this was my speech piece this season, it didnt win me much for awards, but i thought you guys would like it. and im sorry its so long, it had to be around 8 minutes long. What do you think of when you think of hemp? (Pause) I bet most of you thought of marijuana. Although they’re related, there are few similarities between the two plants. Hemp is NOT the same thing as its cousin marijuana. They are both different varieties of the cannabis sativa plant. Hemp is grown mainly for its stalk so it’s planted really close together and gets very tall, anywhere from 6-16 feet in 90 just days. Marijuana, on the other hand, is grown more spaced out, so the leaves have more room to grow. Marijuana has about 3 to 20% THC (which is the psychoactive substance) and industrial hemp has less then 1%. If anyone actually tried to smoke hemp, at best they would get a bad headache. The main reason why hemp is illegal is due to confusion with marijuana. Hemp is an incredible plant, which could improve the U.S. economy and environment. Hemp grows considerably well and without the need of chemicals. It’s been around for ages and the U.S. is the only major industrialized nation to prohibit the growing and processing of hemp. Today we will look at a brief history of hemp, its uses, its benefits, and the changes needed to make it legal. Let’s start with a brief look at the history. It first began when the U.S. government caught drug phobia. Originally, in the 1930’s Congress just wanted to illegalize marijuana. But they got such strict regulations, most hemp farmers just gave up trying to grow it. For a short while, when World War 2 started, lots of people began growing the crop again, to make ropes and other things needed for the war. So, the government started the “hemp for victory campaign”. In a United States Department of Agriculture film from 1942, they asked that 36,000 acres of seed to be planted that year, and said their goal for 1943 was for 50,000 acres of seed to be planted. But after the war it just kept getting harder and harder to grow it. There is no exact law that says you can’t grow hemp but it’s impossible to get the permits needed to be able to. Since the early 1990’s, many legitimate farmers and processors have applied to get permits to grow hemp. And to date the Drug Enforcement Administration has refused to grant permits to any applicants. Had these permits been issued, farmers would already be starting to turn crops into profits through some of the many uses for hemp. Hemp has the potential to be the world’s premier renewable resource for food and fiber. It has at least 50,000 known uses. Some of which include: diapers, soap, cement blocks, insulation, animal bedding, and varnishes among many other things. Every quality of paper can be made with it, and because the paper uses less bleach, it results in fewer chemical byproducts. The paper decomposes slower, does not yellow with age and is recyclable too. Hemp fiberboard has been produced which is twice as strong as wood-based fiberboard. And Hemp fiber is known for its resistance to rot. Fabrics made of it are more insulating, softer, stronger, more water absorbent and last much longer than cotton. Cotton alone uses almost half of the total 1,500 pounds of pesticides used annually in the U.S. (pause) Hemp can be woven as course as burlap, as sooth as silk, or as intricate as lace. Have I convinced you yet that hemp is the way to go? Well, another important use for hemp is for food. Not only can you use it but you can eat it also. The seed is very nutritious. The Hemp Industries Association says that it contains more essential fatty acids than any other source, is high in B-vitamins, is 35% dietary fiber, and second only to soybeans in complete protein. The many uses of hemp relate well to the many benefits of growing this crop. Dr. Lyster Dewey of the United States Department of Agriculture wrote: Hemp cultivated for the production of fiber, cut before the seeds are formed, and retted on the land where it has been grown, tends to improve rather than injure the soil. It improves its physical condition, destroys weeds, and does not exhaust its fertility. Kentucky farmers commonly grew hemp in the same fields ten to fifteen years in a row, with the last year being just as productive as the initial ones. Hemp could truly help restore our environment. It puts down deep roots that are good for the soil and stops soil erosion caused by wind and water. And like Dr. Lyster Dewey said, it tends to improve rather than hurt the soil. When land is being changed from chemical dependency to certified organic, hemp is an excellent crop to grow. It can actually extract the heavy metals from the soil. Researchers in Poland have demonstrated that by testing hemp on land made toxic from industrial heavy-metals pollution. And like other plants, it helps to lessen the greenhouse effect. Imagine one day in the future, you wake up in your lovely house with the floors, walls, roof, insulation and paint derived from hemp. You inch out of your big, soft bed made of hemp and the toasty warm hemp blankets that cover it. Then you shuffle out of your room on the plush hemp carpeting. As you stroll into the bathroom all your soaps, shampoos, conditioners and lotions are made from hemp. You wash your face, then dry it on a super absorbent hemp towel, and remember you need to buy some more hemp washcloths, while they’re on sale. Next stop is the kitchen. You pour yourself a glass of fresh, organic hemp milk, you spill a little, but not to worry, it’s easy to clean off the gorgeous hemp based linoleum floor you just had installed. You’ve got to be to work in a half hour so, you go to get dressed. Today you wear your trusty hemp jeans, favorite hemp shirt, hemp shoes and socks and to top it off, a fantastic hemp hat. Just as you go out the door, you realize you forgot you hemp wallet with all your money printed on hemp paper. You stop to take a quick look at the newspaper, which is printed with hemp ink on hemp recycled paper, and find out that the hemp farmers are having an excellent year. As you’re driving to work, you wave to a good friend, who is harvesting their hemp crop. You laugh to yourself at the thought that people were cutting down trees and were ruining the earth when all along they could have just been using hemp. (pause) Its crazy to think that you can grow tobacco, which according to the American Cancer Society’s website, of the total 160,440 people who died from lung cancer in 2004, nearly 90% of the deaths were caused by tobacco. Yet you can’t grow hemp, which has never hurt any one. And that it’s perfectly legal to grow poppies when you can make opium out of some varieties, kind of like hemp and marijuana. If we were to let farmers grow this crop, we could think of many more products, uses, and maybe even medicines and cures. After examining the bizarre history of hemp, its many uses, and its extraordinary environmental benefits, it’s hard to believe the U.S. government bans its growth. What can we do to change this? The best way you can help is to simply buy hemp products. If your favorite store doesn’t sell any urge them to do so, demand creates supply. You can also tell people you know the truth about it and spread the word. Most people don’t know much about this misunderstood plant, but you can help to inform them. And although you may not like the idea of writing to a congressperson they do listen and I bet most of them are as clueless as you were eight minutes ago. So write to them, and tell them just why this plant is so great and why American farmers should be able to grow it.
i want to be a hemp farmer. i almost bought land in canada 5 or 6 years ago to do it. instead i blew all the loot on VW parts. stupid hippies.
Do most people think hemp is marijuana? I know they are both in the Canibiceae family, but they are only cousins. I don't even know what there is to question here. Hemp is a renewable resource which has fibers stronger and longer-lasting than any other textile... thingy... ma... do. Well aside from all the good uses, the govt. should be encouraging the plant. They say that people are going to grow pot amongst the fields, but that is just blasphemous. Since hemp and marijuana cross pollinate, the resulting plant would have too low of a THC content to be worth anything.
actually, hemp and MJ are the same plant. exactly. the industrial hemp that is grown is bred to be minimal THC. but it is infact the same plant. actually the fibers from the MJ are alot longer and stronger, because the plant is so vigourous, where as the low THC bred plants are very weak.
We need to be able to grow this crop here in the U.S.A.! I am asking everyone to join together and sign a petition to legalize hemp. Our economy, environment and our health depends on it! Hemp, hemp, hooray!
You can get high from it by smoking twice your body weight in one sitting. Good luck. Originally, hemp and cannabis were the same thing. The male plants used as hemp, and the separated females harvested for the buds. Now they have bred specific breeds of Hemp for extra low THC content.
