Hemp Argumentative Essay

The most versatile plant in the world, with over 25,000 known uses, is currently illegal to grow and produce in the United States. These uses range from hemp paper to hemp biodiesel and even include food products. The raging problem of deforestation can ultimately be solved with the help of hemp industrialization in the United States. Hemp as a biodiesel could relieve our dependence of fossil fuels. Opening up hemp farms and factories to produce the product could create thousands of jobs and a new business for our country. The only thing holding back this wide market of positivity is hemp 's family member, cannabis marijuana. Hemp should be legalized in the United States of America as an industrial product. Its uses date back

“Each year the world loses up to 58 thousand square miles of forest for paper, construction materials, firewood, and agriculture (Deforestation).” Yet a much more sustainable crop that has been cultivated for thousands of years can greatly remedy this issue. Hemp, the cousin of the marijuana plant; banned back in 1937 through the “Marihuana Tax Act” which made possetion of hemp and marihuana as well as transfer, illegal. However, as of 2015, congress has passed “The Industrial Hemp Farming Act”, and now it is up to the individual states on what to do next. People are still unsure about hemp due to the similarities to its cousin. However, I know that hemp is the key to save the world’s forests because it is a much more sustainable source of paper, clothing, and construction materieals.

In ** Hemp was banned In the states. Marijuanas none physcoactive cousin was banned for a simple reason. It's easier and cheaper to use as paper. A fact that William Randolph Hurst hated. The newspaper tycoon could've replaced his traditional printing press. Instead he made up a bunch of lies. That ultimately outlawed cannabis and hurt society

Central Idea: Due to the war on drugs, hemp production is severely limited; however, with the proper legalization and regulation of this plant the U.S. economy would prosper due to job creation and the environment would benefit by the amount of tress saved.

While marijuana was not actually outlawed until the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 it was a part of the country and society since before the arrival of its current transplanted inhabitants. Hemp is the name of a species of Cannabis that has been used throughout history for many things including rope, clothing, medicine, oils and other such novelties. Marijuana and hemp are both of the species Cannabis Sativa and occur naturally along with a score of other variations of the plant. Marijuana is simply a form of hemp that is higher in delta-9- tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), marijuana’s naturally occurring psychoactive chemical. Today we hear many nicknames for marijuana including: weed, pot, budda, grass, and bud to name a few. Marijuana has long been used by the indigenous peoples of North and South America for many things, from medical to religious purposes. Of course a select few Europeans exploited narcotics and different types of marijuana. However, in Europe it was not a widespread phenomenon, and neither was it from the time of colonization or even industrialization in America. It was not until the era of the 19th amendment to the U.S. constitution, known as prohibition, that marijuana became a widely used substance in the U.S..

Do any of you know the difference between industrial hemp and marijuana? Would you like to? The purpose of this speech is to explain the differences in marijuana and industrial hemp, and to show the need to reform the present hemp laws in the United States in order to make hemp available for industrial purposes. The hemp plant shows its unique versatility by having many uses in industry and hemp has many distinct benefits over its counterpart in industry today. The usage of hemp would result in cleaner and more efficient industry. I will first discuss the differences between hemp and marijuana to avoid confusion, and then state the many ways that industrial hemp can help our economy such as; the use for fiber, the use in foods, and

Canada, which legalized the production of industrial hemp in 1998, might be considered a good measure of America’s potential future in industrial hemp production. As of 2015, 1,135 licenses were issued in Canada to grow 34,262.6 hectares of hemp (84,664.7 acres). Those numbers are down from 2011, when Canadian hemp farmers reaped an approximate profit of at least $30.75 million. By way of comparison, Canadian farmers saw at least $990 per acre of hemp while Indiana farmers can expect approximately $736 per acre of corn, and Californian farmers can expect approximately $630 per acre of

One of the first things about marijuana history that the American public still doesn 't understand is that cannabis, was once very legal to grow in the United States. In fact, up until 1883 it was one of the largest agricultural crops in the world, including America.(The Union) But it wasn’t grown for the psychoactive plant cannabis sativa. Cannabis hemp, which carries a fraction of the amount of THC, (the compound in marijuana that attributes to the high feeling) was and is used all over the world, producing the overall majority of Earth’s fiber, fabric, paper, and medicines.(Herer,20) Hemp has a deep American History as well, from the gardens of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin to the 8,327 American hemp plantations counted in the 1850 census.(Herer,15) Yet the Federal government now recognizes cannabis as a Schedule I drug with no medical value, and 23 States have legalized cannabis for medicinal use. (The Union) Even though some western states such as Oregon and Colorado are making legal changes to marijuana policy at the state level, the most beneficial marijuana law we could pass is and always has been the Nationwide legalization of industrial Cannabis Hemp.

