Umm, you can't ferment cellulose. Fermentation involves the metabolism of sugars into alcohol (as a waste product). Cellulose does not ferment.

__________________

No one has claimed it does. There's a quote from Henry Ford that implies it does, tho, so you're welcome to tell him about his error.

Beyond that, the process is similar enough for lay people that it's not (IMO) worth arguing the point. "Plants in, stuff happens, fuel out - Just like fermenting (and distilling) booze!"

__________________
Today's forecast: Government corruption.

Tomorrow's forecast: 100% chance of more 'politics as usual'

Maybe it's finally time to vote Libertarian

Hemp, by definition, is non-psychoactive, due to the absolutely minimal amount of THC and the relatively very high levels of CBD.

In the Midwest, I believe they call it ditchweed, and I've heard many stories from people who grew up there thinking 'Holy crap! Free pot on the roadside!' and then promptlly coughing up a lung with zero 'head effect'

__________________
All things serve The Beam

But, someone here is arguing that hemp farming was eliminated because of some releationship to high cellulose to fuel. Cellulose-based alcohol is still an inefficient process at best, and has nothing to do with fermentation.

__________________

Hemp has been prohibited because of the thousands of products which can be made from it, many of which would compete with the petro-chemical industry.

Hemp has more cellulose than any other plant and at one time was used to make cellophane and even TNT.

The following is from a Popular Mechanics article from 1938, just before the hemp industry was taxed out of existence.

American farmers are promised a new cash crop with an annual value of several hundred million dollars, all because a machine has been invented that solves a problem more than 6,000 years old.

It is hemp, a crop that will not compete with other American products. Instead, it will displace imports of raw material and manufactured products produced by underpaid coolie and peasant labor and it will provide thousands of jobs for American workers throughout the land.

The machine that makes this possible is designed for removing the fiber-bearing cortex from the rest of the stalk, making hemp fiber available for use without prohibitive amounts of human labor.

Hemp is the standard fiber of the world. It has great tensile strength and durability. It is used to produce more than 5,000 textile products, ranging from rope to fine laces, and the woody "hurds" remaining after the fiber has been removed contain more than 77 percent cellulose, which can be used to produce more than 25,000 products, ranging from dynamite to Cellophane.

Machines now in service in Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, and other states are producing fiber at a manufacturing cost of half a cent per pound, and are finding a profitable market for the rest of the stalk. Machine operators are making a good profit in competition with coolie-produced foreign fiber, while paying farmers $15 a ton for hemp as it comes from the field.

From the farmer's point of view, hemp is an easy crop to grow and will yield from three to six tons per acre on any land that will grow corn, wheat, or oats. It can be grown in any state of the Union. It has a short growing season, so that it can be planted after other crops are in. The long roots penetrate and break the soil to leave it in perfect condition for next year's crop. The dense shock of leaves, eight to twelve feet above the ground, chokes out weeds. Two successive crops are enough to reclaim land that has been abandoned because of Canadian thistles or quack grass.

New Billion-Dollar Crop, PAGE 1 of 3

Yes, but once again, cellulose to alcohol conversion is in its infancy at best.

__________________

Well, I remember the first LCD watches and the first personal computer that used a cassette tape.

Look where we are now, 30 years later.

An article from yesterday........

U.S. company to start producing cellulosic ethanol
Thu Aug 14, 2008

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private U.S. ethanol company Poet on Wednesday said it will begin making a small amount of next generation ethanol later this year using crop waste, a feedstock that could yield the alternative motor fuel without inflating food prices.

Poet, the country's top ethanol producer, has started building a cellulosic ethanol pilot plant in Scotland, South Dakota, that will be added to an existing plant that makes traditional ethanol from corn, CEO Jeff Broin told an ethanol conference on Wednesday.

The plant will have the capacity to make only a tiny bit of the fuel -- about 20,000 gallons per year. But that number could grow if the plant helps the company learn how to spread the process to some or all of its 23 other ethanol distilleries.

"I can tell you that I am surer of the future of cellulosic ethanol than I have ever been before," said Broin.

Companies are racing to make cellulosic ethanol to help boost production of domestic fuel that could be lower in greenhouse emissions. Last year's U.S. energy law mandated the blending of 16 billion gpy of cellulosic into gasoline by 2022.

Cellulosic ethanol can be made from breaking down the tough woody bits of plants into sugars, which are then fermented into fuel. The process takes more steps than traditional ethanol, so at the moment it is more expensive and the fuel is not made commercially.

