Hemp has been getting a lot of attention as a "green alternative." But what sorts of goods can be made of hemp anyway? Is it just twine and paper? And how ecological is it? Also, what about the concerns of some over hemp's psychedelic cousin, marijuana?
Well, it's not just twine. In fact, the range of products made from hemp continues to grow, giving increased credibility to the notion of a "hemp store," a store where everything sold is made of or contains hemp. Pants, paper and hackeysacks, sure. But how about plastic, construction board, cookies, massage oil, kitty litter, detergent, futons, lip balm and designer bondage toys? Now that's more than just waving in the wind, isn't it?
What is hemp?
Hemp is the common name for the plant Cannabis sativa, a hardy annual that grows abundantly throughout the world. Throughout history, people have used hemp fiber for cloth and rope, hemp seed for oil and food and the flowering tops of the female plant for medicinal, recreational and religious purposes. The outer bark contains long, tough fibers that are highly resistant to rot and wear. These fibers are excellent for making fine paper, construction board and cloth and rope of all types. The inner pith contains shorter fibers, which can be made into average quality paper or transformed into fuel or plastic. Seeds from the hemp plant contain an amount of protein second only to soybeans, and the oil is highly nutritious as well. Hemp grows in any temperate or tropical climate, bears extraordinarily well, is naturally pest-resistant and can be used in close rotation as it is not particularly demanding of the soil. The word on the street is botanically apt: Hemp grows like a weed.
The resins of the female cannabis plant contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive drug. Hemp containing substantial amounts of THC is the drug called marijuana. Although the psychoactive elements seem to have some medicinal value, considerable controversy surrounds this aspect of the hemp plant. Despite the fact that marijuana and fiber hemp are of the same species, hemp grown for fiber is not hallucinogenic. Because the male plants are the better fiber producers, and because fiber hemp seeds are planted close together to encourage stalky growth, little of the energy of hemp grown for fiber is devoted to leaf and resin production. Such hemp typically has less than 1 percent THC, as opposed to the 10 percent or greater found in cannabis cultivated for drug use.
What's green about hemp?
By the same measure as any product, hemp is "green" because it can be used instead of other more environmentally harmful products. Growing hemp requires very little fertilizer and almost no pesticides. Thus its fiber, which can be both very soft and very strong, is a good substitute for cotton, which uses tremendous quantities of pesticides, fertilizers and other petrochemicals in cultivation and processing. Hemp can be used to make paper and construction-quality board, reducing our need to crop forests, which are complex ecosystems giving habitat to many creatures. Hemp biomass can be converted to ethanol, a simple alcohol that can fuel automobiles and generators, and the seed oil can be used for machinery and paint. When biomass is substituted for petroleum as the source for energy or materials, the greenhouse effect on the Earth is diminished because the plants have already given oxygen to the atmosphere during their growing cycle, in contrast with petroleum, which contributed its oxygen millennia ago. Hemp's lack of need for fertilizer also reduces acid rain, since nitrogen fertilizer runoff and evaporation are suspected to be significant causes of acid rain.
Hemp is also a valid food source in its own right. The seeds of hemp contain gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), an important fatty acid that is hard to obtain. Hemp oil has been shown to provide the best balance of fatty acids for human nutrition of any common plant oil, rivaled only by black currant oil. Seeds can be roasted and have a nutty taste although a rather hard outer shell. Seed can be ground into flour as well; as mentioned previously, the seeds have a protein content second only to soybeans, containing a similarly high number of the essential amino acids. Hemp seed also contains large amounts of carotene, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, sulfur and calcium.
Until the late 1930s, 80 percent of all medicines sold in the United States had cannabis as an ingredient. Recently, "compassionate use" programs have again focused public attention on the medical benefits of marijuana, the flowering tops of the female hemp plant. Marijuana has been used to reduce eye pressure in glaucoma patients, lessen the severity and frequency of epileptic seizures, suppress nausea and encourage appetite in AIDS and cancer patients and reduce severity of symptoms in persons with multiple sclerosis. It is cheap, unpatentable, easy to administer and has few side-effects. More research needs to be done to fully explore and document the medicinal characteristics of this herb. Unfortunately, hemp is classified by the federal government as a narcotic of the same stature as heroin; this classification makes it difficult for scientists to get permission to perform research. However, many other countries are exploring and implementing hemp production; perhaps the United States, which spawned hemp prohibition initially, will not be far behind.
