By Meadow Clark
Is a hemp-fueled utopia only a pipe dream? Or could hemp legitimately save the planet?
Did you know that the hemp plant can be used for between 25,000 and 50,000 products? Not just today, either. Historically speaking, hemp was a lifesaver and it signaled the expansion of the world and even expansion of the mind.
However, the big businesses that influence every decision made in our country hate competition and have led the charge in a propaganda war against the plant. Corporatism strikes again!
Here’s the truth about hemp – and why Big Business doesn’t want you to know.
First – Hemp Cannot Get You High
Hemp and marijuana are two different plants! They are in the same family but are different plants. The only “euphoria” you can get from hemp is the giddy feeling you get when you dream of a world run on hemp and what a godsend this magical plant is.
But I promise that’s it. You would have to smoke 2,500 pounds to get high and, of course, that’s humanly impossible. It is only a calculated, 90-year smear campaign against cannabis that propagates such silliness. The restrictions in the U.S. make hemp seem otherworldly when in reality it was among the most ubiquitous materials in history.
Hemp is simply a variety of Cannabis sativa a.k.a. Indian hemp or industrial hemp. It is bred for industrial use. Marijuana (C. Sativa, C. Indica or C. Ruderalis) is a name for a strain of C. Sativa that has the frosty, flowering buds where all the resin (cannabin) hangs out. That’s where the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is, and that’s the stuff that gets you high. Both plants contain some THC, but believe me, “Puff the Magic Dragon” wasn’t code for hemp!
Both plants have cannabinoids and both have THC, but hemp is better known for its cannabinoids and that’s why it is used to make CBD oil (which doesn’t get you high).
Hemp’s Origins – in the World and U.S.
As far as written history goes, we owe hemp’s origins to Central Asia with their fiber cultivation as early as 2800 B.C., but there have been Chinese fibers discovered as old as 10,000 years. Hemp production found its way to the Mediterranean and Europe around 100 A.D. and blossomed in the middle ages. Later it was planted in Chile and came over to America with the Puritans – both in the ship and as ships’ sails – where it became a staple of the U.S. until about WW2. You may have heard that the Declaration of Independence was penned on hemp paper.
Unfortunately, industrial hemp agriculture became highly taxed in 1937 and pretty much eradicated industrial crops. You can read about the conspiracy to end hemp production in The Emperor Wears No Clothes, by Jack Herer. About 30 states have some laws allowing some cultivation of hemp but zero-tolerance THC regulation and pressure from the DEA makes it difficult to really fire up the economy with hemp.
How can Hemp Save the World?
Here are just a few ways that hemp can rock our world.
Food
Fuel, biofuel “hempoline”
Energy/Batteries
Housing
Plastics Alternative
Medicine
Clothing
Other textiles – canvas, bedding, carpet, shoes, furniture, etc…
Soil restoration
Paper, Packaging, Wrappers
Personal Care
Environmental – Radiation – Cleanup
Rotation & Cover Crops
Livestock/animal feed, Animal bedding
Rope and other tools, parts, etc.
Paint
Insulation
Agriculture & Horticulture – Weed control, Mulch
But those aren’t the only benefits of hemp.
Interesting,,,,,,,, A LOT MORE!!
http://www.theorganicprepper.com/truth-hemp/
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