1600’s Hemp was legal tender in the new world. Colonists could use it to pay taxes to England 1776 Declaration of Independence written on Hemp paper Betsy Ross sews first US flag with Hemp fabric. 1850 8400 Hemp Plantations in US each with more than 2000 acres in production.(US Census) 1896 Rudolph Diesel invents the Diesel Engine designed to run on plant fuels, including Hemp. 1900 BioMass Fuels Invented Using the same principals as to make charcoal, applying high heat in the absence of oxygen, fuel oil & methanol are produced. 1900 World’s Fair Diesel Engine runs on peanut oil 1920 Henry Ford expected BioMass Fuels to supply the country’s energy and designed his cars to run on BioMass fuels using Hemp and other vegetable sources. 1920’s Dupont, Andrew Mellon & William Randolph Hearst began organizing against Industrial Hemp in order to promote timber and the burgeoning petrochemical industry 1920’s US states begin to outlaw cannabis. 1935 Nylon invented by Dupont 1937 Dupont, Mellon & Hearst mounted a yellow journalism campaign against Industrial Hemp. In 3 months the Marijuana Tax Act was pushed through congress. It was not until two days before the vote that Congress and the Hemp Industry realized that the word marijuana was being used to refer to Hemp. 1937 Marijuana Tax Act precipitated the end of the Hemp Industry (paper, rope, canvas, paint, varnish, oil,ink, fuel) in the US. The law heavily taxed marijuana making it prohibitive to grow. This left the petrochemicaland timber industries alone in supplying energy for the US. 1941 Henry Ford produces a cart hat runs on Cannabis and is painted with paint made from Hemp. 1942 HEMP FOR VICTORY- US had been purchasing Manila Hemp for canvas & rope from the Philippines until 1942 when the Japanese won control of the islands. The US began HEMP FOR VICTORY campaign, urging farmers to grow Hemp to meet the US military’s demand.
A Brief History of Hemp in the U.S.
with sincere thanks to hemphasis.net
The US Drug Enforcement Agency classifies all C. sativa varieties as marijuana. While it is theoretically possible to get permission from the U.S. government to grow hemp, the DEA would require that the field be secured by fence, razor wire, dogs, guards, and lights, making it cost-prohibitive.
 
Over 30 industrialized democracies distinguish hemp from marijuana. International treaties regarding marijuana make an exception for industrial hemp.
 
Hemp growers can not hide marijuana plants in their fields. Marijuana is grown widely spaced to maximize leaf growth. Hemp is grown in tightly spaced rows to maximize stalk growth.
 
Growing Industrial hemp is counter productive to marijuana cultivation as the plants will cross pollinate neutralizing the THC in marijuana. Hemp (Cannabis Sativa) is the same species as marijuana but contains less than 0.3% THC and high amounts of a second cannaboid CBD which is an anti-psychoactive. Marijuana has a THC content between 3%-20%.
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To learn more about hemp history and fabric properties we suggest you start with here
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  Two North Dakota farmers, who filed a federal lawsuit in June 2007 to end the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) ban on commercial hemp farming in the United States and had their case dismissed on November 28, have filed a notice of appeal today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
10/12/07
UPDATE 2008 Current Law
Montpelier, VT - February 8, 2008 — On Thursday, February 7th, the Vermont House of Representatives passed the Hemp for Vermont bill, with overwhelming support. The vote was 127 to 9! Next it will move on to the Senate.
Former North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer, who signed the state's hemp farming law in 1999, was sworn in as the 29th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on January 28, 2008. The Farm & Ranch Guide reported that the Schafer nomination was confirmed unanimously by both the Senate Agriculture Committee and the full Senate. For more on what this may mean politically for hemp farming in the U.S., please check out The Vote Hemp Report email newsletter The State of Hemp
January 28, 2008
Dec 12, 2007
1980s’ Improved enzymatic method for softening hemp fibers is developed. Lignin can now be removed from fiber without weakening the natural strength of the yarn. This breakthrough allows hemp to move forward as a textile for fashion apparel. 1990s: Global hemp production sank to its lowest level. Hemp's Revival 1991: Hempcore become the first British company to obtain a license to grow hemp. Since 1992: France, the Netherlands, England, Switzerland, Spain, and Germany have passed legislation allowing for the commercial cultivation of low-THC hemp. In fact, the E.U. has recently been promoting hemp cultivation by providing subsidies of approximately $1400 per hectare to grow hemp. 1992: 124,000 tonnes of hemp fiber are produced by mainly India, China, Russia, Korea and Romania, countries where the cultivation of hemp has never been prohibited. 1994: 1 license granted to Canadian company, Hempline Inc., to grow low-THC hemp under the strict supervision of the authorities, for research purposes only. President Clinton included hemp as a strategic food source in an executive order. 1995: In England, The Cornish Hemp Company Ltd was set up to produce hemp and set up the infrastructure to realize the current potential for industry. 1996: The American Farm Bureau Federation, the largest farming organization in the United States with 4.6 million members, passed a resolution unanimously to research hemp and grow test plots. 1998: March: Canada passes proposed regulations, and as a result hemp can be grown commercially in Canada for the first time in sixty years. 1998: While running for governor, Jesse Ventura announces his support for industrial hemp. Within weeks Venturaís numbers jump from 7% to 38%. 1999: 14 States introduced legislation that endorsed the commercialization of industrial hemp with varying success. Hawaii gets permit from DEA to plant an industrial hemp test field. 2000-2002: Alex White Plume grows hemp on Pine Ridge Lakota Sioux reservation in SD and the DEA destroy the crops near harvest time, not making any arrests, thereby distinguishing between marijuana and hemp. Nov. 2000: Alex White Plume and his family receive hemp from the Kentucky Hemp Growers to replace the hemp destroyed in the two years prior by the DEA. 2001: "Hemp car" crosses North America using hemp bio-diesel fuel, stops in Watertown SD. Oct. 9, 2001: DEA arbitrarily bans all hemp foods in order to disrupt the domestic market. Hemp importers and their suppliers sue. Supreme Court temporarily injoins implementation of DEA's unilateral proclamation. Still in court. May 2002: South Dakota becomes first state to get the issue of industrial hemp farming on the state ballot. A poll indicates that 85% of registered South Dakotans favor legalizing industrial hemp. Aug 2002: Alex White Plume becomes first farmer since 1968 to cultivate and sell a hemp crop in the United States. The crop is bought by Madison Hemp & Flax, a Kentucj. Nov 2002: So. Dak. voters reject industrial hemp, but 38% vote for it. Hemp wins on Indian reservations. Feb. 2004: 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals holds that DEA can not regulate hemp foods. Currently: Hawaii's, West Virginia's, Minnesota's, Montana's, and North Dakota's legislatures have passed laws similar to Initiated Measure 1 in So. Dakota., but the federal government refuses to allow them to grow hemp. Most hemp materials are imported from China, Hungary, and now Canada. The US government started and subsidized a private company that cultivated one million acres of Hemp. 1942-45 400,000 acres of Hemp were planted in the US 1957 The last commercial Hemp field was planted in Wisconsin. 1970 Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention & Control Act -lumped Marijuana and Hemp together. The distinction between the psychoactive plant & industrial Hemp was no longer acknowledged. Both were criminalized.