It's a movie about a plant . . .

. . . culture, art, economics and environment converging in an independent, multi-media film.

"...and there's at least one moment that is downright poetic"
-- HempWorld magazine.

"This is as much a travelogue of the Pacific northwest as it is a hemp video. The opening credits, soundtrack and narration give a good idea of what is in store: a collage of images, sounds and ideas."
--Journal of the IHA

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Narration -- words from the HempenRoad

Intro:
Hemp is a plant. Hempen culture is forever engrained in our culture and yet we know so little about it yet all around the world the hardy strains of cannabis sativa have provided the essentials for civalizations.

The hempenroad takes us to the Pacific NorthWest, a rugged strtech of continent, like many areas the communities here try to balance economics and ecology were off to find is hemp really sustainable, durable and like many regions long dependance on natural resources have left behind battered eco-systems

Hemp is a plant. Like many plants, cannabis sativa, comes in many varieties. Each type having unique characteristics and uses. People have cultivated and used different strains of Cannabis for thousands of years. Indeed, some say hemp was one reason humans gave up hunting and gathering instead settling down and farming, soon forming communities and history as we know it. For cultures worldwide, hemp provided the essentials, food, shelter, clothing. As tme went on, hemp was turned into , oils, ropes, paper, medicines and sails Providing a reknewable resource for a growing civilaztions. This plant is forever ingrained in our heritage yet we know so little about it . Somewhere along the way, hemp farming and information "disappeared" as the world entered a new industrial age. Cheap crude oil, old-growth forests, processed foods, patented medicines & synthetic cloth replaced clean growing hemp. How did this happen? Now, the global community faces the filthy legacy of this misguided prohibition. We now realize the world's environment, economy and health isn't really divided by lines on a map. A problem elsewhere might well be cased by a situation somewhere else. It is all the same planet after all. All around the world, people are again looking to hemp as a viable sustainable crop, capable of slowing this pollution and replenishing the earth. Is this possible? Is hemp really that strong, that versitile and ecological? As we stand on the edge of our future, we have to re-examine the way we do things, all things, and make intelligent decisions based on truth , not hype. What will it take to bring hemp back into the global economy? Where can it grow? What can hemp really produce? Some people aren't waiting for answers, they are leaping into action and finding their own reality. Searching for a new way of doing things. Who are they are these people what motivates them to work so hard against the preconceptions? It is just a plant, just a especcially remarkable one. But what exactly is hemp? Well, we 're on the road to find out. The Hempen Road It's more of a path in thinking but a concrete road in our highway reality. Highways now run through area that was only trees, water and rock less than a century and a half ago. It doesn't take long.

On the ferry:
On ocean going vessels all throughout history, ropes have often been made out of hemp. just up until the end of WW2, when uhh substitutes started being used. the hemp for victory campaign put on by the us dept of agriculture during the uhh mid war years ww2 was uhh pretty much to replace the ropes on navy ships with hemp.

On the Dock: here we are in port angeles WA the top of the olympic pennisula, its a pulp town and this is where a lot of This is the great northwest coast of the Pacific Ocean, Cascadia bioregion. A rugged and majestic stretch of continent. Temperate rainforest, salmon rivers, volcanos, rain, islands and ocean. Nature feels real and tangible here. Long dependance on natural resources for economic growth has resulted in rivers and forests that once seemed so abundant, now fading into massive clearcuts, polluted waters, damaged eco-systems. This area is historically populated with adventuers, explorers, thinkers. Individuals finding common ground. People here are outdoorsy folks, but thats not enough. To preserve a healthy planet, decisons must be made. This area, like many, struggles to balance sustainability and economy. prosperity and extinction. There must be answers, but what the questions ? Can cleaner industries like tourism, organic agriculture, alternative fibers production and processing support this bioregion? Where does hemp fit in to all this?

Victoria:
Victoria is famous for looking nice and being a nice place to be. It is a nice place to be. flowers, animals, good air and food. this is worth something and people here realize it. Victoria is also the capital city of BritishColumbia so it sees a lot of political action too. The last few years, the wholesale clearcutting of several of the few remaining ancient rainforests has sparked Vancouver Island and the whole of Canada into a struggle to find a solution to an urgent problem. People here have had to become quite creative in their activism. Many realize there is no time to delay. Gone means gone forever. In the wake of this situation, hemp has moved to the forefront of solutions. Since 1994, fields of hemp grew on Canadian soil. There is still plenty of research to be done but that is just a matter of time. Laws are starting to change and the populous is awaking to address this issue and decide the fate of their island and perhaps provide a working model of sustainability to the world.

Yurt:
This structure is a yurt. Functional, secure, comfortable housing. It looks like something in between ghengis khan's mongolian hut and something from a dr.suess book. This particular yurt is covered by a poly/cotton/nylon blend canvas but it could be covered with the true hemp cannabis canvas to provide inexpensive, movable living and work space almost anywhere in the world. This particular yurt is in a state park near sandunes on the rolling oregon coast.

Eugene:
So on we go, driving past borders, forests and clearcuts, rocks and water. Pulling west, we head towardss the open coast. Then, turning south, we cross a long bridge across the delta of the mighty Columbia River, watching as it collides with the immensity of ocean.

The Oregon Coast and hills are known for being a haven for free-thinkers, travellers, homesteaders, artists and writers. Certainly with Eugene's reputation of being a think-tank for alternative action, hemp must be going on in some neat way.

