Industrial Hemp Essay -- essays research papers

Hemp is the longest, strongest most durable natural fiber known to mankind and has been used for over twelve thousand years. Hemp can be grown in four months, is drought resistant and does not require herbicides or pesticides. The hemp plant is harvested for its fibers, seed, seed-meal and seed oil. Hemp is a distinct variety of the plant species cannabis sativa L. Due to the similar leaf shape; hemp is frequently confused with marijuana. Although both plants are from the species cannabis, hemp contains virtually no THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the active ingredient in marijuana. Hemp cannot be used as a drug because it produces virtually no THC (less than one percent), where marijuana produces between five to twenty percent THC. Hemp is among the earth's primary renewable resources. Trees cut down to make paper take fifty to five-hundred years to grow back while hemp can be cultivated in as little as one-hundred days, and can yield four times more paper over a twenty year period. Hemp also does not require pesticides, while half the pollutants in the U.S. today are sprayed on cotton plants, hemp is naturally mildew resistant, requires no pesticides, and maintains a healthy environment for the surrounding streams, air, flora and fauna. Hemp slows ozone depletion: the industrial use of fossil fuels, like petroleum, contributes to global warming by rapidly increasing the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere; however, hemp fuels, derived from the plant itself, maintain the e...