ESSOYA - Hemp

ESSOYA IS PROUD TO SUPPORT THE HEMP INDUSTRY.
ALL OF ESSOYA CANDLES ARE MADE WITH HEMP SEED OIL.
WE ALSO OFFER ANY OF OUR PILLAR CANDLES WITH HEMP
WICK. PLEASE EDUCATE YOURSELF BELOW ON ALL THE
BENEFITS OF HEMP.

DID YOU KNOW...

Hemp is the oldest known medicine and agricultural crop. Evidence dates back over 8000
years!

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were hemp farmers in the colonies. Abe Lincoln
and other pioneers read by hemp seed oil lamps.

Acre for acre, hemp produces four times more paper pulp than wood. Production of hemp
paper creates less pollution and saves trees.

Cannabis hemp agriculture could provide a sustainable supply of raw materials for
thousands of products, including plastics, biomass fuel, foods, fibers, and medicines.

Cannabis hemp is "the safest therapeutically active substance known to man," ruled Francis
Young, the Chief Administrative Law Judge for the D.E.A.. He called hemp "safer than many
foods that we buy in the grocery store."

There are more than 25,000 known uses for hemp!!!

Please educate yourself on this wonderful plant.

*BMW is experimenting with hemp materials in automobiles as part of an effort to make cars
more recyclable.

*Much of the bird seed sold in the US has hemp seed (it's sterilized before importation), the
hulls of which contain about 25% protein.

*Hemp oil once greased machines. Most paints, resins, shellacs, and varnishes used to be
made out of linseed (from flax) and hemp oils.

*Rudolph Diesel designed his engine to run on hemp oil.

*Kimberly Clark (on the Fortune 500) has a mill in France which produces hemp paper
preferred for bibles because it lasts a very long time and doesn't yellow.

*Construction products such as medium density fiber board, oriented strand board, and even
beams, studs and posts could be made out of hemp. Because of hemp's long fibers, the
products will be stronger and/or lighter than those made from wood.

*The products that can be made from hemp number over 25,000.

SCIENTIFIC FACTS

*Industrial hemp and marijuana are both classified by taxonomists as Cannabis sativa, a
species with hundreds of varieties. C. sativa is a member of the mulberry family. Industrial
hemp is bred to maximize fiber, seed and/or oil, while marijuana varieties seek to maximize
THC (delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana).

*While industrial hemp and marijuana may look somewhat alike to an untrained eye, an easily
trained eye can easily distinguish the difference.

*Industrial hemp has a THC content of between 0.05 and 1%. Marijuana has a THC content of
3% to 20%. To receive a standard psychoactive dose would require a person to power-smoke
10-12 hemp cigarettes over an extremely short period of time. The large volume and high
temperature of vapor, gas and smoke would be almost impossible for a person to withstand.

*If hemp does pollinate any nearby marijuana, genetically, the result will always be lower-THC
marijuana, not higher-THC hemp. If hemp is grown outdoors, marijuana will not be grown
close by to avoid producing lower-grade marijuana.

*Hemp fibers are longer, stronger, more absorbent and more mildew-resistant than cotton.

*Fabrics made of at least one-half hemp block the sun's UV rays more effectively than other
fabrics.

*Many of the varieties of hemp that were grown in North America have been lost. Seed banks
weren't maintained. New genetic breeding will be necessary using both foreign and
domestic "ditchweed," strains of hemp that went feral after cultivation ended. Various state
national guard units often spend their weekends trying to eradicate this hemp, in the
mistaken belief they are helping stop drug use.

*A 1938 Popular Mechanics described hemp as a "New Billion Dollar Crop." That's back when a
billion was real money.

*Hemp can be made in to a variety of fabrics, including linen quality.

LEGAL FACTS

*The US Drug Enforcement Agency classifies all C. sativa varieties as "marijuana." While it is
theoretically possible to get permission from the government to grow hemp, DEA would
require that the field be secured by fence, razor wire, dogs, guards, and lights, making it
cost-prohibitive.

*The US State Department must certify each year that a foreign nation is cooperating in the
war on drugs. The European Union subsidizes its farmers to grow industrial hemp. Those
nations are not on this list, because the State Department can tell the difference between
hemp and marijuana.

*Hemp was grown commercially (with increasing governmental interference) in the United
States until the 1950s. It was doomed by the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which placed an
extremely high tax on marijuana and made it effectively impossible to grow industrial hemp.
While Congress expressly expected the continued production of industrial hemp, the Federal
Bureau of Narcotics lumped industrial hemp with marijuana, as it's successor the US Drug
Enforcement Administration, does to this day.

*Over 30 industrialized democracies do distinguish hemp from marijuana. International
treaties regarding marijuana make an exception for industrial hemp.

*Canada now again allows the growing of hemp.

ECOLOGY FACTS

* Hemp growers can not hide marijuana plants in their fields. Marijuana is grown widely
spaced to maximize leaves. Hemp is grown in tightly-spaced rows to maximize stalk and is
usually harvested before it goes to seed.

*Hemp can be made into fine quality paper. The long fibers in hemp allow such paper to be
recycled several times more than wood-based paper.

*Because of its low lignin content, hemp can be pulped using less chemicals than with wood.
Its natural brightness can obviate the need to use chlorine bleach, which means no
extremely toxic dioxin being dumped into streams. A kinder and gentler chemistry using
hydrogen peroxide rather than chlorine dixoide is possible with hemp fibers.

*Hemp grows well in a variety of climates and soil types. It is naturally resistant to most
pests, precluding the need for pesticides. It grows tightly spaced, out-competing any weeds,
so herbicides are not necessary. It also leaves a weed-free field for a following crop.

*Hemp can displace cotton which is usually grown with massive amounts of chemicals
harmful to people and the environment. 50% of all the world's pesticides are sprayed on
cotton.

*Hemp can displace wood fiber and save forests for watershed, wildlife habitat, recreation
and oxygen production, carbon sequestration (reduces global warming), and other values.

*Hemp can yield 3-8 dry tons of fiber per acre. This is four times what an average forest can
yield.

HEALTH FACTS

*If one tried to ingest enough industrial hemp to get 'a buzz', it would be the equivalent of
taking 2-3 doses of a high-fiber laxative.

*At a volume level of 81%, hemp oil is the richest known source of polyunsaturated essential
fatty acids (the "good" fats). It's quite high in some essential amino acids, including gamma
linoleic acid (GLA), a very rare nutrient also found in mother's milk.

*While the original "gruel" was made of hemp seed meal, hemp oil and seed can be made
into tasty and nutritional products.

Prepared by the North American Industrial Hemp Council October 1997