Hemp History Day introduces marijuana's industrious cousin

The Chattanooga Public Library will host an event Saturday, June 11, as part of Hemp History Week designed to educate people on the many uses and history of the versatile plant.

The Chattanooga Public Library will host an event Saturday, June 11, as part of Hemp History Week designed to educate people on the many uses and history of the versatile plant.

Did you know that Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence on paper made from hemp? Or that Christopher Columbus used hemp ropes and sails on his ships?

Van Gogh and Rembrandt painted on hemp canvas, and until the early 1800s, most legal tender in the Americas was made from cannabis hemp. Maps, Bibles, log books and clothes have been made in part from hemp. It's been around since at least 8000 B.C. We know this because the oldest relic of human history dates from that time.

You can find all of this information and more at truthabouthemp.org, or you can attend an event Saturday, June 11, at the Chattanooga Public Library and learn even more about the history and many uses for the maligned plant. The first-time local event is part of the 7-year-old national Hemp History Week, a movement to make hemp legal again in hopes of giving farmers another sustainable crop and manufacturers of 25,000 products, including food, clothing, paper and rope, cheaper and easier-to-get resources.

The project was initiated by the Hemp Industries Association and Vote Hemp and involves hundreds of hemp manufacturers, farmers, activists, volunteers and retailers.

"The event is for whoever is interested in learning about hemp as a sustainable economic movement," says Ashley Clayton, a hemp advocate who is organizing the event at the library.

"There is so much misinformation out there that is being repeated. This is a movement that could help our country."

The first thing people need to understand is that while hemp and marijuana are cousins in the plant world, they are different, she says.

"It is technically cannabis, the same plant, but hemp has no psycho-active element to it."

After a tax was placed on marijuana in 1937, and later made illegal altogether, hemp farmers found that dealing with all the red tape was too difficult to fool with. The government also didn't want to deal with regulating it, so it was made illegal also. Clayton says lobby groups from the cotton and wood paper industry also might have helped make growing hemp illegal.

The use of hemp never went out of fashion, however. The U.S. just imported it, primarily from China and Canada. Various groups, including farmers, started pushing to have it legalized several years ago, and today 27 states, including Tennessee, have started removing barriers. It was made legal to grow in Tennessee two years ago, though Clayton says state farmers planted their crops too late in the season, so the crop was disappointing.

"Farmers are having to relearn how to grow it after a 70-year lull," she says.

Clayton is a former teacher and stay-at-home mom who became fascinated with hemp and its history about 20 years ago when she visited the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum in Amsterdam as a 20-year-old.

"I knew about marijuana, but I had no idea the industrial history of hemp. I couldn't believe it, and I've been fascinated ever since."

With the recent resurgence in interest in making hemp legal to grow in the United States, her own interest was rekindled.

"We imported $500 million worth of hemp just in 2015," she says. "That is something that our farmers could have grown here. It could replace tobacco, for example, as a cash crop."

The conference will include education films, guest speakers, vendors, display booths and giveaways.

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.