The Basics of Hemp

Domestic hemp, cultivated for millennia, can replace more environmentally harmful raw materials in the manufacturing of thousands of commercial products.

Hemp has been widely used as an industrial crop for nearly the entirety of human domesticated history. It has only been in modern times that the amazing hemp plant has seen widespread prohibition. However, in the past few years, hemp has been making a comeback in the U.S. and worldwide, gaining legal status and driving a potential billion dollar business.

Today, we explore the history of hemp, including its era of prohibition, and discover how hemp can be used in modern industry as a sustainable alternative.

What Is Hemp?

Hemp is a member of the Cannabis sativa L species of plant (just as marijuana is). Hemp is harvested commercially for its seeds and stalk, which are used to manufacture a number of products:

• Food
• Nutritional supplements
• Medicine
• Body care products
• Paper
• Textiles
• Building materials
• Bioplastic
• Biofuels

Because it thrives under natural conditions, hemp is most often grown outside, with both male and female plants sown closely together to encourage wind pollination, which increases seed production. The hemp plant grows sturdy and tall, up to 2 to 4 meters in height, without the need for herbicides or pesticides that can be harmful to consumers or the environment.

To be considered hemp, a cannabis plant must contain no more than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) per dry weight. THC is the active compound in marijuana that causes its euphoric effect. At barely ⅓ of 1%, the levels of THC found in hemp are far lower than the psychoactive level.

Furthermore, hemp is naturally higher in cannabidiol (CBD), one of over 100 cannabinoids that have so far been identified in the cannabis plant. CBD is completely non-psychoactive and therefore won’t cause a high, making it safe for use by anyone, regardless of age.

Hemp can be manufactured into many different products, and because it is more sustainable than other sources of fiber, oil, and fuel, hemp is the sustainable choice for our planet’s health.

Hemp fiber can be efficiently used to create paper products, as well as textiles like fabric for clothing, rope, and canvas. It can also be used as a petroleum substitute in creating biofuels and bioplastics, meaning hemp can be a solution to our dependance on oil and plastics.

Hemp may play an important role in the automotive and aeronautics industries in the future. It is already being used in the construction of houses through its use as insulation and as a strong, lightweight, breathable building material called hempcrete.

Due to its nutritional content, hemp can also be used as a food for both humans and livestock. Hemp seed and its derived oil are popular ingredients in recipes and can be used as a plant-based source of vital nutrients. Because it is high in CBD, products made with CBD hemp oil have become common sources for legal cannabinoids. Hemp has also found its way into bath and body products like: 

• Shampoos and conditioners
• Anti-aging skin care products
• Moisturizers
• Body lotions
• Topical salves

Hemp Foods

Hemp is also a valuable source of many of the essential building blocks of a healthy body, making hemp-based foods and supplements a popular choice among many consumers. Hemp’s important nutrients include:

• Vitamins
• Minerals
• Omega 3 & 6 Fatty Acids
• All 8 Essential Amino Acids
• Fiber
• Flavonoids
• Terpenes and Terpenoids
• Other Trace Cannabinoids

Due to hemp’s high nutritional content, many hemp food products have potential to become staples of a healthy diet.

• Hemp-based supplement powders can be stirred into water or juice or blended into a smoothie.
• Hemp seed oil can be used a base in dressings or used as a healthy alternative to cooking oils,
• Hemp hearts can be added to salads, soups, and cereals for a nutritious boost.
• Hemp granola makes a great snack by itself or mixed into yogurt.
• CBD oil supplements provide hemp’s many nutrients, as well as various cannabinoids, to promote balance.

Benefits Of Hemp Oil Products

There are many benefits to taking a daily serving of CBD from hemp oil products, but the most exciting among them is that a CBD oil supplement helps augment the body’s naturally occurring endocannabinoids, increasing the body’s ability to promote homeostasis within its systems.

There are over 100 presently discovered cannabinoids, which are largely responsible for the effects cannabis has on the body. Common cannabinoids include:

• Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)
• Cannabidiol (CBD)
• Cannabinol (CBN)
• Cannabigerol (CBG)

Cannabinoids work together with the body’s endocannabinoid system to regulate the body’s natural functions – including mood, sleep, appetite, and immune response.

What Are Cannabinoids?

Cannabinoids are a class of active chemical compounds produced by the cannabis plant. These cannabinoids act on cannabinoid receptors located in our cells as part of the endocannabinoid system and alter the release of neurotransmitters in the brain.

The endocannabinoid system predominantly consists of two endocannabinoid receptors:

• CB1, located in the central nervous system
• CB2, found throughout the peripheral nervous system

Once the endocannabinoid system is supplemented in this way, it is able to function more efficiently, optimizing the body’s performance each day. Although it is not critical to supplement the endocannabinoid system daily, doing so may increase the effectiveness of CBD and the endocannabinoid system.

Hemp oil products include commercial supplements like:

• Tinctures
• Capsules
• Moisturizer lotions
• Chewing gum
• Hemp oil vaporizers

Is Hemp Legal?

Hemp has had a complicated legal status in the U.S. ever since the country began its drug war. Too often this incredibly useful plant gets negatively associated with psychoactive marijuana, causing a patchwork of laws and regulations about the cultivation, processing, and sale of hemp in the U.S.

Currently in the U.S., it is federally legal to manufacture, distribute, and possess any commercial products created using imported hemp only. However, even this came only after an extended legal battle against the DEA.

