Perhaps one of the misconceptions stalling the legalization of hemp is that it is often portrayed as some sort of hippie thing that came about during the 1967 “Summer of Love.” Maybe the misconception also is because some of those working at the forefront of the hemp legalization movement appear as if they haven’t taken a shower since Woodstock. But hemp was not discovered during an acid trip in Golden Gate Park in the 1960s, or during any of the several decades before that.
“Archeologists report that cannabis was one of the first plants cultivated by humans – about 8000 BC [Columbia University History of the World, 1972]. Its fiber was used for rope, paper, sails, and garments. It was used as a medicine in China by 2700 BC [U.S. Department of Agriculture Yearbook, 1913, with studies by botonist Lyster H. Dewey]. It [the psychoactive version] was smoked in India by 1400 BC [Atharaveda].”
– Family Council on Drug Awareness, 2006; FCDA.org
“The earliest known woven fabric was apparently of hemp which began to be worked in the eighth millennium (8000-7000) B.C. ”
– The Columbia History of the World, 1981; page 54
“Hemp is among the oldest industries on the planet, going back more than 10,000 years to the beginning of pottery. The oldest relic of human industry is a bit of hemp fabric dating back to approximately 8,000 B.C.”
Hemp has been around a long, long time as a plant that provides food, fabric, oil, and shelter, and as a soil enhancer because it improves soil nutrients. Its roots also filter, decontaminate, and purify soil and water.
“A number of studies have identified industrial hemp as a top candidate in bioremediation, especially phytoextraction of heavy metals from industrially contaminated soils. Hemp has been used to process greywater in Australia, extensively tested in Europe for the removal of heavy metals from soil, including cadmium, lead, copper, zinc, and nickel often associated with mining, used for the cleanup of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at a site in Hawaii, and cultivated on radionuclide-contaminated soils at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor site. Although industrial hemp is not considered a ‘hyperaccumulator’ of heavy metals, many researchers believe it has strong potential for use in phytoremediation because it is highly adaptable to conditions throughout the world, even moderately polluted soils, and is comparable or better in phytoremediation applications than many plants of equal economic value.”
– March 2008 Reason Foundation Study on Hemp, Illegally Green: Environmental Costs of Hemp Prohibition. Policy Study 367, by Skaidra Smith-Heisters
From the roots to the leaves at the crest of the hemp plant, all parts of the plant can be used for the benefit of humans. Only the absurdities spread by those who work against it, and who would have something to lose if it became legal, prevent it from being recognized as a plant that can greatly benefit modern society.
“Industrial hemp’s history is rich in advancements of civilization and exploration. It was utilized for weaving in Greece centuries before the time of Christ, and was harvested in most of Europe during the Middle Ages.
Colonists brought hemp seed with them to America and it was extensively grown for ‘homespun’ cloth and for the ropes and ‘caulk’ (oakum) that kept Yankee bottoms [ships] plying the seas.”
– EarthRunnings.com
Hemp has been grown and used throughout the world for centuries. It has been an essential crop providing the raw materials to make everything from fabric and paper to building materials, rope, sails, food, oil, and fuel. Because hemp was needed for sails and rope, wars have been fought over hemp. Napoleon’s alliance with the Russian czar resulted in Great Britain being cut off from its access to Russian hemp, which was one of the driving forces behind the War of 1812 (more about this later in the book).
Years before, Italy had a hemp industry in the 10th century that created many of the sails and much of the cordage used on ships that sailed the trade routes of Europe. At that time, an entire hemp fabric and rope industry was established in the Venetian Republic.
Triangular sails had been created by Arabs. Venetian sail makers improved on this design, opening up the potential for boats to travel long distances. These hemp sails were used on boats that brought European explorers across the oceans. Hemp was so important that it was one of the first crops grown by European settlers in what became the U.S.
The Dutch built windmills that used hemp fabric. The mills processed hemp materials into various hemp products, including sails. At one point the Dutch were processing and using more hemp than they could grow and they began importing hemp from other parts of Europe.
Under King Henry VIII, Britain built its first navy using boats featuring hemp sails and hemp rope. These materials had to be replaced every year or so, which meant a constant supply of hemp was needed. In 1533 Henry imposed a fine on farmers who refused to dedicate part of their land to growing hemp or flax.
As more countries built their navy fleets, developed trade routes using ships with hemp sales and rigging, and increased their need for paper and clothing, the need for hemp increased.
Russia became the European leader in hemp production. Russian also had the landmass available to grow abundant hemp crops. Britain and the Dutch were not so lucky with their landscape, and they largely relied on imported hemp. But the Dutch, Britain, and France were turning west for hemp, across the Atlantic to the New World where they had established colonies in what became the U.S. and Canada.
In the 1600s, the Dutch had established New Amsterdam.
By 1610, thousands of British citizens were migrating to the Jamestown colony.
How important was hemp to the British government? In 1663, England’s Parliament created a law allowing hemp laborers escaping persecution in Europe to be granted the same rights as British-born citizens, if they were to live in England or Wales, and 1) took the oath of allegiance to become a subject of the monarchy, and 2) established a business in the hemp industry.
