Review
------
"Hemp Bound is informative, entertaining, and chock full of
stories about hemp farmers, wannabe hemp farmers, passionate
activists, and savvy business people. It is a fun book to read
and hopefully, alongside aggressive legalization at the state
level, it will help break down the roadblocks to production that
the cotton, vegetable oil, plastics, lumber, and paper
corporations constructed and maintained since shortly after the
Second World War. Doug Fine is right: this incredible could
be a boon to large and small farmers and rural communities--one
that we have been prohibited from growing in this country for
more than fifty years. Hemp's time has come again."--Will Allen,
farmer; author, The War on Bugs
"In Hemp Bound, Doug Fine convincingly describes the proven
value and amazing potential of the nonpsychoactive variety of the
cannabis . You can eat it, drink it, read it, tie it, wear
it, drive it, live in it, and make money growing it, all while
saving the soil and protecting the climate. This is an important
story, engagingly told."--William Martin, senior fellow, drug
policy, Rice University's Baker Institute
"If ever anyone needed proof that government meddling in markets
is injurious to innovation, Hemp Bound dispels all doubt. With
science and humor, Fine paints an alternative and optimistic
future--one that makes growing hemp seem as exhilarating and
necessary as clean air. Fine's style and storytelling ability
make this one of the most fun books you'll ever read about the
future of farming."--Joel Salatin, author of Everything I Want to
Do Is Illegal
"Doug Fine's engrossing and eye-opening book reveals hemp's role
as a new source of food, energy, and raw materials. This absurd
war on one of the world's most useful s is about to end, and
everyone can declare victory."--Mark Frauenfelder, founder, Boing
Boing
"Hemp is our ancestral ally, one that long provided us with food,
shelter, clothing, and medicine. Hemp Bound reveals that now is
the time to remember this alliance with hemp after years of
prohibition, and that although it won't save us, it can help us.
That's what earth medicine does."--John Trudell, poet,
artist, actor, activist, and cofounder of Hempstead Project HEART
Kirkus Reviews-
"What might come back along with legalized pot? Only one of the
strongest, most versatile s in the world: hemp. In his
latest, self-described "comedic investigative journalist" Fine
(Too High to Fail: Cannabis and the New Green Economic
Revolution, 2012, etc.) focuses on the enormous potential
applications for industrialized hemp. As the author ably
explains, the is the government-designated name for all
strains of cannabis that have negligible as of THC, meaning
it can't get you high. However, it can be used as a wildly strong
fiber; when the U.S. government passed the Marijuana Tax Act of
1937, suddenly the U.S. Army found itself lacking in decent
ropes. It can also create incongruous benefits, like creating
tious products based on its oil, and can even be used as a
potential energy source. To prove his point, Fine chronicles his
trips across North America, visiting and profiling entrepreneurs,
advocates, farmers and innovators. In Denver, he took a test
drive in a hemp oil-powered Mercedes-Benz; in Winnipeg, Canada,
he visited a factory where enthusiasts are crafting composite
materials from hemp that could potentially be used in
automobiles, airplanes or industrial tools like tractors. The
author also makes the point that the United States is the largest
market for Canada's thriving hemp industry, which is regulated
smoothly and profitably by its government. Fine is, of course, an
accidental activist, too, but it's hard not to admire his
enthusiasm. A short, sweet, logical and funny argument for the
potential of one of the world's most dynamic cash crops."
"The issue is simple: farmers need hemp, the soil needs hemp,
forests need hemp, and humanity needs the that the good
Lord gave us for our own survival--hemp. The benefits are too
many to name, but if hemp was a crop that could be monopolized by
industrial Ag corporations it would already be legal. Hemp Bound
tells us with detail and humor how to get to the environmental
Promised Land. Doug has created a blueprint for the America of
the future."--Willie Nelson
"I never dreamed industrial hemp had so much promise until I read
Doug Fine's Hemp Bound. The book is not only fun to read, but it
passes along fascinating ins about a farm crop that produces
many food and fiber products and is adapted to areas where corn
and soybeans are rarely profitable. As the author points out with
gracious good humor, industrial hemp is not medical marijuana,
and it should become a major farm crop in America as it has
elsewhere."--Gene Logsdon, author of Gene Everlasting and Holy
Shit: Managing Manure to Save Mankind
Acres U.S.A.-
"Fine covers a remarkable a of ground in his book, so much
so that it's hard to believe that he does it in fewer than 200
pages. He talks to a dizzying variety of people who have special
knowledge and experience, whacks his hand on a tractor hood made
from hemp, and drops in plenty of historical facts for context.
(Humanity has an 8,000-year history with this .) If you need
a c course in a commodity that could well turn American
agriculture on its head over the next few years, look no
further."
Booklist-
"Little noticed on the sidelines during the recent media
controversy over Colorado's decision to legalize marijuana was a
groundbreaking movement in Congress to lift a decades-long ban on
the popular intoxicant's psychoactively inert cousin, hemp. As
elucidated in this witty and informative overview of hemp's
enormous agricultural potential, New Mexico-based author and
radio reporter Fine argues that not much has ever made sense
about the stigma U.S. lawmakers have heaped upon this incredibly
versatile since it was made illegal back in 1937. Although
it bears a strong resemblance to the smokable form of cannabis,
hemp is almost completely lacking in THC, the ingredient that
bestows marijuana's much sought-after 'high.' Hemp's incredibly
strong internal fibers have been used in making everything from
rope and paper to durable clothing and eco-friendly housing. In
11 engaging, myth-busting chapters bearing titles such as 'Grow
Your Next Home' and 'Patriots Ponder ing, ' Fine makes clear
that hemp legalization, assuming it happens, could both boost the
American economy and spawn a mini hemp based industrial
revolution."
About the Author
----------------
Doug Fine is a comedic investigative journalist,
bestselling author, and solar-powered goat herder. He has
reported from five continents for The Washington Post, Wired,
Salon, The New York Times, Outside, National Public Radio, and
U.S. News & World Report. His work from Burma was read into the
Congressional Record (by none other than pro-hemp Senator Mitch
McConnell), and he won more than a dozen Alaska Press Club awards
for his radio reporting from the Last Frontier. Fine is the
author of three previous books: Too High to Fail: Cannabis and
the New Green Economic Revolution; Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic
Adventure in Local Living; and Not Really an Alaskan ain
Man. A website of his print work, radio work, and short films is
at www.dougfine.com. Twitter: cowboy.