Corn in currently the main feedstock for U.S. ethanol production, but critics argue that its use diverts the grain from the food chain and pushes grocery bills higher.

Joseph Gomes, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co in New York, said commercial production of the fuel from cellulose by any producer is still about three or four years away.

U.S. company to start producing cellulosic ethanol | Special Coverage | Reuters

While still in it's infancy, the technology does show some promise.

Absolutely.

But, the production of ethanol has nothing to do with the illegality of industrial hemp.

(Note: I support the legalization of industrial hemp)

__________________

You might be right, but then again, you might be wrong.

While I believe that the production of biofuels had nothing to do with why hemp was originally taxed out of existence back in the late 30s, I do not rule out the possibility that it might be ONE of the reasons that the US IS THE ONLY INDUSTRIALIZED NATION IN THE WORLD WITHOUT AN ESTABLISHED HEMP CROP.

Nah. It's all about the puritanical fear that people might smoke it.

__________________

Really?

So, back in the 1930's when the American people were told that marijuana is more dangerous than heroin and cocaine, those outrageous lies had nothing to do with protecting certain industries which hemp would have competed against?

Did you read the Popular Mechanics article from 1938?

Have you read any of the testimony from the Marijuana Tax hearings?

Did you ever read the testimony of Dr. Woodward? He was the only person who used logic and reason in the entire hearings.

Do you know that most of the evidence presented at the Marijuana Tax Hearings came from newspaper articles?

Norrin, the hysterics really don't help you prove a point. Relax. We're actually on a similar side on this one.

WHAT HYSTERICS?

I asked simple questions without even raising my voice.

Can you answer any of the questions I asked?

If not, then you will never, ever, ever, ever, understand the real reason marijuana is illegal.

It HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PEOPLE SMOKING POT.

NOTHING.

ZERO.

ZILCH.

NADA.

It has to do with the 25,000 products that can be made from HEMP.

How much money has been made from the petro-chemical industry in the last 80 years?

Most of the products made from petro-chemicals can be made from hemp, with much less harm to the environment.

Here, let me post one little piece about the marijuana Tax Act for you, read it if you desire.......

The hearings on the national marijuana prohibition lasted one hour, on each of two mornings and since the hearings were so brief I can tell you almost exactly what was said to support the national marijuana prohibition.

When Professor Whitebread asked at the Library of Congress for a copy of the hearings, to the shock of the Library of Congress, none could be found It took them four months to finally honor their request because – are you ready for this?

-- the hearings were so brief that the volume had slid down inside the side shelf of the bookcase and was so thin it had slid right down to the bottom inside the bookshelf. That's how brief they were. Are you ready for this? They had to break the bookshelf open because it had slid down inside.

There were three bodies of testimony at the hearings on the national marijuana prohibition.
The first testimony came from Commissioner Harry Anslinger, the newly named Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. In the late 20s and early 30s in the USA there were two Federal police agencies created, the FBI and the FBN -- the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.

Commissioner Anslinger gave the Government testimony and I will quote him directly.

He was working from a text that had been written for him by a District Attorney in New Orleans, a guy named Stanley.

Reading directly from Mr. Stanley's work, Commissioner Anslinger told the Congressmen at the hearings, and I quote,

"Marihuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."

That was the entire Government testimony to support the marijuana prohibition from the Commissioner.

The next body of testimony -- remember all of this took a total of two hours .. You understand what the idea was, don't you?

The idea was to prohibit the cultivation of hemp in America. You all know, because there has been some initiative in California, that hemp has other uses than its euphoriant use. For one, hemp has always been used to make rope. Number two, the resins of the hemp plant are used as bases for paints and varnishes.

And, finally, the seeds of the hemp plant are widely used in bird seed. Since these industries were going to be affected the next body of testimony came from the industrial spokesmen who represented these industries.

The first person was the rope guy and he said by about 1820 it got cheaper to import the hemp needed to make rope from the Far East and so now in 1937 we don't grow any more hemp to make rope in this country -- it isn't needed anymore.

It explains the long-standing rumor that the founding forefathers had something to do with marijuana. Yes, they did -- they grew it. Hemp was the principal crop at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home. It was a secondary crop at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home.

Five years later, 1942, USA is cut off from their sources of hemp in the Far East. They need a lot of hemp to outfit their ships for World War II, rope for the ships, and therefore, the Federal Government went into the business of growing hemp on gigantic farms throughout the Midwest and the South to make rope to outfit the ships for World War II.

