SAY YES TO INDUSTRIAL HEMP

Governor Should Sign Bill OKing It As a Crop.

Once again the state Legislature has passed a bill, Assembly Bill
684, authorizing California farmers to grow industrial hemp. Last
year the governor vetoed a similar bill. This year he should sign it
enthusiastically, for several reasons.

The least-important reason is that this year's version was modified
to take into account law enforcement concerns. Thus hemp fields will
have to be registered with their GPS locations and will be subject to
state testing for THC levels. And the program is limited to four
agricultural counties - Imperial, Kings, Mendocino and Yolo - and it
has a "sunset" date, making it a pilot program instead of a statewide
free-for-all.

The emotionally complicating factor, of course, is that hemp is
another term for cannabis, which is the proper biological term for
marijuana. Until a court decision last year, federal regulators
interpreted marijuana prohibition to outlaw hemp production, despite
the fact that hemp is grown commercially in China, Hungary, Ireland,
Canada and elsewhere without serious complications.

But hemp grown for industrial purposes is grown differently than and
is readily distinguishable from cannabis grown for the flowers and
buds that contain significant quantities of THC and other intoxicants
the government has decided people are not allowed to smoke. Hemp
grown for fiber is planted close together, grows up to 16 feet tall
and is typically harvested before any buds appear. So there's no real
problem distinguishing a hemp field from an illicit marijuana patch.

Hemp is grown because, as researchers have been learning (and
relearning) since the early 1980s, the plant is one of the most
commercially useful crops around. Its fiber is among the strongest
natural fibers known, and have been used for centuries to make cloth,
paper, building materials and more.

It is absurd that California farmers are not allowed to grow this useful crop.

A couple of years ago the only Republican who endorsed this return to
free enterprise was Assemblyman Chuck DeVore of Irvine, who was
discerning enough to investigate the facts about hemp rather than
basing his opinion strictly on emotion and habit. This year, seven
Republicans supported a bill that is fully consistent with the
principles of freedom of enterprise that most Republicans support.

Gov. Schwarzenegger has eloquently expressed recently the importance
of being open to new ideas. There's no reason he shouldn't be open to
this not all that new but very good idea.