[00:00:14.95] - Hi, my name is Linda Booker and I'm the producer and co-director of the documentary film, "Bringing It Home." Blaire Johnson and I made this film to educate and enlighten people about all the incredible uses of the industrial hemp plant.
[00:00:29.29] But since we've filmed, there's been some big developments in policy here in the U.S.
[00:00:33.64] So, here now is a brief history of hemp since "Bringing It Home" was released.
[00:00:38.57] (gentle music) - [Narrator] When bringing it home premiered in 2013, 10 States had passed hemp legislation, but farmers were blocked from growing it by the DEA.
[00:00:53.37] Nevertheless, the work of hemp advocates won congressional support.
[00:00:58.60] In 2014, the federal Farm Bill passage authorized hemp research programs.
[00:01:05.95] Kentucky, Vermont and Colorado grew the first industrial hemp crops in over 60 years.
[00:01:14.51] Cannabidiol or CBD, a cannabis extract low in THC, received attention from consumers, the medical community and media for its treatment of epilepsy and therapeutic potential.
[00:01:30.83] Because hemp is legally defined as cannabis with 0.3% THC or less, some CBD producers marketed their products as hemp oil, causing consumer confusion and the Hemp Industry's Association to publish a position paper on the misbranding of CBD products.
[00:01:56.00] In December 2018, the Farm Bill with the Hemp Farming Amendment was signed into law, removing hemp from the Controlled Substances Act and regulating it as an agricultural crop.
[00:02:10.34] Hemp farming in the U.S. was legalized and there was much rejoicing.
[00:02:15.05] (kazoos buzzing) - And some breweries in Kentucky have even crafted hemp infused beer.
[00:02:23.67] - [Narrator] As of 2020, 46 States have legalized hemp cultivation for commercial use, research or pilot programs.
[00:02:33.66] CBD products have taken the nation by storm, but the potential still exists to grow a strong green industry that includes construction materials, nutrition and health products, textiles, bio-plastics and alternative fuel sources made from hemp.
[00:02:54.21] And with climate change disasters increasing, hemp could be another valuable carbon sink that helps protect our planet.
[00:03:06.21] (gentle music) (water dripping) (jazz music) - [Narrator] Imagine you're a law abiding citizen and your cousin commits a crime, (cousin laughs) but the sheriff locks you up too, because you bear a family resemblance.
[00:03:35.85] - Oh well.
[00:03:37.33] (bars clang) - [Narrator] Johnny!
[00:03:39.48] That's what's going on in the United States with marijuana and hemp, also known as industrial hemp.
[00:03:46.92] They're from the same species of plant, but are different varieties.
[00:03:50.93] It's like poodles and wolves, (dog barking) same species, different breeds.
[00:03:56.11] Hemp can make thousands (bubbles popping) of products and the planet healthier.
[00:03:59.93] The only thing it can't do is make a person high.
[00:04:02.55] - (inhales and spits) Bummer, man!
[00:04:05.90] - [Narrator] Something other industrialized countries understand, they farm it and reap the profits.
[00:04:13.30] But in the United States, while it's legal to import millions of dollars of hemp products, (engine roaring) it's illegal to grow as a crop.
[00:04:23.72] (siren blaring) It wasn't always this way.
[00:04:27.46] Believe it or not, hemp once flourished in America.
[00:04:32.80] (upbeat music) - When I started designing this home and started to look and to specify materials, basically just went on a worldwide search for about the first three or four months to try to find materials that I felt comfortable with, that met my standard and that standard would be in reference to my child who is a nine year old disabled little girl that has some fairly extreme chemical sensitivities.
[00:05:06.12] Russ and Karen Martin, who we designed and built the very first hemp house in the United States for, their number one thing was they wanted it to be beautiful.
[00:05:13.44] They wanted it to be healthy, but they had no idea that I was going to hit them over the head with what I was getting ready to propose to them.
[00:05:20.73] They'd never heard of hempcrete.
[00:05:22.51] Once I started to tell people that I was considering using this for a building material, it really became a joke.
[00:05:30.25] I became the hemp guy.
[00:05:32.73] There were jokes from the local media about, you know, if the house goes up in flames, the whole city is going to have a big party.
[00:05:39.80] There were some comedians on national TV that made some jokes about the, you know, the home that we had built.
[00:05:45.86] (audience laughing) - I just read about a company in North Carolina that builds houses made from hemp.
[00:05:52.03] That doesn't sound like a housing plan, that sounds like a weird version of "The Three Little Pigs." Like, "I'll huff and I'll puff, man." (audience laughs) And then we'll totally listen to some Grateful Dead bootlegs, it's gonna be really cool, man.
[00:06:05.87] - But you know, all joking aside, all it took was five minutes of time doing a little bit of research to realize that, you know what?
[00:06:13.39] This plant is really amazing and it can hold so many different positive things for our life, and, you know, I was willing to take that leap of faith and it really wasn't a leap at the end of the day.
[00:06:24.53] It's just a, it's just a plant.
[00:06:25.89] (acoustic guitar strums) - There are a whole host of lawful and helpful pharmaceutical products that enable people to cope with their pain.
[00:06:38.13] Many of those products are opium-based products, recognizing the benefits of the products, there's no one who would suggest that we should start cultivating opium poppies here in this country.
[00:06:50.62] - It's much like the poppy scenario, how you have the poppy plant that has high opiates.
[00:06:54.68] And you have the poppy plant that goes on your muffins.
[00:06:57.13] That poppy plant still has trace amounts of opiates, but it's so low that it's not psychoactive.
[00:07:01.96] You're not going to get the opiate high, cannabis has the same structures in it where you have marijuana that has high THC, high psychoactive, that type of medicinal attribute.
[00:07:13.14] And then you have hemp that's low THC, which is much like the poppy that's going on your muffin.
[00:07:18.11] It's still there, but it's at such a low level that it's not psychoactive in the body.
