However, the same government barriers that have prevented Americans from using hemp to meet our resource needs for more than a half century remain as strong, as entrenched, as malevolent and as irrational as ever. Still, there has been plenty of tangible progress and good reason for optimism. Several other States are considering similar bills this year, including South Dakota and Maryland, which in April approved a four-year pilot project in hemp. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's briefly go back a few millennia to get up to date. Marijuana comes only from the mature female flowers of certain strains of Cannabis that have medicinal effects or can make people high.
Cannabis has medicinal effects or can make people high.
Hemp in History About 10,000 years ago, well after the last ice ages had receded, humans first put seed into soil, introducing agriculture and permanent settlements that led to civilization as we know it today. But it was the bark fiber that left its enduring marks on clay pottery and the beginning of the manufacturing industry of the planet. They mark the beginning of a long and noble relationship. Humans and hemp went together nearly everywhere. Hemp grew to be one of the world's largest and most widespread industries.