On December 19, 1606 three small ships commanded by Captain Christopher Newport, departed London, England bound for America, where 120 persons established the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States at Jamestown, Virginia. For years the settlers struggled to make a go of it. Food was scarce and the colony was nearly abandoned.

Eventually they established farms, growing much-needed crops. One of these crops was hemp. In 1619 Jamestown made growing hemp a mandate for farmers. If a farmer refused, he was thrown in prison.

Today, farmers are thrown in prison if they do grow hemp, even industrial varieties. In fact, the U.S. is the only developed nation that has not established hemp as a crop, the Congressional Research Service says. But ideas are blooming in Congress as lawmakers look at industrial hemp as a cash crop that could save many US farmers.

David Monson is a conservative Republican in North Dakota's legislature. He is also a farmer who believes that a new cash crop could revitalize his state's agricultural industry, which has suffered from poor yields and depressed soy and corn prices. Five states have passed hemp-farming bills and U.S. Representative Ron Paul, a Texas Republican, introduced such a bill in Congress last June.

Federal anti-drug officials claim that allowing hemp crops would create a slippery slope toward legalizing marijuana. Proponents counter by saying hemp growers would have to undergo criminal background checks and agree to have their plants tested for THC.

Until 1970, growing hemp was legal in the US. During World War II, the government urged farmers to grow it for the war effort. Case in point: George Bush Senior parachuted from his plane after being shot down by enemy aircraft. The cords of his chute were made from -- you guessed it -- hemp fiber.

Since Jamestown, hemp has been woven into the fabric of U.S. history. Benjamin Franklin built the first American hemp paper mill. Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag using hemp thread. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp on their plantations, and the first two drafts of the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper.

So was the U.S. Constitution.

Henry Ford, quite the visionary, developed a vehicle that was made completely out of organic products, the majority being from hemp. And those three small ships that departed London in 1606? If it wasn’t for the cordage and rigging lines woven from the long, strong hemp fibers, they might not have survived the trans-Atlantic crossing.

SOURCES:
USA Today (November 22, 2005)
Organic Producer magazine