[00:07:26.17] (slow music) - Hi Grace, how are you today?
[00:07:29.74] Good to see you. Good morning.
[00:07:31.92] You doing all right today?
[00:07:32.76] I just wanted to kind of give you a rundown on exactly what your house is going to be built of.
[00:07:36.80] So, you get more of a visual and you can feel and touch everything.
[00:07:39.45] - Uh-huh.
[00:07:40.28] - So, the industrial hemp shiv is what this is here and it looks like wood chips.
[00:07:45.19] Like I say, this is the exterior of the home.
[00:07:46.60] And that's the interior of the home.
[00:07:48.15] As the air is slowly passing through and the wall is breathing, it's holding onto toxins, pollutants, and carbon from the atmosphere.
[00:07:56.61] (slow music) We had just recently, years before, found out that she was having severe reactions to her environment.
[00:08:08.38] And so, we started with the house and really removed everything out of the home that would potentially be a risk for my child.
[00:08:16.30] And we started to see a reduction in seizure activity.
[00:08:20.56] And so, we started to figure out that, you know what?
[00:08:22.64] This is having a huge reaction onto Bailey.
[00:08:28.84] - Hey. - Hey.
[00:08:30.89] I was trying to find a solution for problems with standard insulation and drywall, issues that cannot be overcome.
[00:08:37.67] And the hempcrete wall replaces both of them, between the breathability and the content of the lime, keeps that wall from ever having mold or mildew growth, which can never be said about the standard insulation that's used and drywall.
[00:08:52.53] We've got an epidemic in this country right now, I believe, with the amount of mold that we've got in our homes and industrial hemp with hydrator lime, I now believe that it's the world's healthiest material that we can use in building.
[00:09:08.43] Currently, we are importing the industrial hemp from the U.K.
[00:09:13.00] The issue with importing the industrial hemp is its cost.
[00:09:17.44] It's very expensive to ship it overseas.
[00:09:20.43] Until we are in a position in the U.S.
[00:09:24.71] where we can effectively grow it here and cultivate it and process it, we're stuck with this solution.
[00:09:29.75] (machine whirring) (gentle music) - This is a 50 acre crop of hemp to the West of London.
[00:09:46.15] The variety's called USO.
[00:09:47.68] It's a French variety, which is suitable for dual cropping, that's suitable for seed and fiber.
[00:09:53.95] So, the seed will be going to the Good Oil Company and the fiber will be going to Hemp Technology.
[00:10:00.45] (footsteps fall) So, if we cut through, cut through a stem, (knife slicing) you can separate the fibers from the woody core.
[00:10:15.40] And that's why the factory is called a decordification plant because it separates that woody core from the fiber that runs up the outside of the stem.
[00:10:24.63] And it's the fiber that goes into loft insulation, car door panels, and it's the woody core that is mixed with lime cement to make hempcrete for construction.
[00:10:38.49] (slow music) - The project, that the Hempod is a fundamental part of, is a three project, which is funded by DEFRA, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, a U.K. government institution, and supported by various industrial partners because they believe in the potential for this.
[00:11:10.03] And here's the inside of the Hempod.
[00:11:12.70] You can see we've got sensors on the walls, on all four walls.
[00:11:17.58] The whole theory behind the construction is to allow it to breathe.
[00:11:22.60] So, you don't want to be putting impervious materials in the wall.
[00:11:26.55] So, anything, you don't want to put plastics or seal it up.
[00:11:30.17] That's one of the problems with a lot of modern houses, they try and seal them and you get this awful sort of sick building syndrome.
[00:11:38.21] - [Narrator] Sick building syndrome is caused by the materials in our houses.
[00:11:43.57] These materials are made of all kinds of chemicals, which we breathe and touch continually, making us sick.
[00:11:52.58] Even though we may have no idea why.
[00:11:58.77] (instrumental music) (birds chirping) - The house needs to work itself without cooling system or heating systems and building with hemp give us this possibility.
[00:12:23.71] We have here, the brick is made of clay and hemp and a little bit of lime.
[00:12:31.73] It is not only good for terminal conditions, but also is a load bearing brick.
[00:12:37.06] In a new house, so everything is very cold now, and this was without furniture, without anything, but you feel comfortable inside.
[00:12:46.08] You feel good.
[00:12:47.15] When the humidity is constant, you breathe better.
[00:12:50.72] You don't have any illness.
[00:12:52.76] This a life that asks, how you can build a house in a normal way?
[00:12:58.62] Using that material.
[00:13:00.33] - And you can build a hemp house in any style you wish.
[00:13:03.69] It can look like a very organic, natural shape, or it can be very square and straight lines and very functional as what most people would expect.
[00:13:15.78] (solemn music) - A few years ago, I started a company called HAB, Happiness Architects of Beauty, as a development company.
[00:13:27.21] We're finishing the scheme in about two or three weeks time.
[00:13:29.60] It's a scheme of about 42 homes, called the Triangle, designed by a wonderful award-winning British architect, Glenn Howells, project manager here on site said to me, he loved the material, 'cause we'd have this lorry reversing on site, a big mixing, cement mixing lorry, instead of pouring out heavy, wet, toxic, caustic, concrete, it would instead pour out this sort of fluffy, lightweight, stuff that was like sawdust.
[00:13:56.55] It didn't require any power tools.
[00:13:58.64] So, all we had was buckets and barrows and blokes.
[00:14:01.23] And because there no power tools, there are no cables everywhere.
[00:14:04.11] And it's just, it actually makes for a very, very healthy, very safe, building site.
[00:14:10.07] My great difficulty is that every new scheme we're building, we're building seven now, I look at the range of materials out there.
[00:14:16.10] I cannot find one to match hemp.
[00:14:19.23] - Once it's built into the building, it's fire resistant.
[00:14:23.40] It is a good thermal resistance and it's good for the living environment.
