Industrial hemp (IH) is better for the environment than either wool or cotton. Pesticides are used with IH only on an extremely rare basis. Very few "pests" are attracted to the plant. Herbicides are not needed, as the bushy leaf pattern, even on a 5-10" plant separation planting, blocks sunlight to the ground.

Seed oils from IH can replace the environmentally harmful petrochemical-derived chemicals currently used for varnishes, paints and hundred of other uses. Cars running on hempseed oil travel the nation every day.

The fiber in the stalk is more absorbent and stronger than cotton. Thomas Jefferson invented a special "hemp brake" (to separate the fiber from the hurd) and wrote about the strength of the IH fiber. For proof of this see the relevant page of the Jefferson Cyclopedia on Google Books by going here. His original writings on hemp can by found on page 506 here.

The U.S. Government even produced a video, called Hemp For Victory!. It can be found on YouTube by going here.

For more information, go to the following sites:

http://www.chrisconrad.com/

http://www.jackherer.com/

The best book on the subject is Jack Herer's The Emperor Wears no Clothes. You can buy it from my site by going here:

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Please write your members of your state congress to urge them to open up industrial hemp for ailing state economies.

Thank you,

Paul R Pearson

DetroitLiberation.org

and thanks for the info. Hemp would seem to be a better environmental choice than either cotton or wool, but there might be two drawbacks.

1. Is hemp clothing as comfortable as cotton, or are its uses more limited? Cotton can be worn as both under and outer garments. We know that hemp is even more durable, but could it be as versatile and as fashionable?

2. What about the psychoative properties of industrial hemp? We've still got a drug war going on.

1. Hemp clothing today looks and feels like cotton. There are easily more uses uses for industrial hemp than their are for cotton. It is the world's strongest natural fibre and far more durable than cotton. Not only can you make cloth from it, but lots of other products as well that are typically made from timber or petroleum (like fuel and plastics). Before the late 19th century, 75% of all paper in the world was made from hemp. Trees grown for paper take 20 years to mature, hemp only takes a few months and has a 4x higher yeild per acre. Hemp can be grown in many differnt climates with little pesticide use (almost 50% of the worlds pesticides are used to grow cotton) and very little fertilizer (it's a weed!).

2. Hemp and cannabis are cousins, but they are in fact different plants. Industrial hemp contains about 1% of the THC found in marijuana. It's far, far easier to get high sniffing gasoline (ew, scary!) than smoking hemp