Industrial Hemp Benefits

The plant hemp is illegal in the United States and has been since 1970 due to Congress passing the Controlled Substances Act, which makes growing hemp illegal without a DEA permit (Mass). Usage of hemp is among the oldest industries on the planet, dating back more than 10,000 years. The Columbia History of World states that the oldest relic of human industry is a bit of hemp fabric dating back to approximately 8,000 BC (Mass). The oldest paper came from China, made from a mixture of flax and hemp (Wilson). Not only is hemp one of the most productive plants known to man it can create upwards of 25,000 applications (Priensitz). Even our country’s original Declaration of Independence was drafted on paper made of 100 percent, pure hemp (Hightower).…show more content…
One of hemp’s most useful purpose is it can be turned to paper. Today, a vast majority of our paper comes from wood fibers. In Dean Curran’s article “Legalize industrial hemp” he writes about the many benefits that hemp has as a plant. This article explains the uses of hemp and why hemp as a plant has more uses than other plants. He compares the use of hemp compared to wood. Dean Curran writes, “Hemp produces twice as much fiber per acre than the average forest. When added with worthless fibers that are currently burned such as straw from oats, rice and wheat, hemp can be used to create construction materials stronger than lumber” (Curran). So not only can hemp produce more paper then wood it also creates construction materials stronger than it as well. Lots of things are made from wood everyday but it has nowhere near the same production that hemp has. Along with what Dean Curran wrote, David A. Bainbridge writes in his article “Ecocomposite: Hemp Fibers” that, “Hemp can produce 3-8 dry tons of fiber per acre which is four times what an average forest can yield. Hemp grows very densely which does not allow room for weeds and no herbicides are needed for farming industrial hemp” (Bainbridge). Hemp produces more fibers then wood, it also produces more quickly and rapidly then wood does. Trees may take up to 20 to 30 years to fully grow before a person can use that wood and timber to create…show more content…
Everyone most likely has some form of cotton clothes, or cotton fabric used as a product, but you may not know why a person should use hemp instead of cotton? Brain Palmer writes an article “High on Environmentalism.” This article explains why hemp should be legal as to how it applies to be eco friendly and why it should legally be grown in the United States. Palmer writes, “While cotton requires less energy to grow and process than its competitors, it uses a lot of land. The "fabric of our lives" needs approximately twice as much territory as hemp per ton of finished textile, the land-use miser of the bunch.” Even though it doesn’t take as much energy to grow cotton it uses more land then hemp would if a person were to grow hemp instead of cotton. Palmer goes on to writes “The cotton plant needs about 50 percent more water per season than hemp, which can grow with little irrigation…cotton uses more than four times as much water as hemp” (Palmer). Along with what Brian Palmer wrote, Kristoffer James right in his article “Why to Choose Hemp Over Cotton” writes “Cotton consumes 25% of the world’s insecticides and 10% of the world’s pesticides… Most hemp is grown without pesticides/insecticides” (James). Kristoffer James goes on to write “It takes about 1,400 gallons of water to produce just one pound of cotton… Hemp requires only half that” (James). Both Palmer and James show that