[00:14:29.34] (pop music) There's a drive in the U.K and in Europe to reduce carbon emissions in construction and construction contributes well over half of all carbon emissions, the actual building of a building is 9% of the carbon emissions.
[00:14:57.68] The running of a building is 42% of the carbon emissions globally.
[00:15:03.95] So, if we can reduce the carbon emissions in the building, and if we can reduce the carbon emissions in the running of the house, we're going to make a very significant contribution to carbon reduction in the U.K. and worldwide.
[00:15:17.83] - This is our blending plant, where we make the Tradical Hemp binder.
[00:15:21.41] So, we blend together all of the different raw materials that go together.
[00:15:25.10] One of the things we didn't know when we first got involved in the hemp, but have later realized is a huge asset, is that lime and hemp, when you put them together, are actually carbon neutral or carbon negative.
[00:15:37.42] That means that there is more carbon locked up within the hemp as it grows through photosynthesis than there is emitted from the production of the lime and all the manufacturing processes that go on alongside that.
[00:15:48.94] So, when you put the two things together, you've actually got a carbon negative product.
[00:15:53.51] The first time we did the sums, did the math, as you say in the States, we thought we got it wrong because we came out with a negative figure and we didn't think you could have a negative figure.
[00:16:05.98] - Behind me now you can see our main distribution warehouse and it was the first building of its kind to use this lime hemp block on an industrial scale.
[00:16:16.80] The lime hemp blocks actually sequester carbon out of the atmosphere.
[00:16:21.32] And that has been something that we have been able to build into our marketing.
[00:16:25.81] So, it's not just about social responsibility.
[00:16:28.63] It's been about the way in which we go to market.
[00:16:31.89] A building like Marks & Spencer's is of a similar scale.
[00:16:35.50] It's 400 or 500 tons of carbon emissions less from the construction of the walls than it would have been if it was conventional construction.
[00:16:43.93] - What we have now is a tipping point in understanding, the economics have shifted.
[00:16:48.97] Now it's about energy use.
[00:16:50.57] And so, now these materials are starting to be focused on a lot more.
[00:16:55.45] - And would you like to save 30%, up to 50% energy in your house?
[00:17:00.46] There's no reason to make expensive installations in a house to save energy, when basically you only have to start off doing a better installation in these houses.
[00:17:12.23] - The hemp fiber installation is made as a quilt and is very similar to glass fiber or mineral wool installations in its look, but it's actually much nicer to work with because it doesn't have any hazardous components in it.
[00:17:26.38] So, you don't need to wear gloves and goggles and mask, and you can use it in virtually all the places that you would use glass fiber or mineral wool insulation, so, attics and walls.
[00:17:40.10] And it has very, very similar thermal insulation properties, but it has much better thermal mass to it.
[00:17:47.75] - What it has proved to be is incredibly robust, incredibly versatile, and it really has delivered on those insulation properties.
[00:17:56.22] It enables us to run our business without using artificial heating or cooling, which is a great thing and saves us money.
[00:18:03.43] We're based here in the East Coast of England in a area of outstanding natural beauty.
[00:18:08.74] It has been important for us to develop a business process that treads lightly on the environment.
[00:18:14.96] Our long run view of fossil fuel prices and businesses that pollute in Europe are that they're going to need to pay more.
[00:18:23.44] So, from our perspective, this really makes good business sense as well as being the right thing to do.
[00:18:30.62] (slow music) - It's very easy for me to want to protect this planet because I'm out there and I see it and I really, I see being a surfer 20 years ago, there wasn't plastic floating around me when I surfed and now I can see it and I can see it on the beach.
[00:18:52.37] And it empowers me or motivates me to really protect these spaces.
[00:18:57.60] It's not just about stopping driving cars or decreasing our reliance on petrol for transport.
[00:19:04.05] Plastics is a major problem, and that's why the hemp plastic science, the hemp bio composites, one of the most exciting things that we can possibly be looking at at the moment.
[00:19:12.51] (engine running) - Our business is all about processing hemp.
[00:19:17.37] Hemp is grown under contract for us by local farmers.
[00:19:20.81] We take the crop in and split it into its constituent parts.
[00:19:25.62] This is how hemp fiber is used in the automotive industry.
[00:19:28.89] This is a car door panel for a BMW three series car.
[00:19:34.04] The use of natural fibers in these applications reduces the car's weight by a couple of kilos.
[00:19:41.29] And that all helps towards reducing fuel consumption.
[00:19:45.65] The automotive industry and animal bedding business markets are the largest part of our business.
[00:19:51.44] We expect the construction industry to grow rapidly over the next few years.
[00:19:56.00] In fact, within four or five years, we see that overtaken to be maybe 70 to 80% of our business.
[00:20:03.95] (calm music) - You said that there's no pesticides that were ever used on this.
[00:20:26.12] It wasn't farmed using crops and pesticides to, - Has not been since the '30s.
[00:20:31.55] - Amazing.
[00:20:32.38] - And if there had been before that, there's no evidence at all.
[00:20:35.12] And so, very clean, very pure piece of land, which is difficult to find in North Carolina, in general, especially in Western North Carolina, with all farming and agriculture.
[00:20:45.02] - And it's quiet.
[00:20:45.85] - Yeah. Beautiful.
[00:20:47.17] Just bugs, butterflies and birds.
[00:20:50.76] For us to be able to visit Bailey now at the facility that she's in and just see how she's thriving there with that level of care, just really solidifies the fact that we can't, we can't do that at home.
[00:21:04.24] You know, our lives change to try to accommodate her needs, which we, which we've certainly done out of our love for her.
[00:21:13.34] But we also realized that the best thing for Bailey is for her to be somewhere.
[00:21:19.27] That's why I said, "Let's build it." So, we build something for her.
[00:21:23.72] And for generations of kids, I know it's dreaming big.
[00:21:28.00] As a father of a disabled child, I don't feel like there's any other option 'cause there's not going to be a place that I would be able to walk in and say, "Here it is." I would like for Bailey to be here for the rest of her life.
