The largest (legal) use of hemp is currently as hemp paper.

 

The first proven traces of hemp paper come from China and the period between about 150 and 80 BC.

 

When all of Europe was still writing on animal skins, scratching clay tablets and chiseling in stone, hemp paper was developed in the motherland of paper as a robust and time-resistant base for writing.

 

It was not until 1,200 years later that hemp paper made its way to Europe via the Near East.

It became popular in Germany around the 14th century.

In fact, hemp paper remained the paper of choice until the late 1800s, when it was slowly but thoroughly replaced by woodbased paper, which is cheaper but less tear and water resistant.

 

Although the industrial hemp bred for the hemp paper is free of THC, hemp cultivation was finally banned in Germany from 1982, while in France, Spain and Great Britain hemp could continue to be cultivated, mainly for the production of fine cigarette paper.

 

Around the year 2000, the total production volume for flax and hemp pulp was 25,000 to 30,000t per year, which was made from about 37,000 to 45,000t of fibers. Up to 80% of the pulp produced in this way is used for special papers (including 95% cigarette paper), only around 20% goes into the standard pulp sector.