"Make the most of the hemp seed...sow it everywhere" these are some very important words spoken by our countries founding father George Washington, if he thought that the hemp plant was that important back then, then why wouldn't it be just as important if not more important today. If this is your first time ever hearing about this amazing plant then I hope to enlighten you about the numerious possibilities of the hemp plant.

Hemp is a different varity of the same plant species as marijuana which is Cannabis Sativa, it was the first known cultivated plant in history, traces of hemp fibers have been dated back to 8,000 BC. Hemp spread quickly throughout Egypt and China during 4,000 BC and then spread throughout all of Europe around 1,500 BC, in fact Christopher Colombus's ships caried 80 tons of hemp ropes and sails and he was also thought to be the first one to bring the hemp seed to America.

Hemp is remarkable because it is very environmently friendly and can be made into over 50,000 consumer products, it can provide us with natural alternative materials to synthetics and many other things, such as wood to save the rainforests and biodegratable plastics, but these are only a few. Basically hemp can be refined into three materials, fibers, hurds, and seeds. First, the fibers of the hemp plant are contained within the stalk and stems, they consist of strings of cells knitted together, the stalks are soaked in water then the fibers are crushed and beated free, they then can be spung into thread as thick as rope or as thin as silk, this thread can be used to make everything from cloths to carpet. The fibers can also be heated and compressed and turned into fiberboard which can be used in place of tree wood, this hemp fiberboard is better then tree wood because it is twice as strong and three times as elastic, in fact Dave Seber, who is a partner of the Hemp Building Company said "Anything you can make out of a tree, you can make better with hemp." Second are the hurds, the hurds of the hemp plant come from the leftover parts of the stems and stalks after all the fibers have been beaten free, these leftover fragments called hurds consist of 77% cellulose. The main use of hurds would be to make 100% tree-free paper, the hemp paper is much better then your regular tree paper because it lasts longer and can be recycled 10 times more then tree paper, hurds also can be minerlizied and turned into cement or insulation (see the strait facts link to learn more). When the hurds are smashed into powder, pulp is made, the pulp is used to make biodegatable plastics, this hemp pulp is chemically related to petroleum. Now the third element that comes from hemp are the seeds, hemp seeds can become extremely beneficial, first of all they can do anything that the soy bean can do, but at a much higher nutritional level, hemp seeds have the ability to surpass the soy bean industry which is currently an 800 million dollar per year industry. Hemp seeds also make excellent food additives, and are very nutritious because they are rich in 8 essential proteins, contain all the essential amino acids, lots of minerals, polyunsaturated fats, as well as being the highest in essential fatty acids then any other seed form any other plant, the list goes on! The hemp seeds whole also make excellent animal feed, people have been adding hemp seeds to wild bird feed for hundreds of years, they also are great for feeding livestock and chickens, a test done on chickens proved that when feed hemp seeds they produced more eggs without being given hormones. The second benefit of the hemp seed is its oil, the seeds contain 30% oil and this oil has been used for hundreds of years throughout Europe. The oil's uses range from salid dressing to cooking oil, paints and varnishes and even biomass fuel, thats right, when vetagable matter and hemp oil are combined they can be turned into energy, this fuel is strong enough to power a car and has been done many times at many hemp rallies throughout the nation, and the best part is that when the fuel is burned it releases C02, good ol' carbon dioxide which actually cleans the environment as plant life turns it into oxygen. Hemp seed extracts help increase the immune system and have been given to Aids, cancer and Multiple Sclerosis patients for many years. The medical uses of the flowering tops of the hemp plant are also unlimited, although they come from the varity of the hemp plant that contains higher levels of THC which is the active chemical in marijuana, they are equal beneficial, by smoking or ingesting the flowering buds, it has been proven that they ease pain, relieve stress, treat illnesses such as glaucoma, cancer, nausea, Aids and much much more, they are also beneficial in relieving uncomfort from menstral pains.

The possibilities of an unpunished, free-growing hemp soceity in America is unimaginable, the benefits for the environment and for people by far out weigh any reason to keep this plant illegal and unused. The hemp plant can easily become our most cherished and simply grown crop of the 21st Century. The hemp plant can easily be grown anywhere, it is drought resistant, no pesticides are needed, the leaves fall off and nutralize the soil, and the hemp plant is also one of the fastest growing plants in the world. This plant alone could save America's farmers and make their jobs completly stable, as well as giving some new, needed energy and money to Americain farmers and their community. The economic prosperties are endless, the hemp plant has the capability to make an enormous controbution or even surpass and consume the soybean industry, the petroleum industry, the oil industry, the wood and paper industries and many more. All these uses and it's still illegal leads to the question: why is it still illegal? In 1937 the marijuana tax act was passed, this made it illegal to have in possession, cultivate,or distribute parts of, or the whole plant Cannabis Sativa, this law makes no distinction between varities of the plant, though all varities should be legal in order to reap all the benefits of the plant, so untill the day when more people are educated truthfully and unbiassedly about the hemp plant, then we will continue stripping our earth for raw materials and resources.