History of hemp prohibition
Hemp was a vital constituent of ropes, fiber and paper as well as medicine during the early part of this century. It was hailed in 1938 by Popular Mechanics magazine as a "new billion dollar crop," largely because of its value as a fiber crop and the recent invention of a processing tool called the decorticator, which was able to do for hemp what the cotton gin did for cotton. Before that, in 1916, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommended that hemp be grown extensively for paper making, since trees would likely become scarce otherwise.
Indeed, it is staggering to think of the powerful people who might lose money if hemp were utilized for fiber and medicine. Pharmacy companies would sell fewer of their expensive anti-nausea drugs, timber companies would sell fewer of their trees, and petroleum companies would probably need to shift from supply-oriented to manufacture-oriented operations. However, times are changing in the business world, and those companies who adapt and anticipate changes are the ones most likely to grow and prosper. Looking beyond the quarterly report toward more long-term gain, hemp would seem to be a blue chip.
The history of hemp prohibition offers some parallels to the dilemmas which hemp-unfriendly businesses face today. In 1930, the DuPont chemical company patented a new sulfuric acid process that made it far easier to make paper from trees than it had been before. William Randolph Hearst at that time owned millions of acres of forested land in the United States and Mexico. A DuPont corporate memo from 1937 states that the company's strategy should be to convert government from a mere revenue-raising power "into an instrument for forcing acceptance of sudden new ideas of industrial and social reorganization."
DuPont's banker, Andrew Mellon of the Mellon Bank of Pittsburgh, in his role as President Hoover's secretary of the treasury, appointed his future nephew-in-law Harry Anslinger to be the nation's first drug czar. Anslinger began a campaign demonizing the dangerous drug "marihuana," which, among other grievances, was purported to be accountable for blacks and Mexicans raping white women, and for jazz players putting too many notes in their songs. In September 1937, marijuana, and with it the hemp plant, was made illegal, although very few of the legislators who voted realized that marijuana was the same plant as hemp. Most of the planning meetings for this legislation were held in secret. The one dissenting voice in the brief hearing was that of the American Medical Association, which maintained that marijuana held valid therapeutic value.
Because of its utility, hemp was relegalized during World War II. Franklin Roosevelt mandated massive plantings throughout the Midwest, where occasionally wild hemp fields can still be found. Anyone who has sampled this material can attest to its lack of hallucinogenic quality. After the war was over, it was once again made illegal to grow hemp.
Economics
Whether people want and will profit from legislative decisions is usually a large factor in determining what laws are made or repealed; markets generally speak even more loudly than politicians. Who would profit from the domestic legalization of hemp, besides the end user? Farmers in Kentucky whose tobacco crops rob the soil and net them increasingly less money would benefit from legalization of hemp. Mill workers and manufacturing laborers who have seen their jobs taken overseas would benefit from the jobs that domestic hemp production would offer. Merchants usually benefit from having an increased variety of quality goods to sell. It seems likely that many new small businesses would be started in order to take advantage of these opportunities. Moreover, domestic hemp production for fuel fiber, food and medicine would lessen our dependence on foreign sources, decreasing the likelihood of shortages and improving our nation's trade deficit. Why, then, is the United States lagging behind in acceptance of this valuable crop?
Perhaps one of the obstacles to legalization of hemp, besides the drug issue, is the very grassroots nature of hemp production. It can be grown by anyone with a bit of land. We live in a culture that outwardly celebrates the individual while in practice deferring to large corporate entities; these giants might have trouble competing with a decentralized plan for producing basic human essentials. If you can grow fuel from your car in your own backyard, Shell Oil will not reap as much profit from cheap labor in Nigeria. If habitués of alcohol's intoxicating effects begin to switch to home-grown marijuana, distillers and liquor stores may lose profit. In any situation where the "haves" believe they will benefit less than the "have- nots," the haves will struggle to maintain the status quo.
