HEMP, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of Cannabis sativa cultivars that are cultivated specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It is one of the fastest growing plants on Earth and was one of the first plants to be spun into usable fiber 50,000 years ago. Hemp can be refined into a variety of commercial items, such as paper, ropes, textiles, clothing, biodegradable plastics, paint, insulation, biofuel, food and animal feed. It is sometimes confused with cannabis plants that serve as sources of the drug marijuana and the drug preparation hashish.
Hemp contains small amounts of THC compared to cannabis strains cultivated for marijuana or hashish. It belongs to the genus Cannabis and is usually a dioecious herb pollinated by the wind. Hardly any plant has been studied as much as cannabis sativa L., but its medicinal use has divided the research community. The main active ingredient in marijuana is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), which is found in the leaves and flowering parts of the marijuana plant.
Hashish is a substance extracted from the tops of female marijuana plants and contains the highest amount of THC. Hemp and marijuana plants are of the same species. The pharmaceutical properties and medicinal uses of cannabinoids are described in scientific literature and dronabinol is another name for natural (−) -trans isomer of THC.
