Hemp is one of the most useful plants on the face of the planet. It’s a plant that creates confusion with many people thinking it’s marijuana!
So, the question for many is what exactly is hemp?
Well, it’s a form of cannabis sativa which is grown for the purpose of industrial use.
However, while hemp can be used to make CBD oil, it cannot be used as other strains of cannabis are for getting high.
Why Is Hemp Important?
Hemp, rather like bamboo, is an incredibly fast growing product.
This means that it can be harvested and replaced on a regular cycle without very much effort.
Early man was using hemp fibers at least 50,000 years ago!
And the plant’s utility does not end there – you can also make hemp into paper, clothing (or textile products), ropes, plastics (which are usually biodegradable unlike those made from oil), food or animal feed, biofuels, paints, and even insulation!
Why Can’t You Get High On Hemp?
Hemp was selected as a strain for growing because it has unusually low concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
THC is the chemical which when you smoke marijuana makes you high.
So, when the plant is low in THC – you can’t get high on it, at least, not easily.
Of course, in theory you could eat enough hemp to get a buzz but in practice, you’d probably find yourself tired of the taste of hemp long before you saw any kind of benefit from it.
However, these strains often have higher concentrations of cannabidiol (that’s CBD) which means they are often ideal for making CBD oil.
Is Hemp Legal?
Good question and there’s a lot of dispute over this.
The problem is that cannabis is illegal under international treaty and despite efforts to resolve this issue in the UN – no resolution has been found.
This means hemp exists in a grey area in international law.
By and large there are no hemp busts or prosecutions but it doesn’t mean that selling it, particularly across international borders is legal.
Which Countries Grow Hemp?
The big hemp-producing nations are Australia, Canada, France, Russia, Ukraine, the United States, and the UK.
Some countries suspect that hemp’s dubious legal status is an act of market preservation for richer, more powerful nations to ignore the law while ensuring that smaller, poorer nations cannot easily flout it.