Around Eugene, the fertile Williamette Valley once produced abundant crops of flax and but this is no small town anymore, Cottage industries have re-adjusted to sustain themselves against the onslaught of big corporations. Hempsters here have found ways to involve their activist goals and organic ideals into new business ideas.

Portland:

Portland is a kind of strange name for a city thats not really a Port, but the early 1990s, it was here that the first shipments of hempen cloth arrived on american shores in almost 50 years. As it goes, after the enthusiastic ww2 hemp for victory campaign, hemp cultivation and tax licenses were just no longer issued by many govenrments. Hempen agriculture faded away under an avalanche of postwar industry, slick new products and a barrage government disinformation.

As powerful governments spread their politcal and financial influence beyond national borders, Hemp growth was erricdacated from many, then most countires in the western-influenced world. Like In the US, trade was halted, all strains were banned and declared A harmful narcotic. In the past decade, West coast activists and researchers pried open files, films, rumors and fields to discover this missing chapter of world history. As the cold war stumbled, global citizens opened up new channels of information & trade, importing hemp fibers and cloth from formerly distant, closed lands.

Develop exchange witheastern europe, south and central asia and from the cradle of hemp, china. From China, the first load of hemp cloth and fiber arrived in Portland creating an unparralleld opportunity for economies, artists and the environment. But first, some laws have to change and this takes a lot of work.

Olympia:

Folks from a variety of backgrounds realize that current cannabis restrictions are misguided and unjust. Many people face difficult questions like "when a loved one is sick, shouldn't they have the medicine they need?" Well, it seems so but in most places, the authorites routinely arrest and imprison patients, treating the terminally ill like crimminals.

Yet, before the over-proliferation of costly patented medicines and synthetic drugs, cannabis was a common ingredient in the world's pharmocology. Even Queen Victoria used weed to soothe her ailing cramps. Well, in some states, compassion and commonsense are winning as voters have empowered doctors to act in the best interest of their patients and perscribe cannabis as needed. Now, patients afflicted with Cancers, glacoma, HIV & Aids, MS and others ailments can be treated wih respect. This is a beginning and a legitimate relief for the thousands of ill people who rely on the soothing, healing properities of this nontoxic herb. making their body, and human rights stronger.

Here in Olympia, people from many walks of life have envisoned what hemp can do for their families and leapt into action. Unlikely citizens running for political office, opening shops, sponsoring local teams, promoting events, challenging the courts, outreaching to the community. After all, if you knew about something that could help the planet and sick people, wouldn't you tell someone about it?

Internet:

Forl decades, hemp information was passed on like folktales and rumors. Later people began educating themselves from a few books, perodicals and leaflets. These days the widereach and accessability of the Internet has made legitamate, verifiable facts available around the globe. Further use of the world wide web and e.mail provide a effective means for far-flung activist groups, researchers and businesses to compare notes and strategies, promote projects, publish reports and even make films.

Seattle:

Seattle has grown up from a North-Western outpost known for rain, salmon and airplanes into a big-league home to a unique combination of digital high-tech, adventure sports & rough and real pop culture. Underground is real life here. This juxtapositon creates an ideal location for the dozens of hemp companies & stores based here. Companies that reflect Seattle's personalities and hemp's versatility.

Port Townsend:

Rushing towards the future of planet earth, we humans have implemented enginering works & technologies to provide for our perceived energy & consumer needs. Giant dams for power, off-shore oil wells, vast clearcuts for paper pulp, broken promises to the land, to workers, to ourselves. Nuclear reactors too spread across the world under a smokescreen of safety.

Only decades later do we begin to realize the environmental catastrophe of radioactive waste. Is the energy really worth the tradeoff of filthy rivers & barren land. Which really scares you more? Hemp plants or nuclear plants?

Our health and legacy are worth a wise decisions. Certainly the prospect of producing energy and fuel from a reknewable robust plant like hemp desreves attention and research. Hemp fuels and oils are working, now. Port Townsend faded after the timber & pulp industry slowed but it again flourishes, this time with a sustainable mix of creative arts, tourism and wooden boats. Hemp fit right in with the local aesthetic and is already a common sight around town.

Vancouver:

Somewhere around here is a line that chops the land into two seperate countries and two different sets of rules. There are laws now about free trade between these nations but it doesn't seem that open to me. These borders are drawn with little regard to bioregions, habitat, or even transport practicalities, aspects worth considering as we define the future trends of industry and trade.

Vancouver is a prosperous city on the vibrant Pacific Rim. Long reknowned for it's fine harbors, clean, safe streets and majestic peaks, in the last decade or so, Vancouver has grown into a international, multi-cultural metropolis, poised to become a positive example to urban centers worldwide.

The cannabis industry is flourishing here, but it's not industrial hemp that's growing. In this city alone, there are an estimated 3,000 grow houses producing abundant crops of THC-laden marijuana. Vancouver chooses to handle this with tolerance, education and harm reduction, placing marijuana arrests as a low priority. While Industrial hemp production currently lags behind, retailing and manufacturing of hemp products is taking off as inventive new business hit the market almost daily. In this atmosphere of commerce, tolerance, ecology and optimism, the Commercial and Indusrial Hemp Symposium convened to find balance between these aspects and catapult the industry into the next century.

Closing:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© 1996-99 HempenRoad film project LLP. Olympia, Washington USA
All text written by Dave Olson unless otherwise credited.
May not be reproduced without permission except in the case of educational and/or review use.

Hempenroad PO Box 7612, Oly WA 98507