Canada: The Dope On Hemp



Source: Toronto Star (Canada) 



Pubdate: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 



Author: Stella Yeadon, Special to The Star 	



ubject: THE DOPE ON HEMP	



Hailed as a `wonder plant,' marijuana's straight kin is headed for the mainstream	



Hemp, the darling of the eco-friendly consumer, is going mainstream. 	



Signs the consumer pendulum is swinging and that there are heady, profitable years to come for 

marijuana's straight kin are everywhere. 	



* Cooking oil and flour, produced from hemp by a Mississauga-based company, will hit the 

shelves of major supermarket chains in Ontario this spring. 	



* A Canadian company processing hemp into a textile fibre has a deal afoot to supply several large 

U.S. manufacturers. They, in turn, will spin the fibre into a new line of carpets.	



* Environmental stores selling hemp housewares and clothing can be found throughout trendy 

shopping districts in southern Ontario. 	



* Last fall, The Body Shop launched a line of hemp toiletries. 	



``This kind of diversity is virtually unprecedented in a plant. It (hemp) will revolutionize what we 

buy and it is probable we could convert our society to a carbohydrate economy from our fuel-

based one today,'' boasts Greg Harriott, president of Hempola, a Brampton company in business 

since 1993.	



The excitement surrounding this wonder plant is so widespread that even Disney is planning a new 

exhibit on the bio-based economy at Disney World in Florida. Cadillac has announced plans to 

build a car using hemp, in which everything but the engine and drive train are biodegradable. 	



Kenex, another Canadian hemp-processing company, has developed prototype car side panels and 

dashboards made from hemp fibre. It is also producing a world-class seed bank, readying for the 

day when widespread hemp farming rivals cotton cultivation.	



Hemp is poised to become big business in Canada, largely because it is still illegal to grow in the 

United States, the world's biggest importer of hemp fibre and textiles.	



It is possible, say those involved in the burgeoning Canadian industry, that many of the everyday 

products we have in our homes will some day be made from processed hemp.	



Industry insiders are quick, too, to point out industrial hemp is one of nature's finest renewable 

fibre sources, is virtually pest-resistant and, unlike cotton, not fertilizer-or chemical-dependent. It 

has the strength and versatility to be turned into many of the things we consume. 	



There are 25,000 potential known uses for hemp - from textiles, cellophane and dynamite to low-

fat cheese and cooking oil, hemp marketers say. 	



But perhaps the largest potential market will be in fibreboard and panelling used by the building 

industry.	



``There will be a time in the near future when it will be possible to build an entire house from 

hemp fibre. The furniture in that house will not only be covered with hemp fabric, but the frame 

will be made from it, as well. And the food we have in that house will also include many forms of 

edible hemp,'' says Geof Kime, president of Hempline Inc., and guru of the fledgling industry in 

Canada.	



``There are opportunities here for Canada to be at the forefront of a growing global shift toward 

sustainable development and a bio-based economy. In Canada, we didn't grow a textile fibre crop 

until last summer. Hemp gives us a chance to grow textile fibre for export. 	



``The possibilities are immense when you consider that 5 billion pounds of cotton are produced in 

the U.S. each year,'' Kime adds. 	



Invariably, whenever there is talk about hemp production here, all conversations lead to Kime, 

who in 1994, along with tobacco farmer Joe Stroebel, became the first government licensed hemp 

growers in Canada since farming the plant was banned in 1938.	



Hempline sold its 1998 crop to U.S. carpet manufacturers and ``there will be a significant product 

launch, probably by mid-1999,'' says Kime, who won't divulge which companies will be marketing 

the carpet. 	



He will say that hemp carpets are mildew-resistant and more durable than existing carpet 

materials, and that it will resemble a soft Berber texture. 	



Perhaps the biggest indicator that the ``hemp home revolution'' is already underway, is the growing 

number of retail stores selling everything from table linens to clothing, paper and furniture made 

from hemp. 	



Brampton's Hempola has developed a line of salad dressings, flour, pre-mixed muffin mixes and 

butter that it says will be sold in large supermarket chains.	



