Hemp and Plastic and what President Biden should do ?

Hemp entrepreneurs are starting the new year looking to play a role in global efforts to reduce plastic pollution. As the USA bordering Canada to the north and Mexico south, the 9,355,000 square miles in North America have a lot to offer the Hemp Industry. Canada is leading the way by rolling out a law that list of single-use plastics that will be banned in the country by the end of 2021. Restrictions on single-use plastics include straws, coffee stirrers, drink rings, plastic cutlery, take-out food containers and plastic shopping bags.

This ban is one part of the benchmarks the Canadian government has identified in its goal to achieve zero plastic waste by 2030. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first announced plans to ban harmful single-use plastics and hold companies responsible for plastic waste in June 2019.

Plastic production and use has been blamed as a major source of carbon emissions, are rarely recyclable and contain harsh toxins that negatively affect human and environmental health, according to a National Geographic study. We as Hemp industry members, are looking at the current plastic and paper and REPLACING it with alternatives made from hemp, that can provide a biodegradable, renewable resource to replace fossil fuel-based plastics.

President-Elect Joe Biden has pledged to rejoin the Paris Agreement on Jan. 20, the first day of his presidency, making U.S. hemp industry members hopeful that that hemp will be part of the conversation about climate change, biodegradable solutions and sustainability.

More than 500 environmental groups banded together last month to ask Biden to take more steps to curb this global plastics pollution problem. The wish list included a federal purchasing ban on single-use plastics and suspending or denying permits for new or expanded plastic production facilities. Come on folks, let's join our neighbor !

And in Europe, the European Industrial Hemp Association paper released last fall outlines the ways that the crop can support the European Green Deal – the EU’s long-term plan to shift to a clean, circular economy, stop climate change, reverse biodiversity loss and cut pollution.

Prior to the 1800s, it was prevalent to see hemp products as mainly paper and textiles. After the invention of the cotton gin, hemp became a forgotten fiber because cotton was much more comfortable and cheaper to produce for textiles. In the early 1900s, George Schlichten introduced the Hemp Decorticator. This invention was going to revolutionize the hemp industry, making it much easier to process. Soon after, negative propaganda skyrocketed about the cannabis plant. W.R Hearst fabricated stories in his newspapers about this new drug called “marihuana,” which was causing blacks and Mexicans to rape and kill white women. Before his articles, marijuana was never used as slang for cannabis—Hearst intentionally did this to demonize this plant with a new name. This led to a propaganda movie in 1936 called Reefer Madness, which portrays cannabis as the most dangerous drug in the world. So, why such an extreme effort to criminalize the cannabis plant? Not only did W.R Hearst own the largest newspaper company at the time, but he also owned many acres of forest that was used to create his papers, how do say; CONFLICT OF INTEREST,. He wasn’t the only one trying to protect his interests. In the 1920s, DuPont invested heavily in synthetic fibers and also saw hemp as a threat. Not to mention, DuPont produced chemicals for processing timber into paper, yes another conflict. Then, things got even worse in the early 1930s after Harry J. Anslinger was appointed the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which is known today as the DEA. Anslinger targeted minorities and supported Hearst’s outrageous stories about cannabis. After nearly a decade of negative stories about cannabis and minorities, Anslinger proposed the Marijuana Tax Act to Congress, which was passed on August 2, 1937. The Act did not itself criminalize the possession or usage of hemp, marijuana, or cannabis. But included penalty and enforcement provisions to which marijuana, cannabis, or hemp handlers were subject.

Hemp farming was eventually officially banned altogether in 1970 with the passage of the Controlled Substances Act in which hemp was included as a Schedule 1 drug.

Hemp Hemp Hooray!

To this day, it’s believed by many that big oil, pharmaceutical, cotton, & paper corporations still lobby to keep cannabis stigmatized. Although, the hemp industry in the U.S. received a boost with the passage of the 2014 Farm Bill, which allowed “institutions of higher education” and state agriculture departments to grow hemp under a pilot program as long as state law permitted it. Additionally, the 2014 bill established a definition of industrial hemp, officially setting the THC threshold in the U.S. at 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.

Then finally someone who got it, On December 20, 2018 President Donald Trump signed into law The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 – or as we know it, the 2018 Farm Bill. The bill confirms the legalization of hemp and provisions for its cultivation, transport, and sale. Industrial hemp and its derived products are now legal on a federal level, and every state now may choose how to move forward. We still have quite a way to go until the negative stigma surrounding hemp (and cannabis in general) is gone, but that’s what we are all for. So as companies continue to expand in this exciting HEMP evolution, let's hope Government can catch on now to figure out the right thing to do, unlike our miss-steps previously. Let's hope the Biden administration will support the hemp industry, based on its previous dealings with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and hemp’s ability to reduce carbon dioxide levels as noted in the article “Hemp Advocates Encouraged by President-Elect Biden’s USDA Transition Team.”  Tom Vilsack, hopefully as Secretary of Agriculture, arguably is beneficial for the industry. If confirmed, Vilsack would replace Sonny Perdue, who has overseen the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under President Donald Trump since April 2017, who we know was an advocate.

Vilsack’s previous tenure at USDA is cause for optimism

” Jonathan Miller, the general counsel to the US Roundtable, said. “We are incredibly optimistic that he will help provide the leadership and clarity necessary to unlock opportunity in the hemp industry.” 

 Enough is Enough----> Hemp is the future!