HEMP MYTHS
& REALITIES
HEMP MYTHS
& REALITIES
Reality: It is true that many of the firsthemp stores were started by industrial-hemp advocates who were also in favorof legalizing marijuana. However, as the hemp industry has matured, it hascome to be dominated by those who see hemp as the agricultural and industrialcrop that it is, and see hemp legalization as a different issue than marijuanalegalization. In any case, should we oppose a very good idea simply becausesome of those who support it also support other ideas with which we disagree?
Myth: Hemp oil is a source of THC.
Reality: Hemp oil is an increasingly popularproduct, used for an expanding variety of purposes. The washed hemp seedcontains no THC at all. The tiny amounts of THC contained in industrialhemp are in the glands of the plant itself. Sometimes, in the manufacturingprocess, some THC- and CBD-containing resin sticks to the seed, resultingin traces of THC in the oil that is produced. The concentration of thesecannabinoids in the oil is infinitesimal. No one can get high from usinghemp oil.
Myth: Legalizing hemp would send the wrongmessage to children.
Reality: It is the current refusal of thedrug enforcement agencies to distinguish between an agricultural crop anda drug crop that is sending the wrong message to children.
Myth: Hemp is not economically viable, andshould therefore be outlawed.
Reality: The market for hemp products isgrowing rapidly. But even if it were not, when has a crop ever been outlawedsimply because government agencies thought it would be unprofitable to grow?
A Botanical and Biochemical Introduction
Hemp. Has there ever been a plant so fraught withconfusion and controversy? The word itself carries a confusing history."Hemp" was for medieval Europeans a generic term used to describeany fiber.With European expansion, fiber plants encountered during exploration werecommonly called "hemp"; Thus we have a bewildering variety ofplants that carry the name hemp: Manila hemp (abacá, Musatextilis), sisal hemp (Agave sisalana), Mauritius hemp (Furcraeagigantea), New Zealand hemp (Phormium tenax), Sunn hemp (Crotalariajuncea), Indian hemp (jute, Corchorus capsularis or C. clitorus),Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum), bow-string hemp (Sansevieriacylindrica).
This botanical confusion was compounded by theintroduction of a new word to describe hemp-marihuana (now commonly written"marijuana"). The word was first coined in the 1890s, but wasadopted by the Bureau of Narcotics in the 1930s to describe all forms ofCannabis and to this day U.S. drug enforcement agencies continueto call the plant marijuana without regard to botanical distinctions. Indeed,a recent conference held in Jefferson City, Missouri and sponsored by DrugWatch International and the Drug Enforcement Administration was entitled,"Marijuana: Myths, Concerns, Facts"-yet much of the discussionconcerned industrial hemp and the legal products made from it.
The conflation of the word "marijuana"and the word "hemp" has placed a heavy burden on public policymakers.Many believe that by legalizing hemp they are legalizing marijuana.Yet in more than two dozen other countries, governments have acceptedthe distinction between the two types of Cannabis and, while continuingto penalize the growing of marijuana, have legalized the growing of industrialhemp. The U.S. government remains unconvinced.
Conclusion
Hemp is making a comeback around the world. Whetherit will be a miracle crop, as some of its enthusiasts claim, or simply anotherimportant addition to world agriculture, is yet unknown. Much research anddevelopment remains to be done. Sadly, the drug enforcement agencies, bydisseminating false information, have created a mythology about Cannabissativa that ill serves the nation, its farmers, and its industry.
We are one of the few countries in the world thatcontinues to insist that we should outlaw a crop simply because one of itsbotanical cousins can be used inappropriately. Thomas Jefferson, who experimentedwith different hemp varieties and invented a brake for separating out thefiber from hemp, once wrote that the greatest contribution a person couldmake to his country would be to introduce a new crop. If Jefferson couldsee the roadblocks amassed against hemp today, how would he judge us?
Written by: David P. West, Ph.D., for the North American Industrial Hemp Council.
Post Office Box 259329, Madison, Wisconsin 53725-9329; Tel: (608) 224-5135;
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