When it comes to products that can be made from hemp, the possibilities seem to be endless.
Hemp may not get you high, but it can do pretty much anything else you can imagine. This low-THC variant of the cannabis plant has a dizzying array of uses, including everything from food to medicine to rope to bricks and more—somebody even made a sports car out of hemp. Here are 15 products that can be made from hemp.
1. Beer
Beer and hemp are the perfect match. That’s because hops and cannabis are essentially botanical cousins.
There are now a handful of breweries around the country that use hemp to make cannabis-infused beer.
Of course, the brew won’t be psychoactive, but the hemp does give it an interesting, weed-y flavor.
2. Sunscreen
It turns out that hemp can be used to make some highly effective sunscreen. The plant isn’t actually blocking UV rays, but it works as a great base for zinc oxide, which does block the sun.
On top of that, hemp is good for your skin, adding a little extra benefit to using hemp-based sunscreen.
3. Milk
Hemp seeds are incredibly nutritious, and they can be used to make hemp seed milk.
It’s a great option for those who don’t respond well to dairy, and for anybody looking go “green” with their diet.
4. Shoes
All sorts of companies use hemp textiles to make shoes. They usually look similar to canvas kicks.
One of the more famous pairs of hemp shoes was Nike’s special 4/20 release back in 2016, which featured a hemp body and sleek accents.
5. Rope
This is one of the most classic uses of the hemp plant. In fact, humans have been using hemp fibers for more than 10,000 years, and rope was one of the first products humans made out of hemp.
Rope was one of the main things made out hemp during the 18th century, and it’s one of the primary reasons that people like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew acres of hemp.
6. Clothes
Similar to rope, humans have been using the fibrous parts of the hemp plant to make a huge variety of textiles for thousands of years.
In particular, hemp can be used to make fabric, which can then be turned into any piece of clothing imaginable.
7. Soap
Hemp is an excellent base for soap-making.
That’s primarily because it has high levels of the fatty substances needed to make high-quality soap.
8. Hempcrete
Industrial hemp can be processed into a product called hempcrete. This building material is strong, durable, and is an excellent insulator.
All of this adds up to an incredibly sustainable and effective way to construct homes and other buildings.
9. Hemp Sports Car
The Renew Sports Car has been making headlines over the past couple years because it features a body made out of hemp.
The company’s design uses hemp fibers that have been tightly interwoven and then covered over with a super-hard resin.
The car jumped into the spotlight last year when Jay Leno drove one on his show, “Jay Leno’s Garage.”
10. Paper
Paper is typically made out wood pulp. But it can also be made out of hemp fibers.
In fact, in a lot of ways, it makes much more sense to make paper out of hemp.
That’s because it’s significantly faster to grow a new crop of industrial hemp than it is a new forest of trees.
11. Protein Powder
Many people consider hemp seeds to be a “super food.” They’re full of fatty acids, tons of protein, loads of antioxidants, amino acids, and many other critical nutrients.
Because of this, hemp seeds are used in a wide range of foods and drinks, and many people eat them all on their own.
One popular hemp food product is hemp protein powder, which gives people a boost of plant-based protein that is greener and more sustainable than many other types of protein powder, which typically use dairy products.
12. Diapers
Hemp fibers can be used to make reusable cloth diapers. Supposedly, hemp textiles can actually be more absorbent than cotton.
And in some ways, cloth diapers are more eco-friendly than disposable ones—at the very least, your baby’s hemp diapers won’t end up sitting in a landfill for years.
Unfortunately, studies have found that the amount of water it takes to wash reusable diapers more or less cancels out any other environmental benefits of going with cloth.
But if you’re a fan of cannabis, you can at least show your support by putting your kid in hemp cloth diapers.
13. Fuel
Hemp can be processed into hemp biodiesel and hemp ethanol/methanol, both of which can be used as fuel.
In fact, hemp-based fuels are supposed to be significantly more eco-friendlyand cost-efficient than petroleum fuels.
14. Supercapacitators
For the last several years, researchers have worked on building supercapacitators that can store energy way more efficiently and cleanly that current energy sources.
So far, the best supercapacitators are made out of graphene nanosheets, which are too expensive to be commercially viable.
But back in 2014, a group of Canadian scientists figured out how to make nanosheets out of hemp fibers, which can then be used to make supercapacitators.
“Our device’s electrochemical performance is on par with or better than graphene-based devices,” said researcher David Mitlin.
“The key advantage is that our electrodes are made from biowaste using a simple process, and therefore, are much cheaper than graphene.”
15. CBD Oil
Industrial hemp can be used to make medicinal-grade CBD oil. In fact, making CBD oil out of hemp is currently one of the safest, most effective ways to produce and distribute the product.
That’s because hemp makes it much easier for cannabis products to circumvent federal prohibition laws.
Industrial hemp plants don’t have enough THC to be considered illegal under federal law. But they have plenty of other powerful cannabinoids.
In particular, hemp plants produce CBD, the chemical responsible for many of the cannabis plant’s medicinal properties.
Beyond legal concerns, hemp CBD oil is also a great choice for patients who want the medicinal benefits of cannabis without any of the psychoactive effects of THC.
15 Products That Can Be Made From Hemp
Clearly, hemp is a do-it-all kind of plant. From textiles to super-food to building material to medicine, hemp can do just about anything you can imagine.
Everything, that is, except get you high.