The paint and varnish people said "We can use something else."

And, of the industrial spokesmen, only the birdseed people balked. The birdseed people were the ones who balked and the birdseed person was asked,

"Couldn't you use some other seed? “

These are all direct quotes from the hearings. The answer the birdseed guy gave was,

"No, Congressman, we couldn't. We have never found another seed that makes a birds coat so lustrous or makes them sing so much."

The birdseed people both got and kept an exemption from the Marihuana Tax Act right through this very day for so-called "denatured seeds"?

There was only one body of testimony left at these brief hearings and it was medical. There were two pieces of medical evidence introduced with regard to the marijuana prohibition.

The first came from a pharmacologist at Temple University who claimed that he had injected the active ingredient in marihuana into the brains of 300 dogs, and two of those dogs had died.

When asked by the Congressmen, and I quote, "Doctor, did you choose dogs for the similarity of their reactions to that of humans?"

The answer of the pharmacologist was, "I wouldn't know, I am not a dog psychologist."

The active ingredient in marijuana was first synthesized in a laboratory in Holland after World War II.

So what it was this pharmacologist injected into these dogs we will never know, but it almost certainly was not the active ingredient in marijuana.

The other piece of medical testimony came from a man named Dr. William C. Woodward. Dr. Woodward was both a lawyer and a doctor and he was Chief Counsel to the American Medical Association. Dr. Woodward came to testify at the behest of the American Medical Association saying, and I quote, "The American Medical Association knows of no evidence that marihuana is a dangerous drug."

One of the Congressmen said, "Doctor, if you can't say something good about what we are trying to do, why don't you go home?"
That's an exact quote. The next Congressman said, "Doctor, if you haven't got something better to say than that, we are sick of hearing you."

Now, the interesting question for us is not about the medical evidence.

The most fascinating question is:

Why was this legal counsel to the most prestigious group of doctors in the United States treated in such a high-handed way?

Alleviating Poverty through Profit | NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise

These hysterics:

[/quote]I asked simple questions without even raising my voice.

Can you answer any of the questions I asked?

If not, then you will never, ever, ever, ever, understand the real reason marijuana is illegal.

It HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PEOPLE SMOKING POT.

NOTHING.

ZERO.

ZILCH.

NADA.

It has to do with the 25,000 products that can be made from HEMP.

How much money has been made from the petro-chemical industry in the last 80 years?

Most of the products made from petro-chemicals can be made from hemp, with much less harm to the environment.

Here, let me post one little piece about the marijuana Tax Act for you, read it if you desire.......

The hearings on the national marijuana prohibition lasted one hour, on each of two mornings and since the hearings were so brief I can tell you almost exactly what was said to support the national marijuana prohibition.

When Professor Whitebread asked at the Library of Congress for a copy of the hearings, to the shock of the Library of Congress, none could be found It took them four months to finally honor their request because – are you ready for this?

-- the hearings were so brief that the volume had slid down inside the side shelf of the bookcase and was so thin it had slid right down to the bottom inside the bookshelf. That's how brief they were. Are you ready for this? They had to break the bookshelf open because it had slid down inside.

There were three bodies of testimony at the hearings on the national marijuana prohibition.
The first testimony came from Commissioner Harry Anslinger, the newly named Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. In the late 20s and early 30s in the USA there were two Federal police agencies created, the FBI and the FBN -- the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.

Commissioner Anslinger gave the Government testimony and I will quote him directly.

He was working from a text that had been written for him by a District Attorney in New Orleans, a guy named Stanley.

Reading directly from Mr. Stanley's work, Commissioner Anslinger told the Congressmen at the hearings, and I quote,

"Marihuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."

That was the entire Government testimony to support the marijuana prohibition from the Commissioner.

The next body of testimony -- remember all of this took a total of two hours .. You understand what the idea was, don't you?

The idea was to prohibit the cultivation of hemp in America. You all know, because there has been some initiative in California, that hemp has other uses than its euphoriant use. For one, hemp has always been used to make rope. Number two, the resins of the hemp plant are used as bases for paints and varnishes.

And, finally, the seeds of the hemp plant are widely used in bird seed. Since these industries were going to be affected the next body of testimony came from the industrial spokesmen who represented these industries.

The first person was the rope guy and he said by about 1820 it got cheaper to import the hemp needed to make rope from the Far East and so now in 1937 we don't grow any more hemp to make rope in this country -- it isn't needed anymore.

