Original Articles

"You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." Between this incident and the MORE Act passing the House last December, it's a golden opportunity put the nail in the coffin of Prohibition...

In today’s world with Fedex and DHL, Google Translate, maps with GPS on your phone, scanning, Zoom, PDFs, email, text, WhatsApp, fast wifi, broadband internet, cheap SIMs and phone cards in foreign lands, people don’t realize just how hard it was to do business internationally in the ‘80s and ‘90s...

I can't help but think that if Henry Ford realized just how nutritious the seed of hemp is, he would have done what I did and pivot from using soybean to hempseed to make foods like milk and ice cream...

When sampling a new product to people, the worst thing you can hear is “that’s good.” “That’s okay” or “that’s not bad” or “that’s good” is the wrong answer. While hearing “that sucks” tells you what you likely already know, hearing “that’s good” will lull you into going to market prematurely. Huge mistake, especially if … Continue reading "Pro Product Development Tip"...

Regulate Cannabis Like Zucchini, Soft Secrets (Italy), 2020 #4, page 27/28. Interview of Richard Rose by Fabrizio Dentini. 1) How do you present yourself to the Italian public? Now in my sixties, I came to Italia 4 years ago to retire. My wife is Italian, born in Brazil. We love Italy for many reasons and … Continue reading "Regulate Cannabis Like Zucchini"...

By Richard Rose           When hemp’s potential for commercialization is discussed most people think of clothing, fabric, cordage and the like.  Even though hempseed is far more nutritious than soybean in virtually all respects and almost as versatile, the typical reaction to hempseed as a food is that it has limited application beyond nut bars … Continue reading "1998: Hempseed Foods"...

Lynn and Judy Osburn were the first to write about hempseed as food that I know of. Alan Brady was the first to make hempseed ice cream that I know of. While both used whole hempseed, my vision was to shell it in order to increase the nutrition and palatability. Dr Udo Erasmus was the … Continue reading "1992: Hempseed: Nature’s Perfect Food?"...

One of the most-persistent canards about hemp is that it was banned. But that’s not true, it always just needed a permit. In 1994, HIA co-founder Chris Boucher grew a ½ acre plot of Fedora and Kompolti hemp in Brawley California, with USDA’s permission on USDA land. But in mid-summer, with little warning, Imperial County … Continue reading "1994: Secret Government Hemp Crop Destroyed"...

I might as well wrap up Hemp History Month 2021 with a watershed event. This was a big moment for hemp, and to this day the biggest stage for hemp foods. Roseanne Barr had an afternoon talk show on CBS-TV, and I answered easy questions about hemp and made a hemp potato salad. We had … Continue reading "1999: Hemp Foods on CBS-TV; Roseanne and Richard Make Potato Salad for Millions"...

"This is how you sell not just a product, but social change. Normalizing Cannabis, one bite at a time."...

“Finance Your Activism” by Selling HempNut Foods...

“I cut off my hair and wore suits and stuff for a couple years,” he says. “I thought I needed to do that to make it in the business world. And it didn’t work. So I went back to plan B and that was to be myself. And it’s working just fine.”...

In 2001 HempNut, Inc. had a European distributor in Switzerland. We offered 11 items: Original HempNut, Cheese Alternative Mexican Flavor, Peanut/HempNut Butter, HempNut Smoked Veggie Burger, Blue Corn Chips with HempNut, Lip Balm w/SPF-15 in two flavors, Hempseed Oil, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Whole-Food Bar, and “The HempNut Health and Cookbook.” It was too early, way too early for the European market...

In 1999 at the annual Health and Harmony Festival in my hometown of Santa Rosa, California, we had a booth selling these hemp foods. That’s when I decided to someday open a HempNut Café, it was such a hit...

Pro tip: when exporting hemp to the U.S. in 1999, don't put "Contains THC" on your export documents. In the zero-tolerance U.S. it’s an admission under penalty of perjury of importing a Schedule 1 controlled substance...

With the largest publicity and advertising campaign in hemp history ($230,000), HempNut was the first shelled hempseed brand in North America, introduced in August 1997. In just two decades shelled hempseed would become hemp’s first billion dollar segment, 90% of Canadian hemp...

How did hemp food go from zero to hero in just twenty years, 90% of Canadian hemp and hemp’s first billion dollar industry? It wasn’t by accident or a fluke, but due to a concerted campaign by advertising, PR, and food industry professionals with a vision of “what should be.” Already infamous for clever ads, we applied what we learned from marketing tofu for 14 years prior. Over $230,000 was spent on professionals and advertising over just a few years starting in 1995, years before today’s hempseed companies even started...

This is the slide which launched the hemp food industry in North America...

