What The Heck Is All The Hype About Hemp
A person who studies or works with hemp might be inclined to say that hemp is a gift from Nature to us Humans. This article describes briefly what hemp has contributed to the development of society throughout the ages, how it was lost to religious based prohibition, and how hemp is coming back into the limelight to curb our toxic relience on petroleum products and help to establish a road back to sustainable societies, a road which we dramatically abandoned a mear 80 years ago.
hemp history, hemp prohibition, hemp vs mrijuana,

Brief Hemp History
Hemp and marijuana are derived from the same plant Cannabis sativa L., which is a weed, but a truly amazing weed, indeed! What makes cannabis so amazing? Well it's Mother Natures most useful plant for us humans. In ancient times, and when we say ancient we mean 8000BCE in Eurasia, hemp was instrumental in the development of early civilization and the science of farming and selective breeding.
Consequently people across the Eurasian continent ate hemp, wore hemp, slept on hemp, medicated with hemp, then mixed hemp fiber with clay to make strong huts, ovens, and pottery; then to make rope, clothing, canvas tarps and sails and eventually even paper.....and eventually they used the cannabis/hemp flower resin for medicinal purposes and spiritual practices.
While cannabis/hemp is not native to the Americas, it came over early in the 16th century with Spanish explorers and quickly spread throughout colonial European settlements where cannabis/hemp became a staple crop and source material for food, oil, and fiber to make many products such as hemp flower for medicinal pharmacopeia; hemp fiber for rope, tarps, sails, clothing, paper; hemp seeds for food & feed; land hemp oil for skin care, varnish and paint, , etc..
Prohibition



Hemp VS Marijuana
The difference between cannabis-hemp and cannabis-marijuana is simply the difference in the selective breeding of cannabis over 1000's of years where hemp was breed for it's fiber and seed production, and marijuana was breed for it's narcotic flowers effects. The early cultivation of hemp and the selective breeding processes that followed were among the first forms of human science. As the cultivation and breeding improved, so did the prospects for organized civilization and ancient cities, as opposed to nomadic tribal movements across the land.
Man's Best Friend
You could say that cannabis is man's-best-friend. Ok, while dogs are indeed incredibly faithful, cannabis has been providing humans with the basic necessities of life for 1000's of years. In parts of Asia, where hemp is native, hemp use dates back to pre-civilization where nomadic tribes on the Eurasian steeps traded hemp for other commodities, which led to the beginning of the silk road, the ancient trade routes running the breadth and width of the European continent.
Cannabis, both hemp and marijuana, was one of the fundamental commodities that began human trade and agricultural practices that led to the formation of human civilization.
Hemp Today
Thank goodness....."Prohibition is Over"! Hemp is as useful to us humans today as it has been for 1000's of years.....and some could argue, even more useful as humanity struggles with the climate and plastic pollution crisis brought to us by 75 years of oil and gas economic domination.
Today Hemp is back in production across Europe and North America and local industries are beginning to pop up once again. However, building a new industry from scratch is no small undertaking
fiber still provides strong rope, warm clothing, hempcrete for home construction, a binder for concrete, canvas for tarps; hemp seeds provide an abundant super-food being one of the most nutritious food sources for humans; hemp seed oil provides omega nutrition, is amazing for skin care, is a powerful wood preservative and a natural base for paint; cannabis-hemp flower resin, such as CBD, is a powerful medicinal remedy for many human illnesses and diseases, and cannabis-marijuana is also a medicinal remedy and is still used by many people for spiritual and non-addictive recreational narcotics.
There are four raw constituent parts to hemp and all four parts have great economic value by producing different types of highly valued, eco-friendly products:
1. Hempfiber - rope, twine, clothing, tarps, insulation, wall panels, walls, bio-fiber glass, bio-fiber plastic, canvas tarps, shoes, acoustic panels, ceiling panels, bio-fuel and much more.
2. Hempseed - nutritional food products, pure protein, omegas, digestive fiber and minerals, skin care, soap, wood varnish, paint, bio-diesel.
3. Hempcbd resin - Medicinal cannabinoids, CBG, CBD, CBN, CBC terpenes & flavonoids.
4. Hemproot - soil rebuilder storing tons of carbon in the soil; medicinal compounds.
From these four raw constituent parts, there is a world of earth-friendly products, which are good for people and amazing for the planet. All hemp products are either carbon-neutral or carbon negative, which means that they don't cause climate change, and many products, like hempcrete and hemp panels, store carbon and aid in the battle against climate change by removing carbon from the atmosphere.
Conclusion
Hemp can produce 1000's of safe, green, earth-friendly and biodegradable products. There is just to many to list; and new research and technology are adding new hemp bio-products to the list every day.
These are all products that cause no environmental damage, products that you can feel good about using, and good about tossing in the compost; not the waste/pollution bin.
Hemp also regenerates depleted soil, stores tones and tones of carbon, can remove toxic heavy metals from soil, has amazing health and skin beneficial properties that are not toxic and contains no GMO.
In fact, one could say that hemp prohibition of the last 75 years is a major cause of our present global crisis. Hemp is one of the most practical, solutions.
While we can never get away from many specialized plastic products, we have to get back to bio-products for most of our everyday stuff and only use plastic for specialty products that can't be produced by hemp. Then we must recall all plastic that is produced and not allow it to get into the environment.
Hemp is essential in recreating the sustainable societies of the past. There is simply no other natural alternative to everything created by plastic. While plastic is the most practical and cheapest industrial source material for making anything, it is simply not sustainable. So, if we can make a product out of hemp that is recyclable and compostable, then we must do so.