Last Look

Hemp for Victory!

What a long strange trip it’s been. From being demonized to made illegal to the Controlled Substances Act to being removed, thanks to the 2018 omnibus Farm Bill, hemp made a stop along that journey during World War II as a poster child of the United States Department of Agriculture. In response to a shortage of hemp and other raw materials used for the war effort, “the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched its ‘Hemp for Victory’ program, encouraging farmers to plant hemp by giving out seeds and granting draft deferments to those who would stay home and grow hemp,” according to pbs. org. “By 1943 American farmers registered in the program harvested 375,000 acres of hemp.” The federal government defines hemp as “the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta- 9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.” Today, the USDA regulates the Hemp Production Program, and tribal and states governments may apply for approval. Learn more at pbs.org and norml.org. C S