[00:21:39.58] It just, it doesn't exist.
[00:21:42.15] (slow music) (birds chirping) My wife came up with the name, "Canary Kids" for these nonverbal children that are either autistic or some other type of special need.
[00:21:56.94] They can't tell us what is going on.
[00:21:59.16] That something is very wrong with what we've got going on in our environment right now.
[00:22:04.98] And nobody knows if it's the air we're breathing, the water we're drinking, the food we're eating, the medicines that we're taking.
[00:22:12.17] Our thing is, if you look at the ingredients and you can't pronounce it, chances are, you probably don't want to eat it or put it on your body.
[00:22:22.73] (harmonica music) - I've lived in Greensboro about 10 years now.
[00:22:28.93] And I moved from Charlotte where I grew up.
[00:22:32.82] (dog howls) I've been designing for, full time for about three years.
[00:22:39.20] I am pregnant. I am almost seven months now.
[00:22:44.66] I just find myself thinking about him and how I want to raise him so protected, I think, you know, protected from chemicals and just show him a different way.
[00:22:58.47] (chiming music) People go and they buy some mass produced t-shirt that has been dyed and has, you know, chemicals on it.
[00:23:16.79] And they put it on their body or on their baby.
[00:23:19.21] And it's going into you.
[00:23:21.07] Our skin is the largest organ on our body.
[00:23:23.20] And there are chemicals used in clothing to process fibers and fabric.
[00:23:29.05] And the dying is very toxic and I've had clients specifically come to me because of that.
[00:23:35.19] They're allergic to dyes used in regular clothing and they need something that's either a natural dye or not dyed at all.
[00:23:46.50] - Hemporium is a South African hemp company that's been going since 1996.
[00:23:50.25] And it all started with something as simple as this, a little piece of cannabis canvas.
[00:23:55.21] And those words sounds similar because they are similar.
[00:23:57.21] The word canvas comes from the same root as cannabis and all canvas used to be made out of hemp and that, where it ties in with the history on using hemp in the sails and obviously the ropes on all the boats as well.
[00:24:09.31] And even in South Africa, our Afrikaans word for shirt is hemp.
[00:24:13.53] We learned about, that this was a durable fabric.
[00:24:16.26] It made perfect sense to make bags out of it.
[00:24:18.37] And we started making many more products and using our clothing, especially, as a message taker, an equal audit was done in Canada, where they grew a hectare of conventional cotton and a hectare of conventional hemp and did the comparisons.
[00:24:32.56] And it was about 2,000 liters per t-shirt's saving of water and about a cup of pesticides and agrochemicals.
[00:24:41.07] Hemp provides about 250% more fiber per hectare than cotton.
[00:24:46.43] So, every shirt is making a difference.
[00:24:50.78] - This is hemp denim, it's hemp mixed with the organic cotton and I'm making a skirt.
[00:24:57.00] And this, I order from hemp traders.
[00:25:00.51] And I do that online.
[00:25:04.17] This is actually an order for a girl in San Francisco and she ordered this and a blazer to go with it.
[00:25:13.61] So, she got the whole outfit.
[00:25:15.76] There's so many variations on hemp fabrics these days.
[00:25:18.81] I mean, you can get the hemp silk, the hemp denim, hemp suede.
[00:25:24.79] There is hemp twill, hemp muslin.
[00:25:29.68] And they're just, they're beautiful fabrics that are all very breathable, comfortable, washable.
[00:25:37.09] You can tell the difference when you have the fabric in front of you and you feel it.
[00:25:42.05] It's just a quality thing.
[00:25:44.45] (slow music) A lot of the fabric that I'm buying is actually grown in China or in Canada, but the majority is in China and it would just be amazing if it were grown here and it would be a lot cheaper as well, because right now it's definitely one of the more expensive fabrics out there.
[00:26:06.13] (parade music) - [Announcer] Hemp for victory.
[00:26:11.60] - Now, the Chinese government, to their credit, they're really using hemp as a way of supporting rural poor farmers and paying, you know, enabling them to, you know, earn a decent income and then producing all kinds of things for textiles and buildings.
[00:26:26.14] You know, it's all happening over there, realizing the dream of hemp in China.
[00:26:29.88] And it's like, well, you know, gosh, it's kind of sucks, it's China and not us, but they're doing it.
[00:26:35.01] And showing the rest of the world, this is what you can do.
[00:26:39.49] (inspiring music) - How do we help recover tobacco farmers?
[00:26:48.00] How do we recover cotton farmers?
[00:26:51.18] How do we move away from this dependency on synthetic fertilizers?
[00:26:57.47] How do we move away from the dependency on synthetic pesticides?
[00:27:01.34] So, it's nice to see a farmer having fun and engaged and want to talk and try to experiment.
[00:27:06.42] "And this is cool.
[00:27:07.34] "And I can," we're talking about it over coffee.
[00:27:09.65] This is really, this is what it's about.
[00:27:11.39] It's about bringing that passion into everybody.
[00:27:15.56] (slow music) - I'm one of the founders of Braham & Murray, and we make food from hemp seeds.
[00:27:31.64] We're also one of the largest hemp farmers in Europe.
[00:27:35.67] We were looking for some sustainable farming options.
[00:27:38.86] Hemp on paper came out as that there were growing markets for it in a world where people were more aware of the environment and more aware of the choices they made about the things that they buy.
[00:27:50.66] We felt hemp had a big role to play in that.
[00:27:53.67] There's 16 different varieties in the European Union that are approved for growing.
[00:27:59.31] They all have completely different qualities, maturity times, benefits and disadvantages.
[00:28:06.47] We use about three of them for food and that's governed by taste.
[00:28:14.18] (plant ripping) The plant also has this fantastic root structure, which is really, really good for the soil.
[00:28:20.87] This is left in the ground at the end of the life of the plant, and it returns a lot of organic matter to the top soil and it helps with drainage.