It explains the long-standing rumor that the founding forefathers had something to do with marijuana. Yes, they did -- they grew it. Hemp was the principal crop at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home. It was a secondary crop at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home.

Five years later, 1942, USA is cut off from their sources of hemp in the Far East. They need a lot of hemp to outfit their ships for World War II, rope for the ships, and therefore, the Federal Government went into the business of growing hemp on gigantic farms throughout the Midwest and the South to make rope to outfit the ships for World War II.

The paint and varnish people said "We can use something else."

And, of the industrial spokesmen, only the birdseed people balked. The birdseed people were the ones who balked and the birdseed person was asked,

"Couldn't you use some other seed? “

These are all direct quotes from the hearings. The answer the birdseed guy gave was,

"No, Congressman, we couldn't. We have never found another seed that makes a birds coat so lustrous or makes them sing so much."

The birdseed people both got and kept an exemption from the Marihuana Tax Act right through this very day for so-called "denatured seeds"?

There was only one body of testimony left at these brief hearings and it was medical. There were two pieces of medical evidence introduced with regard to the marijuana prohibition.

The first came from a pharmacologist at Temple University who claimed that he had injected the active ingredient in marihuana into the brains of 300 dogs, and two of those dogs had died.

When asked by the Congressmen, and I quote, "Doctor, did you choose dogs for the similarity of their reactions to that of humans?"

The answer of the pharmacologist was, "I wouldn't know, I am not a dog psychologist."

The active ingredient in marijuana was first synthesized in a laboratory in Holland after World War II.

So what it was this pharmacologist injected into these dogs we will never know, but it almost certainly was not the active ingredient in marijuana.

The other piece of medical testimony came from a man named Dr. William C. Woodward. Dr. Woodward was both a lawyer and a doctor and he was Chief Counsel to the American Medical Association. Dr. Woodward came to testify at the behest of the American Medical Association saying, and I quote, "The American Medical Association knows of no evidence that marihuana is a dangerous drug."

One of the Congressmen said, "Doctor, if you can't say something good about what we are trying to do, why don't you go home?"
That's an exact quote. The next Congressman said, "Doctor, if you haven't got something better to say than that, we are sick of hearing you."

Now, the interesting question for us is not about the medical evidence.

The most fascinating question is:

Why was this legal counsel to the most prestigious group of doctors in the United States treated in such a high-handed way?

Alleviating Poverty through Profit | NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise[/QUOTE]


Relax. Posting 2 pages worth of quotes and links in some stream-of-consciousness overreaction is hysterics.

Stop. Take a breath. Think. Then post.

I asked simple questions without even raising my voice.

Can you answer any of the questions I asked?

If not, then you will never, ever, ever, ever, understand the real reason marijuana is illegal.

It HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PEOPLE SMOKING POT.

NOTHING.

ZERO.

ZILCH.

NADA.

It has to do with the 25,000 products that can be made from HEMP.

How much money has been made from the petro-chemical industry in the last 80 years?

Most of the products made from petro-chemicals can be made from hemp, with much less harm to the environment.

Here, let me post one little piece about the marijuana Tax Act for you, read it if you desire.......

The hearings on the national marijuana prohibition lasted one hour, on each of two mornings and since the hearings were so brief I can tell you almost exactly what was said to support the national marijuana prohibition.

When Professor Whitebread asked at the Library of Congress for a copy of the hearings, to the shock of the Library of Congress, none could be found It took them four months to finally honor their request because – are you ready for this?

-- the hearings were so brief that the volume had slid down inside the side shelf of the bookcase and was so thin it had slid right down to the bottom inside the bookshelf. That's how brief they were. Are you ready for this? They had to break the bookshelf open because it had slid down inside.

There were three bodies of testimony at the hearings on the national marijuana prohibition.
The first testimony came from Commissioner Harry Anslinger, the newly named Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. In the late 20s and early 30s in the USA there were two Federal police agencies created, the FBI and the FBN -- the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.

Commissioner Anslinger gave the Government testimony and I will quote him directly.

He was working from a text that had been written for him by a District Attorney in New Orleans, a guy named Stanley.

Reading directly from Mr. Stanley's work, Commissioner Anslinger told the Congressmen at the hearings, and I quote,

"Marihuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."

That was the entire Government testimony to support the marijuana prohibition from the Commissioner.

