HEMP IN CALIFORNIA

The New World was ripe for hemp when the settlers arrived; not that they were really the first to plant it, as record exists to show that there was hemp already growing by the time Columbus sighted land in this hemisphere (see previous post, "Hemp in Massachusetts", 16 June). The Spanish needed it for their navy and had it planted in the sixteenth century. California was for centuries one of their possessions, and it is known that they cultivated this crop. Some of it in fact lives on it wild progeny.

The pioneers came to the Golden State in the nineteenth century in wagons covered in hemp, and it was not long before some of the fields were in turn covered in hemp; an 1870 report notes that 200 tons were grown. An early record of it grown on a commercial scale was that of Gridley, in Butte County, where John Heaney, who came from Illinois, not only grew it but devised a processsing machine. He then moved to Courtland, in the lower Sacramento Valley. On the Rio Visto, in Solano County, more favourable conditions were found, and advancements to the machinery were implemented. The fibre was strong, and lighter in colour than Kentucky hemp. Seed was often imported from Kentucky, including that which was used in the 1910s at Lerdo, near Bakersfield. The Kern River Valley was also a major growing area at the end of the nineteenth century.

Hemp then fell into a decline as it did in the rest of the country. Recent interest, however, has centred in this state, spurring on a number of Californians to write books calling for a revival in the hemp industry. Jack Herer started this trend in 1985, followed by Chris Conrad, Ed Rosenthal, John Roulac and others. The hemp industry did revive in the US due to their efforts in the '90s, with many shops opening in that decade including: Culture Shock, Good Humans, The Hemp Connection, Hemp Traders, Minawear Hemp Clothing, Hemp and Chocolat and Hemp in the Heartland and Nutiva.

There is much lobbying for legalisation of cultivation, with many challenging the federal government over their heavy handed tactics. A recent case involving Ed Rosenthal showed the solidarity most Californians have with hemp, even when grown medicinally, which is one of the more controversial applications. Many would simply like to grow it for food or cloth; presently all hemp is imported, so California companies are buying their textile hemp from China and their seed from Canada. The right to consume hemp seed products was challenged recently by the US Food & Drug Administration, headed ironically at that time by Asa Hutchinson; Asa means hemp in Japanese. Against this satirical madness stood John Roulac, who ultimately, but not without such spending on his part, prevailed.

There are now dozens of companies in the state that deal with hemp, perhaps hundreds if every retail outlet was counted. Companies such as Minawear, based in Santa Monica in southern California, can be seen at many of the various fairs up and down the state, where green and health fairs are common.

Political activism is widespread and bipartisan, with names on the left such as Woody Harrelson putting much time and work into the movement - he went so far as to post a $500,000 bond for a cancer patient the federal government was prosecuting in the '90s. Former Mayor of Santa Barbara Harriet Miller was also a keen supporter of hemp, adcvocating a public education programme to make people familiar with the issue. On the right, Sam Clauser campaigned to young Republicans, and there was a high level of support from the GOP in this state. That support was largely based on the economic potential of hemp, a fact that both sides can agree on.

Presently California stands with over a dozen other US states in that it has voted in some way to legalise hemp, but there is the federal government standing in the way. The future can be porsperous for Californians if this is relegalised, as they will able to farm, process and market most forms of hemp.

Below is a select list of California businesses:

Bikini Islands, 38 Washington Blvd., Venice, CA, 90291

TEL: 310-306-6901

Cannabest, 1536 Monterey St., San Louis Obispo, CA, 93433

TEL: 800-277-0510

Culture Shock, 7 Bolinas Road, Fairfax, CA, 94930

TEL: 415-456-8138

Greenfield Paper Co., 744 G St., Dan Diego, CA, 92101

TEL: 619-338-9432

The Hemp Connection, 412 Maple Lane, Garberville, CA, 95542

TEL: 707-923-4851

Hemp in the Heartland, 125 K St., Old Sacramento, CA, 95814

TEL: 916-447-HEMP

Hemp Traders, 2132 Colby Ave. #5, Los Angeles, CA, 90025

TEL: 310-914-9557

Hempwise, 971 Embarcadero del Mar, Isla Vista, CA, 93117

TEL: 805-685-9383

The Hempest 4, 336 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara, CA, 93101