[00:28:31.56] - The nice thing about hemp, it grows on marginal land.
[00:28:33.88] We can also use it as a fire remediation crop, sorting out land that was damaged in the past, using hemp to pull out the heavy metals, to pull out some of the pollution and getting that land back to the state we need it in to provide us with food.
[00:28:48.85] - I've been managing farms in the Southeast for 20 years now, two or three years ago, I started growing hemp and a year ago, Hemp Technology asked me to come on board with them and act as like a bridge between the factory and the grower to improve logistics and improve the quality of the crop and recruit new growers.
[00:29:10.25] We like having hemp as a break crop because it's a very good natural break for weeds and pests and diseases.
[00:29:16.92] And because hemp is sown in May, it fits very well after an overwintered followed break.
[00:29:22.69] To cut the seed from this crop, we just use a conventional combine harvester and just cut the seed heads off.
[00:29:30.45] That's the only specialist equipment that's needed.
[00:29:33.69] And that's provided by contractors in the U.K.
[00:29:36.47] (slow music) (machine whirring) If the crop's for fiber, there'll be no pesticides used at all.
[00:29:46.21] If the crop's a seed crop, we will apply die crop, which is a desiccant to kill off the stems after we've harvested the seed.
[00:29:54.39] So, the seed itself has no pesticides on.
[00:29:57.15] So it's quite a low risk, low cost crop.
[00:30:00.64] Once you can get somebody trying the crop, they'll very often then grow it year after year after year because they realized the benefits.
[00:30:08.43] It's quite a profitable crop.
[00:30:10.13] Particularly if you go for the dual crop and you're harvesting the seed as well, a margin on this field of somewhere in the region of 200 pounds an acre, 500 pounds a hectare, for the fiber crop.
[00:30:21.06] If you then take the seed crop on top, which adds another 300 pounds an acre, you're getting up towards 800 pounds.
[00:30:30.31] (calm music) - People have used hemp seed oil since the ancient Egyptians as a nutritional supplement.
[00:31:18.23] When Glen and I started growing hemp, we were drawn to the really light nutty taste of the seed.
[00:31:25.96] And we learned about the hemp seed oil that had been around for a very long time.
[00:31:30.96] And it tasted to us very strong and not the kind of thing that you'd want to eat.
[00:31:35.35] It took us 10 years to develop this oil.
[00:31:39.26] - [Narrator] And it's shelf stable, use just like an olive oil, although it's much healthier with 25 times more Omega-3 and half the saturated fat.
[00:31:50.03] (man whistles) - If you're going to use a fat in a product that is based on fat, which is salad dressings and mayonnaise, it just seems obvious to us that you would use the healthiest oil that you can.
[00:32:03.09] In the United States, mayonnaise is our biggest seller.
[00:32:05.96] (gentle music) - Nutiva's the number one purchaser of organic hemp in the world today.
[00:32:16.97] We're purchasing over 3 million pounds of organic hemp seeds that were grown in Canada.
[00:32:22.68] A big challenge is people don't know the benefits of hemp from a nutritional perspective.
[00:32:28.29] And so, we have a big job ahead of us there.
[00:32:30.80] Dr. Oz on national TV has promoted hemp and hemp milk, and that's been helpful.
[00:32:34.61] - I love hemp seeds.
[00:32:35.81] I love them for breakfast.
[00:32:37.19] And then they have hemp milk.
[00:32:38.29] - [John] What makes hemp a superfood is, it's excellent source of protein.
[00:32:42.47] It's the closest balance of essential fatty acids of anything that grows in the land compared to fish.
[00:32:49.44] It's easy to put it on salads, in smoothies.
[00:32:52.37] You can put it on oatmeal, you can bake bread with it, and it's got a light nutty flavor.
[00:32:57.78] And it's just very simple to add to virtually any recipe that you think of, you can put it even on ice cream.
[00:33:02.78] - In Canada, when I go there, I go there quite a bit and you go to restaurants and you see hemp nuts in a menu.
[00:33:10.14] And it's, it's so not spectacular.
[00:33:13.80] It's just, they know it's just something good for you.
[00:33:18.11] - Doctors recommend eating deep sea fish, flax and hemp internally because we're chronically deficient in our diet for Omega-3, which is, you need it for healthy brain function, good skin and topically in cosmetics, that Omega-3, the skin can just incorporate it directly in and see them.
[00:33:35.61] And in our soap, we found is it really made the lather smoother and less drying.
[00:33:40.01] So, it's been an important superfat ingredient in our soaps for over 15 years.
[00:33:46.08] (gentle music) - A lot of soap is petroleum based.
[00:34:04.48] And when you're using that, you're putting petroleum on your skin.
[00:34:07.84] And it's just not healthy.
[00:34:10.38] With hemp based soap, you have no toxins.
[00:34:14.43] - In 2000, we were about 15 employees and around $6 million in revenue this year, we're about 85 employees, possibly 87.
[00:34:24.60] I saw some new guys out there today.
[00:34:27.80] We've grown 10 times since so, we added hemp to our products.
[00:34:31.75] We projected our company would be a $13 million company by 2011, of course we were 43.
[00:34:37.98] So, we missed it. We missed it by a little bit (laughs).
[00:34:47.07] (steady music) - [Narrator] The history of hemp.
[00:34:52.90] Year zero, the big bang. (wind whipping) The universe begins.
[00:34:58.88] 150 million years ago, plants debut, including hemp, but dinosaurs didn't notice.
[00:35:06.52] 800 BC China.
[00:35:07.90] The first cloth fabric is made from hemp.
[00:35:10.76] 1200 BC, hemp fiber is used to construct the pyramids.
[00:35:17.51] 1425, knights drink hemp beer.
[00:35:22.47] (metal clatters) 1492, Columbus floats to America using hemp sales and rope.
[00:35:30.46] (wind whips) - Ope, dang it.
