Hemp & The Economy

Hemp's Role In Economic History

Hemp is regarded as probably being the first crop cultivated by humans, as early as 8,000 B.C. in the Middle East.
It provided the sails for ships that allowed commerce and made Columbus' trip to America possible (other fibers would have decayed somewhere in mid-Atlantic). Hemp replaced papyrus as the source of paper that fostered the spread of written knowledge. Hemp was the largest cash crop in the world until the late 19th century, when new technology began to replace it. But marijuana is again the largest cash crop in America; it generates almost four times as much revenue ($41.6 billion/yr) as does it's closest competitor, corn ($13.37 billion), according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
But this is only a small fraction of the potential revenue that will be generated when hemp again takes it's rightful place in the agricultural, textile, food, fuel, cordage, fabrication, pharmaceutical, paper and other affected businesses.
Currently, enforcement of the prohibition and eradication programs cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, has created a non-taxed black market of tens of billions of dollars and has increased the domestic marijuana crop, according to the DEA. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) estimated that there were 29 million regular users of marijuana and hashish in 1985 and 21 million in 1988. Most sources regard these federal figures as being low. However, even based on the low figures, it is clear that there is a lucrative market in smoking paraphernalia worth billions of dollars that is suppressed.

Hemp & Ecology

Hemp & Ecology

Hemp is a soil-building plant that is excellent in crop rotation and can be grown and harvested in 90 days. Hemp grows well, without herbicides, fungicides, or pesticides. Its strong roots control erosion and promotes weed eradication. In our current climate of deforestation and global warming, such sustainability gives Hemp a distinct advantage over products currently in many markets. Hemp is a hardworking, environmentally-sound renewable resource. People have become so wrapped up in ? the drug war" aspect of marijuana that many are forgetting Hemp?s uses as an industrial material and a healthy food source. Hemp is a great source for paper, fiber and, yes, even oil. By using clean- burning methanol fuel from Hemp, we could replace 50% of domestic oil, without tapping Alaska, offshore drilling or risking oil spills. During photosynthesis, the growth cycle of the plant removes 4 times as much C0 from the air as it puts in, so it helps clean the environment.

Use Hemp Seeds

Hemp Seeds

Hemp food is also utterly delicious. If you've never had hemp seed nuts before, you're in for a real treat. Hemp seed nuts combine the best qualities of pine nuts and cashews at a fraction of the price. Our organic hemp foods contain no THC, the psychoactive substance in marijuana (so you won't get high on them).
Hemp is the oldest food known to mankind. Hempseed oil contains 54.4% linoleic acid (Omega-6), 18.3% linolenic acid (Omega-3), 2-5% gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) and 1-2% stearidonic acid; and as such is one of only 4 oils to do so: hemp oil is also the most economical of the group.
Hemp's ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 fatty acids is about 4:1 which mirrors the primitive diet the human race evolved on for 2.5 million years. This ratio of fatty acids has been shown to be beneficial for the prevention of heart disease and cancer, especially omega 3 fatty acids.

Use Hemp Thai

Biodegradable industrial products.

