Hooray for Hemp!
A guest opinion following up on the story Over the Hemp. A learning moment that was not wasted.

Students Wrap Hearts around their Wrists
A wonderful story about Harm's Way 4 Kids, a group that has sent nearly 200,000 hemp bracelets to our troops serving overseas.

Edible Hemp Good Source of Omega-3
A great look at the benefits of hemp foods.

Canadian Hemp Milk Looks to Nourish U.S. Dairy Alternative Market
A global trade magazine looks at emerging hemp non-dairy beverages.

The House that Hemp Built
A strawbale shortage in British Columbia turns out for the best.

By Steve Wiegand
The Sacramento Bee
June 21, 2007

Sometimes there are aspects of lawmaking that remind one of scenes from "Alice in Wonderland," such as when Alice has a circular conversation with the hookah-smoking caterpillar.

This came to mind Tuesday morning, whilst sitting in Room 113 at the Capitol and observing the state Senate Agriculture Committee.

The topic under consideration was hemp. Hemp is an oft-misunderstood plant. Many people think it's the same as marijuana, when actually they're just good friends.

The Economist
June 21, 2007

"Plans are afoot for a great expansion of the hemp industry." So proclaimed the Department of Agriculture in its rousing 1942 movie, "Hemp for Victory," which urged farmers to rally to the cause. "Hemp for mooring ships! Hemp for tow lines! Hemp for tackle and gear!" The plant's long, strong fibers twist easily into rope, which made it useful for parachute webbing. The war effort was imperilled when Japan's seizure of the Philippines curtailed America's supply.

But despite the enthusiasm of wartime planners, hemp never took root (as it were). Taxes and regulations, introduced in 1937 but minimally enforced during the war, kicked in again during the 1950s. Hemp is a variety of the Cannabis plant, which also produces marijuana — though industrial hemp has a much smaller concentration of the mind-blowing compound, THC, than the smokable stuff. America's puritans, not to mention nylon-makers, wanted production shut down.

By Bill Steinbacher-Kemp
The Pantagraph
June 24, 2007

LEXINGTON, KY — In the summer of 1943, there were more than 4,000 acres of marijuana being grown around Lexington. The buyer for this crop, though, wasn't some downstate gangster or crime syndicate. No, in this instance, the buyer was none other than Uncle Sam.

During World War II, industrial hemp, a variant of marijuana which contains lower levels of the psychoactive ingredient THC, was used to make rope and other items, such as parachutes, harnesses and shroud lines for airborne troops.

Hemp has been around for a long time. Although not as valuable as other fiber crops such as flax, the long, soft fibers of hemp were put to good use by early pioneers to fashion myriad items, from twine to coarse fabrics. In the early 1900s, Kentucky was the center of U.S. hemp production, though there were several other areas where it was still commercially grown, including northern Champaign County.