[00:35:32.86] - [Narrator] 1776, the Declaration of Independence is drafted on hemp paper, 1889, Van Gogh paints masterpieces on hemp canvas.
[00:35:45.93] 1942, patriotic farmers plant hemp crop for war effort.
[00:35:52.19] 1970, the Controlled Substances Act is signed into law.
[00:35:57.59] Industrial hemp is classified as marijuana and farming it becomes illegal.
[00:36:02.92] (bars clang) (book thuds) - The modern interest in hemp began in the 1980s.
[00:36:11.19] There was a book published by a guy named Jack Herer called "The Emperor Wears No Clothes," reeducating people about hemp's long history and the many benefits of the crop.
[00:36:19.62] It wasn't really in the history books anymore.
[00:36:21.56] So, you didn't learn about it in school.
[00:36:23.21] (slow music) - [Narrator] In 1916, USDA botanist Lyster Dewey proved that hemp produces four times more paper per acre than trees, but America's hemp industry battled competition from other, easier to process crops, like cotton.
[00:36:43.99] The government's reefer madness campaign in the '30s, linked to marijuana use by Mexican immigrants and jazz musicians with wild tales of crime and debauchery.
[00:36:56.63] The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 contained penalties effectively prohibiting the devil's lettuce.
[00:37:04.84] It also regulated what was left of the hemp industry out of existence.
[00:37:10.05] Despite a 1938 "Popular Mechanics" article calling hemp the new billion dollar crop, Uncle Sam loved hemp again when the fiber was needed in World War II and encouraged children in 4H clubs to plant seeds.
[00:37:27.43] The last commercial hemp crops grew in the late '50s, in 2010, Dewey's diary is discovered and reveals the Pentagon was built on land where he grew hemp for the U.S. government.
[00:37:45.03] (upbeat music) - The Hemp for Victory program in World War II demonstrates the power of what our society can do when our elected officials are on the same wavelength with industry and are working together.
[00:38:01.14] And, you know, our hemp supply got cut off by the Japanese from the Philippines.
[00:38:06.38] We put an emergency hemp program.
[00:38:08.52] We had American farmers growing 25,000 acres of hemp within a year and hemp infrastructure and processing all set up.
[00:38:16.16] And it was amazing.
[00:38:16.99] - [Announcer] The goal for 1943 is 300,000 acres.
[00:38:19.98] - And then of course we dismantled it and red taped it to death.
[00:38:23.39] (slow music) - So, I'm in this little alleyway back here.
[00:38:35.74] I'm actually right above this garage.
[00:38:38.61] We are literally operating on a shoestring budget.
[00:38:43.71] Most of the stuff in here is not even mine.
[00:38:46.03] This is actually used fryer oil that is actually used to run a car.
[00:38:51.75] The car also runs on hemp oil, but this is more economical.
[00:38:56.47] - You know, two years ago, Ben Droz was a student at Goucher College and he approached us about a summer internship and came to Washington and worked with us on Capitol Hill, learning how to do grassroots advocacy.
[00:39:09.60] And so, that's his full time job is working with grassroots groups around the country and then meeting with members of Congress and their staffs here.
[00:39:16.82] It's really important that we have somebody up here that's able to go around door to door - Masks and gloves.
[00:39:21.95] - And teach about all the benefits of industrial hemp and why this makes sense for farmers and for businesses.
[00:39:28.02] - I actually remember the first project was, my boss kind of gave me a test.
[00:39:31.99] (sirens blaring) He said, he said, "Apparently the DEA has been holding packages "of industrial hemp coming in from Canada.
[00:39:38.23] "Can you call them "and tell them they're not allowed to do that?" - Law enforcement's objection to cultivation of industrial hemp has nothing to do with the end products that are sold.
[00:39:49.88] We have no interest in interfering with those products.
[00:39:52.50] Those are lawful products.
[00:39:54.72] And by all accounts, they bring certain benefits to people who use them.
[00:39:59.88] - 15 days after 9/11, they published in the Congressional Record, a new regulation that would equate hemp foods and our candy bars, our hemp's in the same category as heroin, and it was going to make it illegal for us to sell.
[00:40:15.59] And if I continue to sell, I would face jail time of 10 to 15 years.
[00:40:19.53] And we thought this was outrageous.
[00:40:21.60] And we partner with Dr. Bronner's and Nature's Path and the Hemp Industry Association and sued the U.S. DEA in court.
[00:40:30.22] And luckily we were successful and won in 2004.
[00:40:34.35] And now hemp foods as a precedent is legal to consume.
[00:40:37.48] And the court ruled the DEA stay out of regulating foods.
[00:40:42.53] When hemp is a legal, healthy product, and there's no connotation to drugs at all.
[00:40:48.79] - The Canadian farmers and industry has a, basically a market lock on U.S, thanks to drug warrior idiocy in the United States.
[00:40:56.35] It says, here, here's this huge exploding market of hemp.
[00:40:58.96] Here you go, Canada.
[00:41:00.42] You know, and I, and American farmers are totally cut out of it.
[00:41:09.10] - It's all about economic development that right now they're holding back American farmers, American manufacturers, by refusing to let farmers grow hemp.
[00:41:17.03] You know, it's only hurting us.
[00:41:20.17] (chiming music) - Marijuana and hemp are identical in appearance.
[00:41:32.66] In fact, they are one product.
[00:41:34.23] They are both part of the cannabis sativa family.
[00:41:38.58] - The claims that law enforcement can't tell the difference are ridiculous.
[00:41:42.29] Hemp's being grown in more than 30 different countries where law enforcement has no problem.
[00:41:46.03] (gentle music) - We grow cultivars and varieties and our colleagues in the other cannabis sectors, they grow strains.
[00:41:55.07] We have monoecious and dioecious plants.
[00:41:57.50] And so, we're functioning underneath the legal language that really adds legitimacy to our industry, which is really important.
