The Hemp Report

Feral hemp by the roadside in Iowa

Hide the kids, today we're discussing a something scarier than Michael Moore on The O'Reilly Factor - Wild Marijuana! It seems a little early to me, but annual hunt for feral hemp is on in the American midwest and stories are popping up in the local papers. In Iowa Scott County officials hunt for wild, illegal plants. "Every year, they cut down and burn between 15,000 and 20,000 wild marijuana plants ranging from 4 inches to 10 feet in height." Sheriff Dennis Conard said "That's a lot of wild marijuana," he added. "This is remnants of 50 years ago." The author of the story did note that "Growing cannabis plants, of either the hemp or marijuana varieties, is illegal in the United States." It's nice to see the distinction made between the different varieties.

Industrial Hemp is a number of varieties of Cannabis sativa L. that are intended for agricultural and industrial purposes. They are grown for their seed and fiber content as well as the resulting byproducts such as oil, seed cake, hurds, etc. Industrial Hemp is characterized by being low in THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol) and high in CBD (cannabidiol). THC is less than 1% and in Canada and Europe the current legal level for cultivation is 0.3%. The ratio of CBD to THC is greater than one.

Marijuana is a preparation made from varieties of Cannabis sativa L. that are intended for medical and recreational drug use. They are grown for their THC content, primarily in the flowering tops and to a lesser extent in the leaves. Cannabis sativa L. grown for marijuana is characterized by being high in THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol) and low in CBD (cannabidiol). The THC content is greater than 1%, usually 3% to 20%. The ratio of CBD to THC is less than one.

The THC level in ditchweed it really low, too. I have a copy of a lab analysis of 50 ditchweed plants and the results show that the THC level is less than 0.1% and the CBD level is 2.6%. So, obviously ditchweed is feral (a. Existing in a wild or untamed state. b. Having returned to an untamed state from domestication).

The USDA had an extensive hemp breeding program run by Lyster H. Dewey. Hemp varieties like Kymington, Chington, and Chinamington, which were bred in the USDA program, are now lost forever, as is noted in Chapter 10 of "Fiber Wars: The Extinction of Kentucky Hemp" by David P. West, Ph.D.

The tragic element of this story is that as a result of the pariah status to which hemp was relegated in the US, Kentucky hemp is now extinct. The germplasm produced in Dewey's breeding program and all that collected by the USDA is lost. The National Seed Storage Laboratory, located in Fort Collins, Colorado, is charged with the preservation of germplasm as a safeguard against national disaster, such as nuclear war. In the early 1960s, ten bags of hemp seed, the only known remnant of the Kentucky hemp varieties, were transferred there from the USDA. A USDA Yearbook report noted that "Flax and hemp are no longer produced for fiber in this country, but seed stocks of the best varieties that have been developed by research agencies are maintained." Fortunately for flax, a responsible effort was made to preserve its germplasm. Sadly, the hemp remnant was neglected. At the request of the author, NSSL searched and found these bags of hempseed. Apparently, they were never logged in as accessions of the lab. Consequently, they were not properly preserved. The bags are only labeled with numbers whose import was not recorded, so we cannot know which varieties they might have been. The seed was last grown, as far as can be determined, in 1948.

Feral hemp (ditchweed or wild Cannabis), which grows uncultivated across the Midwest, is the remnants of this lost germplasm. It is being eradicated under DEA's Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program (DCE/SP). The DCE/SP's objective is to "conduct programs of eradication aimed at destroying wild or illicit growth of plants from which controlled substances may be extracted." This amazing resource should instead be collected, cataloged, and preserved!

The author makes a distinction between ditchweed and cultivated marijuana in this story as well Drugs found near Salem in statewide removal plan:

"Troopers also are responsible for removing wild hemp plants, which were grown under government sanction more than half a century ago to produce rope for World War II naval operations. Last year they removed more than 200 million wild marijuana plants in Northern Indiana."

Though the 200,000,000 plants number seems a little far-fetched to me. In the DEA Briefs & Background, Drugs and Drug Abuse, State Factsheets, Indiana they reported that "As a result of DEA's Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program, the Indiana State Police eradicated 220,000,000 plants growing wild in northern Indiana." According to the official numbers (from a table adapted by SOURCEBOOK staff from table provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration) from the Sourcebook of criminal justice statistics Online the number that Indiana reported to DEA was 219,124,925 ditchweed plants eradicated. The next highest number of plants eradicated was Oklahoma with 9,995,153 plants. In the Vermont State Auditor - Cannabis Eradication Report the State of Indiana reported 30,087,547 ditchweed plants eradicated in their 1996 Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program (DCE/SP) Results. So, to go from 30,087,547 plants in 1996 to 219,124,925 in 2003 is quite a jump. What are they using to harvest this bumper crop with, combines?

It is obvious to me that law enforcement knows the difference between the different varieties of Cannabis. Here are the definitions from the Marijuana Eradication Report - State of Kansas:

Cultivated - Marijuana that is deliberately planted, grown, tended
Sinsemilla - Seedless female plant found in plots where male plants have been removed
Tended Wild/Ditchweed - Wild marijuana that shows some human attention such as mulching, feeding, watering, clipping or harvesting
Untended Wild/Ditchweed - Wild marijuana that shows no signs of mulching, feeding, watering, clipping, harvesting
Processed Marijuana - Actual dry smokable marijuana in the drying process, loose or packaged. Include weight, measure in pounds

So, how do they fill out the form above and submit DCE/SP results if they can't tell the difference?