The first question that essentially everyone asks about this subject is: What is the difference between cannabis and hemp?
From Sensi Seeds: The main difference between cannabis and hemp is in our perception of two different expressions of the same species. That species is Cannabis sativa L. One of the most successful plants in terms of diversity and global spread, it’s the ability of cannabis to adapt to its environment that has given us two such very different yet equally useful primary forms. The easiest way to understand the difference is to know that in folk taxonomy, ‘hemp’ is used to refer to the non-psychoactive variety, and ‘cannabis’ to the psychoactive variety. At Sensi Seeds we’re mainly concerned with the latter, and our sister company HempFlax focuses on the former. Hemp has been used since time immemorial to provide humanity with fibres, fuel and food. Cannabis has been used for about the same amount of time to provide us with altered states of consciousness, medicine, and entertainment.
To the virtually limitless list of consumer and industrial products, we need to add biodiesel and other biofuels. As mentioned elsewhere, I don’t think biofuel has a place in the long-term array of sustainable transportation solutions, but it certainly has near-term, niche applications. Moreover, the world doesn’t move in a certain direction simply because I tell it to.
Sure, Chevron abandoned its push in this space after decades of effort and hundreds of millions of dollars written off. Yet, as that was happening, ExxonMobil was entering. Now, one could ask: Is this simple greenwashing? Of course; anyone who thinks Exxon wants to get out of the petroleum extraction business is a rank moron, but the point is: they’re talking up biofuels anyway.