[00:42:06.43] - We are very inclusive when the areas we grow and we find that people are very well educated about the difference between hemp and marijuana.
[00:42:15.11] - In terms of adoption in the U.S, if they took the model of the U.K.
[00:42:22.80] to license it and control it, it's not really rocket science.
[00:42:29.32] So, to grow a crop of industrial hemp, you have to have a license from the government.
[00:42:33.36] You have to submit an application with the OS numbers of the field.
[00:42:36.67] That's the specific location of the field, making sure they're not too close to schools or any other public places.
[00:42:43.26] The government will then ask you to have a CRB check, which is a Criminal Records Bureau check, which we have in the U.K.
[00:42:50.71] We'll get a call saying, "We need to come "and test your crop, can we come and take a sample?" They will then take a sample because the seed has to be a certified variety that's approved by the government for us to grow.
[00:43:02.44] And so, if it creeps up above 0.2% THC, and obviously that variety comes off the list and we're not allowed to it grow anymore.
[00:43:11.05] - The government and our office of controlled substance that regulates industrial hemp and the industry have worked very well with each other.
[00:43:18.73] We haven't caused problems.
[00:43:20.74] There's not been infractions of licensing.
[00:43:23.38] So, the hemp industry has really gone about its business without causing any turmoil for our federal government, which is really great.
[00:43:31.61] You know, to think about the fact that I got federal funding in Canada to do my master's project, almost 80 some odd thousand dollars to facilitate learning about industrial hemp in Canada.
[00:43:45.04] I'm an American getting money from the federal government in Canada to help grow the industry.
[00:43:51.96] - Because industrial hemp is grown in Canada, in the U.K, in the People's Republic of China, we don't know how many times the cultivation of industrial hemp has been used as a camouflage.
[00:44:11.13] - People often cite scare stories of people growing marijuana in a hemp field.
[00:44:17.12] Well, this is absolutely impossible.
[00:44:19.13] Hemp grows much faster than marijuana.
[00:44:21.65] It's a robust industrial crop that grows straight up like a rocket.
[00:44:25.93] And if you tried to grow marijuana in a hemp field, it would be completely smothered by the hemp.
[00:44:31.17] The other thing, that's makes it impossible, is that hemp goes to seed very quickly.
[00:44:36.40] And so, there is a lot of male pollen in the air.
[00:44:38.89] And the whole aim of marijuana growers is to not allow pollination, so that they are developing bigger and bigger flowers, and this would not happen in a hemp field.
[00:44:50.21] So if anything, a hemp field is actually a disadvantage to marijuana growers.
[00:44:55.61] In Ireland, in the past, there was the fear that the paramilitaries would steal the hemp and sell it as drugs.
[00:45:02.96] And I always used to say to the government officials, "Let them. It'll spoil their reputation as drug dealers." - [Narrator] I really think that once we can grow and put hemp seed in American soil, that it will really unlock a whole wave of hemp entrepreneurship and jobs and dollars.
[00:45:23.08] - In the North American market, it's kind of a chicken and egg situation.
[00:45:26.77] You know, there's plenty of interest in hemp and the products that come from hemp but there's no supply.
[00:45:32.51] And we've got to kickstart that supply.
[00:45:34.85] Now, I believe that kickstart will come from the construction industry.
[00:45:38.19] - The renovation of existing houses in United States is an enormous market and that you can do, I think, the very best way and the most efficient way would be using products like hemp.
[00:45:53.10] - We cannot continue to ship materials from here to America.
[00:45:57.04] It's not economic to do that.
[00:45:58.62] No, we need to create that supply.
[00:46:01.18] Somebody needs to build a hemp processing factory.
[00:46:04.34] - One of the great things about hemp when you grow it as a fiber crop is, it's bulky and it, and you need to process it when within a 300 or 400 mile range, you're going to need to put these processing centers in.
[00:46:15.91] So, conceivably we could have 20 or 30 or 40 processing centers located across the United States within, you know, five to 10 years of growing hemp, which would add thousands of jobs.
[00:46:26.61] - Hemp has to be led by the consumer so that there has to be a market created for the product.
[00:46:32.80] And then production will follow.
[00:46:34.31] It's all about you and I am making everyday choices in the supermarket, choices you make in building products or the insulation you choose to use in your house, will lead the way.
[00:46:45.08] - The amount of hemp products you see in Whole Foods and not only natural stores, but mainstream stores, is light years ahead of what it was like in 2000.
[00:46:55.20] - The economies of scale will come quite quickly that will make all the hemp products more affordable, but also it's important that you have something hemp to where if you believe in it, wear it, take it, show people, it's the fastest way for that message to go out and also to lobby your government, your local government, you know, there's in the, in the States, there's Vote Hemp, who's doing a wonderful job there of spreading the awareness amongst the representatives.
[00:47:17.41] (upbeat music) - I wanted to be environmental.
[00:47:22.25] I wanted to work on criminal justice issues, human rights, and so, industrial hemp was really that issue that culminated everything for me.
[00:47:32.33] It was weird at first when I was telling people that I was a lobbyist, because the first thing people hear when they say, "Oh, you're a lobbyist." They immediately have assumptions.
[00:47:41.15] While most lobbyists are working for corporate interests, I'm here working for the people.
[00:47:47.55] Monsanto lobbyists are infamous for working at the USDA or being advisors to the president.
[00:47:53.57] They push legislation and they have a very strong influence on important legislation, like the farm bill.
[00:48:00.29] My job is to pull legislation the other way.
[00:48:05.16] By fighting for hemp, I'm fighting for the farmers, I'm fighting for the businesses, I'm fighting for the consumers.
[00:48:12.08] And I'm fighting for the idea that that should have a voice in Congress.
[00:48:18.46] - Maybe a full list of the co-sponsors, but then, but then highlight in like bold. - In bold, bold.
[00:48:22.34] - All the, all the California ones.
[00:48:24.63] The Industrial Hemp Farming Act, essentially, would redefine industrial hemp as distinct from marijuana.
