American Hemp

The documentary, American Hemp by director Josh Hyde, covers a year in the Hemp and Cannabis business in the state of Colorado. In 2012, the citizens of Colorado voted to legalize the use and possession of Cannabis throughout the entire state. As a result, Colorado not only became the most laid-back state in the union, but it birthed a booming industry with other states slow to catch-up.

What American Hemp does is provide a broad overview of the business of hemp in Colorado. While other documentaries talk about the legal battles, side effects, and amazing benefits of the substance, director Hyde takes us on a hemp adventure from farm to consumer in the Mile-“High” State.

“…covers a year in the Hemp and Cannabis business in the state of Colorado.”

The film opens with a few brief interviews with the industry’s lead players, including local farmers and staff members of the Colorado Board of Agriculture. Hyde then drops in important factoids about Colorado regulations regarding growing cannabis for much-needed context. The most important being that cannabis crops, or what’s known as “Industrial Hemp” cannot exceed 0.3% levels of THC, otherwise the entire crop has to be destroyed.

Just-over sixty-minutes, American Hemp walks us through the farming and harvesting of cannabis, and the difficulty farmers have in growing a crop that falls under regulated limits of THC. It’s not an exact science, but the farmers stress, you’ve got to play by the rules, or you lose any protection the state has to offer if the DEA ever gets involved. Don’t think that the feds don’t have its eye on Colorado as 12,000 acres of farmland is dedicated to cannabis.