In May I had the opportunity to participate in first annual Hemp History Week. From printing up an old newspaper article showing how hemp was used in the Civil War to taking a field trip to George Washington’s farms in Mount Vernon, Virginia, I had a great time learning about America’s historical use of hemp.

In the video above, I make a cameo at the beginning and later in the video the editor included a map of Mount Vernon from the Library of Congress that I submitted for inclusion in the video. The map nicely corresponds to the map shown during the interview at Mount Vernon.

When we arrived at Mount Vernon, the staff had prepared copies of a statement concerning George Washington’s cultivation of hemp at Mount Vernon. Below is a transcription of the document:

Throughout his lifetime, George Washington cultivated hemp at Mount Vernon for industrial uses. The fibers from held excellent properties for the making of rope and sail canvas, which was a major in the age of sailing ships. In addition, hemp fibers could be spun into thread for clothing or, as indicated in Mount Vernon records, for use in repairing the large seine fishing nets that Washington used in his fishing operation along the Potomac.

At one point in the 1760′s Washington considered whether hemp would be a more lucrative cash crop than tobacco but determined that wheat would be a better alternative. During the period when he was considering hemp, he wrote to his agents in England in the hope of determining the costs involved in production and shipping.

In September 1765 he wrote:

“In order thereto you woud do me a singular favour in advising of the general price one might expect for good Hemp in your Port watered and prepared according to Act of Parliament, with an estimate of the freight, and all other incident charges pr. Tonn that I may form some idea of the profits resulting from the growth.” (Fitzpatrick, The Writings of George Washington v. 2, September 20, 1765, George Washington to Robert Cary & Company, p. 430-431)

The Act of Parliament that Washington mentions in his letter to Robery Cary & Company, was enacted to promote hemp production in the American Colonies. In 1767, he did sell some of his Mount Vernon-grown hemp, gaining an income from the bounty that Parliament had laid on the crop.

Hemp Background and History:
“Hemp, Cannabis sativa, a plant originally from central Asia, was cultivated with, and sometimes in place of flax, because its stem fibers are similar to those of flax. Hemp seeds, like those of flax, can be used to extract an oil used in paints, varnishes, and soaps. By the seventeenth century, Russia, Latvia, and other countries around the Baltic Sea were major producers of hemp, and it was from this area that Britain obtained its supply, a situation which left the English vulnerable during periods of military hostilities. Hemp made into rope was vital to navies worldwide. Hemp was also used to make a coarse linen cloth as well as sacking, and other rough materials.” (Colonial American Fiber Crops, Charles Leach, from The National Colonial Farm research Report No. 20. the Accokeek Foundation, Inc. p. 3-4)

Although George Washington’s initial interest in hemp was to determine if it could be a viable cash crop, he proceeded to cultivate it just to meet the needs of his own plantation. Hemp was used at Mount Vernon for rope, thread for sewing sacks, canvas, and for repairing the seine nets used at the fisheries.

Washington’s diaries and farm reports indicate that hemp was cultivated at all his 5 farms, (Mansion House, River Farm, Dogue Run Farm, Muddy Hole Farm, & Union Farm.) In February 1794, Washington wrote to his farm manager, William Pearce, “…I am very glad to hear that the Gardener has saved so much of the St. Foin seed, and that of the India Hemp… Let the ground be well prepared and the See (St. Foin) be sown in April. The Hemp may be sown anywhere. (Fitzpatrick, The Writings of George Washington, v. 33, George Washington to William Pearce, February 24, 1794, p. 279.)

It must be noted that industrial hemp, Cannabis sativa, — the kind that Washington grew– is not the same strain of the plant as Cannabis sativa indica which is used as a drug (marijuana). Cannabis sativa (industrial use hemp) contains less than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and therefore has no physical or psychological effects. Cannabis sativa indica grown for marijuana can contain 6% to 20% THC.

Therefore, there is no truth to the statement that George Washington was growing marijuana. His hemp crop was strictly the industrial strain needed for the production of rope, thread, canvas, and other industrial applications.

The Strange Narcotics Used in Asia and South America

The New York Sun, February 8, 1880

One of the earliest attempts to expand the popular acquaintances with the practical lessons of chemical science was made in Jonhsons’s Chemistry of Common Life, first published twenty-five years ago [in 1855]. The progress of inquiry since that epoch has rendered a new edition of the book desirable, and the work of revision and addition has been carefully performed by Mr. A. H. Church in the volume now issued by the Appletons. Mr. Church is himself favorably known as the author of several lucid and trustworthy handbooks on topics relating to the applications of chemistry, and in the portions here contributed by himself he has striven, not unsuccessfully, to emulate the cogency of method and simplicity of style which distinguished the original treatise. His additions comprise some valuable matter which had been gleaned by Prof. Johnston and inserted in that writer’s private copy of the first edition. Altogether, the book, in its present form, deserves to maintain its old preeminence as a readable exposition of the main uses of chemistry in the daily life of man. Of peculiar interest will be found the chapters which discuss the effect of the various narcotics, including opium, tobacco, Indian hemp, the betel nut, the coca leaf, the red thornapple, and the Siberian fungus. Some of the data relating to the least familiar of these narcotising agents deserve particular attention.