The year was 1994. I was in my office, agonizing over the outline for my first cookbook (four books later, I still agonize), when the phone rang. I answered distractedly. “Hey, Christina,” said the warm voice on the line. I relaxed as I recognized the throaty greeting of my dear friend Richard Rose. “Will I … Continue reading "2003: The HempNut Cookbook Foreword By Christina Pirello"...

In the years 1996 - 2000 at the ExpoWest and ExpoEast natural food trade shows I hosted The Hemp Salon. It was a sweet suite party in the evening complete with live acoustic music, bongs, munchies (new hemp foods), beers, and friends. Deals were done and people were introduced; it was an important social/business gathering for hempsters. Eventually the hotels would put the Kava Party and the Single-Malt Scotch Party on the same floor as the Hemp Salon, making party-hopping easier. Many brought instruments so we had impromptu acoustic jam sessions. Hotel security would sometimes hang out in the hall and keep the tourists away...

Starting in 1994 part of my job was to manage the political, regulatory, legal, tort, public relations, and marketing risk of cannabinoids in foods for human consumption. How hard was it to import whole hempseed before we started shelling it in Germany? This hard, these were all the stakeholders in the process we had to manage...

This image explained, found in Non-psychotropic plant cannabinoids: new therapeutic opportunities from an ancient herb: CBD and THCV are anti-epileptic, reduce seizures (calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II indirectly causes reduction). CBD is anti-psychotic, reduces psychosis (transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 direct action). CBD is a neuroprotectant, protects against or helps repair the damaging effects of … Continue reading "This Cannabinoid Effects Chart, Explained"...

Hempseed and other hemp flower products have been in the human and animal diet for many millennia. There is much documentation of that, evidence from around the world including the U.S. Therefore when in 2017 FDA announced it was soliciting comments for which food ingredients should be on the official list as existing before October … Continue reading "2017: Hemp Flower Products Pre-DSHEA"...

Finally Democrats have discovered the Overton Window (OW) and are using it properly. While the GOP has long used it (using the Luntzian dystopia “Death to drug dealers,” and “Cannabis has no medical value, FDA says so”), Dems have not tried to shift the OW until now, with the Drug Policy Reform Act (DRPA) decriminalizing … Continue reading "Dems Discover the Overton Window, Slam It Hard to the Left"...

On May 4 Health Canada finally released 2020 hemp production data. Canada grew 54,964 acres of hemp in 2020, 67% as much as in 2019. AB grew more than MB and SK, perhaps for the first time. Top varieties, in order: Finola, Katani, CanMa, CFX-2, X-59, Carmagnola. Finola, Carmagnola and Katani were grown for flowers. … Continue reading "Canada: 54,964 acres in 2020"...

2000: Hemp Seed Delight, Health Supplement magazine. Hempseed is positioned to replace soy products in the lives of many nutritionally savvy people. In an exclusive interview with Richard Rose, President of Rella Good Cheese Company and HempNut Incorporated, we see the challenges and opportunities in bringing hemp seed products to market. Hemp Supplement Editor: You … Continue reading "2000: Hemp Seed Delight"...

In May of 1995 the Sunday New York Times Magazine gushed about Hempeh Burger, and included a picture. Authentic momentum is hard to create, but when it happens, it’s magic. Like this.

Later, it was seen on CBS-TV’s Good Morning America, and sported the hemp food industry’s only FDA-legal health claim “reduces risk of heart disease.”

Carnivores and vegans alike enjoyed the hearty taste, made with real food not powders. The first hemp burger was also vegan, high in fiber, gluten-free, keto-friendly, and sold coast-to-coast, 1994-2002...

Let Them Eat Hemp. Hemp Times, Oct 1996, story by Peggy Matthews, photo by Dan Skye. Pull quote: “My advisors even said not get into hemp—which of course led me to think that I should” –Richard Rose Overnight successes usually aren’t. So when people wonder how Richard Rose got so successful so quickly, he laughs. … Continue reading "1996: Let Them Eat Hemp"...

Anxiety can lower our cognitive and creative abilities, and make us very uncomfortable. One aspect of it is negative self-evaluation, thinking that we did poorly at something. It especially happens when having to be in social situations or when having to speak or perform before an audience. This 2011 study from Brazil found that 600 … Continue reading "CBD Greatly Improves Performance in Stressful Situations, Reduces Anxiety"...

Join Mandi Kerr with Richard Rose, founder of The Richard Rose Report, on this episode of Moving HEMP Forward as they talk about celebrating the history of Hemp. Since 1980, Richard Rose has been innovating award-winning natural foods, over 150. After being in the Inc 500 for a first-mover soy foods success, he turned his … Continue reading "“Moving HEMP Forward,” with Richard Rose"...