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The Difference Between Hemp and Marijuana
There has long been a war in this country, one against drugs and in some sense with the different beliefs held by different people. On one hand you have those against hemp and marijuana because they are afraid of the things that getting high does to the population. On the other you have those that say that hemp and marijuana are good for so many things. However, few people are told that there is a difference between these two plants. Sisters.
Hemp and marijuana are both from the plan cannabis sativa. Both plants are weeds that can adapt and be grown in many different climates, temperatures, and soil conditions. In fact, these plants can be grown in most places that people can live with the exception of the coldest regions of the arctic circle and of course the antarctic where only those staying temporarily survive. Over the years these two plants have been used for a huge number of things, but they aren't the same. Marijuana as a Drug.
The difference is a very important one. Marijuana is used as a drug and can cause a "high" when smoked. This is due to the THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) which causes changes in the brain. In order to achieve this high you have to have at least 3% THC, but the higher the THC content the "better". Marijuana will have anywhere from 3-15% THC, with the better drugs having 10-15%. Hemp and THC.
Hemp is grown differently and separated from marijuana leaving it with a THC of about .01-.03% THC content. This isn't near enough for a high. Research has suggested that it would take an entire acre of hemp, which is about 10-20 tons of plant material in order to get high. Before one could smoke all of this plant material they would die of carbon monoxide poisoning. Fear of False Identification.
Many who know these facts still fear that there could be farmers who would obtain a license to grow hemp and would instead produce marijuana without people being any the wiser. This doesn't work because the two plants are grown very differently. Marijuana needs at least twelve inches of room and usually closer to eighteen inches or more so that the plants can get bushy. You want lots of low branches, leaves, and soft stems. These growing methods encourage THC development. Hemp is planted two inches apart. It grows quickly and straight up. It is soon taller then full grown men and ends up with a very woody stem, no lower branches, and few is any lower leaves. All the leaves are at the top of the tall plant instead (where there is sun light). Growing then together.
The next thought is, "What if you have a field of hemp that hides marijuana plants in the middle?" Few would know how to get to it and it wouldn't be something you could easily see. But this doesn't work. If you grow the two plants together cross pollination occurs and render both plants infertile. The flowers then don't turn into buds. This is bad for both the hemp crop and the marijuana crop (especially the marijuana crop). The bud contains many materials that are useful in hemp production. They make great sources of hemp oil, food, and seed for the next year. However, in marijuana production the bud is the part of the plant with the most THC and is therefore the part sought after to smoke. If you don't have bud then you don't have much marijuana. In fact, these two plants can't be grown within one mile of each other because of cross pollination. Hemp can not be used as a drug because it doesn't have enough THC. Marijuana and hemp can't be grown the same or together making it impossible to grow drugs while pretending to grow hemp. Yet hemp remains a product that is illegal to grow in most countries. It is something that can make over ten thousand products including a fast, easy, and inexpensive growing bio-fuel. But the world needs to know they aren't the same thing before we will ever be able to grow and use hemp for the many things that it can be used for (including biodegradable plastics, building materials, and fuel).
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Contributor's Note
While I am all for the legalization of hemp, I am not for the legalization of marijuana. I think they are two separate issues and should be kept that way. There is a large amount of evidence that suggests marijuana can be helpful to many who suffer from diseases, however there remains issues in my mind about marijuana used as a drug.
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You got most facts right, although to state that they are both cannabis sativa but are different plants is confused to say the least. They ARE the same plant, industrial hemp has just been bred to have high fibre content since it is principally grown for fibre. I'm for governmnets getting off peoples' backs on all drugs, and especially this one. No one has the right to decide that someone else may not partake of whatever substance he or she chooses to relax with. All the issues associated with marijuana have been invented or exagerated by those opposed to it; plastics manufacturers, breweries, control freaks, fascist police-state bullies etc.
'If you grow the two plants together cross pollination occurs and render both plants infertile.' This is plain wrong. They are the same plant, just bred for different characteristics, cross pollination results in viable crossbred plants.
'In fact, these two plants can't be grown within one mile of each other because of cross pollination.' nonsense, the hemp plants is pollinated by wind, noit insects, and plants close to it will naturally pollinate before those a mile away. Doesn't make any logical sense to claim otherwise.
The 'war' against hemp was started by the oil-based plastics industry to wipe out competition from hemp, a far superior source of fible. The campaign was aimed at marijuana since it would have been impossible to outlaw the agricultural crop hemp on those grounds - which, incidentally had been grown in America for some time and was used to make the original Levi jeans and also to fuel Henty Ford's first car. The campaign to criminalise hemp was conducted as a disgraceful racist slur 'black people and Mexicans were blamed for enticing white girls into 'drugs' and then had their way with the... really nasty racist lies. The rest is history, inclusing the US bullying the rest of the world into going along with it. The rersults are narco-gangs, narco-states and international drug trafficking on a massive scale, with addictive hard drugs becoming widely available. Fossil-fuel plastics have done very well indeed and made fortunes, though they have also polluted our environment since they are non-biodegradeable, unlike hemp-based plastics. It's a no-brainer, which is why successive US governments have refused to change the law; no brains.
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