The next body of testimony -- remember all of this took a total of two hours .. You understand what the idea was, don't you?

The idea was to prohibit the cultivation of hemp in America. You all know, because there has been some initiative in California, that hemp has other uses than its euphoriant use. For one, hemp has always been used to make rope. Number two, the resins of the hemp plant are used as bases for paints and varnishes.

And, finally, the seeds of the hemp plant are widely used in bird seed. Since these industries were going to be affected the next body of testimony came from the industrial spokesmen who represented these industries.

The first person was the rope guy and he said by about 1820 it got cheaper to import the hemp needed to make rope from the Far East and so now in 1937 we don't grow any more hemp to make rope in this country -- it isn't needed anymore.

It explains the long-standing rumor that the founding forefathers had something to do with marijuana. Yes, they did -- they grew it. Hemp was the principal crop at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home. It was a secondary crop at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home.

Five years later, 1942, USA is cut off from their sources of hemp in the Far East. They need a lot of hemp to outfit their ships for World War II, rope for the ships, and therefore, the Federal Government went into the business of growing hemp on gigantic farms throughout the Midwest and the South to make rope to outfit the ships for World War II.

The paint and varnish people said "We can use something else."

And, of the industrial spokesmen, only the birdseed people balked. The birdseed people were the ones who balked and the birdseed person was asked,

"Couldn't you use some other seed? “

These are all direct quotes from the hearings. The answer the birdseed guy gave was,

"No, Congressman, we couldn't. We have never found another seed that makes a birds coat so lustrous or makes them sing so much."

The birdseed people both got and kept an exemption from the Marihuana Tax Act right through this very day for so-called "denatured seeds"?

There was only one body of testimony left at these brief hearings and it was medical. There were two pieces of medical evidence introduced with regard to the marijuana prohibition.

The first came from a pharmacologist at Temple University who claimed that he had injected the active ingredient in marihuana into the brains of 300 dogs, and two of those dogs had died.

When asked by the Congressmen, and I quote, "Doctor, did you choose dogs for the similarity of their reactions to that of humans?"

The answer of the pharmacologist was, "I wouldn't know, I am not a dog psychologist."

The active ingredient in marijuana was first synthesized in a laboratory in Holland after World War II.

So what it was this pharmacologist injected into these dogs we will never know, but it almost certainly was not the active ingredient in marijuana.

The other piece of medical testimony came from a man named Dr. William C. Woodward. Dr. Woodward was both a lawyer and a doctor and he was Chief Counsel to the American Medical Association. Dr. Woodward came to testify at the behest of the American Medical Association saying, and I quote, "The American Medical Association knows of no evidence that marihuana is a dangerous drug."

One of the Congressmen said, "Doctor, if you can't say something good about what we are trying to do, why don't you go home?"
That's an exact quote. The next Congressman said, "Doctor, if you haven't got something better to say than that, we are sick of hearing you."

Now, the interesting question for us is not about the medical evidence.

The most fascinating question is:

Why was this legal counsel to the most prestigious group of doctors in the United States treated in such a high-handed way?

Alleviating Poverty through Profit | NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise[/QUOTE]


Relax. Posting 2 pages worth of quotes and links in some stream-of-consciousness overreaction is hysterics.

Stop. Take a breath. Think. Then post.[/QUOTE]

I have not yet begun to get hysterical.

I am very calm.

I am a little frustrated, since you seem totally uninterested in the real reason why marijuana was vilified and then made illegal, but hey, if you are not interested in the truth, then that is your choice.

Haven't you ever wondered why Canada and most of Europe has hemp cultivation, but the US will not allow it?

Australia began research trials in Tasmania in 1995. Victoria commercial production since1998. New South Wales has research. In 2002, Queensland began production. Western Australia licensed crops in 2004.

Austria has a hemp industry including production of hemp seed oil, medicinals and Hanf magazine.

Canada started to license research crops in 1994. In addition to crops for fiber, one seed crop was licensed in 1995. Many acres were planted in 1997. Licenses for commercial agriculture saw thousands of acres planted in 1998. 30,000 acres were planted in 1999. In 2000, due to speculative investing, 12,250 acres were sown. In 2001, 92 farmers grew 3,250 acres. A number of Canadian farmers are now growing organically-certified hemp crops (6,000 acres in 2003 and 8,500 acres in 2004, yielding almost four million pounds of seed).

Chile has grown hemp in the recent past for seed oil production.

