Hemp is even mentioned as a sustainable alternative to the destruction of the rain forest. Hawaii plans to experiment by making gasoline out of hemp, similar to the corn industry s experimentation with grain alcohol. The hemp comeback may have started in Europe, but when Canada legalized it three years ago, the United States had a slightly cheaper source of supplies. The Hemp Industries Association based in California knows of 320 companies that use hemp, including construction companies that use that it for roofing shingles and automobile manufacturers that use it for door paneling. Biohemp Technology Limited in British Columbia is mainly going after the food market.
Hemp seeds produce an oil and nut product that contains a superior level of essential fatty acids.
So far all of the processing facilities are north of the Canadian border, and there are some proposals to put one in California. But Mother Earth Enterprises, a New York hemp food seller, hopes to corner the eastern U.S. market by investing several hundred thousand dollars in a processing facility in a farm near Concord if the state legalized hemp. That s business across the border being taken away from American farmers. The hemp industry in Canada filed complaints with international trade boards. For now, according to Howell, customs has sidestepped the order by simply rounding off the THC level, which was no higher than .0017 to two decimal points.