The Hemp
Hemp is a plant that can be used to produce thousands of products. Hemp is of the same plant species that produces marijuana; its scientific name is Cannabis Sativa. Hemp has been used for thousands of years to produce products like paper, textiles, oil, rope, and canvas. In fact, the name canvas is derived from the Arabic word meaning cannabis. Hemp grown for industrial use is very low in THC (the psychoactive chemical in marijuana), thus making industrial hemp useless as a drug. Although marijuana is mostly known as a recreational drug, marijuana also has many medicinal uses.

During the 1930s, the American media propagated numerous false stories depicting marijuana as an extremely dangerous drug. Because these lies went unchallenged, marijuana and hemp were effectively banned in 1938. Recently, hemp has been rediscovered as a natural resource that has great economic and environmental potential. Marijuana for medicinal use is also gaining renewed recognition. Ironically, as will be explained shortly, it is possible that the real reason marijuana was banned was to prevent hemp from ever becoming a major natural resource.