Because hemp is rich in cellulose, research is being conducted into the use of hemp for the production of biodegradable plastic products. Plant based cellophane, recycled plastic mixed with hemp for injection-molded products, and resins made from hemp oil could one day be manufactured. BMW in an effort to make cars more recyclable, is using hemp materials in their automobiles. Hemp fibers are increasingly being used in industry as a substitute for fiberglass. The advantage of replacing fiberglass with hemp is that hemp is lighter, as strong or stronger, is biodegradable and is cheaper.
Biomass fuels. Hemp is a high yield fiber crop, producing more biomass per acre than most other crops. As a result, the hydrocarbons in hemp could be used as a renewable, low polluting alternative to fossil fuels that is non-polluting to our atmosphere. Hemp is excellent in producing alternative fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol. Hemp could be processed into fuel pellets, liquid fuels, and gas, reducing our consumption of fossil fuels and nuclear power. Both the seed and the fiber can be used, though the process varies depending on what you use.
Replacement for wood products. As a replacement for wood products, hemp offers many more environmentally friendly benefits. Hemp yields three to eight tons of fiber per acre, which is four times the yield of the average forest. Unlike wood, hemp is low in lignin, which means that hemp can be pulped using fewer chemicals. Many construction products now made out of wood could be made from hemp. Beams, studs, posts, oriented strand board, and medium density fiberboard made from hemp would be stronger and lighter because of hemp's long fibers. Washington State University produced hemp fiberboard that was found to be twice as strong as wood-based fiberboard. The replacement of wood fiber by hemp-based products can save forests for wildlife habitat, watersheds, recreational areas, oxygen production, and carbon removal, which reduces global warming.
Paper. Hemp paper is of the highest quality, resists decomposition, and does not yellow as it ages when an acid-free process is used. It is for these reasons that hemp paper is used in Europe for bibles. A sample of hemp paper has been found that is more than 1500 years old. Only around 1850 did paper from wood pulp start to replace hemp. Trees were cheap, but now they are rapidly getting depleted. Over a period of 20 years one hectare (ha) of hemp can produce as much paper as four hectares of forest. Japan still imports much of its wood pulp from tropical rainforests which are being destroyed at an alarming rate. Hemp paper can be recycled many more times than wood-based paper. Hemp's natural creamy color eliminates the need for chlorine bleach, which prevents the dumping of extremely toxic dioxin into streams. Instead, hemp can be bleached using gentler hydrogen peroxide.
Body Care Products. Hemp’s antimicrobial properties make it useful for cosmetics and body care products such as shampoos and hair conditioners, lotions, massage oils, salves, soaps, skin crèmes, sunscreen, and lip balm. The oil from hemp seeds has been known to cure dermatitis and other serious skin diseases.
Pet Foods. Hemp provides a healthy protein for pets from dogs and cats to cows and horses to all varieties of birds and chickens.
Detergents. The oil is also being made into a laundry detergent that biodegrades naturally in our water systems.
Art supplies. Hemp is an excellent archival material, for use in paintings and books. Most famous paintings are painted with hemp oil on hemp linen. In ancient China the art of making paper from hemp and mulberry bark was guarded as a state secret, but eventually the knowledge found its way to Japan and also to Europe via the Arabs. In 1390 the first European mill processing hemp rags into paper was founded. In 1455 Gutenberg printed the first printed book in Europe on hemp paper. Washi, a traditional Japanese paper, was made from hemp and mulberry fiber. Nowadays hemp is virtually unavailable for this purpose though a limited supply of hemp paper has been manufactured in Tochigi recently. Hemp and mulberry paper are also used for ritual strips of paper decorations used at Shinto shrines. Japan imported the recipe for paper making from China where most paper still contains hemp today.
Food products. A vast array of food products can be made from hemp seeds. They have exceptional nutritional value and are second only to soybeans as a source of complete vegetable protein. However, they are longer lasting and more digestible than soybeans. The main protein found in hempseed is edestin. Unlike soy, hemp doesn’t have to be cooked or fermented for it to be digestible.

Growing Hemp Thai

Growing Hemp Thai

Ecologically SensitiveHemp is a natural plant material that can be grown with little or no herbicides and pesticides, and little fertilizer. Therefore, in terms of the agricultural system it is more ecologically sensitive. Hemp, as a renewable resource from living plants hemp does not contribute to the greenhouse effect. The growing plants absorb as much CO2 as will later be released when oil or othe.

Botanical

Botanical Cannabis sativa

Habitat. In Britain, and formerly elsewhere, only Hemp grown in India was recognized as official, but the heavy tax has resulted in the admission by the United States of any active Cannabis sativa, whether grown in the States or in Africa, Turkey, Turkestan, Asia Minor, Italy, or Spain.

