While Colorado has become known for it's cash crop of cannabis, there is more to the industry than just blunts and brownies. In Fort Lupton, Dani Billings has started growing hemp for the first processing plant to open in the state. In a statement to local ABC affiliate 7 News Denver, Billings said, "I would say it grows like a weed. You throw it in the ground and watch it grow."
The plant has a very high yield, despite needing very little water for it to flourish.
PureVision Technology processes the hemp (the stalk of the cannabis plant, which has no psychotropic properties) which can be broken down to a pulp to make paper, fabric and even biofuels. Ed Lehrburger, the PureVision President and CEO also told the ABC affiliate, "Some of our clients are specifically trying to get away from oil-based products that they sell globally to bio-based products."
While hemp is still illegal under federal law, it became legal in Colorado along with the production and sale of marijuana. Check out the video to see how this controversial crop is driving a whole new industry.
Source: Wikipedia, ABC News
