cannabisnews.com: Study Sees Little Market for Hemp





Study Sees Little Market for Hemp
Posted by FoM on January 24, 2000 at 15:27:38 PT
By The Associated Press
Source: Las Vegas SUN
Industrial hemp, the non-hallucinogenic cousin of marijuana that can be used in both clothing and food, will never have anything but a "small, thin market" in the United States, a government study says.All of the hemp fiber, yarn and fabric that the United States currently imports could be grown on less than 2,000 acres of land, says the study by the Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service.
The study raises questions about efforts by farmers in a number of states to get the federal government to legalize production of industrial hemp.Nine states -- Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and Virginia -- passed pro-hemp bills last year that provide for research, study or potential production of the crop, and the first U.S. test plots were planted in Hawaii last month.Some 35,000 acres were grown last year in Canada, which legalized hemp production in 1998.The USDA study, which was released Friday, doesn't see much demand for any of hemp's uses:-As a fiber, it's main competitor is linen, which is made from flax. There is little textile flax production in the United States, despite the lack of legal barriers, and that suggests there wouldn't be enough demand for hemp fiber to make it profitable, the study said.-Hemp seeds and flour are being added to nutrition bars, tortilla chips and other food items. USDA says that will probably remain a small use, comparable to the market for sesame and poppy seeds.-As for hemp oil, it can't be used for frying, it has a short shelf life, and it hasn't been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a salad oil.WASHINGTON (AP) Published: January 24, 2000 All contents copyright 2000 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.Cannabis News Hemp Articles:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/list/hemp.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by Doc-Hawk on January 25, 2000 at 06:28:05 PT:
Use will remain small?
Of course the use will remain small. As long as use, cultivation, and further development of markets are restricted by the DEA dope-boys, one would be foolish indeed to risk one's hard-earned capital on such a venture - or a courageous forward-thinking free market captalist.
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on January 24, 2000 at 16:33:20 PT
Would you ask Dracula to guard the bloodbank?
Or the USDA to rule on hemp? When it is in bed with such tireless and devoted public servants as the DEA? Would you expect them to support a natural fiber, when many of them hope to leave to - or actually *came from* the petrochemical companies which have the monopoly on fiber production in this country?I'd sooner ask the aforementioned Transylvanian nobleman to spend the night in my home.
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