On December 21, 1620 the so-called “pilgrims” landed at Plymouth Rock. Less than half of them were seeking religious freedom, and the rest of them had other reasons for leaving England. None of them knew the term “pilgrim,” which was a label they were given many years after they had died. And all of them were ill-equipped for a cold, wet winter in their new land. It appears that they survived by stealing from the local native communities, who may or may not have taught them how to grow their own food, which today has resulted in the mythological “Thanksgiving” holiday.
In 1663, the British had established their Carolina colony.
In 1665 King Charles II sent British troops into New Amsterdam and seized it from the Dutch. It was then named New York, in honor of the brother of the king, James, the Duge of York, who was to become the king. In 1673 the Dutch recaptured New York, but then ceded it back to Britain in 1674.
In 1681, England established a colony in Pennsylvania. In 1682, they established a colony in Delaware. These colonies mostly consisted of farmland, and they became sources of hemp that was exported to and needed by England.
So important was hemp to the colonial governments that the colonies in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Maryland allowed farmers to pay one-fourth of their taxes in raw hemp, or course this brought them to increase their hemp cultivation.
England’s reliance on American-grown hemp was so strong that the colonies were forbidden from creating their own products from it. The monarchy did not want America to become industrialized, which was one way of preventing America from becoming independent.
Shades of independence were already taking place. The colonists had access to plentiful amounts of everything they needed to become independent. With the hemp, they began to make their own fabric and rope. With the abundant forests, they were able to build their homes, and to manufacture furniture, cabinetry, and farm equipment. Horses and other farm animals were easy to breed. Land that could be farmed was also plentiful.
It was evident that America was becoming a continent less dependant on England and Europe. This especially became more evident in 1629. That was the year that the Massachusetts Bay Company in the Plymouth colony started the continent’s first industrial shipbuilding dock, which used domestic lumber, and the labor of some of those “pilgrims” who landed at Plymouth in 1620. The ships needed sails, rope, and caulking, which were all made from hemp fiber and resin. The need for inexpensive clothing, rope, sails, and also for hemp seed oil for food, fuel, and wood preservative increased the importance of a domestic hemp industry. Hemp stalks were also used for insulating the homes. It is clear that hemp became the most important American crop, and perhaps the easiest crop to grow. Much to England’s chagrin, America’s textile industry was growing, and it was happening with the use of hemp. America’s shipbuilding industry was growing, and it was doing so with the use of hemp. America’s newspaper industry was growing, and it was doing so on hemp paper. America’s colonists were becoming more independent, and they were improving their living conditions to levels higher than those of many areas of England and Europe, and they were doing so with hemp.
In 1705, the British government passed the Trade Act. This Act established law that the American colonies could only export hemp to British ports. England needed the hemp for their expanding Naval ships. Britain was in a continual battle with French forces, until defeating them in 1763. In 1690, British forces took control Ireland, which necessitated constant naval patrols and government presence. Britain was also in nonstop military strategies against the Dutch, French, and Portuguese for control of India, which they finally took control of in 1760. The British trade ships needed mass quantities of hemp for their own sails, rope, and caulking, and hemp seed oil for fuel, food, and wood preservative. Hemp seeds were also used as food on the ships to make mush and bread, and alcohol was common because it could be kept in jugs longer than water, which tended to grow bacteria when it was kept in jugs (not that they understood bacteria back then – but they did know that dirty water made them sick).
Many of the British naval troops were from America, and many of the trade ships employed those who were American colonists. This was a double-edged situation. The American colonists in the British military services were learning how to run the military, and American colonists working on trade ships were learning how to do international business.
Word was spreading that America was a good place to live. America was free of war, had land, forests, farms, docks, and several different growing industries, including a hemp industry.
By 1720, the textile industry in America was growing more industrialized. By this time there had been a number of Irish immigrant textile workers setting up shops in Massachusetts, and they were turning out fabrics made from wool and hemp.
In 1733, when British established a colony in Georgia, the founder, James Oglethorp, wrote, “It is proposed the families there settled shall plant hemp and flax to be sent unmanufactured to England, whereby in time much ready money will be saves in this Kingdom, which now goes out to other countries for the purchase of these goods, and they will also be able to supply us with a great deal of good timber. Tis possible too they may raise white mulberry trees and send us good raw silk. But at the worst they will be able to live there, and defend that country from the insults of their neighbors, and London will be maintaining a number of families which being let out of jail have at present no visible way to subsist.”
So, it is easy to understand that one way England relieved itself of a dependency on Russian hemp was that it established colonies in America that grew hemp that was sent to England.
Hemp grew so well in North America that it was considered to be of the best quality. The original colonies of what was to become the U.S. enacted laws requiring its citizens to grow a certain number of acres of hemp based on the population of each colony. This helped establish an export industry. As each country increased its navy fleets and trade routes, they required even more hemp for fabric and rope to provide a continual supply for ships needing to replace their aging sails and rigging.
“Used in sails, rigging, canvas, and ropes, hemp was so essential to industry and, in particular, the maintenance of the Navy and shipping fleet in 1776, that in ‘Common Sense’ Thomas Paine cited the fact that ‘hemp flourishes even to rankness’ first among the fledgling nation’s assets in the fight for independence.”
