BILL PUTS NEBRASKA ON HEMP'S SIDE

Lincoln - State Sen. Ed Schrock wants Nebraska to become a pioneer in the
cultivation of industrial hemp.

Schrock hopes to lead Nebraska into a small group of states putting
pressure on the federal government to allow farmers to grow hemp.

Legal to grow until its banning along with marijuana in 1937 and a target
in the war on drugs, industrial hemp is a hardy but far less potent
relative of marijuana that supporters say would give farmers a profitable
alternative to traditional crops.

But major obstacles, including anti-drug laws and an uncertain marketplace,
remain before industrial hemp can become a viable crop.

Schrock's bill (Legislative Bill 273) defines industrial hemp as having
less than three-tenths of 1 percent of tetrahydrocannabinol - the chemical
in marijuana that produces a narcotic high. Marijuana typically contains 3
percent to 15 percent of THC.

Schrock, an Elm Creek farmer, said that because hemp has such low levels of
THC, people trying to smoke it to get intoxicated "might as well smoke a
fence post."

Potential markets for goods produced with hemp are plentiful.

The plant can grow up to 16 feet tall and provides a strong fiber used to
make paper, textiles, construction materials, vehicle clutch- and
brake-liners and other products. Its seeds produce an oil used in cosmetics
and other beauty products.

Schrock's bill, which received unanimous approval from the Agriculture
Committee, is scheduled for first-round debate Tuesday.

Under the bill, farmers would apply for licenses to grow industrial hemp.
The application would include a copy of fingerprints and a criminal
background check. Anyone with a prior criminal conviction would not receive
a license.

Any Nebraskan wishing to grow hemp also would need the approval of the
federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

Five states - Hawaii, North Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois and Maryland - have
passed legislation approving an industrial hemp cultivation program, said
Barbara Foster, senior policy assistant with the National Conference of
State Legislatures.

But the only hemp legally under cultivation in the United States is in Hawaii.

Foster said the DEA signed off there after a California shampoo company
offered to pay $200,000 to fund both the cost of cultivation and of meeting
federal regulations.

The federal requirements included surrounding the hemp field with chain
link fences, barbed wire and motion detectors.

Rogene Waite, a DEA representative, said the federal Controlled Substances
Act makes no distinction between industrial hemp and its much more potent
cousin, marijuana. Both are illegal.

Waite said that federal court rulings have reinforced the agency's position
on hemp and that a reassessment of the policy was unlikely.

Canada opened the door for hemp cultivation in 1998, but enthusiasm for the
crop has weakened, said Bill Baxter, a program analyst with the Ontario
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Baxter said weak demand dashed early hopes. Farmers have a hard time
selling the crop.

"You had a lot of people who thought it was a good idea to risk growing
it," Baxter said, "and frankly, most of them have never sold their product."

He said the number of hemp licenses distributed by the Canadian government
increased only slightly in 2000, from 251 to 255.

More research and more capital are needed, he said, to modernize the
processing of hemp and increase the potential of unexplored markets.

"There were a lot of people that had a piece of ground and thought they
would do wonderful things by growing it," Baxter said. "But this was a
product that needed a lot of market development."

He said any profit to be made from hemp right now is "pretty tenuous, if
there's any."

Despite that record, Schrock holds out hope.

"I think it's premature to talk about whether it's profitable or not," he
said. "I don't anticipate large acreages to be growing it for a long time
down the road. But somebody has to be the pioneer."

Reaching the long-term goal of making hemp a legal and viable crop will
require initial baby steps, Schrock said. Making the first unsteady leap is
the purpose of the bill.

"We in agriculture have got to look for our alternatives," he said. "This
is mainly sending a message to the DEA."