After the DEA announced in 2001 that, going forward, hemp intended for food use would be illegal, the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) successfully sued the DEA to stop the rule from taking effect. In 2003, the DEA again attempted to prohibit the production and sale of hemp-based foods. And, like just a few years before, the HIA sued to stay the regulations.

On February 6, 2004, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous decision in favor of the HIA in which Judge Betty Fletcher wrote, “[T]hey (DEA) cannot regulate naturally-occurring THC not contained within or derived from marijuana-i.e. non-psychoactive hemp is not included in Schedule I. The DEA has no authority to regulate drugs that are not scheduled, and it has not followed procedures required to schedule a substance. The DEA’s definition of ‘THC’ contravenes the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and cannot be upheld”.

After the DEA declined to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, the HIA claimed victory, with the Ninth Circuit Court’s decision protecting the sale of hemp foods. Hemp still remains legal for import and sale throughout the U.S. today.

Vote Hemp estimates that the imported hemp market in the U.S. achieved 25% growth in 2016, reaching a total market value of $688 million. With federal legalization of domestic hemp cultivation, that number is expected to be boosted even further.

History Of Hemp

Hemp has had a rich past, with communities finding use around the globe for this versatile plant. Hemp cultivation was widespread in post-neolithic ancient China. The Chinese used hemp to make a number of textiles and materials, including paper, and China does indeed boast the longest continuous history of hemp production.

The Scythians of ancient Iran were known to leave hemp as a tribute in the tombs of the dead, and hemp rope first makes an appearance on ships in Greece around the year 200 BCE.  

Imported hemp rope later made an appearance in England in about 100 AD, brought there by the Romans. However, by the end of the 15th century, as Britain began to grow as a naval power, one of the biggest challenges they faced was securing enough hemp to fully outfit their sailing ships. This was a perennial problem for the British empire.

To solve this issue, Britain mandated that hemp be grown in the American colonies. The goal was to secure a steady supply of raw hemp, thus solidifying Britain’s position as a global naval and economic power. As prosperity grew in Colonial America, so did the colonies’ reliance on hemp.

Colonists produced ropes and cloth and extracted oil from hemp seeds for use in lamps. As a result, some colonies had laws requiring farmers to cultivate hemp. It was even used as legal tender in the young American economy.

Eventually, hemp cultivation would come to be outlawed in the U.S. due to hemp’s relationship to marijuana. Since both plants are of the Cannabis genus, non-psychoactive hemp is lumped in with its illicit cousin. It is only in modern times that hemp and its major cannabinoid, cannabidiol or CBD, are once again being fully utilized around the world.

Cultivating Hemp

Hemp is a highly sustainable crop that, when grown without the use of harsh chemicals, can replace many commercial items with minimal impact on the environment.

Hemp plants are naturally resistant to most pests, meaning they can be grown without the use of pesticides. Because hemp is an efficient bioaccumulator, it is important to avoid using chemical pesticides that can cause residual contamination of products. Toxic pesticides sprayed on hemp plants can also leach into nearby soil and water sources, negatively impacting local biological environments.

Hemp plants are known for growing very tall and in close rows, limiting the ability of weeds to establish themselves among hemp fields. Like with pesticides, many growers avoid using herbicides because they can affect local biological communities or be absorbed by hemp plants and transferred residually to commercial products.

Approximately 30 countries currently grow hemp across Europe, Asia, and North and South America, including Germany, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada, Chile, Japan, and South Korea, to name just a few.

Efforts to legalize hemp cultivation were furthered in 2014 after President Barack Obama signed the Agricultural Act, also known as the 2014 Farm Bill, into law.

Section 7606 of that Act legalized the growing and cultivating of industrial hemp for research purposes in states “where such growth and cultivation is legal under State law, notwithstanding existing Federal statutes that would otherwise criminalize such conduct.”

In the U.S., nearly 10,000 acres of hemp were planted in 2016 in a total of 15 states, with successful crops harvested in Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. Since then, hemp cultivation in the U.S. has boomed. Now, over 30 states have established hemp cultivation as part of government approved hemp pilot programs.

These crops were part of state hemp pilot programs meant for research purposes, rather than commercial production, but they are an important initial step towards building a successful hemp industry in the U.S.

CBD Studies

Major news media outlets often publish articles about major breakthroughs in CBD research, sometimes linking out to the research to make it easy to follow up and read for yourself. It is important to remember that there is a lot of misinformation out there regarding cannabinoids like CBD, leading to the controversy we see today as legalization spreads state by state across the U.S. Always be sure to get your information about CBD from a source you can trust.

You can also browse the thousands of reputable studies regarding CBD published online. There are over 1,700 medical papers covering cannabidiol published on the government’s website for the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Called PubMed, this resource collects all medical research data into a searchable database and is the first place to check for reliable information about studies into CBD’s potential.

Another government created a resource for studies on CBD is ClinicalTrials.gov. Launched as a resource for patients, their family members, health care professionals, researchers, and the public on clinical trials involving a number of conditions and treatments, including CBD.  

Cannabis 101

You can learn more about hemp and cannabis, cannabinoids like CBD, and the uses of cannabis on our Cannabis 101 page or visit our news page to keep informed about developments in the cannabis industry.

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Originally posted on The Basics of Hemp via Vic Neufeld Medical Marijuana News