1. Hemp is not marijuana: they are the same genesis and species, just as a St. Bernard and a Chihuahua are. The plants have evolved over millennia to serve different purposes. Hemp has a low THC level that could never get a person high. Any marijuana grown near hemp plants would cross-pollinate turning pot plants into hemp, plus farming hemp would require a permit. Any cannabis plants grown outside a permitted area would be illegal, and any crops inside a permitted area would be tested for THC, the active drug in marijuana.
2. Economics: Hemp could make American’s millions! Canadian hemp seed farmers are profiting $300 – $600 an acre.
3. Environmental: Hemp can be grown without pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and without fertilizer if grown in a proper crop rotation.
Hemp can provide all the protein, pulp, cellulose, and fiber needed without toxins in its growth or processing.
4. Political: The U.S. imports more hemp than any other country at over $300 million, yet the U.S. is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t allow its cultivation.
5. Hemp out-competes: Hemp can provide the most cellulosic biomass of any crop in the Midwest. Cellulose is the building blocks of paper, plastics, and bio-composites. Biomass is plant matter. The more cellulose and biomass a crop produces, the more money there is to be made.
6. Hemp’s versatility speaks for itself: Hemp is an ideal food, body care ingredient, building material, feed for animals, biodegradable plastic, paper, textile, cloth, and industrial oil.