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Hemp, Cannabis and Marijuana: What's the Difference?

by D. Paul Stanford
Cannabis, hemp or marijuana is our oldest crop, sown for over 12,000 years (1), and may have been
domesticated over 30,000 years ago. It produces more fuel, fiber, food and medicine than any other
plant (2). The seeds of cannabis produce the most productive and nutritious vegetable oil and protein
(3). Hemp produces more fiber, from its stems and stalks, than any other plant (4), and hemp fiber can
be used to make paper, canvas, rope, lace, linen, building materials and more. Cannabis flowers and
leaves also produce over 100 unique compounds known as cannabinoids that have many physical and
psychological effects.

There is a lot of confusion about the difference between hemp, cannabis and marijuana. Hemp,
cannabis or marijuana all are scientifically denoted by the Latin term, Cannabis Sativa; hemp, cannabis
or marijuana are all the same plant species, Cannabis Sativa. Varieties known as Cannabis Indica are
just different varieties of the same species that were originally bred in India. Cannabis is not a genus, it
is a species. Today, almost all varieties of cannabis used for medicine and social use are cross-breeds of
both indica and sativa varieties. There are other varieties that have been denoted as well, such as
Cannabis Ruderalis, and the modern pharmaceutical companies of Eli Lilly and Parke Davis produced
many cannabis-based medicines, including some from a variety that they named Cannabis Americana.

Humans have co-evolved with cannabis for at least 12,000 years too. We have changed cannabis and
cannabis has changed us. Our ancestors have bred cannabis for hundreds of generations. Today, hemp
seeds' protein profile and essential fatty acid profile perfectly match humans' nutritional requirements.
The cannabinoid profile of hemp has been bred to suit many demands, from medicine to social use. The
origins of agriculture and civilization itself are linked to cannabis, and all archaeologists agree that
cannabis was grown by our first ancestors to begin farming in Asia.

For instance, there are many different types of dogs that have been bred diversely from their original
wolf ancestors. The original ancestor of the dog is known as Canis Lupus, and all modern dogs are
known scientifically by their Latin name, Canis Lupus Familiaris. From the little Chihuahua to the
huge Irish Wolfhound, these different varieties of canines are the results of human directed breeding.

The same with cannabis. In fact, the Latin word for cannabis and canine are from the same
etymological root. Cannabis does have a profound physical effect on dogs, which might explain that.

Under US law, the definitions are clear. Different parts of the same cannabis plant are defined as hemp
and other parts as cannabis or marijuana, and the seed may be defined as either, depending upon its
viability. According to US law, hemp is the stalks, stems and sterilized seeds of cannabis sativa, and

marijuana is the leaves, flowers and viable seeds of cannabis sativa. Male or female cannabis has no
differentiation by law or science, beyond gender. Of course, you can't get any cannabis or hemp seeds
except via female flowers fertilized by male pollen. Just as there are different varieties of corn, there
are different varieties of cannabis. The varieties of cannabis that are over-regulated but legal in Canada
& Europe are those that produce less than 0.3 percent THC. Since most THC is in the flowers, these
low THC varieties are specifically bred to have very few flowering sites, thus little THC.
Unfortunately, these 'low THC but legal in Canada & Europe' varieties, which I call dwarf hemp,
produces very little seed and half the fiber compared to varieties of cannabis with more THC.

It's time to restore hemp, the oldest & most productive crop. Cannabis & hemp were renamed
marijuana in the early part of the 20th Century in a misinformation campaign designed by and to
benefit the petrochemical pharmaceutical military industrial transnational crony corporate elite ruling
class (6). The reason hemp, or marijuana, was prohibited in the 20th century was to suppress hemp fuel
and fiber production. Cannabis prohibition has always been about money, power and the centralization
of economic and political control. Hemp fuel and fiber are inexpensive to make and naturally
decentralized. Small groups of people created the marijuana myth so they could profit from the
expensive, capital intensive petrochemical alternatives that dominate our political process and economy
today. Hemp will decentralize our economic system and return wealth and control to the majority.

Hemp, by every measure, makes more fuel, fiber, food and medicine than any other plant. An acre of
hemp, on an annual basis, produces 300 gallons of seed oil (for fuel, plastics and food), 3 tons of high
protein hempseed meal, 10 tons of bast fiber for canvas, rope lace and linen, 25 tons of hurd fiber for
paper and building materials, and, from its leaves and biomass, ethanol for fuel too.

Hemp produces more fiber than any other plant. There are two types of fiber in a marijuana stalk or
stem, the bast fiber, which is the outer bark, and the hurd fiber, or the inner woody core. According to
the US Department of Agriculture's Bulletin 404, a waste product from making canvas, rope,lace and
linen from hemp bast fiber, this hemp hurd fiber alone, makes over 4 times more paper than trees.
Hemp paper is acid free, for a long shelf life, and produced without toxic chemicals. According to
Washington State University's Wood Sciences Lab, hemp fiber board is stronger than steel. When we
start using hemp instead of wood fiber for paper and building materials, deforestation may well cease.

