BILL WOULD ALLOW HEMP FARMING IN CALIFORNIA

SACRAMENTO ( AP ) - John Roulac wants to give California agriculture a
boost and cut his transportation costs at the same time.

Roulac is the founder and chief executive officer of Nutiva, an
up-and-coming organic food company that is based in California but
processes and packages most of its products in Canada. The reason: Nutiva
sells bars, protein powder, seeds and oil made with hemp, a cousin of
marijuana.

Hemp has only a trace amount of tetrahydrocannabinols, or THC, the drug in
marijuana, but hemp can't be legally grown in the United States without a
permit from the Drug Enforcement Administration. And the DEA has only
allowed an experimental plot in Hawaii, according to Adam Eidinger, a
spokesman for Vote Hemp, the lobbying arm of the hemp industry.

So Nutiva contracts with Canadian farmers for its hemp, processes it in
Canada and imports the finished products.

"We pay Exxon and Chevron a lot of money for gasoline for truckers," said
Roulac. "We'd rather pay that money to California farmers to grow a
sustainable crop."

Assemblyman Mark Leno has a bill that could make that happen. The San
Francisco Democrat's measure would allow the state Department of Food and
Agriculture to issue licenses to grow and process hemp.

Bills similar to Leno's have been introduced in New Hampshire and Oregon.
The New Hampshire legislation has passed the House and is awaiting action
by the state Senate. North Dakota approved hemp cultivation in 1999, and
this year the governor signed a bill allowing the state university to try
to develop improved hemp seeds in anticipation of the removal of the
federal ban on hemp farming.

Leno's proposal has a "huge potential economic impact," said Johanna
Schultz, a spokeswoman for the Hemp Industries Association, which has about
300 members, including nearly 50 in California.

"I foresee a whole bunch of new hemp businesses starting up just because of
its availability."

Hemp can be used to make a myriad of products, including clothing,
cosmetics, food, paper, rope, jewelry, luggage, sports equipment and toys.
As food, hemp is high in essential fatty acids, protein, B vitamins and
fiber, its supporters say.

American farmers, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, grew
hemp for centuries, often under government mandates or with government
subsidies. Copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were
written on hemp paper, Leno said.

"The strange irony is that we can presently import the entire hemp plant
and manufacturers can produce thousands of different products ( using hemp
) and then sell them," he added. "The one component which is missing out on
this is the farmer."

Roulac figures he would save more than $100,000 a year in transportation
costs and could cut his prices if he could buy hemp seeds from California
growers and process them into food products at a plant he wants to build in
Bakersfield.

Michael Bronner said Leno's bill would eliminate the "massive lead times"
he has to deal with in getting hemp oil from Canada and Europe for the soap
produced by Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, an Escondido company started by his
grandfather.

"It would be nice if we could get it right here in San Diego County," he
said. "The price would probably be half of what we pay now."

Tom Riley, a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said
hemp farming could be used to hide marijuana cultivation by mixing the two
plants in the field.

"I hope that legislators would look very carefully at this effort and see
what factors there are," he said.

But the bill's supporters say there is little likelihood that a grower
would try to mix marijuana with hemp. The two plants grow differently and
cross pollination could result in less-potent strains of marijuana, they say.

Marijuana growers, fearing wind-blown hemp pollen could weaken their crops,
are among hemp's biggest opponents, along with the DEA, said Roulac.

Also, the bill would require hemp to be tested in the fields to ensure that
THC levels did not exceed prescribed limits. It also would bar anyone with
a criminal conviction from getting a license to grow or process hemp.

"We're quite open to putting together regulatory schemes that meet law
enforcement's legitimate concerns," said Alexis Baden-Mayer, director of
governmental relations for Vote Hemp.

Leno's bill attempts to get around federal opposition by requiring farmers
to sell hemp seeds, stalks and fibers only to California processors to
avoid an interstate commerce grounds for federal intervention.

"With that distinction, there's no reason why the federal government should
get involved," he said.

Eidinger, the Vote Hemp spokesman, said the fight over hemp cultivation is
likely to end up in the courts, if Congress doesn't pass legislation
allowing hemp farming.

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, is planning to introduce a bill that would remove
any federal roadblocks and allow states to decide if they want their
farmers growing hemp.

"I think the courts are leaning our way," Eidinger said. "If you're going
this direction on hemp food you might as well go one step further and grow
the crop."

The Schwarzenegger administration and California's two major farm
organizations, the Western Growers Association and the California Farm
Bureau Federation, haven't taken a position on the bill.