Hemp in the 19th, 20th and 21st Century

The importance of Hemp maintained its status during the 19th century. It was seen as a vital resource; many US states started cultivating it on a much larger scale. With hemp being available for American on an industrial level, (without having to worry about its export to England), more and more new ways were being found to utilize the wonder plant. So much so, that in 1841 Congress ordered the Navy to buy up as much domestic hemp as they could – they gave them $50,000 to do so, the equivalent of roughly $832,500 in today's money. This is very significant when you consider hemp was very, very cheap back then - you could buy a lot of $50,000.

Post civil war and the freeing of slaves saw a decline in the production of hemp. Processing hemp manually is a long and hard endeavor; the job traditionally fell to slave labor. With slaves no longer being an option, many hemp farmers no long thought it was viable to produce as a crop.

By the early 20th century the industrial revolution had evolved the way we do business. Business owners no longer had slave labor to exploit, but they now had machines. Machines that could do the work of hundreds of men. It was in this time that saw the birth of the Decorticator machine, a machine that was destined to streamline the processing of hemp, revolutionizing the industry. Unfortunately it never got to be used to its full potential. The combined efforts of Hearst, a large timber owner, DuPont, a petrochemical mogul and Mellon, the Secretary of the Treasury and owner of Gulf Oil, conspired to do away with hemp once and for all – and they were largely successful.

These industry tycoons understood the risk hemp posed to their markets. The products of hemp could be used to do everything their resources could, but cheaper and more efficiently. They saw themselves potentially losing a lot of money and thus started a campaign to smear the good name of hemp. They used marijuana as a scapegoat, funding campaigns and politicians that blamed weed for the crimes committed by ethnic minorities. This was all baseless, with no scientific backing. This did not matter though, it scared the racist, white middle class majority into hating the drug and anything associated with it. Hemp became demonized along with marijuana , leading to its prohibition and the stigma that is still attached to it to this day. Fortunately science is undoing the damage of these greedy men. More and more countries are embracing the science behind hemp and marijuana; as freedom of information educates the masses on its true nature, governments are being forced to reassess their policies and admit they have been wrong and misled.

Due to the blame of prohibition being placed on marijuana, most recent research has actually focused around the properties it induces when taken into the body. These have largely shown that the stigmas and demonetization of the past was very largely exaggerated. Study after study is dispelling the myths of the past, showing that weed does not cause health problems when used in moderation, that it is not addictive and that it is not a gateway drug; that with proper use it improves the lives of many, can be used as a source of tax and income, can be legalized to reduce crime and take power away from organized gangs, and that its legalization can make life safer for everyone as a whole.

Are governments listening to this research? No! But they are beginning to. Many countries are seeing marijuana become legal for medical use, with states in the US actually voting to legalize its recreational use. As more and more people become better informed, and governing bodies change their mind, the tension and restrictions placed on hemp are easing. If marijuana is OK than surely its inert sister is as well?

This has lead to the first “legal” crops of hemp being planted within some US states. Crops that are now ready for harvest as this article is written. Times of change are upon us. Hemp has always played a major part in human civilization and it is gearing up to do so again. As more farmers produce hemp, we will hopefully see it become a much more mainstream, renewable resource. It has untold potential to revolutionize practically all industry; businesses making a transition to its use, (which there are many out there now), are finding that it not only offers a cheaper, renewable green solution, but that it is also often vastly superior in every way to the resource it replaced. Watch this space, hemp is coming back!