HEMP'S STATE FANS WANT IT TO GROW HERE

Patricia O'Brien has just the solution for Springfield lawmakers seeking an
alternative crop that is economical yet environmentally friendly:
industrial hemp.

A self-employed businesswoman in Chicago for nearly a year, O'Brien knows
firsthand the economic and environmental benefits of industrial hemp.
Featuring everything from lip balm and shampoo to shoes and clothing, her
hemp-only shop, Eco'fields, is the fruition of O'Brien's dream for a crop
whose heyday in this country ended more than 50 years ago.

O'Brien and national activists are now pushing to expand uses of hemp. But
a federal prohibition on growing industrial hemp and its psychoactive
cousin, marijuana, limits the plant's economic role.

O'Brien sees no better way to spread the word of the benefits of hemp and
to dispel the myths surrounding the plant than for state legislators to
study the benefits it could bring to the state's sagging farm economy.

A bill pending in Springfield would do just that.

Part of a national push for the legalization of industrial hemp, Illinois
lawmakers are considering a proposal that would authorize the state's two
largest public universities to study the possibility of growing hemp legally.

"We need to find something that's going to keep people on the farm," said
sponsor Sen. Evelyn Bowles (D-Edwardsville).

But opponents say that while the plan initially permits only a study of the
issue, it would open the door for encouraging the legalization of marijuana.

Hemp was grown and used extensively throughout the first 150 years of
American history. It was used in the paper that the U.S. Declaration of
Independence was written on, Betsy Ross' first American flag and Henry
Ford's early cars.

Hemp first was banned under the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which was
temporarily lifted to meet military needs for fiber during World War II.
Since then the federal government has banned the growing of any forms of
cannabis but does allow the product to be imported from other countries.

The problem with hemp is that, like marijuana, it contains THC, a
psychoactive chemical.

Bill supporters say the usual 0.3 percent THC level found in industrial
hemp would have no hallucinogenic effect. Marijuana has up to 20 percent THC.

But opponents contend that even small traces of THC in hemp can be
cultivated into illicit drugs, a claim backed up by a federal anti-drug board.

Hemp can be used in as many as 25,000 products and is used in 31 countries,
including England and Canada. Success there with hemp has fueled discussion
of hemp as a viable alternative crop.

The issue prompted the General Assembly to create House and Senate task
forces featuring lawmakers and experts from universities, farm bureaus and
manufacturers to study the issue last year. The conclusions they presented
in January were enough to persuade the Senate to approve legislation
authorizing further study by a 49-9 vote two weeks ago.

Nationally, 16 states considered legislation concerning hemp legalization
last year. Only Hawaii has been authorized by the federal government to
study industrial hemp.

Bowles is intrigued by the options that hemp has provided farmers and
manufacturers in Canada. Industrial hemp production in Canada grew from
6,000 acres in 1998 to 35,000 acres in 1999, according to the House task
force study, and some farmers have claimed profits of as much as $200 an acre.

She says the bill is designed to study how to give Illinois a needed
financial boost, not to provide a legal avenue for drug markets.

"We're not going to go out and plant 225 acres of industrial hemp the day
after tomorrow," Bowles said.

Also supporting the bill are officials from the University of Illinois and
Southern Illinois University, which would conduct the study.

Under the proposal, the universities would grow the plant in a secured test
lot for two years, studying how easily it could be grown and what benefits
it would provide. The schools would then present their findings to the
legislature by January 2002.

Don Briskin, a plant pathology professor from the U. of I., said his
department would focus on the growth of the plant. He estimates the work
and adequate security for the plot would cost about $600,000.

David Shoup, dean of the College of Agriculture at Southern Illinois
University-Carbondale, said his school would take a more research-oriented
path. Shoup estimates hiring bioengineers for the job could bring the total
to more than $900,000 over two years.

While Briskin and Shoup support the idea behind the study, they both want
to make sure the legislature will provide funding to back up the proposed
mandate.

Opponents of the proposal are concerned about hemp's potential to encourage
marijuana use.

State law enforcement officials and anti-drug activists say drug-abuse
problems would be compounded by legalizing hemp.

Their cause is spearheaded by federal drug czar Barry R. McCaffrey,
director of President Clinton's Office of National Drug Control Policy.

In a letter sent recently to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan
(D-Chicago), McCaffrey said that all of the hemp imported into the country
in 1999 could have been grown on less than 5,000 acres of land. Another
federal government study released in January showed the same hemp imports
could be grown on as little as 2,000 acres.

"The federal government is concerned that hemp cultivation may be a
stalking horse for legalization of marijuana," McCaffrey wrote.

Madigan, who will have the final say on whether the House considers the
study this spring, said he is keeping an open mind and is considering the
concerns outlined by McCaffrey.