Industrial Hemp can save the world

Even here on the shores of our own United States has hemp made an impact. Factories producing hemp rope and cloth sprung up throughout the Americas in the early 17th century. Hemp encouraged early recycling efforts, workers would collect old hemp clothing and ropes, then use the fibers to make paper. The hemp industry created such a stir that in many colonies, residents were forced to grow the crop. For instance, in 1640, the governor of CT passed a law requiring all colonists to grow hemp or face heavy fines (Roulac 32). Even our founding fathers advocated the growth of hemp. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were hemp farmers for many years. In fact, the first two drafts of the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper (Roulac 33).
             Hemp is a member of the cannabis family, and although closely related to marijuana, they are by no means the same plant. They do not look alike, and they definitely do not possess the same psychoactive properties. Hemp is planted very close together, the plants grow to heights between twelve and twenty feet. The plants are very woody with little or no leaves or flowers (learnmorehemp.html). Marijuana is planted sparsely, and grows to heights between five and eight feet. They are very bushy, with many leaves and flowers. More importantly however, is the difference in their chemical make up. Both hemp and marijuana contain molecules called canabinoids, these molecules are found only in members of the cannabis family. There are many of these molecules, but there are two that are considered to be the most important, CBD and THC. THC is a psychoactive element, it causes the "high" experienced when smoking marijuana. CBD is an anti-psychoactive element, and causes an opposite effect. Hemp is high in CBD and low in THC, whereas marijuana is low in CBD and high in THC (Roulac 8). It is virtually impossible to get high from smoking hemp. "It would take a joint the size of a telephone pole to feel any sort of effects from smoking hemp, and even then, it would probably be just a bad headache" (Herer).