is a toxic endocrine disruptor. Drink from a hemp water bottle you left in your car? No problem, not a cancer-causing agent and not a hormone-disruptor. Could obesity rates drop too?
- Auto-Industry – Henry Ford crafted a car out of biocomposite partially made from hemp! Why are we still using cheap materials that wear out in a few years? Maybe with a hemp-fueled economy, prices for transport could be more reasonable.
- Housing Industry – Yes, hemp can make houses using “hempcrete” which is lime+hemp+water. But these houses would be safer, stronger, more affordable and recyclable. Hemp houses actually harden to become stronger with time. They have an estimated lifespan of 600-800 years! Someday perhaps they could be 3D-printed making third-world countries safer during natural disasters. Maybe a hemp house could survive flooding without growing mold because it is antimicrobial, breathable and protects against mold. Wouldn’t that bring insurance rates down?
- Synthetics & Fast Fashion – No more disposable clothing made from synthetics that cause micropollutants. Durable, long-lasting, breathable and recyclable clothing that keeps you cool, warm and fashionably covered. Safe carpeting and furniture that doesn’t emit microplastics in the air that land on your food. Cotton breaks down and uses
- Chemicals – Hemp products don’t require the bleach and chemicals that paper products made from wood pulp do. They prohibit mold and mildew growth, thus cutting the dependence on industrial cleaners and mold protectants. Hemp can be used for weed control, fertilizer and cover crops.
At this point, you can see the possibilities and it might be dawning on you the real reason hemp is suppressed. You can bet your bottom dollar that the giant industries that have free reign on the earth are absolutely threatened by the rise of hemp. After all, they make things that everyone needs – and have to pay top dollar for.
With hemp, the delusional bubble is burst. The jig would be up – everyone would realize that no one has to suffer without getting their basic needs met somehow. Hemp would create so much self-sufficiency.
The War on Drugs & The Economy
The U.S. will not “get with the program” on industrial hemp production due to the government’s pretense that it’s the same strain as the marijuana used for drugs. And as a result, we are economic benchwarmers who import hemp seed and the occasional textiles while the rest of the world gets in on the action.
More recently, the desire for CBD oil has exploded. CBD is an oil made of concentrated hemp oil. The ingestible oil has been recently attributed to alleviating issues such as inflammation, anxiety, and insomnia all the way down to seizures and Parkinson’s symptoms. People are even exploring its uses with pets. The oppressive restriction on CBD oil – due to the deliberate misperception that it is marijuana and can somehow get people high – means that CBD oil is pretty cost prohibitive at this time.
Technically, CBD is legal in all 50 states, but the DEA laid its crosshairs on it when it reclassified the substance to a Schedule 1 substance. Because of the anti-drug propaganda – again, mainly in the U.S. – citizens and law enforcement alike are confused on the topic. In one embarrassing scenario, police in began shutting down stores that were selling CBD.
The scary thing about that?
They may have been acting within the law because of the language of the reclassification…
Hemp can save the world. It’s historical and timeless. It’s progressive and futuristic. So why is the U.S. sliding backward? Why is it stopping – and erasing – real progress?
About the Author
Meadow Clark is a dreamy, ethereal, mid-western natural explorer who wants to shine the light of knowledge in a sometimes crazy world.
Great article! What are some steps everyday people like myself can do to to change the public perception of hemp?
VERY good. Glad to hear some real facts on it. Thank you.
A timely post, as another blogger I follow has been having difficulties with ‘G’ censoring her posts due to her hemp/CBD related posts. I will be sharing.
I was not aware that hemp was the basis of most CBD oil, so that was interesting to learn.
Don’t get me wrong, I did some smoking back in the day. I didn’t like it. So it has been exciting to learn about CBD and the health benefits it offers without the high.
This is like essential oils, though. How do you figure out the best source, are you getting pure CBD oil, and so on.
As far as the other uses of hemp, I say search out companies that use it and support them.
I have to laugh too, because the ‘stoners’ always say ‘weed is the answer to all the worlds problems’, except they aren’t exactly right are they?
I have some hemp protein powder I mix in smoothies, etc. Would like to try some hemp milk. Now I use organic soy milk, but hope to find hemp milk in the stores soon.
You should try hemp bars in general, sometimes they have a nice nut and raisin mix to it.
Meanwhile the highh protein and low carbs promote maximum
muscle growth aas well as a combination of minerals including zinc, iron, and magnesium strengthen the body’s immune system.
But everybody knows that ancient South American peoples
revered chocolate (alkaloids) and took it with chilli peppers (oleoresins) and vanilla (terpenes) particularly and lastly now it’s universally eaten being an addictve
fatty substance people consume over a daily basis. Hemp seed
is the perfct source for all those three of people things, because the soluuble and insoluble fiber inn hemp ckvers the
carbohydrates, as well as the Omega fatty acids are responsible for
your fat needs.
Thank you for this very informative article, Meadow. Your list of practical uses for Hemp is quite extensive. Hemp is indeed one of the most valuable plants at our disposal. I wouId take it a step further and include the drug strains of marijuana as most valuable as well. It is a crying shame that our government is so adamant in their stance regarding hemp. according to what I have read, hemp was criminalized directly because the cotton industry courted our politicians and paid BIG money to our government and the politicians in charge at the time – purely a political move. I truly believe that one day that fiber, and drug hemp will be accepted as the valuable resource it is and become legalized, but it isn’t going to happen until all the ancient lawmakers still in office either retire or die. But then again, who knows? Our government is likely just as corrupt as it’s ever been, so the lobbying and bribes from the cotton industry, and now the oil industry, and even the timber industry may still prevail. Regardless of the law, I strongly advocate the production, possession, and use of fiber hemp and marijuana.
I’ve been using CBD for quite sometime and really like my results so far! I have lower back pain and spasms plus a painful knee joint but with the use of the oil the pain has diminished considerably! I also notice I sleep more soundly and my energy seems to have increased. So far no negative side effects.