Industrial Hemp Struggles with Marijuana Stigma

Thesis Statement: Marijuana has been regarded as a harmful plant that can endanger lives and is thought to be nothing more than an extra problem to be dealt with in today’s society. However, based on its economic value and medical benefits, the cannabis has proven to outweigh its negatives with numerous other positives.

“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.

On of your local grocery stores should carry Hemp Granola. They might even carry other Hemp items. The imported products are extremely popular. Americas inability to produce their own products. Forces local consumers to buy forienge items. Creating a profitable agricultural industry. Will help the local and national economy. It will also create thousands of American jobs. These improvements would decrease our need to import. From other countries and eliminate the need to import Hemp.

Just the mention of the word Cannabis in today’s society brings about all types of negative connotations. This is understandable due to the major propaganda campaign that has been waged by the U.S. government on the plant. Most citizens have no idea what a mature Cannabis plant looks like, and close to none recognize the thousands of uses it has. This is paper will not discuss whether drug-type Cannabis should be legalized for recreational or medicinal purposes, what it will discuss is the many environmentally friendly products that can be made from non-psychoactive hemp.

Specific Purpose: To provide my audience with a better understanding of how useful industrial hemp could be for the economy.

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

About thirty years into the nearer future, Americans rediscovered marijuana as a result of the notorious alcohol prohibition of the 1920s when “people looking for oblivion from their own troubles turned to a new way of getting high.” Consequently and realistically, America can only blame itself for marijuana’s recreational popularity, seeing as “from 1850 to 1945, the … plant was listed in the United States Pharmacopoeia.” Almost a decade after the alcohol prohibition ended is when marijuana was first perceived “as a dangerous, addictive, ‘gateway drug’” by the United States Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Then, “in 1970, the Controlled Substances Act was passed … [which] classified marijuana, [alongside Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD)] and heroin, as a Schedule I drug, meaning that [the drug] had a high risk of abuse [with] no acceptable medicinal use.” Within the following decade, “marijuana use in the United States declined,” then once again escalating among youth in the nineties. Meanwhile in modern-day India, people are still practicing marijuana medicinally, and exploring what advantages the “dangerous” drug has to offer (Chapter 2: The History of Marijuana 18-31).

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.

The benefits of hemp give reasons that farmers should be permitted to grow the crop in the United States. Seed that the plant produces are very high in nutritional benefits when used in food products. The seed is high in both the omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. These fatty acids are important to nutrition because the body can not produce them; they also are used to produce the hormone progesterone, which is found in the body. The plant itself is useful for many different products from clothing to car parts. The pulp from the hemp stalks is used in the place of wood on homebuilding projects. Four acres of hemp produces more pulp than four acres of trees. Trees are a very valuable renewable resource and if farmers were allowed to grow hemp, which is more efficient than trees, they wouldn’t have to timber much of the forests. Hemp is a biodegradable substitute for plastic. Some car manufactures use the hemp-fiber plastic for door panels and trunk panels. The United States already uses products from hemp that is imported from other countries. Why shouldn’t the U.S. farmers be able to grow industrial hemp and partake in economic profit?

The fight to legalize marijuana has been waged for decades and it’s about time that we find a resolution. I’m not a supporter of marijuana, I detest the culture associated with the drug and have no interest in consumption of the drug. But the effects of enforcing laws outlawing marijuana have done more harm than good in the US. The United States imprisons too many minorities due to minor drug infractions, the costs of enforcing these laws are too high, and the government is missing out on tax opportunities due to the current drug laws.

Industrial hemp is an attractive potential economic crop. Hemp has had been the subject of public interest and policy issues recently in the U.S. It is a rapid-growing and high-yield herbaceous annual plant that has been grown around the world. However, due to the passage of the Uniform Narcotic Drug Act and the Marijuana Tax Act in 1930s, its cultivation in the U.S. has been both prohibited and illegal solely based upon the presence of THC, the psychoactive drug component of marijuana. While the level of THC present in marijuana is between 8 to 13%, the THC present in hemp is normally 0.3% or less. These low THC levels estimate the potential for illicit uses and has allowed for industrial hemp to again be grown legally in many countries except

The article discussed and written by Sarah Hass, on ‘the ‘History of Hemp’, for the Boulder Weekly, affirms why the fibrous plant ‘hemp’ continues to be regarded as a controlled substance under Schedule I, with the Drug Enforcement Administration. The article also details as hemp is still an illegal commodity and banned for US farmers is on the other hand imported from around the world and generates capital for the United. States, to the tune of $500 million a year states Hass (2016). Why also would this historical fibrous plant, whose crop yield is lucrative, easy and cost-effective to grow, uses minimal water and pesticides, has a short 120-day harvest cycle continue the demonetization in the U.S. since the marijuana Tax Act of 1937 Hass

Industrial Hemp is an ancient crop, which has a multitude of diverse uses. The earliest uses of Hemp can be traced back to the Sumerians and probably even earlier in man’s unrecorded history. Industrial Hemp is not Marijuana though the two plants are of the same family and have passing resemblance to one another. Industrial Hemp’s myriad uses are being rediscovered and at the forefront of research in diverse fields. I will be attempting to dispel some of the myth, and providing history and proven uses of this amazing plant.

The lack of a clear separation between hemp and marijuana explains why the domestic cultivation of hemp was banned when marijuana was outlawed in the United States in 1937. (Genetic Variation, 2006)

Throughout American history our country has come to rely on many different natural resources. With technology and the population increasing, the number of fossil fuel reserves and natural forests are going down. What America needs is a renewable source of fuels and fibers that will meet the growing needs of the future, but will not damage our environment. One of the most promising sources of fiber, fuel, and natural oil is hemp. Hemp, also known as Cannabis Sativa L, has been used in our country since the early 17th century (Schreiber 160). Although hemp is considered an illegal drug, many people forget that it is a part of our country’s history. Despite its negative connotations, hemp has the potential to revolutionize the paper,