Industrial Hemp Fends Off Dopey Cousin Growing It In U.S. Is Illegal, But Change May Be Coming

Industrial hemp can help lift you up in the morning, give your dog the warm fuzzies, help you get a good night’s sleep and even give your baby some TLC - without the THC.

The fashion and food industries have plenty of uses for hemp, but the fibrous plant gets a bad rap because of its hallucinogenic cousin, marijuana. Both are members of the same species, cannabis sativa; the difference is that industrial hemp contains only minute amounts of the psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol.

Companies big and small, well-known and obscure, are using hemp in everything from gourmet coffees to mattresses and baby jumpers.

Daimler-Benz is using hemp in its dashboards and interior door panels. Armani is making hemp jeans. Even family-friendly Disney has sold hats made of the stuff.

The plant is being touted for everything from salad oil to fuel oil, paper to plastic.

“Anything that can be made from a hydrocarbon can be made from a carbohydrate,” said Joe Hickey, executive director of the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association.

“I can’t believe we’re not already growing it,” said Belinda Bothman, general manager of Edgemont Yarn Service Inc. in Maysville, which is exploring weaving hemp into its yarns. “I was looking for something new and exciting to do from here.”

Hemp is expensive to come by because, like pot, it’s illegal to grow in this country. Police say it looks so much like marijuana that it would be used to hide the pot crops.

For now, U.S. companies are importing hemp fiber, oils and seeds - boiled to sterility under the watchful eye of the Drug Enforcement Administration - from China and Europe. But the supply may be moving a little closer to the demand.

The Navajo Nation is considering using its sovereign status to legalize hemp production as a source of income, and several state legislatures are discussing similar measures.

Some estimate the hemp retail market at $100 million a year worldwide.

“I think the demand has been a combination of a certain vogue perception of hemp. But at the same time, people can feel really good about this vogue because it’s eco-materials we’re talking about here,” said David R. Gould, president of Hemp Textiles International Corp. in Bellingham, Wash.

Gould’s company has supplied hemp yarn and fabric to the likes of Adidas, Pierre Cardin and Ralph Lauren. And he said other clothiers are looking to follow.

Gould said, “1997 has really been a watershed year in terms of mainstream companies getting involved and getting geared up to introduce hemp lines.”

Crown City Mattress of San Gabriel, Calif., is putting hemp into about 3 percent of this year’s production of mattresses and futons. Vice president Steve Carwile said the product is durable, mold-resistant and just appeals to his eco-conscious clientele.

He said the family-owned business isn’t just looking to cash in on the marijuana mystique.

“About 15 years ago, we used to have a slogan that said ‘The happy mattress manufacturer,” he said. “But we don’t want to do that on this one.”