Contributor's note: the following is a reprint of an article
which appeared in PULP & PAPER Magazine written by technical editor
Jim Young.  Pulp & Paper is a woodpulp industry trade journal.

                              -=]*]=-

                   IT'S TIME TO RECONSIDER HEMP  
                           By Jim Young

     Let me say up front that I have never smoked a commercially
made cigarette, much less that devil weed with roots in hell.
Passed through the '60s without a single pair of tie-died bell-
bottoms. Identified more with Merle Haggard's "Okie from Muscogee"
than Jim Morrison's "Light My Fire."
     Yet, I believe that Indian hemp (Cannabis sativa--yes, that
Cannabis) has more to offer the paper industry than we are taking
advantage of (or more correctly, we are ALLOWED to take advantage of.)
     Tradition, if not federal law, is on the side of hemp,
starting with Ts'ai Lun himself. According to the book, THE EMPEROR
WEARS NO CLOTHES, by Jack Herer, from 75% to 90% of the world's
paper manufactured before 1883 was made from Cannabis hemp fiber,
including the Gutenberg Bible and the first two drafts of the
Declaration of Independence.  Augmenting the tradition of hemp
fiber, the USDA in 1916 predicted a papermaking future for
nonfiberous portions of the hemp stalk in its Bulletin No. 404,
HEMP HURDS AS PAPER-MAKING MATERIAL.  Hemp hurds are 0.5-in. to 3
in. pieces of the woody inner portion of hemp that have separated
from the fiber.  Hurds contain more than 77% cellulose.
     Reporting on papermaking tests with hemp hurds, the bulletin
concluded, "Hemp-hurd stock acts similarly to soda-poplar stock,
but will produce a somewhat harsher and stronger sheet and one of
higher folding endurance...In fact, the hurd stock might very
possibly meet with favor as a book-stock furnish in the Michigan
and Wisconsin paper mills, which are within the sulphite fiber-
producing region."
     A long-awaited mechanized breakthrough in removing the fiber-
bearing cortex from the rest of the hemp stalk "without a
prohibitive use of human labor" was described in a three page
article in the February 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics entitled
"The New Billion-Dollar Crop." Written at the time of the passage
of the federal Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, the article included the
challenge, "If federal regulations can be drawn to protect the
public without preventing the legitimate culture of hemp, this new
crop can add immeasurable to American agriculture and industry."
This was not to be, however. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Tax
Act uprooted the billion-dollar crop (1938 dollars) before it could
be planted.
     It is the dried flowers and top leaves of the female Cannabis
sativa, of course, that constitute marijuana. Without opening the
debate on its legalization or the psychotropic effects of its
delta-9 tetrahydrocannibal (THC) content,  it is worth noting that
interest in papermaking from hemp continues as our fiber, energy,
and environmental concerns increase.
     The '70s was a decade of intensive study of Cannabis
papermaking, particularly in Italy, France, Spain, and Holland.
papermaking applications, depending on the cooking process and end
use of the pulp. Concurrent research and selective breeding reduced
THC content. In France, farmers must obtain low-THC Cannabis seed
directly from the National Hemp Producers Federation, inform the
Ministries of Health and Agriculture of their intent,  and have a
guaranteed purchaser of their crop. 
     The high cost of limited production currently restricts hemp
to specialty use such as European and Asian cigarette papers.
Cannabis Hemp can probably be pulped in existing kenaf-pulping
equipment, but it will take more than imported stock to make it
economically feasible.
     Hemp is the world's primary biomass producer, growing ten
tons/acre in approximately  four months. It can produce four times
the amount of paper than 20-year-old trees can and will grow in all
climatic zones of the contiguous 48 states.
     Pyrolysis of hemp can be adjusted to produce charcoal,
pyrolytic oil, gas, or methanol with a claimed 95.5% fuel-to-feed
efficiency. Pyrolytic fuel oil has properties similar to Nos. 2 and
6 fuel oil. Burning charcoal does not cause acid rain.
     U.S. hemp-growing restrictions were set aside to meet material
shortages during World War II. They should now at least be modified
to meet pending shortages of fiber, energy, and environmental
quality.