What is the difference between Hemp and Marijuana?
Hemp and Marijuana, it’s the same thing, right? Well, contrary to what many people believe, what’s often portrayed in the media and even how some of our laws over the years have defined Marijuana and Hemp, would make many people believe they are the same thing.
While both hemp and marijuana come from the species of cannabaceae, they contain different genetic makeups and have different uses and growth strategies. One simple way to explain the hemp and marijuana differentiation might be to compare it to another crop, such as tomatoes. You have an heirloom tomato, grape tomato, and cherry tomato, among others.
They are all the same species but they all have very different shapes, sizes, and tastes as well as even differing uses. Here’s some of the key aspects we’ll take a look at to understand the high-level differences between hemp and marijuana.
- THC levels
- Industrial uses
- How they are grown
- Legality
THC Levels
So, what is the most striking difference between hemp and marijuana? Well, before we get into the physical and wide variety of uses that differ between the two, let’s address what might be the most key distinction between hemp and marijuana, which is quite frankly a legal definition. Hemp by legal definition has less than 0.3% THC, while marijuana has more than 0.3% THC and may have up to approximately 30% THC.
So while they may even look identical as they both come from the cannabis family, the difference that classifies them as either hemp or marijuana is the amount of THC in them. THC is the psychoactive cannabinoid found in them, the 0.3% level is measured at the dry weight of THC.
While marijuana is obviously known for its psycho-active influences, it has many medicinal possibilities and uses, but the first association most people have with marijuana is the high it gives off. Unfortunately, many people have a misconception about hemp and believe hemp has the same “high” effect as marijuana, hemp does not. With hemp having 0.3% or less THC it will have no psycho-active influence.
Industrial Uses
Hemp and marijuana are grown and cultivated for different reasons. Again, marijuana primarily for its recreational and medicinal benefits. Which is primarily the only reason that various species of marijuana, two main ones being Sativa or Indica, are grown. Hemp, as mentioned is grown more for its industrial uses. It has many potential uses, each of the key parts of the plant including the roots, seeds and leaves have purposeful and helpful uses. Some of these uses include…
- Fibers for clothing
- Paper
- Foods & Supplements
- Industrial Uses (such as rope, or nets)
- Bath & Body products
It is said that there are 20,000 known uses of hemp. Some have even claimed as high as 50,000 uses have been identified. Don’t know if we will ever know for sure exactly how many uses or products can come from hemp but it is a lot!
How They Are Grown
Which leads us into another key difference, that is how hemp and marijuana are grown. Having different uses in mind for each, means each can be grown specifically for those uses.
Marijuana tends to be grown more frequently indoors, in controlled environments, where all the variables such as temperature, sunlight, oxygen and Co2, soil nutrients and water can all be more micro-managed to produce specific preferences for potency and taste. There are many factors typically associated with growing marijuana, such as isolating the male and female plants from each other so that the female may produce sensimilla, which are seedless flowers (provides higher quality), that can go into growing customized or specific strains of marijuana where a specific flavor or potency is trying to be achieved for recreational or medicinal purposes.
Hemp on the other hand, is more often grown to be used in industrial or commercial products for its strength and durability.
So it may be grown to maximize the size of the plants so to produce more materials. This is why you may see some hemp plants that are easily over 7-8 feet tall.
Hemp is usually grown outdoors, where the fibers of the stalks and leaves are grown more to be used in products and therefore do not typically need the micro-managed, customized growing controls that are put on growing marijuana. Hemp is used industrially for its strength, but its also much more efficient than other plants or trees for many of the same purposes. For instance, hemp can be grown closer together than trees (meaning more can be grown on the same amount of land) and can be grown at a much quicker rate than trees. With being able to grow hemp in the same fields for multiple seasons without needing rotation, it makes for a much more efficient and cost effective alternative for paper than trees.
As CBD derived from hemp became legal at the Federal level with the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, more hemp is beginning to be grown in a similar controlled fashion as marijuana to produce specific strengths or strains of hemp that produce customized or desired characteristics of CBD and other cannabinoids. With more hemp being customized, if you see shorter hemp plants, especially grown indoors or in greenhouses in more controlled environments, these are producing higher quality CBD or other specific cannabinoids. It’s not just CBD that hemp is grown for that can be consumed. All cannabis comes from the earth and contains many nutrients that can be good for people to eat or consume through digestive system. Hemp can be used for many food products such as hemp protein or hemp seed oil and other hemp
supplements, meaning nearly all parts of the hemp cannabis plant can be used for something purposeful. There’s also been a big uptick in hemp products for skin or muscle issues as well, as more people are turning to it hemp for the benefits it can provide being absorbed topically.
CBD and Legality
As mentioned, THC is the essentially the legal difference between hemp and marijuana at the Federal level. While each state, many of which have already legalized marijuana in some for (recreational or medical), can set their own rules, on the Federal level the legal limit by dry weight for THC is 0.3%, so any hemp that is over that level would be classified as marijuana. Even at times the 0.3% THC limit can be a bit gray legally, as THCA may be below the limit in things such as hemp flower, but once heated and consumed it maybe over the 0.3% level even though it is still hemp and still at levels likely not enough to be psycho-active.
Each species contains and can have CBD extracted from it, however, under the 2018 Farm Bill it must come US grown industrial hemp, so any CBD from marijuana federally would be illegal. In the first section we talked about how marijuana has much higher levels of THC, while both hemp and marijuana contain it, the opposite is somewhat true with CBD where hemp tends to have higher levels of CBD than marijuana, making more ideal for extracting CBD oil.
Hopefully, this provides a high level idea of the key difference in hemp and marijuana. With CBD going mainstream, the process of educating has certainly picked up steam as more and more people are learning of its important health benefits and shedding the stigma that has been placed on it through the past few decades.
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