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Will Hemp Help?
It’s a crop that uses no pesticides, requires little
water and has numerous uses. BY JIM WOOD
With this bill, California
farmers are poised to grow
industrial hemp once the
federal government gives
states the green light.
this bill, California farmers are poised to grow
industrial hemp once the federal government
gives states the green light,” said Leno last
September. “It’s only a matter of time before a
farmer’s right to grow hemp is restored.”
Though both are the same species, mari-
juana is mostly a sun-loving, carefully tended,
bush like plant with branches that yield flowers
where the tetrahydrocannabinol ( THC), the
plant’s psychoactive component, is concen-
trated. Hemp, untended, can grow to heights
of 16 feet. And here’s a major difference:
Marijuana contains 3 to 20 percent THC, while
hemp has less than . 3 percent THC.
Currently, Hemp is legally grown in
Canada, Germany, France and Russia; also
in China and Romania from which the U. S.
imports most of its hemp to supply a $500
million hemp industry (it’s legally used for
making auto panels and dashboards and the
aforementioned clothing, food and toiletry
products, as well as paper). Legislation to
legalize the growing of hemp has been introduced in both houses of Congress and awaits
Drug Enforcement Administration evaluation
before what appears to be certain passage.
“I’m not an expert on hemp,” says Helge
Hellberg, former executive director of Marin
Organic, a nonprofit that champions organic
farming in West Marin, “but I do know agriculture and how savvy organic farmers are.
If hemp can become an economically viable
crop, they’ll figure out how to do it. There’s
no reason hemp could — or should — not be
raised in West Marin.” Hellberg, who for
the past four years has narrated An Organic
Conversation, a national radio program con-
centrating on healthy lifestyle choices, adds,
“I support the legalization of hemp production
in California. It’s far more sustainable than,
say, cotton, which uses an immense amount of
not only water but pesticides; hemp requires
little water and no pesticides. Outlawing hemp
makes no sense at all.”
Hemp has an exciting future in Marin
County, especially West Marin. Growing
it could revitalize the family farm, provide
hundreds of jobs and bolster Marin’s econ-
omy; agriculture, after all, is the county’s
highest-grossing industry. That’s my point of
view. What’s yours?
Email pov@marinmagazine.com.
I’M HARDLY AN investment adviser, but here’s how I’d update the advice Mr. McGuire offered Benjamin in the 1967 movie The Graduate: “I just want to say one word to you. One word. Are
you listening? Hemp.”
Hemp is the nondrug variety of the can-
nabis plant, and it has many uses, including
the production of fiberboard, paper, rope, and
comfortable and enduring fabric. In addition —
and I’m not making this up — hemp is a natural
source of protein, amino acids and omega- 3
fatty acids, so you’ll find it in salad dressings,
granola bars and cereals. It’s also an ingredient
in soaps, shampoos and skin care products.
Historians say humans have been growing
hemp for more than 10,000 years; the Gutenberg
Bible was printed on hemp paper. George
Washington and Thomas Jefferson were hemp
farmers, Abraham Lincoln burned hemp oil in
his lanterns, and in 1942, Henry Ford built an
experimental car using hemp fiber and declared
it “ 10 times stronger than steel.”
Hemp, much like bamboo, literally grows
like a weed, reaching maturity in 90 days. It
generally can be grown without pesticides or
herbicides, and unlike cotton, hemp requires
very little water. Once it’s harvested, the
remaining roots create humus that enriches
the soil. Northern California’s dry, moderate
climate is ideal for hemp. West Marin farmers,
are you listening?
Here’s the catch: For the past 50 years,
because hemp and marijuana are both within
the same species — cannabis sativa L. — federal
law has prohibited its cultivation in the United
States. Many blame it on the hysteria born of
America’s hardly successful war on drugs. But,
and this is what Mr. McGuire might’ve also told
Benjamin, “That’s about to change.”
Just months ago, Marin’s erstwhile
state Sen. Mark Leno authored, the state
Legislature passed, and Governor Jerry
Brown signed into law the California
Industrial Hemp Farming Act (SB 566). “With
POV
