Line between Hemp and Marijuana Still Blurry to US

[Medical Marijuana]

Weed, pot, hash, grass, hemp - all have been used as nicknames for marijuana. As studies increase, however, it turns out hemp and marijuana might not have as much in common as people think.

While technically a single species, Cannabis sativa - better known as marijuana - has evolved over the years to present two very different plants: industrial hemp used for its fiber and typical marijuana harvested for its hallucinogenic properties.

The question being debated is whether or not the agricultural benefits of hemp are enough to tip the scale in favor of legalizing production of the specific form of Cannabis sativa.

"The seeds and stalks of hemp can be used for a million different things - from making clothing to carpets, foods, lotions, medicines, paper and even fuel," said Patrick Greeson, greenhouse manager at the William A. Natorp Co.

A chemical analysis of marijuana shows the plant contains between three and 15 percent THC - the component that causes the mind-altering effects associated with the drug. Hemp, on the other hand, only has a .3 THC level, which makes obtaining a high from smoking hemp extremely difficult.

"If you tried hard enough you could probably get a bit of a buzz from smoking (hemp)," Greeson said, laughing. "You're probably more likely to get emphysema first, though."

Plants harvested as marijuana typically consist of big, bushy leaves and an abundance of buds - the parts of the plant anatomy typically smoked, said Margaret McMahon, associate professor of horticulture and crop science at Ohio State. Hemp plants, however, are distinguished by their long stalks used for their fibers.

"It's a good crop," McMahon said. "It has a deep root system and is good for the soil structure. It doesn't suck the soil dry like cotton."

Adam Eidinger, a spokesman for the group Vote Hemp in Bedford, Mass., said he estimated the current market for hemp products at more than $275 million annually and increasing.

According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report, however, the market for hemp in the U.S. will remain small because of hemp's competition with other more-established raw materials and manufacturing practices.

Today much of the hemp sold in the U.S. is imported from Canada, which in 1998 legalized the cultivation of Cannabis sativa with less than one percent THC.

According to the Hemp Industries Association, the U.S. is the only industrialized nation not to permit the production of hemp.

Many fear legalization of industrial hemp will provide cover for marijuana fields because of the similar plant structures. Eidinger, however, said cross-pollination between the two specimens would have detrimental effects on the marijuana plants and therefore would deter marijuana growers from mixing crops.

"If the economy was right, it could be a wonderful crop. (It) could help solve some problems," Greeson said.

"Politicians don't want to grow it because they have a fear they'd be growing the THC type instead of the fiber type," McMahon said. "We just have to get off our ignorant horse here, throw blind passion out of it and just look at the facts concerning hemp."

Source: Lantern, The (OH Edu)
Copyright: 2008 The Lantern
Contact: lantern@osu.edu
Website: The Lantern

[zolar]

what are the statistics on hemp from canada? how many thousands of acres of hemp were p[lanted in 2007 ? and how many growing MJ for drug use incidents
related to hemp production were there ?