The infatuation started with a box of hemp milk from Whole Foods. I’d been eying the plain, unsweetened variety for months, since I knew it contained an impressive amount of protein, vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids (lots of omega-3’s and a small amount of omega-6’s). Having already fallen for soy and almond milks and dismissed rice milk for tasting too thin and greasy, I decided to give the hemp milk a whirl.

Holy yum. It was like cream. I poured it over some whole-grain cereal topped with fresh raspberries and couldn’t believe how thick and rich it tasted. I was sold and started adding it to baked goods, sauces, smoothies, and cold soups. Roasted hemp seeds I discovered make scrumptious snacks and hemp oil abounds with nutrition. Hemp even makes excellent body products and super-soft clothes. But here’s the rub.

It’s illegal for American farmers to commercially grow hemp! That’s because industrial hemp gets tossed in the same category as marijuana. Both plants come from the Cannabis sativa family, but industrial hemp—the kind used for food, body products, and clothes—has virtually no THC, the psychoactive ingredient in pot that gets you high. But, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration doesn’t make that distinction. Although they allow trade in the industrial hemp seed, our farmers can’t grow it. So, virtually all of the hemp products in America hail from Canada.

But it wasn’t always that way. Up until the 1950’s industrial hemp was an important crop in America. Both President’s George Washington and Thomas Jefferson even grew hemp. Early settlers used the stalk’s fibrous exterior to make clothing, rope, and canvas, which they used for covered wagons and to make sails for clipper ships. Benjamin Franklin even owned a mill that made hemp paper, a popular product at the time. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper and extremely fine Bibles are still printed on hemp-based paper.

In 1937, however, the passage of the “Marihuana Tax Act” erroneously scared the public into thinking that industrial hemp was a drug. That, combined with law enforcement officials pressuring farmers to stop growing the crop, led to ceased cultivation. The Controlled Substances Act in 1970 formally prohibited commercial cultivation of industrial hemp.

Lately, however, farmers, business owners, nutritionists, activists, green consumers, and hemp fans want to legalize the growing of industrial hemp in the United States. In addition to recognizing hemp’s fabulous taste and health benefits, advocates understand that industrial hemp is an earth-friendly crop that could further help the environment in many ways.

Hemp oil, not only makes excellent body products—lip balms, body lotions, soaps, shampoos, hair conditioners, and shaving goods—but experts believe hemp oil could play a huge role in reducing the fuel crisis by replacing diesel oil.

Fibers from the hemp plant make eco-friendly clothing, as well as nontoxic building materials, including those used in the auto industry. A widespread use of industrial hemp could make the United States less reliant on fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It would add much-needed nutrients into the soil during crop rotation and help save trees through its use as a sustainable paper source.

Imagine: All that from a kissing cousin of pot. If you haven’t tried hemp milk, I strongly recommend it. For more information about how you can get involved in legalizing industrial hemp growing in the United States, visit the Hemp Industries Association, www.thehia.org