The oldest found paper was made from 100% hemp in a Chinese text dating back to 770 AD. Hemp fabrics go all the way back to 8,000 BC in ancient Mesopotamia.
Hemp seeds have been found in archaeological sites around the world and the seeds were one of ancient China's major grain crops. Hemp seeds were grown in Northern Europe since medieval times.
Christopher Columbus' ships were fully rigged in hemp.
In the UK, 800-1800 AD indicates hemp crops were used until their peak around 100 AD before other crops began to be developed.
In the 16th century, Henry VIII encouraged farmers to plant hemp to help supply the British Navy, not only for sails, but they helped construct battleships. Hemp might also have been found in shoes, parachute webbing and baggage.
The United States has its own fine history with hemp. Our Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were written on hemp paper, not to mention the first US flag was made out of hemp. Both Jefferson and Washington were hemp farmers. Early US governments demanded the cultivation of hemp and you could be jailed if you didn't grow Indian hemp in Virginia, Massachusetts and Connecticut in the 18th century. Hemp was money. It was currency and was used to pay taxes for over 200 years. By the 1850's there were almost 8,400 hemp plantations in the US that had at least 2,000 acres of land or more.
From 1842-1890 a cannabis extract was the second most prescribed drug in the US. Today, Canada grows hemp for health products and exports it to the US because of laws forbidding hemp plants to be grown on our soil.
While hemp was being cultivated, the process was a long and laborious one. Meanwhile, advances had been made with chemicals that made pulping wood cheaper than hemp. Back in that day, they had no idea the effects of the chemicals they were developing or the widespread and long-lasting effects that continue through today. Back then, chemicals were business and Dupont who manufactured pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers backed cotton production, where their goods would be of greater service. They also developed a nylon fiber similar to hemp. In the Industrial Revolution, anything not-natural was hailed as better than natural.
hemp was being billed as a Billion Dollar crop that could build products from dynamite to plastics. Henry Ford built the body of an automobile from hemp-based plastics in 1941. Hemp plastic could withstand ten times the impact without denting that regular plastics could. Using this resource could reduce our dependency on foreign oils.
A machine was invented that helped speed up the hemp processing. This machine could harvest at a much cheaper price than anything harvested by hand. It looked like hemp was competing with cotton and wood and the problem was, the companies who backed pesticides also had connections in Washington. DuPont and Hearst went to Secretary Andrew Mellon and a negative PR campaign was released against hemp. This propaganda claimed hemp and marijuana were the same thing and they would make people angry and destructive. The result was that both hemp and marijuana were labeled as narcotics. In 1937 the Marijuana Tax Act was passed which made it criminal to grow marijuana. There was language in the Act that categorized hemp as marijuana. So it was now illegal to grow hemp. Marijuana became classified as a schedule 1 drug with cocaine and heroin.
Interestingly enough, this decision came back to haunt the U.S. after the attack on Pearl Harbor. With our Philippine connection severed, the USDA created a film called Hemp for Victory to try to get farmers to start growing hemp again to support the war efforts. The government even subsidized hemp farms. About a million acres of hemp were grown in the Midwest. However, once the war was over, the hemp plants were shut down and the industry once again banned.
It's in the people's power now to start demanding more hemp products. We can make a difference. We can bring our country back to its former glory and open-mindedness.
