Hit the weed, man!

[Jon P]

I picked up a packet of hemp seeds today with a view to sprouting them.  I googled and came up with this article, which seems bizarre to say the least.  Why would the US want to ban its use in South America?  (Though I have read of the restrictions faced by small-scale ie not Monsanto would-be market gardeners in the US - the land which desperately needs to start growing food locally)

[pcolbeck]

Hemp has been targeted by the USA for years. It was originally to do with saving the American cotton industry as hemp makes better (ie longer lasting) paper than cotton and good clothes etc. Not sure why they are so keen on harassing the hemp industry these days. Did you know it used to be illegal in the UK not to grow hemp if you had more than a certain amount of land. They needed tons of the stuff to make the cordage for the rigging in the days of sailing ships. Given how vigorous it is and how much used to be grown I'm surprised it doesn't still occur as a weed all over the country.

[Jon P]

Interesting.  Is it the same plant as here?  I wouldn't want to get done for growing it in my back garden for the seeds.  Or raided by the local junkies either.

[pcolbeck]

The cannabis that is used as a drug is a derivative of hemp that is used for rope, paper, oil and clothes etc. I think you can only grow either variety legally with a special license from MAAF or DEFRA or whatever it is called this week.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Going off on a related tangent, in Poland it is illegal to grow poppies, or even to let them grow accidentally on your land. And I do mean your common or garden poppy - apparently it is possible (and surprisingly common) to make a sort of opium from them too.

[ian]

Going off on a related tangent, in Poland it is illegal to grow poppies, or even to let them grow accidentally on your land. And I do mean your common or garden poppy - apparently it is possible (and surprisingly common) to make a sort of opium from them too.

Effectively, all poppies are opium poppies. All that really varies is the opium content. Ornamental poppies tend to have have a lower proportion, 'opium' poppies have far more (having been bred for that). Rumour has it (and I've not tried) that you can even make a 'calming' tea from the dried, ornamental seed pods. Probably tastes yuk though and you'd have to explain to your mother what happened to her dried flower arrangement.

[tiermat]

The cannabis that is used as a drug is a derivative of hemp that is used for rope, paper, oil and clothes etc. I think you can only grow either variety legally with a special license from MAAF or DEFRA or whatever it is called this week.

Correct, kinda

Both plants are hemp, but the type used for rope and material manufacture has a negligable level of THC, the active component, so much so that it is said to get any kind of high from it you would need to ingest ~1 acre of the plant.  Licenses to cultivate this are "easier" to get than for the other, but still difficult as the site used to grow the weed must be out of sight of a main road, must have security etc.  The license for the other type is much more restrictive and each and every plant that grows must be accounted for, hence cultivation is on a much smaller scale.

[pcolbeck]

Both plants are hemp, but the type used for rope and material manufacture has a negligable level of THC, the active component, so much so that it is said to get any kind of high from it you would need to ingest ~1 acre of the plant.

Which is what makes restrictions on growing hemp silly. It was always political and economic and nothing to do with drugs.