Hemp is the term commonly employed for the industrial (non-drug) usage of the cannabis plant, otherwise known as marijuana. The stalk of the cannabis or marijuana plant has no THC content whatsoever, that is, it has no mind-altering properties.

The use of cannabis for hemp products goes back thousands of years. Today, hemp can be used in thousands of commercial products. The hemp tops and seeds can go to food, and the stalks can go for fuel, fiber and building materials, so it is like growing two crops in one field.

Hemp fibers have many uses in the manufacture of such things as garments, paper, rope, packing materials and thousands of other commercial products. Hemp seeds are a significant food source, since they are highly nutritious and contain beneficial omega fatty acids, amino acids and minerals.

The oil from the hemp seed has additional uses as soaps, moisturizing agents, and paint, for example. Hemp is one of the earth's fastest-growing plants, it requires little or no fertilizer or pesticides, and it replenishes the soil with nutrients and nitrogen. Hemp actually refreshes the soil, so putting it into rotation with other crops will heal – not deplete – the soil.

Because it is so fast-growing, hemp produces more energy per acre for biodiesel or ethanol fuel than corn, sugar, flax or any other food crop. Hemp produces upt to 10 times more ethanol per acre than corn, and up to 20 times more biodiesel per acre than corn. Furthermore, it does so at a lower cost and with less damage to the soil. If the USA were to sow just 10 per cent of its current farmland as hemp, for example, it would not need to buy any foreign petroleum. Corn could never accomplish that, even if planted on 100% of the total farmland in the nation.

Hemp fuel burns clean, which would lower air pollution and reduce health and environmental issues. Hemp can grow on damaged, exhausted or marginal soil, so we don't need to use prime farmland but instead can reclaim thousands of acres of unused and abandoned land for hemp.