Few persons appreciate to what extent certain races are addicted to forms of narcotic indulgence with which Anglo-Saxons are almost wholly unacquainted. According to the work before us, the use of Indian hemp obtains among upwards of 200,000,000 of human beings, dispersed over a large part of the earth, viz. in Persia, India, and Turkey, throughout the whole continent of Africa, from Morocco to the Cape of Good Hope, and even in Brazil. One hundred millions of men in China, Hindostan, and the Eastern Archipelago consume, for the same narcotic purpose, the betel nut and betel pepper. Again, the chewing of coca is more or less practised among some 10,000,000 of the human race.

As regards the first named of these agents, Indian hemp, it seems at first sight curious that the narcotic properties of hemp should never have obtained popular recognition in southern Europe, when we consider that our common plant [Cannabis sativa], so extensively cultivated for its fibre, differs in no essential feature from the Indian variety [Cannabis indica] which, from the remotest times, has been celebrated in the East for its care-dispelling virtues.

In northern climates, however, the peculiar resinous substance residing in the sap is so small that it would naturally escape observation. Yet even in such latitudes the growing plant emits a peculiar smell, which sometimes occasions headache and giddiness in those who remain long in the field.

In parts of India resinous exudation is so abundant that it may be gathered by the hand in the same way as opium. The resin obtained this way is the most highly prized, and is known as the chorrus. It appears that that even the tops and tender parts of the plant, when dried, are powerful narcotic agents, but the seeds, it said, are not used for this purpose.

The preparation known as hashish in Syria is made by boiling the leaves and flowers of the hemp with water, to which a certain quantity of butter has been added, and evaporating and straining the decoction. The butter thus becomes charged with the active resinous principle of the plant, and acquires a greenish color. It is apt to have rancid taste, and hence is commonly mixed with sweetmeats and aromatics, so as to form a sort of electuary. One of these confections used among the Moors is called el mogen(?), and is sold at an enormous price; another is well known at Constantinople under the name of madjoun, and is reputed to possess aphrodisiac powers.

The dried plant is also smoked, and sometimes chewed, five or ten grains reduced to powder being mixed with tobacco in a pipe or narghile. The pure resin and resinous extract are generally swallowed in the form of pills or boluses.

In one or other of these forms the hemp plant appears to have been used from very early times. Herodotus, for instance, tells us that ancient Scythians excited themselves by inhaling its vapor. The potion which Homer makes Helen administer to Telemachus was prepared from a plant said to have been procured from Thebes in Egypt, where, there is reason to believe, a knowledge of the qualities of hemp existed as early as the eighteenth dynasty (1700 B.C.).

There is no doubt that hemp is often mentioned under the name of beng in the “Arabian Nights;” we may add that the derivation of the English word assassin from the hasisheens, or the hemp-eating followers of the Old Man of the Mountain, seems to be generally acknowledged.

The effects of the churrus, or natual resinous exudation, have been carefully studied in India by competent physicians. We are told that when taken in moderation, it produces increase of appetite and great mental cheerfulness, while, in excess, it causes a extraordinary kind of delirium and catalepsy. In the latter case, limbs of the patient can be placed in every imaginable attitude, and they will remain perfectly stationary in violation of the laws of gravity, the brain, meanwhile, being almost insensible to impressions from without.

It has been proved also by experiment that the hemp extract exercises the same extraordinary influence upon other animals as as well as upon man, and it is believed that the wonderful feats of the Indian Fakirs and snake charmers of India should, in many cases, be explained by their employment of this agent. It appears that after the cataleptic trance has passed, the patient is left entirely uninjured.

In general, indeed, the effects of hemp upon the human system are pronounced less deleterious than those of opium. Hemp does not lessen, but rather excites appetite. Moreover, it does not occasion nausea, constipation, dryness of the tongue, or the lessening of any of the secretions, and is not usually followed by that melancholy state of mental depression to which the opium eater is subject. It appears, however, that a long and gradual training to its use is requisite before its agreeable effects can be fully experienced; it is affirmed, also, that the remarkable cataleptic state above described has never been produced in a European.

On October 13th, 2009, I was invited to document this demonstration at the DEA Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. You can spot me in the YouTube video above in the beginning. I am wearing a black jacket and hat with a rose on it.

