For starters, industrial hemp has such low levels of THC it is impossible to get high on it.
There are some who estimate that there are 10s of thousand of uses that hemp can be used for with no advances in technology. Not only that but for each and every use it is cheaper, uses for less energy then current methods, has little or no toxic bi products as a result of production methods, and gives off very little to no CO2 as a result a chemical reactions during production.
Key to success would be legislation demanding it be done. Not unusual as at the start of the USA as a country it was the law that 10% of all cultivated land must grow hemp as it was such a strategically import product for the nation.
Understanding the Hemp Plant and its 50,000 Uses and Benefits!Hemp fibres 'better than graphene'Some points to ponder. Almost all parts of the plant are useful. The head where the seed oil and resin are, can go to food and pharmaceutical companies. The veins of the stock can go to the paper, textile, and many other sectors. The core where the shives are can go to the construction, oil industry, plastics industry and who knows what else. Also get rid of all the red tape that currently exists.
As far has growing is concerned (depends somewhat on how you grow it), you need no herbicides (its a weed and will die from it), has very few know pests or funguses that attack it (although me thinking is that you change variety on a regular bases to avoid attracting pests that may get to like it) and therefore very little pesticides will be needed if at all. If you crop rotating with a nitrogen fixing plant every 4-5 plantings very little fertilizer would be needed if at all. Because of its 12 ft. tap root and the type of plant it is, it needs far less water then most other cultivated plants. I also read somewhere that growers have been successful growing just by lifting the soil and dropping in the seed. If this is true then the ability of the land to retain moisture is greatly enhanced. They have discovered (lost source) that microbes attracted to hemp brake down petrochemical plastics therefore the idea could be what it might do to rehabilitate toxic lands. Bangladesh got its name from the hemp that used to grow wild and that controlled a lot of the monsoon floods because of its tap root.
Highlighting some of the many uses we know about now. (please add more if you care to add to topic.
Use as main material in in building of low rise buildings (1-3 stories). Currently most practices use 2x4 as structural support (some codes ask for spacing of twice the normal spacing). My thinking is that bamboo would be an excellent choice as it gives good structural support and is flexibility would work well with hempcrete's best asset which is its tensile strength (ability to avoid cracking). If you build it thick enough then you would not need any insulation no matter what the weather, it resists fire to a very high degree, it does not mildew (lime in hempcrete kills it), termite and other insect proof, and rodents do not care to dig or eat it. The hempcrete breathes air (without losing thermal qualities and moisture thereby reducing are eliminating chances of sick building syndrome. Note Hempcrete does eventually turn to stone as lime takes the carbon from CO2 and calcifies.
If Ford could make a car almost entirely from hemp and proving it was as strong or stronger then most metals then think of what you can build with it (most composite materials in cars today have a very toxic start and toxic ending, hemp in whatever form it takes can be composited).
Most paper used in in the western world at least up until mid 1930's was made from hemp. Far more durable, non acidic, and no sulfur dioxide in production.
Anything that is made by the pharmaceutical/petrochemical companies can be easily made from hemp oils, resin and cellulose.
The electronic world is a more recent discovery and there it seems to be the sky is the limit.
Hemp seed is the only plant material that has every amino acid needed by the human body to live. Other then for purposes of flour, it can easily replace every other grain grown.
Note: Probably missed a lot I meant to say, but will leave it for later.
How can this all work? Other then if for flour and variety, if every field that is used to grow corn and any other grain products was turned to producing hemp there would be plenty of raw material to satisfy the needs of almost the entire manufacturing complex in the world. At the same time you would not need any more oil/coal/natural gas. on top of that most forests would be saved as the majority of the wood uses can be replaced by hemp products. For energy needs wind and solar are still the most preferable as they are the most carbon neutral (making the equipment will add CO2), hemp fuel is not the worst as it is grown taking out CO2 from the air to make the fuel on an annual bases. Another major advantage is the the 3rd world would not need a source of oil to catch to the rest of the world, to would just need to grow hemp.
Is it all hype? Diesel and Otto built engines to be used by hemp oil. lots of clothes were made froom hemp in the past. Sailing ships ran on hemp products. Most parachutes in WWII were made from hemp. Some of the uses are centuries old others are fairly new, but for a plant that grows so fast and can be put to so many uses taking out CO2 on either a short term or long term bases wouldn't it make sense to make use of it. Also with no new innovation needed at the any stage you would make a major dent in your over all CO2 plus other major sources of pollutants.