What’s the Difference Between Cannabis & Industrial Hemp?

I am doing a debate for my contemparary issues class on legalization of marijuana and industrial hemp. I have looked in books and on the web and have seen a few different statements about what hemp is. I have heard that it is a cousin plant of marijuana , or it is the fiber from the stem of the marijuana plant, and couple other things. So what is it really?
Thanks

Hemp is a product (or many products) made from the fiber of the cannabis plant. The variety of cannabis grown for hemp is not the same grown for smoking. It is bred for it’s fiber capacity, not for it’s THC potency. Thus cannabis grown for hemp has a miniscule amount of THC and cannot be smoked to get you high (you’d just get a headache). So Cannabis has different subspecies with different characteristics, and the kind grown for hemp is a subspecies (which means it can still breed with the subspecies that produce lots of THC, but would likely ruin them for THC production).

Hope this helps,
The Old Hippy

Posted by: skip
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