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"Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country." -Thomas Jefferson
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Benjamin Franklin started one of America's first paper
mills with cannabis,
allowing a colonial press
free from English control.
Hemp is Legal
in many countries
throughout Europe
and Asia, including the
United Kingdom, the
Netherlands, and China.
Hemp is of
first necessity to
the wealth & protection
of the country.
Thomas Jefferson
Indian Hemp
was properly christened
by Linnaeus, in 1753,
as Cannabis sativa,
which remains the botanical name for the plant species.
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Hemp use dates back to the Stone Age, with hemp fibre imprints found in pottery shards in China and Taiwan over 10,000 years old. These ancient Asians also used the same fibres to make clothes, shoes, ropes, and an early form of paper.
Hemp cloth was more common than linen until the mid 14th century[citation needed]. The use of hemp as a cloth was centered largely in the countryside, with higher quality textiles being available in the towns. Virtually every small town had access to a hemp field.
In late medieval Germany and Italy, hemp was employed in cooked dishes, as filing in pies and tortes, or boiled in a soup.
The traditional European hemp was by tradition and due to its low narcotic effect not used as a drug in Europe. It was cultivated for its fibers and for example used by Christopher Columbus for ropes on his ships.
Hemp was used extensively by the United States during WWII. Uniforms, canvas, and rope were among the main textiles created from the hemp plant at this time. Much of the hemp used was planted in the Midwest and Kentucky. Historically, hemp production made up a significant portion of Kentucky's economy and many slave plantations located there focused on producing hemp.[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp ]
The cannabis sativa plant produces more protein, oil and fiber than any other plant on earth. Hempseed, for example, was an essential part of our ancestors' diet and is the source of "gruel," the porridge that is referred to in countless stories and books written before this century. However, when new technology in the 1900's made mass processing of hemp possible, certain petrochemical, wood-based paper, and cotton-fiber industries protected themselves from competition by recasting hemp as "marijuana."
By the early twentieth century, the advent of the steam engine and the diesel engine ended the reign of the sailing ship. The advent of iron and steel for cable and ships' hulls further eliminated natural fibers in marine use, although hemp had long since fallen out of favour in the sailing industry in preference to Manila hemp. The invention of artificial fibers in the late thirties by DuPont further put strain on the market.
Let's give our farmers back this valuable and environmentally necessary commodity.
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