[00:48:31.22] And it would specifically define it as cannabis plants that have three tenths of 1% of THC, THC being the active ingredient in marijuana that gets somebody high, or less.
[00:48:41.56] And then it would allow states that want to allow their farmers to grow hemp to regulate it.
[00:48:45.83] And it's bipartisan support.
[00:48:47.27] We have both Republicans and Democrats on the bill, and it's been one of the interesting things with hemp is that it's really not a partisan issue.
[00:48:53.92] You know, in almost every state where we've ever passed a bill, we've always had Democrats and Republicans who have supported it.
[00:49:00.20] (upbeat music) It's amazing how difficult Congress has been and how, (audience claps) you know, unwilling to hold hearings, the Obama Administration totally unwilling to even meet with us to discuss this.
[00:49:12.50] Our point is, once again, we're stuck with the federal government standing in the way of states that want to move forward with this.
[00:49:18.90] - Being in, from of the U.S. and working in Canada and the system that's working, that we're providing foods, we're building materials.
[00:49:26.46] So, full time jobs that are created, it's real life.
[00:49:29.03] And then I look here in the U.S. and I think, "Wow, they're planting in Lebanon "before they're planting in the U.S.
[00:49:34.18] "They're planting in Uruguay "before they're planting in the U.S.
[00:49:36.35] "They're going to plant in South Africa "before they're going to plant in the U.S." This for me is still very frustrating.
[00:49:42.30] And I still feel the American people are so wronged every day because of this.
[00:49:45.92] When I'm standing in a hemp field, it's right on the American border.
[00:49:49.64] And the farmer literally tells me, in Canada, "When that hemp field ends, the U.S. starts." (slow music) - We see the potential in South Africa for real change as well here, and around the world this is true, but obviously I'm working in a country where, you know, there's massive unemployment, there's massive malnutrition.
[00:50:08.35] You have people living in despicable conditions.
[00:50:11.18] And I know that this is something that can solve a lot of those, those issues.
[00:50:16.44] We're very lucky at the moment. There's a lot of momentum.
[00:50:18.80] There's a lot of support coming from within the government.
[00:50:21.54] And we've got this three-year commercial trial at the moment where we have three years to prove that we can bring a return to the small scale farmer and build a market for it.
[00:50:32.15] If it goes well, which it should, we will be able to grow industrial hemp in South Africa.
[00:50:36.99] - I mean, we made a television series about this project, and we went off and planted a field of hemp and every 12 or 14 weeks, watched it grow to four meters tall.
[00:50:44.56] And there was next to a power station, which is rather neat.
[00:50:47.09] So, when the trains went by and the road motorway went by and you saw the plumes of smoke coming out of the chimneys of the power station, you thought, "This field of hemp is absorbing "all the CO2 dirt," and we're going to build houses with it.
[00:50:58.21] So there, for me, there's a sort of tremendous excitement in the pioneering notion of using this material.
[00:51:04.39] - There has been a lot of talk about sustainability, but sustaining what we are doing at the moment on the planet is probably not possible.
[00:51:13.14] So, it's more a question of resilience building.
[00:51:15.59] If we're really honest, we have to prepare for the type of shocks that just might happen.
[00:51:20.89] The systems we have built to exist on this world at the moment are very sophisticated, but very frail because of that.
[00:51:27.59] And what has happened in Japan recently, and what is happening in America as we speak shows how our systems are very vulnerable to nature, so we should really be thinking of working with nature.
[00:51:38.56] And hemp provides us with the most perfect tools to do that.
[00:51:43.13] - I think oftentimes, in our world, we forget how powerful and beautiful and healing the natural world can be.
[00:51:51.80] I feel like there's a tremendous amount that we can learn from nature and our animals and our plants and our earth, and that we need to respect that.
[00:52:03.68] I can't believe that I'm standing here.
[00:52:06.11] And like I said, the machine's coming up the hill and we're going to start clearing this out.
[00:52:12.24] Just visualizing that building, being here with the gardens and seeing the horses and hearing the children and seeing the families just be so happy and knowing she has got a wonderful, healthy, safe environment, fun environment to be in, is just, makes me so happy as a parent.
[00:52:32.37] And this was our idea, but it's not really about us, it's about her.
[00:52:36.28] And it's about other, children and other adults and their families.
[00:52:41.22] Just being able to have a resource, to come here, whether it be for an hour or for the remainder of their life.
[00:52:48.26] It's a beautiful thing.
[00:52:49.56] And it's just really, really exciting and humbling for me right now.
[00:52:55.46] (slow music) - Main message I like to get across with hemp is that it's such an easy, positive way to make change on the planet.
[00:53:08.47] It is so easy to use hemp to decrease your footprint.
[00:53:12.06] The reality is that hemp is hope.
[00:53:14.44] It's bringing something that's done it all before back into creating a green future for the planet and helping us all be sustainable on this beautiful earth.
[00:53:31.14] ♪ A fire burns for freedom ♪ ♪ The smell of the scent is high ♪ ♪ I am standing for the truth ♪ ♪ Too long it's been denied ♪ ♪ The tide of change is rising ♪ ♪ I hope we realized ♪ ♪ Unchain these wings, let angels fly ♪ ♪ I see hemp fields forever ♪ ♪ Growing wild and free ♪ ♪ I see hemp fields forever growing wild and free ♪ ♪ I see hemp fields forever growing wild and free ♪ ♪ Wild and free ♪ ♪ A crime against nations ♪ ♪ A war is waged ♪ ♪ There's a message in the wind for every race ♪ ♪ Peace and love we sow ♪ ♪ So, let it grow, it's good for the body ♪ ♪ It's good for the soul, yeah ♪ ♪ I see hemp fields forever growing wild and free ♪ ♪ And I see hemp fields forever growing wild and free ♪ ♪ I see hemp fields forever growing wild and free ♪ ♪ Wild and free ♪