Hemp seed oil is biodiesel fuel. Hemp biomass makes ethanol. Hemp fuel is completely nontoxic,
whereas petroleum production is extremely toxic, poisoning everything it touches. Hemp makes more
biofuel than any other plant. Hemp fuels are carbon neutral and its wide-scale adoption will help
restore balance in many ways. When we allow farmers to grow hemp for its best fuel attributes,
regardless of THC content, we will realign our whole economic system by replacing fossil fuel with
biofuel.

Plastics made with hempseed oil are much cheaper and nontoxic too. Hemp plastics are biodegradable,
unlike petrochemical-produced plastics.

Hemp seeds produce more oil and protein than any other plant per land area cultivated. Hemp protein
and oil are rich in the essential fatty acids (EFAs) that our brain and cardiovascular system need,
Omega 3 & 6, in the perfect ratio for optimal human health. Hemp protein has all 8 amino acids, again,
in just the right balance to meet humans' nutritional needs.

Per acre, according to a study published in the Notre Dame University journal, The American Midland
Naturalist, wild hemp here in the USA produces 8,000 pounds of seed per acre. This study is called: An
Ecological Study of Naturalized Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in East-Central Illinois, by Alan Haney and
Benjamin B. Kutscheid at the University of Indiana at Urbana, Department of Biology.

http://tinyurl.com/d4e7c29

After you press the 8,000 pounds of hemp seeds, you get over 300 gallons of oil and 6,000 pounds of
high protein hemp meal. That is over 7 barrels of oil (42 US gallons) produced per acre, which is
extremely healthy while fresh, and 3 tons of food per acre. This oil production rate is three times more
productive than the next most productive seed oil crops: soybeans, canola and sunflower seeds, which
each produce 100 to 115 gallons of oil per acre. Hempseed oil will be the most productive source of
biodiesel fuel when legalized, and, as noted above, it is also a nontoxic resource for plastics and other
products.

It is difficult to fathom how one plant can produce more fuel, fiber, food and medicine than any other
plant, and that this plant is the oldest crop sown. How we can all be relatively ignorant of these facts?
And that this plant is illegal across the world. But cannabis prohibition was sold based upon lies to
benefit the petrochemical robber barons and their proxy successor corporate oligarchs who rule the
world today. Again, cannabis prohibition was implemented based upon lies to benefit the
petrochemical, pharmaceutical, military industrial, transnational, corporate elite, crony capitalist ruling
class. Ending cannabis prohibition is the solution for many economic, environmental and social issues.
Drugs are a smokescreen. This is the subversion of the natural cycle to the synthetic cycle. We don't
need to fight wars for oil because our farmers can produce a superior product. Hemp is the premier
source for energy, and the byproducts of cannabis fuel production can feed humanity and save the
precious remnants of our biosphere and life for future generations.

I believe that, with the convergence of genetic science, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence now
underway, restoring cannabis for all its uses is critically important for the future of freedom for
humanity. Legal rulings, such as the US Supreme Court's ruling in the case of Citizens United, now
hold that corporations are artificial individuals that have even more rights than natural, flesh-and-blood
individuals, people. If we can continue to prohibit the oldest and most productive crop based upon lies,
then I fear that it becomes more likely that humanity itself may be subverted by our newly created
artificial intelligence in the not-so-distant future. Cannabis is a critical bellwether for freedom of
thought and consciousness.

It is really an issue of economic and social justice. Please work for and support global cannabis
freedom. Restore hemp!

Bibliography:
(1) Ernest L. Abel; Marijuana - The First Twelve Thousand Years; 1980
(2) Alan Haney and Benjamin B. Kutscheid (U. of Illinois at Urbana, Dept. of Biology); The
American Midland Naturalist; January 1975 (periodical, U. of Notre Dame)
(3) Urdo Erasmus; Fats That Heal- Fats That Kill; 1993 (book)
(4) United States Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 404; Lyster H. Dewey, Botanist in
Charge of Fiber-Plant Investigations, and Jason L. Merrill, Paper-Plant Chemist
(5) Aizpurua-Olaizola, Oier; Soydaner, Umut; ztrk, Ekin; Schibano, Daniele; Simsir, Yilmaz;
Navarro, Patricia;Etxebarria, Nestor; Usobiaga, Aresatz (2016-02-02). "Evolution of the
Cannabinoid and Terpene Content during the Growth of Cannabis sativa; Plants from
Different Chemotypes"; Journal of Natural Products
(6) Gatewood Galbraith, The Last Free Man in America: Meets the Synthetic Subversion; 2004

Paul Stanford is the founder of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation (THCF),[1] THCF Medical
Clinics,[2] and the Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp (CRRH). Please visit Paul
Stanfords websites;

PaulStanfordsBusinessWebsite;
www.PaulStanford.com
PaulStanfordsActivismWebsite;
www.DPaulStanford.org
PaulStanford/THCFNewsWebsites;

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