Hemp and Marijuana
Myths & Realities
by David P. West, Ph.D.
http://www.gametec.com/hemp/archives.html
In the United States, the debate about the relationship between hemp and
marijuana has been diminished by the dissemination of many statements that
have little scientific support. This report examines in detail ten of the
most pervasive and pernicious of these myths.
Myth: United States law has always treated hemp and marijuana the same.
Reality: The history of federal drug laws clearly shows that at one time
the U.S. government understood and accepted the distinction between hemp
and marijuana.
Myth: Smoking industrial hemp gets a person high.
Reality: The THC levels in industrial hemp are so low that no one could
get high from smoking it. Moreover, hemp contains a relatively high
percentage of another cannabinoid, CBD, that actually blocks the marijuana
high. Hemp, it turns out, is not only not marijuana; it could be called
"antimarijuana."
Myth: Even though THC levels are low in hemp, the THC can be extracted and
concentrated to produce a powerful drug.
Reality: Extracting THC from industrial hemp and further refining it to
eliminate the preponderance of CBD would require such an expensive,
hazardous, and time-consuming process that it is extremely unlikely anyone
would ever attempt it, rather than simply obtaining high-THC marijuana
instead.
Myth: Hemp fields would be used to hide marijuana plants.
Reality: Hemp is grown quite differently from marijuana. Moreover, it is
harvested at a different time than marijuana. Finally, cross-pollination
between hemp plants and marijuana plants would significantly reduce the
potency of the marijuana plant.
Myth: Legalizing hemp while continuing the prohibition on marijuana would
burden local police forces.
Reality: In countries where hemp is grown as an agricultural crop, the
police have experienced no such burdens.
Myth: Feral hemp must be eradicated because it can be sold as marijuana.
Reality: Feral hemp, or ditchweed, is a remnant of the hemp once grown on
more than 400,000 acres by U.S. farmers. It contains extremely low levels
of THC, as low as .05 percent. It has no drug value, but does offer
important environmental benefits as a nesting habitat for birds. About 99
percent of the "marijuana" being eradicated by the federal government-at
great public expense-is this harmless ditchweed. Might it be that the drug
enforcement agencies want to convince us that ditchweed is hemp in order
to protect their large eradication budgets?
Myth: Those who want to legalize hemp are actually seeking a backdoor way
to legalize marijuana.
Reality: It is true that many of the first hemp stores were started by
industrial-hemp advocates who were also in favor of legalizing marijuana.
However, as the hemp industry has matured, it has come to be dominated by
those who see hemp as the agricultural and industrial crop that it is, and
see hemp legalization as a different issue than marijuana legalization. In
any case, should we oppose a very good idea simply because some of those
who support it also support other ideas with which we disagree?
Myth: Hemp oil is a source of THC.
Reality: Hemp oil is an increasingly popular product, used for an
expanding variety of purposes. The washed hemp seed contains no THC at
all. The tiny amounts of THC contained in industrial hemp are in the
glands of the plant itself. Sometimes, in the manufacturing process, some
THC- and CBD-containing resin sticks to the seed, resulting in traces of
THC in the oil that is produced. The concentration of these cannabinoids
in the oil is infinitesimal. No one can get high from using hemp oil.
Myth: Legalizing hemp would send the wrong message to children.
Reality: It is the current refusal of the drug enforcement agencies to
distinguish between an agricultural crop and a drug crop that is sending
the wrong message to children.
Myth: Hemp is not economically viable, and should therefore be outlawed.
Reality: The market for hemp products is growing rapidly. But even if it
were not, when has a crop ever been outlawed simply because government
agencies thought it would be unprofitable to grow?
The age and density of the hemp patch influences fiber quality. If a
farmer wanted soft linen-quality fibers he would plant his cannabis close
together – about 900 plants to the square yard and harvest them between 80
to 100 days. Two hundred sees to the square yard are planted for rough
cordage or coarse cloth. By comparison, if you are planting for medicinal
or recreational use, as a rule of thumb you plant one seed per five square
yards of soil.