There is a common misconception regarding hemp that I would like to clear up to start with. The cannabis family tree consists of two different branches: the first branch is marijuana, which has high concentrations of THC and is grown mainly for medicinal purposes. The second branch is hemp, which contains almost no traces of THC, cannot be smoked for an effect, and has a wide variety of industrial uses. Hemp has wide, practical implications as a sustainable resource and could affect almost every major industry.
One revolutionary use for hemp is turning it into bio-diesel. That's right, hemp can be used as a green fuel that can work is most diesel engines with a simple replacement of the fuel line. There are many advantages that could be had by a large scale shift to hemp fuel. Hemp is easy to grow and extremley resilient, allowing it to be grown in almost any climate. This means countries could refine their own fuel without having to rely on outside sources to provide for them. Also, burning hemp based bio-diesel does not create the hydrocarbons and sulfur-dioxide associated with the consumption of fossil fuels and it produces significantly less carbon-monoxide as well.
Another use of hemp that actually dates back thousands of years is the creation of clothing and various other textiles from its fibers. There are two main types of fibers in the hemp plant: the bast fibers and the hurds. The bast fibers are better suited for production and it's the need for those fibers that fueled much of the hemp industry before its prohibition. Hemp can be grown organically without the use of pesticides thanks to its natural resiliency, whereas cotton is an extremely destructive crop that, according to the hemp industries association, uses roughly 25% of the worlds pesticide stock yet only accounts for 3% of the worlds farmland. Furthermore, hemp has been found to actually improve the quality of the soil it is planted in, making it very effective for crop rotations.