My step dad had a pair of hemp jeans in high school. They lasted him over 10 years, until he got too big to fit them anymore. He gave them to a friend who still wears those pants made of hemp. Cotton is much more difficult to grow than hemp because cotton is addicted to chemical elixirs. It requires a lot of artificial fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides for it to be able to grow well. When cotton is ripe, the leaves have to be knocked off with defoliants before the bolls can be harvested. Hemp is by far a much better alternative to grow. It does not require any herbicides and it actually cleanses the land instead of depleting it of nutrients. Making paper from hemp is far more economical and environmentally friendly than making paper from trees. Wood-based paper pulp is brown from the cooking process thus requiring it to be bleached which releases toxins into the environment. Hemp paper is naturally bright with no bleaching necessary. The nation could reduce unsustainable logging if American farmers were allowed to grow hemp which produces twice as much fiber per acre as an average forest. Hemp is a clean, renewable option that can replace virtually all products made with non-renewable hydrocarbons like oil and coal (Williams).

Instead of restricting the production of hemp, the United States government should legalize the planting of hemp due for its beneficial value to society.

Hemp has many ways it can put oxygen back into the air. One of the best ways it can give us cleaner air, other than through the automotive industry, is by replacing wood made paper with paper made from hemp. According to George Antonio from Drexel University, “until the 1880’s between 75% and 90% of paper was made with hemp fiber.” Many major documents such as the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and even Benjamin Franklin’s newspapers were made from hemp paper. They utilized hemp for many reasons, and one of those was to save us from deforestation, which is becoming a big problem for endangered species and the state of our air. Hemp takes 90-120 days to mature while trees take 20-80 years. Since hemp was banned in 1937, 70% of America’s natural forests have been destroyed, and the demand for paper is only growing and is expected to double in the next 20-30 years.

With its beneficial assets of efficiency, durability and saving water, the pros to cons lean towards the side of hemp with the advantages outweighing cotton tenfull. Overall, with all of its economic, environmental and useful assets, it offers as a textile crop much deserving to be the fabric of our future. Evidently, I believe it’s time for hemp to reclaim its place on the

Even our flags were from cannabis fibers. Best of all they come pesticide free! 75-90% of all paper in the world was made with cannabis hemp fiber including paper for books, Bibles, maps, paper money, stocks & bonds, newspaper, etc. Hemp paper lasted 50 to 100 times longer.” (DigitalHemp)

When people talk about marijuana or hemp people instantly think about smoking it. What people do not know is hemp is one of the most widely used materials. Before 1883 seventy-five to ninety percent of the worlds paper was made out of hemp. The department of agriculture proposed to make paper out of hemp in 1930, the only problem was separating hemp pulp from the fiber cheaply. Six years later big companies like

Under the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, there was no chemical distinction made between the two substances. Because of this, hemp eventually became illegal when marijuana did. (Williams 4). While industrial hemp has been used for centuries to make rope, clothing, and other materials, it has never been used for smoking due to its lack of THC. Cannabis was used first in about 8000 BC for cloth and textiles, and by 2700 BC it was incorporated into most cultures for fabric, cordage, food and medicine. From 1000 BC to 1883 AD hemp was considered the world largest agricultural crop (Schreiber 159). Hemp didn't just have its roots in other cultures either; it has been used in America for a very long time. The first recorded hemp plot in North America was planted in 1606 by a French botanist named Louis Hebert (Jenkins 1). From the early 1600's to 1859 hempseed oil was the most used lamp oil in the world. In early America, most colonies enacted "must grow" laws that made it illegal for farmers not to grow hemp. The first U.S. flag was sewn with hemp fabric in 1777 (Schreiber 161). Famous people such as Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington were avid hemp farmers. George Washington was once quoted saying, "Make the most of the Indian hemp seed and sow it everywhere." Back then, hemp was recognized as a versatile crop, yet today, with other countries allowing the production of hemp, the U.S. still considers this