HOMEGROWN HEMP BLOOMS IN A PRAIRIE FIELD OF GREEN

Hemptown Clothing Tests Enzyme Technology, Plans Processing Mill By
2007

REGINA -- Fields of nearly two-metre tall, emerald-green hemp growing
at Craik, halfway between Regina and Saskatoon, have proven to be a
curiosity to travellers.

But ongoing work between a British Columbia clothing company and
federal researchers indicates that homegrown hemp has big potential.

Hemptown Clothing Inc. of Vancouver and the National Research Council
(NRC) are entering the second year of a three-year collaboration on a
new enzyme technology for processing hemp fibre.

The small Saskatchewan town of Craik, along with the surrounding rural
municipality, found its way into the hemp-processing equation when it
donated 80 acres of land to Hemptown more than a year ago.

In turn, Hemptown -- which makes corporate apparel such as T-shirts
and tote bags for a range of companies -- hopes to build a hemp mill
in Craik by 2007 to process the fibre.

Jason Finnis, president and founder of Hemptown, said the company has
about 60 acres of hemp growing at Craik, a town they were attracted to
because of its plans around sustainability. Hemptown's new subsidiary,
Crailer Fiber Technologies, gets its name from the community.

"The issue that we've had in our business is that right now all the
hemp fibre is coming in from China," said Finnis. "The reason we
haven't been able to get it in Canada is because of a lack of
processing equipment. There's no technology behind that."

Processing time can take up to 60 days, said Finnis, explaining that
part of the process involves letting the crop be exposed to moisture
in the field.

"Our goal was to eliminate that step so we could come up with a more
consistent and less expensive alternative."

The aim is also to use the most environmentally friendly methods for
processing.

Hemptown was started 10 years ago with a focus on "sustainable and
organic textiles," and currently sells shirts that are a hemp-cotton
blend, with the goal of eventually getting to 100-per-cent hemp, said
Finnis. He said the cotton for one traditional cotton T-shirt requires
one-third of a pound of chemicals and 1,700 gallons of water.

"Hemp grows without those pesticides or fertilizers and it's only
getting rainfall -- a very hardy plant."

The research in Ottawa involves finding the best conditions to use an
existing enzyme, which helps break down the natural "glue" that holds
the hemp fibres together. This process takes the processing time down
to a matter of hours, said Finnis.

"Through 2005 and 2006 we'll be working to come up with the ultimate
process and once we arrive at that . . . then we will be fully aware
of what we need to build and what we need to put in that building
[planned for Craik]," said Finnis in a recent interview.

Scott Ferguson, a business development officer with the National
Research Council Institute for Biological Sciences, is also encouraged
about the potential for processing a hemp fibre for use in the textile
industry.

Industrial hemp and marijuana belong to the same species but hemp
contains virtually no THC, which creates the mood-altering effect.
More than 2,500 hectares of hemp were grown in Canada last year,
according to the Saskatchewan Hemp Association.