# Hemp question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemp-question/43419>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 30, 2000, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemp-question/43419 "2000-11-30T19:40:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemp-question/43419/1 "2000-11-30T19:40:14Z")

</div>

My roommate was wondering what the difference is between industrial hemp, used for making ropes and stuff, and the shit that you smoke… are they different species/genuses/same plant with different names?

Thanks…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemp-question/43419/2 "2000-11-30T19:54:32Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by tsarina \*  
> \*\*My roommate was wondering what the difference is between industrial hemp, used for making ropes and stuff, and the shit that you smoke… are they different species/genuses/same plant with different names?
> 
> Thanks… \*\*

They’re both the same species, \* Cannabis sativa\*.

Supposedly hemp grown for fiber has virtually no appreciable  
THC content, though I find that hard to believe. To my own _Weltanschauung_ it makes little difference because I think both drug-hemp and fiber-hemp should be legal.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gregor\_Samsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@Gregor\_Samsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gregor_Samsa)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemp-question/43419/3 "2000-11-30T20:47:45Z")

</div>

Fibre-hemp is legal in Canada. I used to drive past fields of it when I would run between Winnipeg and Brandon (Manitoba.) The plants are huge, btw - they must be 10-12 feet tall.

I don’t think the farmers made a lot of cash off of it, however. Apparently it’s quite dificult to harvest (no machines are made to harvest plants that tall, I guess.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemp-question/43419/4 "2000-11-30T21:06:32Z")

</div>

Unca Cecil covered this topic in great detail in _Triumph of the Straight Dope_. The text to the column is posted at: [Is hemp (nonpharmacological marijuana) the answer to our environmental problems?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_131.html) – but in order to see Slug’s priceless illustration you’ll need to buy the book.