HEMP BILL VETOED BY RYAN

Drug Concerns Cited In Blocking Study

Gov. George Ryan on Friday rejected legislation that would have allowed two
state universities to study industrial hemp, a biological relative of
marijuana that some people eyed as a potential cash crop for struggling
Illinois farmers.

In his veto message, Ryan said he has "always tried to support our state's
largest industry, agriculture, and I have gone to great lengths to open up
new and viable markets for our .. . many agricultural products."

But he cited several concerns with Senate Bill 1397, saying those "must be
addressed before I would consider a bill to allow even the study of
industrial hemp in the state of Illinois."

The bill would have permitted researchers at the University of Illinois and
Southern Illinois University to study hemp production, including how well
it would grow here.

Ryan said one problem with the legislation is it wouldn't require
researchers to try to develop a hemp plant without the psychoactive
ingredient known as THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). THC in marijuana and hemp
is what produces a "high."

"I will not ignore the unified concern of drug treatment and prevention
groups that the ultimate commercial cultivation and availability of a
product that contains a mind-altering substance would leave open the
prospect of substance abuse," Ryan said. "This would send a mixed message
to the youth of our state at a time when marijuana use has doubled in our
rural areas over the past eight years alone."

While industrial hemp was grown in Illinois during World War II, the plant
may no longer be cultivated legally in the United States. In other
countries, hemp's seeds and fibers are used to produce a variety of
products, such as hand cream, paper and clothing.

Other states have been looking to industrial hemp as a possible cash crop.

Taking the lead is Hawaii which, in 1999, obtained permission from the
federal government to grow hemp in test plots.

Even though hemp's versatility "offers some potential for future markets to
be developed, the current market for hemp products is not substantial
enough to warrant the expenditure of nearly $1 million in taxpayers' money
for this study," the governor said. "If there is indeed great interest in
developing a viable market for hemp products, private funds for such a
study should be available."

The bill's Senate sponsor, Sen. Evelyn Bowles, D-Edwardsville, said Ryan
earlier had indicated to her that he would veto the measure.

"But it's a terrible disappointment," she said Friday. "I see such
tremendous value and potential in this." She didn't know yet whether
lawmakers might try to override the veto. That would require a three-fifths
vote - 36 in the Senate and 71 in the House. When lawmakers approved Senate
Bill 1397, the vote was 49-9 in the Senate and 67-47 in the House.

Opponents of the legislation, including the Illinois State Police and the
Illinois Drug Education Alliance, said it would send the wrong message
about drug use and could lead to the legalization of marijuana.

"I'm thrilled, thrilled, thrilled," Priss Parmenter, president of the
alliance, said after learning of the governor's veto. "I think it's a
victory for kids and for (drug) prevention in Illinois."