Hemp Isn't Pot?!?!

So, let’s say you’re a stellar student in an accelerated program at your school, much like The Academy. You work hard, you get good grades, and you have begun to search for colleges. Things are looking good for your future. But then, you find out colleges are deciding not to accept you, but it’s not because of anything you’ve done. You have this weird cousin, you see, who doesn’t try in school, participates in illegal activities, and is just a plain bad kid. Because of your relation to him, you’re the one getting punished. How does that feel? Your entire future is taken away because of something someone else has done.
Well, that’s the situation hemp is in. And by hemp I don’t mean marijuana, I mean industrial hemp, the hard-working cousin of weed. Because of their close genetic make-up, they are both illegal in the United States. I am in favor of legalizing hemp because of the enormous economic impact it could have in Kentucky.
“So what’s the difference?” you might be thinking. Industrial hemp and marijuana both come from the same species of plant, cannabis sativa. However, there are vast differences between the two plants. Marijuana contains high levels of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the substance that induces a high. But it contains relatively low levels of cannabidiol (CBD), a substance that actually blocks the effect of a high. Industrial hemp, on the other hand, contains low levels of THC and higher levels of CBD. No matter how much industrial hemp you smoke, you cannot get high. So instead of being considered a form of marijuana, industrial hemp can be thought of as just the opposite, high-blocking, not –inducing plant.
Many people voice concerns about how it would be ensured that people are indeed growing hemp and not marijuana. While this may create some minor problems in the first few years after the legalization of hemp, it would soon become a non-issue. While hemp and marijuana look very similar, their growing seasons are different. This would make it easy to spot a marijuana farmer posing as a hemp farmer. Also, if they are grown close together and cross-pollinate, both will lose some of their advantageous qualities. The potency of the marijuana will be reduced because of an increase in CBD levels, and the high quality hemp fibers and oils will be of lesser quality. Farmers would soon find that they receive the most benefit from planting only industrial hemp.
So, we’ve established that hemp is a unique crop, different from marijuana, but how much good can the plant itself actually do? The answer is more than you would think. Hemp is thought to be the first or at least one of the first crops domesticated and intentionally planted and farmed in the history of the human race. It has been around forever, and has been helping the human race for thousands of years. It is also one of the more versatile plants around today. The fiber from the stalk is the strongest natural fiber in the world. This can and has been used to make rope, clothing, and much more. In addition, the seeds of a hemp plant have been called “the most nutritionally complete food source in the world” because they not only contain all of the essential amino acids, but also all the fatty acids needed for human survival and function. Even if a farmer never sells any of his or her hemp, they can benefit because the soil is refilled with nutrients and weeds are killed because of the sheer power of the hemp plant.
And the possibilities don’t stop there.
Hemp can be used to make a paper, which is more environmental and longer-lasting than wood-based paper. A nontoxic paint can be made from hemp, and the highest quality paints used to be made with hemp because of its drying quality. And let’s go environmental here too: hemp can be made into a biofuel, and has already been used to power special cars that run on a hemp-based fuel.
Not convinced yet?
It seems as though Kentucky and hemp were made for each other. The climate and soil type fit perfectly with what little the hardy plant needs. Back in the days before the Civil War, Kentucky was the nation’s leading producer of hemp, and the economy thrived. Hemp’s main use was for packaging the booming cotton crop, but it was also used for other purposes, among them the building of the navy. Hemp was Kentucky’s main cash crop, and showed little signs of relinquishing that title.
But innovations came and went and hemp fell out of popularity. It was still grown by many Kentucky farmers, but wasn’t the obvious John Wall of crops it had once been. Foreign goods filled in where hemp left a void, so it wasn’t missed. And then the whole “getting high from marijuana” thing became popular, and so hemp was essentially made illegal in the mid- twentieth century.
But now, the technology for quick processing of hemp is here. The climate is still here in Kentucky. The soil is still here. The farmers are still here. The only thing missing is the legislation. In Kentucky, it isn’t illegal to buy hemp, just to grow it without a permit (which by the way is impossible to obtain), and so foreign hemp dominates the market. All it would take is just the legalization of industrial hemp. It could become Kentucky’s next cash crop, bolster the economy, and give Kentuckians the edge with something they can grow better than anyone else in the country. In a globally competitive market, that is exactly what we Kentuckians need.


Sources:
-Hemplands (documentary), produced and directed by Patrick McNeese
-http://www.industrialhemp.net/
-A History of the Hemp Industry in Kentucky, by James F. Hopkins
-Hemp Seed, article by Lynn Osburn in the July-August 1992 issue of Hemp Line Journal
- http://students.ou.edu/W/Elicia.A.Wallach-1/hempcopy1.htm