Description. The plant is an annual, the erect stems growing from 3 to 10 feet or more high, very slightly branched, having greyish-green hairs. The leaves are palmate, with five to seven leaflets (three on the upper leaves), numerous, on long thin petioles with acute stipules at the base, linear-lanceolate, tapering at both ends, the margins sharply serrate, smooth and dark green on the upper surface, lighter and downy on the under one. The small flowers are unisexual, the male having five almost separate, downy, pale yellowish segments, and the female a single, hairy, glandular, five-veined leaf enclosing the ovary in a sheath. The ovary is smooth, one-celled, with one hanging ovule and two long, hairy thread-like stigmas extending beyond the flower for more than its own length. The fruit is small, smooth, light brownish-grey in colour, and completely filled by the seed.
Hemp grows naturally in Persia, Northern India and Southern Siberia, and probably in China. It is largely cultivated in Central and Southern Russia. It is sometimes found as a weed in England, probably due to seeds from birdcages, as they are much used in feeding tame birds. The drug that is official in Europe comes from Bogra and Rajshabi, north of Calcutta, or sometimes from Guzerat and Madras. It is called Guaza by London merchants.
It is imported in parcels of small masses, with flowers, smaller leaves and a few ripe fruits pressed together by sticky, resinous matter. It is rough, brittle, dull-green in colour and almost tasteless, with a peculiar, slightly narcotic odour. It should be freed from resin by macerating in spirit and then soaking in water. The leaves are said to be picked off to form bhang, and the little shoots which follow these are used as above, and called ganja. It is exported from Bombay in wooden cases. Two-year-old ganja is almost inert, and the law requires it to be burnt in the presence of excise officers. In the Calcutta areas the short tops are rolled under foot instead of being trodden, the weight of the workers being supported by a horizontal bamboo pole. This variety is very active, and is usually re-exported from England to the West Indies.
Hemp is prepared in various forms. Ganja is smoked like tobacco. Bhang, sidhee, or subjee is the dried, larger leaves, broken or mixed with a few fruits. It is pounded with water to make a drink, and is the chief ingredient of the sweetmeat majun. Churrus or charas is the resin which exudes spontaneously from the leaves, tops and stems. A usual way of collecting it is for men in leathern garments to rush through the bushes, the resin being afterwards scraped off the clothes. In Nepal the plant is squeezed between the palms of the hands, and in Baluchistan the resin is separated by rubbing the dried plant carefully between carpets. This is the hashish, haschisch, or hashash of the Arabians, the word 'assassin' being said to be derived from it, owing to the wild, fanatical courage given by its use. In Persia the woollen carpets, after scraping, are washed with water, and the evaporated extract is sold cheaply. Another way is to collect the dust after stirring dry bhang, this impure form of resin being only used for smoking.

Ganjo-Ganja

Cannabis (Cán-na-bis) is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa subsp. indica L.,[1] Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa Lam.,[1] and Cannabis ruderalis Janisch. These three taxa are indigenous to central Asia and surrounding regions. Cannabis has long been used for fibre (hemp), for medicinal purposes, and as a psychoactive. Industrial hemp products are made from Cannabis plants selected to produce an abundance of fiber and minimal levels of THC (Δ9- tetrahydrocannabinol), one psychoactive molecule that produces the "high" associated with marijuana. The drug consists of dried flowers and leaves of plants selected to produce high levels of THC. Various extracts including hashish and hash oil are also produced.[2] The cultivation and possession of Cannabis for recreational use is outlawed in most countries.

Cannabis sativus,L.

Cannabis sativus

The following taxonomic treatment of Cannabis was published in 1976 by Ernest Small and Arthur Cronquist. Other taxonomic treatments of Cannabis are valid, and utilized by some botanists.

Cannabis
Cannabis sativa L.
C. sativa subsp. sativa
C. sativa subsp. sativa var. sativa
C. sativa subsp. sativa var. spontanea
C. sativa subsp. indica
C. sativa subsp. indica var. indica
C. sativa subsp. indica var. kafiristanica

Correct name : Cannabis sativa L. subsp. sativa var. sativa
This taxon includes hemp landraces and cultivars grown for fiber or seed production. Fiber strains are usually tall and unbranched. Seed strains are often shorter, and may be branched or unbranched. Some strains are monoecious. Plants of certified industrial hemp strains produce a relatively high ratio of CBD to THC (about 20:1), and are not suitable for drug use.

THC

Tetrahydrocannabinol

THC has mild to moderate analgesic effects, and medical cannabis can be used to treat pain. The mechanism for analgesic effects caused directly by THC or other cannabinoid agonists is not fully elucidated. Other effects include relaxation; euphoria; altered space-time perception; alteration of visual, auditory, and olfactory senses; disorientation; fatigue; and appetite stimulation. The mechanism for appetite stimulation in subjects is believed to result from activity in the gastro-hypothalamic axis. CB1 activity in the hunger centers in the hypothalamus increases the palatability of food when levels of a hunger hormone, ghrelin, increase as food enters the stomach. After chyme is passed into the duodenum, signaling hormones such as cholecystokinin and leptin are released, causing reduction in gastric emptying and transmission of satiety signals to the hypothalamus, respectively. Cannabinoid activity is reduced through the satiety signals induced by leptin release. It also has anti-emetic properties, and also may reduce aggression in certain subjects.
THC has an active metabolite, 11-Hydroxy-THC, which may also play a role in the analgesic and recreational effects of the herb.