TEL: 805-560-6001

Humboldt Hemp Foods, PO Box 99, Whitethorne, CA, 95589

TEL: 707-986-7759

Minawear, 171 Pier Ave. Suite 444, Santa Monica, CA, 90405

TEL: 310-306-1958

Solutions, 1063 H St., Arcata, CA, 95521

TEL: 707-822-6971

Nutiva, PO Box 1716, Sebastopol, CA, 93024

TEL: 800-993-HEMP

Sativa's Kitchen, 5243 Highway 9, Felton, CA, 95018

TEL: 408-438-4510

Spectrum Naturals, 133 Copeland St., Petaluma, CA, 94952

TEL: 800-995-2705

WRITINGS ON HEMP

Much as hemp has been part of our world for millenia, it is only to be expected that there is a large body of literature on the subject. Early pharmacopeia, Pliny, Moschion, Dioscorides and Rabelais all mention hemp. After the printing press developed, and agricultural treatises were published, these too included mention of hemp, with many devoted to the issue, such as G.A. Berti's La Coltivazione della Canape, ca. 1657. Just over a century later M. Marcandier wrote his own treatise on hemp, Traite du Chanvre. Both are now rare books, with the Berti perhaps surviving only as single copies here and there. The Marcandier was more popular, and was in the eighteenth century translated into English and German. Recently, John Hanson of the UK reprinted this, from a copy in the British Library that was owned by Sir Joseph Banks.

Another popular hemp book was published n 1804; On the Cultivation and Preparation of Hemp, written by Robert Wissett, a clerk of the British East India Co. In it he compared the various authorities, including Marcandier, to give the farmer a good overview of the subject. This was reprinted in 1808 with a letter by Lord Somerville. At the time it cost £1, 11 shillings and 6pence; this was a fortune back then, but they managed to get good reviews and sell out nonetheless. Try to get a copy now, and you'll find that it has appreciated well despite the high initial price.

In 1900, a farmer in New York wrote HEMP, which was the seminal work for his generation. It was published by Orange Judd & Co., who reprinted it in 1912. A year later Lyster H. Dewey of the US Department of Agriculture wrote a lenghty article in the USDA Yearbook. For decades to follow, any information about hemp was usually found as an article rather than as a book all to itself.

Jack Frazier in 1974 rediscovered hemp in America and wrote his short book The Marijuana Farmers. This too was reprinted, over a decade later, though with a different title: The Great American Hemp Industry.

By that time Jack Herer had also rediscovered hemp, and his book, The Emperor Wears no Clothes, was to become a classic, which is today into its eleventh edition. Both Frazier and Herer had many references to marijuana, and while each had a cult following, they did not persuade the lawmakers to relegalise hemp in the US. Three of Herer's compatriots in California also wrote on hemp in the 1990s, Chris Conrad, John Roulac and Ed Rosenthal. Each of their works have advanced the hemp cause much and continue to be of value as reference books. Rowan Robinson's 1996 tome The Great Book of Hemp gave the public a lot of new information, with a rather pleasing layout to boot. Since then one genre that has included a number of well-produced works is the cookbook category, including Denis Cicero's The Galaxy Global Eatery Hemp Cookbook, published in 2002.

While Cannabis sativa does get a lot of press attention, it is usually about marijuana or the medical cannabis issue. Some press was generated when John Roulac and Denis Cicero fought to keep hemp foods legal. One thing that became apparent from reading newspaper and magazine articles was that reporters often knew next to nothing about hemp or could care less. Therefore, the articles were often short and useless, or tinged with doper jokes.

Perhaps the best article written so far on hemp is Lee Green's "The Demonized Seed", which appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine on 18 January, 2004.

The hemp movement has itself issued its own press, including Hemp Times in the 1990s and Hemphasis rather recently. Both have ceased publishing. Two peer reviewed periodicals that are cover hemp are the Journal of Natural Fibres and The Journal of Industrial Hemp. Both are published by the Haworth Press in New York State. The former is edited in France, the latter in Poland. Both will have up-to-date scientific information and are the backbone of hemp literature for the industry. Another industry publication is the newsletter of the Hemp Industries Association, based in California.

In this internet age, it is not surprising to find hundreds of sites on google which have some hemp related content. They vary from the more newsworthy and scientific to the poorly written diatribes on skunk.

There is a select bibliography at the end of Hemp for Victory, including a number of websites. An exhaustive annotated bibliography is in the works for future release, presently containing hundreds of books and hundreds of articles.

For anyone interested in gathering information for articles or building a hemp book library, feel free to contact Yves de Saussure at: cannabissatival@hotmail.com