Farmers try to plant hemp at DEA office, arrested
By JAMES MacPHERSON (AP) – Oct 14, 2009

BISMARCK, N.D. — A 51-year-old grandfather who grows garbanzo beans and other crops in northwestern North Dakota was among the protesters arrested for planting hemp seeds on the lawn of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration offices.

Wayne Hauge and five other people were arrested Tuesday for trespassing and part of a group of about 20 protesting the ban on growing hemp, said authorities in Arlington, Va. Hemp, which is used to make paper, lotion and other products, is related to the illegal drug marijuana.

Proponents argue it contains too little of the mind-altering chemical THC to make people high.

Hauge and David Monson, a Republican state legislator and farmer from Osnabrock, received the North Dakota’s first state licenses to grow industrial hemp in 2007, but they’ve never received approval from the DEA, which considers hemp a drug. They’ve sued the DEA, and their case has been before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for about a year after a federal judge in Bismarck dismissed it and told the farmers to take their case to Congress.

“You might say this is outside of my normal character, and I don’t intend to make it a practice,” Hauge said in a telephone interview, after spending about five hours in jail. “My interest here was to show that hemp is just a crop. Hemp is not a drug.”

The Hemp Industries Association, which has been lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill to allow the growing of hemp for industrial uses, said it’s the first time the protesters engaged in civil disobedience.

DEA officials did not return telephone calls for comment Tuesday.

David Bronner, president of Escondido, Calif.-based Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, said his company has used hemp for a decade in its products. The company imports hemp from Europe and Canada, but Bronner said he would like to buy it from U.S. farmers.

“With the weak dollar and the high cost of freight, it’s something we should be able to source in the U.S.,” said Bronner, who invited Hauge to Tuesday’s demonstration.

Bronner said he, Hauge and four others dug several holes on the lawn of the DEA headquarters and planted about 1,000 hemp seeds. Hauge was one of two farmers arrested. The other was Will Allen of East Thetford, Vt.

“He dug a better hole than anyone,” Bronner said of Hauge.

Hauge and Allen’s trip was paid for by Vote Hemp, the lobbying arm of the hemp industry.

Hauge, who lives in Ray, a town of about 500 people, still has 400 acres of beans to harvest at home. He would like to add hemp to his other crops, which include lentils, barley and durum, and said he and other hemp proponents are frustrated by the lack of progress in legalization.

“My interest has been and will always be raising it for a crop, as part of my rotation,” said Hauge, who also is an accountant.

National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson, who pushed for legalizing the growing of industrial hemp in the U.S. while serving as North Dakota’s agriculture commissioner, said he was surprised by Hauge’s arrest.

“Wow, he didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who’d wind up in jail,” Johnson said. “He’s a rational kind of guy. He’s an accountant, for crying out loud, and a farmer.”

The National Farmers Union has not taken a position on hemp. But Johnson said he still believes U.S. farmers should be allowed to plant it.

“We still have folks in high places that seem to think hemp and marijuana are the same thing — they aren’t,” Johnson said. “We need to get past that.”

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Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Reprinted here for historical documentation purposes. I believe this republication falls under the Fair Use doctrine of United States Copyright law.

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Where to Go to Sow Protest? DEA Grass
Activists Dig Into Symbolism in Effort To Legalize Hemp
By David Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 14, 2009

You want to dig a garden, you need a shovel. You want to dig a guerrilla garden of illegal hemp on the front lawn of Drug Enforcement Administration headquarters and get arrested for the cameras, you need a symbol.

Shortly before they all were happily handcuffed Tuesday, the farmers took one look at what the activists had brought to dig with, and just shook their heads.

The symbolic shovels were shiny, chrome-plated affairs, the kind for turning the earth in a Washington photo op, stamped with slogans: “Reefer Madness Will Be Buried.” When the shovel blades were experimentally pressed into the mulch outside the group’s hotel, they bent like toys.

“You’ll have a real hard time getting through the grass,” observed Wayne Hauge, 51, a North Dakota farmer whose previous interactions with police amount to a ticket for driving an overloaded truck of lentils. “Not exactly the divot I was thinking of.”

But never mind.

Time to leave for the demonstration, the protest, the blow against the empire of DEA regulations.

They piled into a 1985 Mercedes-Benz painted the color of a Granny Smith apple. Its diesel engine had been converted to run on waste cooking oil supplied for free by a restaurant in Columbia Heights. For the adventure, Adam Eidinger, communications director for the advocacy group Vote Hemp and owner of the Mercedes, spiked the cooking grease with waste hemp oil. He was wearing pants, shirt, socks and shoes all made from hemp.

The hemp mobile purred over the Potomac River on the road to Arlington.