– March 2008 Reason Foundation Study on Hemp, Illegally Green: Environmental Costs of Hemp Prohibition. Policy Study 367, by Skaidra Smith-Heisters
Until the late eighteenth-century the hemp industry flourished in the U.S. It was once second to cotton as America’s largest cash crop. While the use of cotton for fabric increased after Eli Whitney designed the first patented and workable cotton gin (engine) in 1793, cotton could not replace hemp as a stronger material for industrial uses, including sails, rope, and wagon covers. Hemp also produces more seed oil per acre than cotton, and it remained popular because it could be grown in all regions of North America, whereas cotton grows in warmer climates. In the northern states, cotton was imported and was cheaper than hemp. But, because of its many uses and durability, hemp was more desirable than cotton.
Cotton was the king crop of the south because slaves (cheap labor) were used to farm it. After the cotton gin became a popular tool, the cotton industry flourished, and so did the fortunes of the slave owners. The spread of the cotton industry in the South also resulted in the 1820 Indian Removal Act, which tragically gave permission to force five Indigenous nations from their lands, and made them move to unknown lands in the west – a trek that killed many of them.
The hemp industry was impacted after slavery ended. This is because many slaves were used to farm and process hemp. Since there had not been a machine invented to process hemp in a way that the cotton gin was used to process cotton, the hemp industry faltered while cotton grew in popularity.
The hemp industry basically ended after 1937, when confusing and controversial laws went into effect overtaxing both marijuana and hemp (more on this later in the book).
Some of the first airplanes included the use of hemp fabric stretched over their frames. The military used parachutes made of hemp. For the first decades of their use, military airplanes often were lubricated using hemp oil.
Fire hoses used on military ships and bases have been made with an encasement of woven hemp fabric. Hemp was also used for military uniforms, hats, boots, shoelaces, and tents.
“It will displace imports of raw material and manufactured products produced by underpaid coolie and peasant labor and it will provide thousands of jobs for American workers throughout the land.
… It is used to produce more than 5,000 textile products, ranging from rope to fine laces, and the woody ‘hurds’ remaining after the fiber has been removed contain more than 77 percent cellulose, and can be used to produce more than 25,000 products, ranging from dynamite to cellophane.”
– Billion Dollar Crop: Popular Mechanics magazine, February 1938. This article had been printed in 1937, but wasn’t distributed until the next year, after the U.S. government had all but killed the hemp farming industry with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. In 1974 a writer named Jack Frazier wrote about this article in his Hemp Paper Reconsidered, published in the Ecologist. Jack Herer also brought this article to light in his 1985 book The Emperor Wears No Clothes. The article largely was based on information written in an October 12, 1937, letter from H.W. Bellrose, president of the World Fibre Corporation to Elizabeth Bass, district supervisor of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.
“Hemp offers significant benefits for the economic and environmental sustainability of our planet. Hemp can be grown organically and aids in weed suppression and soil improvement. Hemp can replace problematic and rare resources. The fiber is strong and features absorption and insulation qualities. The seed and oil are highly nutritious for our health.”
– HempIndustries.org
“Hemp fiber, blended with everything from tencel to organic cotton, can be used to create textiles as diverse as terrycloth, flannel, and luxurious satin brocades. Hemp fiber offers greater durability and breathability than cotton, which [cotton farming] accounts for 25 percent of the pesticides sprayed on the world’s crops. Hemp-based textile products on the market include apparel and accessories such as T-shirts, pants, dresses, baby clothes, bathrobes, and shoes; housewares such as blankets, shower curtains, and rugs; and sundries such as hammocks and pet supplies.”
– HempIndustries.org
“In 1989, a number of entrepreneurs took interest in hemp and began to manufacture products [out of hemp]. The growth rate has been so phenomenal that the newly re-emerging hemp industry has doubled in size every year since. The early hemp companies soon realized that they had a political and economical interest in joining forces. In late 1994, one hundred hemp importers, manufacturers, merchants and researchers met in Arizona. They formed the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) to promote the use of and protect the integrity of hemp.”
– HempIndustries.org
First, it will provide those who wish to build houses using natural materials from the growing ecologically minded market a quantifiable and economic way to do so using what is becoming known as the ‘hemp building system.’
Second, the potential for growth in the production of hemp as a result of hemp building being taken up in many countries around the world could be enormous. Certainly no other use is likely to produce such an increase in demand for hemp in the near future.”
– Steve Allin, author of Building with Hemp, in correspondence with the author; September 2006
“Industrial hemp is not pot. There simply is no sensible argument that validates the long-held misidentification of Cannabis sativa (the plant that has produced hemp fiber for thousands of years) as marijuana (Cannabis indica).
Industrial hemp is not the profit-driven, behind-closed-doors-dealing, earth-polluting business that has long been cotton’s, paper/pulp’s and polyesters’ method of production – a method that has produced more waste and irreversible environmental damage during the first-century of their mass production compared to millennia of hemp production.”
– EarthRunnings.com