Cannabis as a licit crop: recent developments in Europe

• Autores: G. Mignoni
• Localización: Boletín de estupefacientes, ISSN 0251-7086, Nº. 1, 1997-1998
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • After a continued decline in fibre hemp cultivation and industrial processing during the post-war period, a sudden upward trend is now being noted in the industrialized world, especially in Europe. This new interest in licit cannabis cultivation stems both from a growing consumer demand for natural fibres and from the so-called "set-aside" and diversification farming policy of the European Union resulting in an intense search for profitable new non-food crops. Mounting concern over such ecological issues as the gradual depletion of worldwide available natural fibre resources using wood also contributed to this development. While "green" textiles appear to constitute the most immediately lucrative market for hemp, paper production is likely to absorb the biggest volumesin the future. As a result, the trend in Europe quickly reversed, and both the number of European countries again authorizing licit cannabis cultivation and the total area harvested has increased over the last 10 years.

    Also, new research work and funds are being invested in each major segment of this agro-industry to increase its competitiveness further, and to minimize the risk of misuse. To improve the biological base, plant breeding and selection work pursues two principal objectives:

    (a) To adapt the plant to specific climatic and environmental conditions while improving per hectare fibre yields and quality for the two principal applications, textiles and paper production;

    (b) To reduce and ultimately eliminate the plant's psychoactive chemical principle, tetrahydrocanabinol (THC), as part of a regulatory safeguard mechanism. This latter objective has grown out of an increasing concern over potential misuse of fibre hemp cultures by drug abusers and became an important constituent of a new regulatory system within the European Union as of the early 1980s.

    The principal purpose of technology research is to develop and introduce more advanced and environmentally friendly technology for each processing step (e.g. retting, pulping) to make hemp fibre a more attractive and versatile raw material for an ever wider range of specific applications.

    The above tendency is also complemented by efforts aimed at developing markets for more diverse industrial uses of other parts of the plant such as the seeds and of a range of crude products prepared from them.