Hempola uses the seeds of plants grown in Manitoba to make its products, Harriott says.	



The seeds are cold-pressed to extract the oil, which has a nutty flavour, is emerald green in colour 

and is high in the good kind of essential fatty oils known as omega-3. That oil will be blended with 

sunflower oil to produce three types of dressings that will be ``premium priced at around $5 a 

bottle, but they're the first really nutritious salad dressings on the market,'' says Harriott.	



Hemp flour products, milled from hulled seeds, have a 45 per cent protein content and are gluten-

free.	



As well as its edible properties, there are many industrial uses for hemp oil. Harriott points to 

research being conducted on the lubricant qualities of hemp oil.	



While Hempola's hemp is Canadian grown and the products made from it are manufactured 

locally, many of the hemp goods sold in Toronto-area stores are imports from Eastern Europe and 

Asia.	



Kathy Fairfield, owner of Terraware, two eco-friendly retail stores, one in Oakville the other in 

Dundas, says most of the housewares and clothing she stocks are imports.	



``While there are some local companies beginning to make goods from hemp, mostly textile and 

fabrics, the fibres are grown and processed elsewhere and then shipped here. I can see that 

changing as we develop our domestic hemp farming as well as the businesses to process the raw 

fibre into textiles,'' she says.	



Fairfield says she plans to open a new store in downtown Toronto by next summer.	



She is also expanding her Dundas store to include a by-the-metre hemp fabric section and hopes to 

source out more hemp furniture such as futons and director's chairs. A line of table linens, cloths, 

napkins and place mats are already custom-made for her stores by a local company and Fairfield 

has plans to include custom-ordered bedspreads and curtains as part of the expanded linen 

section.	



``We are a very mainstream housewares store. There is nothing fringe about us. We do choose 

products for the stores based on environmental principles, but I think more consumers are 

beginning to see the benefits of buying with a social conscience,'' Fairfield says.	



That awareness has been, until recently, a tough sell with consumers, retailers say, largely due to a 

lack of awareness about the benefits of industrial hemp and the perceptions about it's kinship with 

marijuana. 	



According to Kime, hemp has been getting a bum rap because ``of a lack of correct information 

out there. Our federal government thoroughly investigated hemp's potential before passing 

legislation to allow for licensed farming of the plant.''	



Although both are part of the same species of plant, cannabis sativa, hemp and marijuana are not 

the same plant. The difference is in the cultivation. Hemp is densely planted to produce a short, 

stalky plant and allowed to pollinate and grow seeds. Marijuana plants require more sun and light, 

need more space to grow and must be cultivated before pollination and seed production.	



As a result, hemp has a very low THC (the psychoactive substance in marijuana) content, about 

0.3 per cent, compared to 2 per cent in most marijuana plants. In short, you can't get high from 

smoking hemp. 	



But opponents to widespread growing of industrial hemp in Canada argue legalized hemp farming 

is just one step closer to the decriminalization of marijuana.	



To combat that view, proponents of hemp farming have distanced themselves from groups 

lobbying for the legalization of marijuana. They've concentrated on educating consumers about the 

environmental positives associated with hemp cultivation, such as its pest resistant qualities. 	



Rod Grand of Earthly Goods, a clothing, food and housewares emporium on Toronto's Danforth 

Ave., says educating the consumer about the benefits of hemp farming and products has been a 

focus at his store for a number of years.	



Last year, Earthly Goods featured a month-long education campaign, including information 

seminars with none other than Kime. 	



``Our focus, not just on the hemp issue, is on education. We believe a green consumer is an 

educated consumer. And while a lot of younger people are starting to find out about the positives 

of farming hemp, they have never seen it in its raw form.	



``Older Canadians remember using products made with hemp, like rope and canvas, before 

farming the plant was made illegal,'' Kime adds. 	



Some estimates put worldwide trade in hemp products at more than $100 million last year. That 

dollar figure could double in the next few years as new hemp-based businesses spring up globally.