ABSTRACT

The plant Cannabis sativa has been providing man with a range of his most basic needs for centuries (Conrad, 1994a). We know that hemp-the fibrous extract of C. sativa, was used for clothing in ancient Egypt, at least as early as 1,200 years BC and the use of the plant as a source of rope is well documented in many cultures down the centuries (see Chapter 1, this volume, for a full account). The seeds from the plant have been subjected to various treatments to provide food and the fibre has also been used from early times as a major paper making material; indeed, early editions of the Gothenburg and King James Bibles were published on such paper and much later, the first two drafts of the American Declaration of Independence. The new president of the United States, George Washington was to be found exhorting his head gardener to: “Make the most of the Indian hemp seed…and sow it everywhere” (Washington, 1794).