Hemp used to be a staple of life in America. King James I demanded that colonists produce it. Hemp rope and fabric were ubiquitous throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The USDA even produced a WWII newsreel called “Hemp for Victory.”

But other materials came to replace hemp – wood pulp for paper, and cotton and synthetics for fabric. Why?

For that matter, what is hemp? Is it different from weed? And does it actually have 25,000 uses as its proponents claim?

Featuring Hector “Freedom” Gerardo, David Suchoff, John Fike, and Danny Desjarlais.

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LINKS

Learn more about how the Lower Sioux Indian Reservation has worked with hempcrete, and how they hope it’ll transform their economy (Grist).

The 2018 Farm Bill inadvertently led to a multibillion-dollar market of hemp-derived THC products. Twenty-two AGs are now calling on congress to fix the legal loophole that has “[forced] cannabis-equivalent products into our economies regardless of states’ intentions to legalize cannabis use.” (The Hill)

Cannabis sativa in the US only came to be called “marijuana” in the early 1900s, when the anti-cannabis movement wanted to link it to its “Mexican-ness.” But, as The Mysterious History Of 'Marijuana' (NPR Code Switch) explains, the etymological origins of “marijuana” are still debated: does it come from the Chinese word ma ren hua? Or the Bantu word for cannabis: ma-kaña? Or something else?

Hemp for Victory! (YouTube)

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported, mixed, and produced by Felix Poon.

Editing by Taylor Quimby, with help from Rebecca Lavoie

Our staff includes Justine Paradis.

Executive producer: Taylor Quimby

Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio.

Special thanks to Fitsum Tariku, Director of the Building Science Centre of Excellence.

Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Mike Franklyn, Jules Gaia, Dusty Decks, and Rocket Jr.

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

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