DarSlam NetWork

No one seems able to determine the exact date that hemp/cannabis/marijuana appeared on the scene. This document will trace hemp back as far as history will allow, from 8500 BC in China to present day, noting the important role this much maligned weed has played in numerous civilizations down through the ages.

The oldest human ever found was wearing a hemp blouse with a silk like quality. In 2700 BC Chinese written history tells us that hemp was used for fiber, oil, and as medicine. By 450 BC hemp was being cultivated in the mid east for the same purpose. Hemp was first introduced into Europe around 1000 AD, and by the sixteenth century it was known to be the most widely cultivated crop in the world producing rope, sails, cloth, fuel, paper, paint, food and medicine.

Of course hemp was an important product to the new world. In 1762 Virginia rewarded farmers with bounties for hemp culture and manufacture, and imposed penalties upon those who did not produce it. The Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper, and Betsy Ross chose hemp as the material for this country's first flag. George Washington grew hemp for..