The hemp movement today
I searched an online index of scientific articles about hemp recently and found out that while there were only about 100 articles published between 1985 and 1995, there were more than 100 published in 1996 alone. Additional research means better product development and more informed decision-making. And this increase in research reflects an increase in research capital devoted to hemp. It is becoming clear to more people that there is money to be made, and that this is a plant worth testing rigorously.
A similar increase has been demonstrated on the product end of things. During the last few years, many more types of products have been made of hemp and have been more widely bought and sold. Paper mills in Holland, China, Slovenia and Germany produce all-hemp or part-hemp paper. Earthquake-resistant construction board with high insulating qualities is made by Isochanvre in France. A steam explosion process in Australia has enabled textile mills to provide cloth with the smoothness of cotton but the durability of hemp. Wholesalers and retailers in the United States and elsewhere distribute an increasingly wide variety of common household products, from the aforementioned clothing and kitty litter to shoes, snacks, furniture, diapers, bicycle chain oil, makeup and toys.
There are far more hemp stores now than there were even two or three years ago. This is especially impressive in the United States, where it is illegal to grow hemp in any form, thus making it necessary to import all hemp products and charge correspondingly higher prices. The fact that business is booming anyway speaks well for the overall quality of products made of hemp. This increase in business probably reflects an increase in awareness and acceptance of hemp as a viable product by larger segments of mainstream society. These trends should continue to grow, although it is a shame that the United States lags so far behind other industrialized nations in capitalizing on this valuable resource.
On the legislative front, public and elected awareness seems to be rising as well. In the past year, initiatives in Missouri (SB 972), Colorado (SB 67), Hawaii (H 71), and Vermont (HB 783) have sought to legalize fiber hemp and/or medical marijuana. Recent government research includes a 1995 Agriculture Department white paper that acknowledges the viability of hemp as a cash crop, especially to current growers of tobacco. As more people grow to appreciate the utility of hemp and the incongruity of its illegal status, we can expect more such democratic action. Backing by farmers, consumers, merchants and manufacturers who stand to benefit from such legislation should help bring legal status to hemp. If this inspires you, then please get involved, and spread the word!
Green caveats
Hemp is a very valuable resource, but hemp is not going to save the world. Extensive monocultures destroy habitat and upset the balance of nature. A nonbiodegradeable plastic bag made from hemp is only marginally better than one made from petroleum. There are a lot of people on our planet, and our society is used to taking whatever it can from nature. However, as the world grows smaller and more polluted, it becomes increasingly clear that all we've thrown out or moved away from is coming back to haunt us. Ultimately, the best use of products is to use them sparingly, and when using a manufactured product to choose one which damages the environment as little as possible. Fortunately this is possible, with hemp and other "green" products and processes.
Conclusion
Is it more than a hope? Can we actually create a sustainable culture without giving up our telephones, our cars, our computers? Well, probably not. But each step we take as individuals to slow down global warming, provide safe shelter and preserve the resources we have helps us develop new ways of seeing things, new solutions to problems. With persistence and good luck, we can still be around to tell stories of it later.
As responsible members of an industrialized society, we wield enormous ability to make powerful choices. If we can step out of destructive cycles that we perpetuate and choose ways that are more respectful and in tune with the Earth, then we should. Choosing environmentally sustainable products is a small but significant step in the direction of wholeness and aliveness. Philosophically, making such small choices is empowering too, as it helps us take a step back from the petrochemical treadmill our society sprints around. As people who enjoy the Earth's ways and energies, we deserve to create a healthy and sustainable life for ourselves and for future generations.
Peter Spotts is a writer and musician who lives in Seattle.
References and bibliography
Hemp nutritional information:
Various, including Journal of the International Hemp Association, Hempworld, Industrial Hemp, TAPPI Journal and Pulp and Paper International.
General hemp information:
Various, including Crop Physiology of Fibre Hemp, Hemp Today and Hemp: Lifeline to the Future.
[Home Page | Other Articles in This Issue | FAQ | Local Resources]