Cannabis is probably the most controversial plant in the world. So much so that even its classification into species is open to debate!
Some say there’s one species only, called Cannabis Sativa, and that it includes the two varieties known as Cannabis Indica and Cannabis Ruderalis. Some say there’s two species, Cannabis Sativa and Cannabis Indica, Cannabis Ruderalis only being a variety of the Sativa species. Some others say that Sativa, Indica and Ruderalis are three different species in their own rights.
I guess a little bit of confusion at the very beginning will make things more interesting 🙂
All of these families can be divided into many different strains, some of which have great names such as “Amnesia”, or “Funky Monkey” or “Fucking Incredible” or “Sunshine Daydream”.
All of these plants belong to the Cannabis genus and they all contain different types, amounts and proportions of two kinds of chemical substances, the cannabinoids and the terpenes. The two best-known cannabinoids are THC – Tetrahydrocannbinol, a psychoactive substance, the one that relaxes you, gives you the giggles and has you stoned, and CBD – Cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive substance that doesn’t make you feel anything, but is known for its many health benefits.
The high-THC plants are called marijuana and the high-CBD ones are called industrial hemp. Although they do belong to the same genus, their properties and uses differ greatly.
Are you still with me? I’ll try and keep things as simple and clear as possible, I promise.
The use of hemp has been dated back to 8.000 years BC, which makes it one of the first crops that humans started cultivating. Hemp is a very versatile plant; from the start, it’s been used to make ropes, sails, clothes, paper, and also, as food. The seeds can be eaten raw or ground or pressed to extract the oil.
Around 2.000 years BC hemp is mentioned as one of India’s five sacred plants in the Hindu sacred text Atharvaveda. Its medical properties had already been discovered.
Hemp is present in historical finds all over Europe ever since, and in the 16th Century King Henry VIII would fine farmers who didn’t grow it! In the 17th Century it was introduced to Northern America. There as well, farmers were required to grow it, and it became one of the pillars of 18th Century agriculture. In 1916 the United States Department Of Agriculture published a Study showing that
hemp produces four times more paper per acre than trees.
Then in 1941 Henry Ford produced a car prototype that was made from a new plastic which consisted of 70% hemp fibre mixed with straw and sisal. The car was virtually indestructible.
But times were changing… The competitors from a couple of different industries started to feel heavily threatened by the latest developments in the hemp branch. And that’s how the dark age of fossil fuel and plastic and uncontrolled greed began. The big oil and big pharma lobbies were powerful enough to make the laws change and so the whole, vast array of products that came from this one portentous plant was completely wiped out in no time.
A few years previous, in the Thirties, a huge defamatory campaign against hemp had gotten underway.
People were made to believe that marijuana was a dangerous drug that destroyed youth and it was downright demonised. In 1936, a deliberately misleading and mind-numbingly bad propaganda movie appeared – I managed to sit through it – “Reefer Madness” or “Tell Your Children”, which accused marijuana of turning people into killers and raving maniacs. And in 1937, The Marijuana Tax Act was passed, making it illegal to produce not only marijuana but any plant type of the cannabis family. In 1970, with the Controlled Substances Act, both industrial hemp and marijuana were put in the same category as heroin, cocaine and a long list of other psychotropic substances.
It took the US about 30 years after that to gradually start allowing some hemp imports in the food categories (seeds and oil) then later in the skin care category and then later to start allowing some hemp farming in the country.
Fast forward to 9 months ago:
The Hemp Farming Act was passed on Dec 20th, 2018 and the hemp plant, along with its seeds and derivatives was at last removed from the Controlled Substances Act.
In Europe, cannabis is now legal. A few countries started decriminalising it in 2001, Luxemburg and Belgium were the pioneers. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction stated in 2017 that “In the European Union, it is legal to cultivate and supply cannabis plants for hemp fibre if they have low levels of THC.” EU member states are allowed to grow industrial hemp legally as long as the plant contains less than 0.2% THC.
The list of what can be made out of hemp was already pretty impressive thousands of years ago (rope and fabrics, clothes, paper, food for humans and animals, oil). Then about 80 years ago came the hemp plastic Henry Ford used for his prototype. Today, Renew are building Ultra-Low Carbon Footprint cars that are made from and fuelled with hemp.
Today you can also build your house using hemp. Hempcrete is an amazing, totally eco-friendly building material.
You can buy shoes made out of hemp, Nike and other brands offer that. Hemp is used for sunscreens and soaps, for CBD oil which is an amazing food supplement, and for many food preparations, from protein powder to non-dairy milk.
None of these things will get you high, and using them is not dodgy in any way
All the restrictions and prohibition over the last 80 years came for purely economic reasons, disguised as a public health issue. Personally, up to this day I have only tried marijuana tea twice and it didn’t do anything at all for me either time. But I’m a great fan of industrial hemp! I use and also distribute CBD products from one of Europe’s absolute best companies.
And I’m dreaming of a hemp car sometime in my future…
Here are a couple of interesting links for you:
To learn more about the different kinds of cannabinoids and terpenes, have a look here:
Fundación Canna
The Sacred Plant is an interesting docuseries about the medicinal use of cannabis and the problems caused to patients by its legal restrictions
Here you can read about the cannabis legislation in Europe
And this is the site of the Cannabis Trades Association UK