Farmers and activists say that industrial hemp, as they call it, will not get you high. It has minuscule levels of THC compared with marijuana. But unlike governments in Canada, Europe and China, the DEA will not allow it to be cultivated in the United States, much less on its own front lawn across from the Pentagon City mall. So the expanding industry, estimated at $360 million annually by advocates, is based on imports.

Hauge has been certified to grow hemp by North Dakota. He thinks the crop will help his fourth-generation family farm thrive. He has a federal case on appeal to force the DEA to yield to the state law.

Also in the car was Will Allen, 73, an organic sunflower and canola farmer from East Thetford, Vt. He has been arrested for protesting the Iraq war, he said. He wants to add organic hemp in rotation with his other crops.

The other passenger, tall and lanky in a pinstripe suit with Alcatraz cuff links, was not a farmer. He was David Bronner, 36, president of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps in Escondido, Calif.

Dr. Bronner’s! That iconically groovy peppermint liquid lather once was practically prescribed for all kids backpacking from Carmel to Katmandu. It was said to be excellent for washing everything from your face to your jeans to your dishes. David is the grandson of the late Emil Bronner, the original soap-meister. The grandfather wasn’t really a doctor, but who was going argue with a guy who loaded his soap bottle labels with tiny script imparting heavy philosophical musings about the “All-One”?

Bronner’s ponytailed presence on this mission was like the totemic blessing of a previous counterculture upon a new counterculture. Whereas the earlier counterculture was associated mostly with the kind of cannabis that you smoke, the new one has taken up the cause of the kind of cannabis that can go into food, textiles, particle board, automobile panels, biofuel. It’s a throwback to the old days, when George Washington grew hemp and the USS Constitution was outfitted with 60 tons of hempen rigging.

And soap?

Hemp, it turns out, has to do with so, so much.

“It gave the lather an additional smoothness,” said Bronner, who put hemp oil in the recipe 10 years ago.

The DEA referred questions about hemp and the protest to the Justice Department, and Justice referred a reporter to its brief in Hauge’s case. The government says it is simply enforcing federal drug laws, which do not distinguish among types of the species cannabis sativa. Hauge and another plaintiff lost at the lower federal court level; a ruling on the appeal is pending.

Meanwhile, a handful of state legislatures has approved industrial hemp farming — but awaits DEA action — and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture has endorsed it.

There was a final huddle on the sidewalk near the DEA building. Besides the six with shovels who planned to be arrested, 15 other supporters came with signs and cameras. They passed around the number of a lawyer to call from jail. Hauge started writing it on a card.

No, said an experienced activist dressed in black. “Write it on your skin.”

They chose a patch of lush grass outside the entrance to the DEA Museum in Pentagon City. Sure enough, the shiny shovels bent like toys. The protesters bent them back into shape. The farmers showed the others how to dig small trenches. “One to 1 1/2 inches in moderately moist soil,” Hauge had advised earlier.

The seeds were packets of hemp crunch — toasted hemp seeds imported from Canada, a nutritious snack. Thousands went into the ground.

Private security guards and DEA employees gathered around the gardeners, puzzled.

“Do you have a permit?” asked security contractor David Smith.

“That’s what we want is a permit from the DEA,” said Bronner.

Smith chuckled at their bendy shovels. “Keep digging, fellas,” he said, not unkindly. “You’ll be going to jail in a minute.”

A DEA guy who wouldn’t give his name got on his cellphone to a colleague: “They are digging up the grass and planting hemp seeds.”

Arlington police officers gave two warnings and moved in. Hauge walked calmly in handcuffs to a squad car escorted by an officer who was sucking on a lollipop. All six were charged with trespassing and have hearings this week. Then Hauge has 400 acres of chickpeas to harvest back in North Dakota.

Inside the DEA Museum was a display of hemp products that could have come straight from the Hemp Pavilion at the Green Festival last weekend in the Washington Convention Center.

“In the 1600s hemp landed in the Americas where it was used to make rope, clothing, paper,” the uncritical DEA exhibit said. “Today hemp fibers are used in clothing and jewelry.”

The protesters couldn’t have said it better.

The six useless shovels were piled in a carton. Would they go on display? “I don’t think so,” said a DEA officer. “Evidence.” He took pictures of the seeds scattered in the grass.

As for the garden — no hemp will grow there. The toasting process to render the seeds tasty before importation also makes them inert, as required by law. Nobody was about to risk heavy drug-smuggling charges. The symbol was the thing.

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Copyright © 2009 The Washington Post Company. All rights reserved.
Reprinted here for historical documentation purposes. I believe this republication falls under the Fair Use doctrine of United States Copyright law.

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This YouTube video contains the same footage as the video above, but was minimally edited so that broadcast news organizations would include the coverage on their evening newscasts.

[Watch on YouTube]

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