Hemp: A Help Or A Hindrance?
Hemp, also known as Cannabis sativa, marijuana, grass, and by many other names,
has not been a legal commercial crop in the United States for almost sixty years.
As common two centuries ago as cotton is today, hemp is not seen on the market.
As many groups fight for hemp to become legalized as a drug, many people are
battling for the plant to become legalized for its industrial and medical uses.
From Disney Indiana Jones hats to fuel for our automobiles, hemp is a
hardworking, environmentally sound renewable resource. People have become so
wrapped up in the "drug" aspect of marijuana that many are forgetting its uses
as an industrial material.
Hemp is an ancient drug, first mentioned in ...
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Jamestown in 1611 for use in making rope. In order to keep a
constant supply of hemp available, a law was passed in Massachusetts in 1639,
requiring every household to plant hemp seed. In Maryland, Virginia, and
Pennsylvania, hemp was even used as a monetary unit. Thomas Jefferson's draft of
the Declaration of Independence, released by the Continental Congress on July 4,
1776, was written on paper made from hemp (Whole Earth Review 46). And the
49ers washed gold from California creeks in Levi's made from hemp. In 1937, the
United States government passed the Marijuana Tax Act which prohibited the use
of marijuana as an intoxicant and regulated its use as a medicine.
Although there are hundreds of ingredients in marijuana, the main ingredient is
a chemical called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC affects the brain and the
circulatory system, especially the heart. This makes the heart beat faster and
causes small blood vessels to expand. This is the most visible in the ...
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product.
For thousands of years, hemp's fibers have been used to make many different
kinds of fabric including clothing and rope. Lately even big companies like
Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Disney have been testing the waters and offering
some hempen products to the market. Not only can hemp fibers be used to make
fabric, a 1938 Popular Mechanics article states that hemp can be used to
manufacture over 25,000 products-ranging from cellophane to dynamite-and a 1916
U.S. Department of Agriculture bulletin calculated that over twenty years, one
acre of hemp would yield as much pulp for paper as 4.1 acres of trees. There
have been no more-recent studies to either confirm or discredit ...
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Hemp: A Help Or A Hindrance?. (2006, March 18). Retrieved April 19, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hemp-A-Help-Or-A-Hindrance/42960
"Hemp: A Help Or A Hindrance?." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 18 Mar. 2006. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hemp-A-Help-Or-A-Hindrance/42960>
"Hemp: A Help Or A Hindrance?." Essayworld.com. March 18, 2006. Accessed April 19, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hemp-A-Help-Or-A-Hindrance/42960.
"Hemp: A Help Or A Hindrance?." Essayworld.com. March 18, 2006. Accessed April 19, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hemp-A-Help-Or-A-Hindrance/42960.
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