Hemp: It's So Much More Than You Think

BY JESSE SINGER

IT WON’T GET YOU HIGH

I figure we should get this part out of the way right off the bat. Because not only is it a fact many people don’t understand, but it will also help make you that much more frustrated with all the strict laws and lack of hemp usage we discuss later on.

Yes, hemp is derived from the Cannabis Sativa species. Yes, it contains the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). However, the hemp strain contains much lower levels of THC and higher levels of cannabidiol (CBD) - which all but eliminates any psychoactive effects.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF HEMP

If I told you the history of hemp dates back 100 years, would you be surprised? What about 1000 years? If I told you 2000 years would you give me a disbelieving look and ask me what I was smoking? Well, hold on to your hats (hemp, or otherwise) because the truth is that the history of hemp dates back about 10,000 years to around 8000 BCE when people in - what today is Taiwan and China - used it for pottery, food, and even natural hemp-based medicines.

Hemp rope has also been discovered in Russia, Britain, and Greece from hundreds of years BCE, and archaeologists found a jar of hemp seeds and leaves in Berlin, Germany from around 500 BCE. It was also around that time - 700 BCE to 900 - that the Chinese and the Arabs built mills and started making hemp paper.

As an interesting twist on all the legal hurdles set up to make growing hemp difficult, in 1533, King Henry VIII of England fined farmers if they didn’t grow it! In the 1700s, there were also laws enacted in some American colonies requiring their farmers to produce the plant.

Things began turning against hemp in 1937, with the introduction of The Marijuana Tax Act, which placed a tax on all cannabis sales. Hemp, of course, got lumped in with it. While WWII brought a surge in hemp farming and production as the United States Army pushed the “Hemp For Victory” campaign, by the end of the 1950s, the last hemp fields had been planted.

Jump to 1970 and the initiation of The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act and the classification of hemp as an illegal Schedule 1 drug. Its inclusion in this law is both ridiculous and uber-frustrating. As the 20th Century comes to an end, and we begin the 21st, people in power are finally coming to their senses.

In 1998, industrial hemp was legalised in Canada, and that same year, the United States began importing hemp seed and hemp oil. Then in 2004, a court decision in the U.S. protected the sale of hemp foods and body care products. In 2007, two farmers in North Dakota were issued the first hemp licenses in over 50 years.

In 2018, President Trump signed into law an amendment to the “Farm Bill” that finally removed the hemp plant from the Controlled Substances Act!

HEMP! WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?

Unlike “war,” hemp is good for absolutely everything. Say it again! It’s no wonder it was such an essential crop before it got caught up in all the hard-handed anti-drug legislation of the last eight decades.

First off, there’s paper. For the younger generation, paper is a physical representation of the note app on your phone and the blank document on your laptop. While most paper is made from trees, hemp paper actually lasts hundreds of years without degrading. It can be recycled more times than tree-paper can, and the manufacturing process requires less toxic chemicals. Also, it only takes about 120 days for hemp to be ready for harvesting - as opposed to the years it takes for trees to reach that point. Add to that the fact that it takes 2-4 acres of trees to produce what you can get from just one acre of hemp. And I’m talking about all paper products: cardboard, tissues, etc.

You don’t have to be Woody Harrelson to know that hemp is also better than cotton. Not only is it stronger and softer, but it lasts longer than cotton and is resistant to mildew. Hemp production requires no pesticides or herbicides and can tolerate frost - two things that can’t be said about cotton. Almost half of all the pesticides/herbicides used worldwide are in cotton production. Hemp also requires less water than its white, fluffy counterpart.

As far as food goes, it’s common knowledge that hemp seeds are good for you. But did you also know that hemp seed protein can be used to produce anything currently made with soybean protein? Tofu, cheese, veggie burgers, milk, ice cream; many people are trying to avoid soy these days for various reasons, so this would be another great alternative.

Hemp can also be converted into ethanol fuel - just like corn can. But hemp has an advantage over corn in that it produces more biomass and can be grown in a variety of locations and climates. Not only can it be used to one day fuel our cars, but it might also even be used to build our vehicles as well (or at least parts of them). In 1942, Henry Ford used hemp fibres to construct an experimental car body. Supposedly, the fibres are ten times stronger than steel.

And we haven’t even really talked about CBD yet…

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CBD

While CBD doesn’t date back 10,000 years like hemp, it does go back farther than many might expect. In 1940, chemist Roger Adams became the first person to extract CBD from the Cannabis Sativa plant successfully. At the time, he didn’t know what he had done. But years later, when he, and others, realised what it meant, the research into the potential benefits of CBD really got started.

Six years later, tests on animals proved that CBD doesn’t cause an altered mental state. Also, in 1946, Dr Raphael Mechoulam identified the three-dimensional structure of CBD - which is why you might have heard his name credited with the discovery of CBD.

Research continued over the next decades, and in the 1960s, some British pharmacologists released the first CBD oil for therapeutic use. Then in 1980, Dr Mechoulam discovered that CBD could help treat epilepsy.

CBD USE TODAY

A Gallup poll conducted last year in the United States found that 14% of Americans said they used some CBD products. When asked if they use CBD products, the rest of the population broke down as such: 50% said no, 35% weren’t at all familiar with CBD products and the remaining 1% or so had no opinion.

As one might expect, CBD use is higher with the younger folks: 20% in the 18-29 age range and only 8% with the over 65 crowd. Also, by far the highest percentage of use was for pain relief (40%). The next highest use-cases were: anxiety (20%), sleep/insomnia (11%), arthritis (8%) and migraines/headaches and stress (both at 5%).

HEMP vs CBD

It seems like everyone and their mother is making predictions on the market value of hemp and CBD, so the numbers vary depending on who you ask. However, some of the numbers I researched predict the industrial hemp market will reach around $15 billion by 2027, and the CBD market will smash the $20 billion mark by 2024.

I don’t think it will surprise anyone to read that the CBD market is bigger than the market for industrial hemp. I mean, it’s purely anecdotal, but I see and hear about CBD products quite a bit. However, I’m not filling up my car with hemp fuel, and it feels like hemp apparel is still a pretty niche market at this point.

Although it was a major industry crop all those years ago, the new laws allowing for its current resurrection still mean that it is a relatively new industry.

And while it is finally legal, the stigma hasn’t completely gone away. Hemp clothing isn’t just for hippies anymore. Still, it will take some time before the idea of hemp clothes and other products have mainstream recognition, understanding, and appreciation to make the plant a ubiquitous part of our lives.

As for CBD, the value is much more apparent and recognisable and comes with legit health benefits that can’t be denied. The celebrity endorsements of cannabidiol are impressive as well. From Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Anniston, and Tom Hanks to big-time athletes like U.S. women’s soccer star Megan Rapino and former New England Patriot tight end Rob Gronkowski.

The stigma hasn’t wholly left CBD either, and for some, it will always be viewed negatively as an illegal drug. However, the numbers don’t lie, and all signs point to continued growth for both industrial hemp and CBD, which is good for the planet and the people living on it.