America’s Illegal Natural Resource: Hemp

Last semester, Students for Sensible Drug Policy plastered campus with educational posters on a variety of topics, such as the War on Drugs, prison reform, marijuana prohibition and Dickinson’s drug policy. These posters were unique in that they were made from 60% recycled material and 40% hemp, a variant of the Cannabis plant whose fiber and seeds have many industrial uses. The purpose of using hemp paper was to highlight one of the more overlooked negative by-products of marijuana prohibition; the loss of hemp as a resource.

Currently, growing hemp is illegal in the United States because of its botanical relationship to the marijuana plant, even though most hemp plants do not contain the psychoactive chemical THC that is needed to get high. This has forced American businesses to avoid hemp as a resource even as demand for the products it can produce is increasing. The continued ignorance of US policy makers to ignore hemp as a natural resource solely for its association with marijuana is not only hurting America’s production industries, but is causing environmental damage by promoting the over-use of timber and other natural resources.

The hemp plant can be used for an astonishing number of products. Hemp seeds can be eaten raw, prepared as tea, grounded into food, or used in baking. Seeds are a high source of both protein and essential fatty acids, making them highly nutritious. Hemp fiber has been widely used throughout history as a material for making ropes, fabrics, textiles, clothing, and insulation. Biofuels can be made from the oils in hemp seeds and stocks, creating a product known as “hempoline” that was commonly used in the late 19th century for oil lamps. Hemp has been cultivated as a paper product for over 2000 years, and while hemp has never been used as commercial high-volume paper production in modern times, it has been speculated that using hemp with other recycled materials could produce a high yield of paper products for an astonishing low price, reducing the need for timber as a source for paper.

Not only can hemp be used for a number of products, its’ environmental benefits are numerous. Hemp grows in a variety of climates and soils, making it just as easy to grow in Iowa as in Arkansas. It can grow it tight places and is naturally resistant to most pests. Hemp can be cultivated in less time that cotton and is a high-yield crop that can be re-grown in the same soil annually. By all accounts, it is a much more sustainable product than ether cotton, timber, or any of the other substitutes for hemp.

American policy makers have not always been ignorant to the benefits of hemp as a natural resource. In fact, throughout the mid-1800s, hemp was the second most profitable cash crop in the South behind cotton. Until the 1930s, hemp was grown and cultivated throughout the country, being used in all the products listed earlier.

However, industrial leaders in the timber industry, such as William Randolph Hearst, sought to eliminate hemp as a rival product by launching a smear campaign against the plant, associating it with marijuana. After WWII, hemp prohibition became the focus of industrialists looking to monopolize their own resources. The nail in the coffin came when hemp was declared a controlled substance in 1970.

Throughout the 20th century, policy makers have refused to reconsider the legalization of hemp out of fear of being labeled as soft on drugs. However, the time may be right for America to once again begin utilizing hemp. Over the last decade, there has been increased interest in hemp products by American consumers. Millions of dollars worth of hemp products are being imported overseas from countries such as China and Australia that have regularly been using hemp for centuries.

Combined with the increasing public support for marijuana legalization, the time is now for a group of bold US policy makers to push for legalizing hemp production and cultivation. Not only is it the right move for US businesses, but it is a necessary step in the fight for a more sustainable American production industry.