You Cannot Get High By Smoking Hemp!

Hemp forests can grow in under a year - making this an extremely sustainable textile - if only we could produce it.


My partner Melissa and I really would love to use hemp in some of our products. The issue - we are committed to manufacturing in the USA of components in the USA and hemp is banned in the USA.

Hemp is the subject of worldwide controversy that involves farmers, government enforcement agencies, environmentalists, supporters of legalized drugs, and manufacturers of textile, food and paper products. The controversy stems from the fact that the hemp plant, "Cannabis sativa" comes in several varieties, one of which is the marijuana plant. The growing of hemp was banned in the United States in 1937. The ban made no distinction between the two kinds of hemp. Industrial hemp used for textiles contains only about 0.3% THC as opposed to 2% THC in marijuana. THC is the potentially psychoactive chemical in marijuana and is not presently, nor historically, found in significant quantities in the hemp plant. You cannot get high smoking hemp, and it would be almost impossible to inhale because of its harshness. Industrial hemp has no illicit use, and many activists’ state that hemp is the equivalent of nonalcoholic beer.

read more at http://www.fabrics.net/amyhemp.asp

Hemp has an amazing ability to absorb moisture, it's sustainable, biodegradable and psychoactive free - so why is it that hemp - one of the most baby friendly fabrics available - cannot be manufactured in the USA?

I had heard about marijuana being legal in California. I was in Venice last week and I was absolutely astounded that there were pot pharmacies on every corner. I felt like I was in another country. If pot is legal, why the flig flam flog can't I get some domestically sourced hemp?

California is the first state that would directly challenge the federal ban on hemp, arguing that it does not need a D.E.A. permit.

read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/28/us/28hemp.html?ex=1314417600&en=0acff81da4fb87ac&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

This doesn't make any sense to me at all. Why for $150 can anyone in California buy a marijuana "prescription" but a truly sustainable fiber made from a cousin of the marijuana plant is illegal?

Who wants to be a lobbyist?

How did people wipe their butts before toilet paper?

I have been thinking about what I can do about the excessive toilet paper use in my house. With 6 kids and my nephew here 5 days a week, we go through at least a roll every other day. One of my girls-who will remain nameless-believes that her butt is never clean enough and therefore uses half a roll wiping herself. I finally told her to go get a washcloth and wash her butt after she pooped. That is working for now.

The bigger problem is the actual waste of resources and money. I am convinced that toilet paper is bad for the septic system, our bodies and the planet. So I did a little digging...

An obvious drawback to toilet paper is an issue that I am passionate about in regards to disposable diapers and it never occurred to me that it pertained to toilet paper, derrrrrrrrrr. DIOXIN!!!!!!!!! Dioxins cause cancer, learning disorders, decreased immune response, diabetes and all sorts of other nasty problems in the environment.

Sometimes I am so dingy I swear.

As I was searching online for banana leaves or something equally "safe" to wipe our butts on I learned that 424,000 trees would be spared by replacing a 500-sheet roll of virgin fiber toilet paper with recycled toilet paper.


When shopping for earth friendly toilet paper look for statements such as "unbleached", "processed chlorine-free" or "totally chlorine free" otherwise they might slip some dioxin in on the down low.

This is all great and informative but I want to know what alternatives we have to toilet paper. Seriously, how gross is it to keep stacks of rags in the bathroom and just throw them in the diaper pail after using them? I could handle it. The kids could get used to it. Chuck would grump but he'd come around. What would guests think? Do I care? Hmmmmmmmmmmm.....

I am going to do a little experiment. When I switched my family from paper towels and napkins to cloth, I just said we ran out and use a rag. They are now so used to rags as napkins and paper towels that no one has asked in months when I am going to purchase some paper ones. I wonder if I can pull the same trick with toilet paper.

I am going to try, stay tuned for an update.