China is the largest exporter of hemp textiles. The fabrics are of excellent quality. Medium density fiber board is also now available. The Chinese word for hemp is "ma."

Denmark planted its first modern hemp trial crops in 1997. The country is committed to utilizing organic methods.

Finland had a resurgence of hemp in 1995 with several small test plots. A seed variety for northern climates was developed called Finola, previously know by the breeder code "FIN-314." In 2003, Finola was accepted to the EU list of subsidized hemp cultivars. Hemp has never been prohibited in Finland. The Finnish word for hemp is "hamppu."

France has never prohibited hemp and harvested 10,000 tons of fiber in 1994. France is a source of low-THC-producing hemp seed for other countries. France exports high quality hemp oil to the U.S. The French word for hemp is "chanvre."

Germany banned hemp in 1982, but research began again in 1992, and many technologies and products are now being developed, as the ban was lifted on growing hemp in November, 1995. Food, clothes and paper are also being made from imported raw materials. Mercedes and BMW use hemp fiber for composites in door panels, dashboards, etc. The German word for hemp is "hanf."

Great Britain lifted hemp prohibition in 1993. Animal bedding, paper and textiles markets have been developed. A government grant was given to develop new markets for natural fibers. 4,000 acres were grown in 1994. Subsidies of 230 British pounds per acre are given by the government to farmers for growing hemp.

Hungary is rebuilding their hemp industry, and is one of the biggest exporters of hemp cordage, rugs and fabric to the U.S. They also export hemp seed, paper and fiberboard. The Hungarian word for hemp is "kender."

India has stands of naturalized Cannabis and uses it for cordage, textiles and seed.

Italy has invested in the resurgence of hemp, especially for textile production. 1,000 acres were planted for fiber in 2002. Giorgio Armani grows its own hemp for specialized textiles.

Japan has a rich religious tradition involving hemp, and custom requires that the Emperor and Shinto priests wear hemp garments in certain ceremonies, so there are small plots maintained for these purposes. Traditional spice mixes also include hemp seed. Japan supports a thriving retail market for a variety of hemp products. The Japanese word for hemp is "asa."

The Netherlands are conducting a four-year study to evaluate and test hemp for paper, and is developing specialized processing equipment. Seed breeders are developing new strains of low-THC varieties. The Dutch word for hemp is "hennep."

New Zealand started hemp trials in 2001. Various cultivars are being planted in the north and south islands.

Poland currently grows hemp for fabric and cordage and manufactures hemp particle board. They have demonstrated the benefits of using hemp to cleanse soils contaminated by heavy metals. The Polish word for hemp is "konopij."

Romania is the largest commercial producer of hemp in Europe. 1993 acreage was 40,000 acres. Some of it is exported to Hungary for processing. They also export hemp to Western Europe and the U.S. The Romanian word for hemp is "cinepa."

Russia maintains the largest hemp germplasm collection in the world at the N.I. Vavilov Scientific Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR) in St. Petersburg. They are in need of funding to maintain and support the collection. The Russian word for hemp is "konoplya."

Slovenia grows hemp and manufactures currency paper.

Spain has never prohibited hemp, produces rope and textiles, and exports hemp pulp for paper. The Spanish word for hemp is "cañamo."

Switzerland is a producer of hemp and hosts one of the largest hemp trade events, Cannatrade.

Turkey has grown hemp for 2,800 years for rope, caulking, birdseed, paper and fuel. The Turkish word for hemp is "kendir."

Ukraine, Egypt, Korea, Portugal and Thailand also produce hemp.

The United States granted the first hemp permit in over 40 years to Hawaii for an experimental quarter-acre plot in 1999. The license was renewed, but the project has since been closed due to DEA stalling tactics and related funding problems. Importers and manufacturers have thrived using imported raw materials. 22 states have introduced legislation, including VT, HI, ND, MT, MN, IL, VA, NM, CA, AR, KY, MD, WV and ME, addressing support, research or cultivation with bills or resolutions. The National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) has endorsed industrial hemp for years.

Countries Growing Industrial Hemp Today - 420 Magazine

So you see, the USA is one of the few developed nations in the world without a commercial hemp crop.

Why?

Could it be the same reason why we were told in the 1930s that marijuana is more dangerous than heroin or cocaine?

Cold it be to protect certain industries whose products would have to compete with hemp products?

Could it be?

The hemp industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the US, yet we have to import ALL the hemp used in the US.

why?

why?

why?

Because of people who care nothing about the truth.

That's why.