VICTORY FOR HEMP

California Farmers Ought To Be Allowed To Grow The Versatile Plant --
Which Is Not Marijuana

The Assembly Public Safety Committee will hold hearings tomorrow on
AB684, the industrial hemp bill sponsored principally by San Francisco
Democrat Mark Leno and Irvine Republican Chuck DeVore. A similar bill,
allowing California farmers to grow industrial hemp for food, fiber,
cosmetics and other products, passed the Legislature last year but was
vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger.

The Legislature would do well not to be discouraged by this history
and pass AB684 overwhelmingly. Gov. Schwarzenegger, once he
understands that some of his stated reasons for vetoing it last year
are off-base, would benefit all Californians by signing it.

The complication, of course, is that hemp and marijuana are the same
species of plant, cannabis sativa. However, there are many varieties
of the plant. The varieties suitable for industrial hemp are
distinguished primarily by the fact that they contain 0.3 percent THC,
the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana buds and flowers.
When cannabis is grown for smoking, it typically contains 3 percent to
as much as 15 percent THC.

Hemp has been grown as an agricultural product with a variety of uses
for thousands of years, throughout the world. The fibers in the stalk
are the strongest natural fibers known, and have been used to make
rope, paper and cloth (the word "canvas" is derived from cannabis and
almost all the sails and ropes on the sailing ships of the 1800s were
made from hemp).

Hemp seeds contain a beneficial balance of essential fatty acids and
are used in products like energy bars, granola, breakfast cereals,
veggie burgers, salad dressing and other food products. Hempseed oil
is also the basis for numerous cosmetic products, including soaps,
lotions, lip balms and shampoos.

The market for hemp-based products has grown steadily since 1990, when
it was something of a boutique market, to about $270 million in 2005,
increasing at about $26 million annually, according to the Hemp
Industries Association. More than 75 percent of the sales of
hemp-based products are made by California companies.

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, based in Escondido, is the No. 1 producer
of natural soap in the world, according to the company. Over the last
five years the company spent $800,000 importing hemp oil from Canada.
It would rather give that business to California farmers. Nutiva, an
organic food company in Sebastopol, believes it could save $100,000 a
year if it could buy from California farmers.

All these companies have to import their hemp from foreign countries.
Hemp is grown legally in 30 countries, including Canada, Germany,
France, Russia, China and Hungary. North Dakota now has regulations in
place that likely will make it the first state to grow hemp legally,
and 15 states have passed pro-hemp legislation or resolutions.

With a more favorable climate and thousands of acres of irrigated
farmland, California would be foolish not to permit this crop.

A few fallacies make some reluctant to permit legal hemp cultivation.
It is argued that hemp fields could be used to hide illegal marijuana
cultivation, that law enforcement people will have a hard time
distinguishing legal hemp fields from illicit marijuana
plantations.

But hemp grown for fiber and seeds is planted thickly and close
together -- as many as 200 plants per square yard -- and grows to 16
feet high. Marijuana grown for psychoactive properties is planted
farther apart and cultivated to be bushy to maximize the number of
flowers. Marijuana cultivators uproot all male plants because
pollination ends the growth of buds and flowers. Planting marijuana in
the middle of a hemp field would render it almost valueless.

As affirmed in 2004 by the 9th Circuit and not appealed, federal law
does not forbid cultivation of industrial hemp. States are free to
allow it. AB684 requires hemp growers to get a lab test report from a
DEA-approved company, documenting that the THC content is 0.3 percent
or less, before marketing their crop. And the flowers, even with
almost no THC content, would not be allowed to leave the fields.

AB684 has significant safeguards to ensure that hemp cultivation is
not a cover for illicit marijuana cultivation. It would provide an
important revenue stream and other benefits to California farmers. The
Legislature should pass it and the governor should sign it.