A BILL TO GROW HEMP COMMERCIALLY IN NEW HAMPSHIRE MOVES A STEP FORWARD

The N.H. Hemp Council won one and lost one this week.

Thursday morning, the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston
upheld a federal judge's ruling that hemp, a relative of the marijuana
plant, could not be grown commercially.

Later Thursday, the N.H. House Finance Committee voted 16-5 to
recommend that the entire House approve a bill to legalize hemp
cultivation on a commercial scale.

The bill approved by the committee would allow farmers to grow hemp
after obtaining a permit. The state would issue licenses to grow hemp,
be the sole supplier of the seeds and regulate the industry. People
with criminal records involving drug offenses within the past 10 years
would automatically be ineligible for a permit.

The bill will be voted on by the full House next Thursday. If it
passes, the bill moves on to the Senate.

Mark Lathrop of Chesterfield, chairman of the N.H. Hemp Council, said
the finance committee's recommendation gives backers a boost. "It
carries a lot of weight coming on to the House floor," he said.

In January the House voted 181-167 to have the Finance Committee
review what it would cost the state if the bill became law.

Hemp is a close relative of marijuana but has a very low content of
THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Hemp is grown for the
tough fiber in its stem. The fiber can be used to make fabrics, ropes
and papers. The seeds can be eaten as a dietary supplement or ground
and used for making oil and industrial lubricants. The hurd of the
plant -- the inner core -- is 80 percent cellulose and can be
converted to plastic.

Opponents said it would cost the state $55,000 for a gas chromatograph
- -- a machine that analyzes THC levels in hemp -- and they estimated
the state would have to pay $92,625 a year for a chemist to run the
tests.

As a compromise, Lathrop said the N.H. Hemp Council added an amendment
to the bill requiring hemp growers to pay for the cost of testing
their crops for THC content once a year.

An additional amendment added to the bill to appease law enforcement
officials -- who worry that marijuana farmers could hide their crops
with industrial hemp plants to avoid detection -- would make it
illegal for anyone to possess hemp without a hemp grower's license.

Rep. Amy Robb-Theroux, D-Claremont, who cosponsored the bill with Rep.
Derek Owen, D-Hopkinton, said N.H. farmers could make more money
growing hemp than corn. And while opponents try to link hemp with
marijuana cultivation, the purpose of the bill is simply to help farmers.

"As the bill moves forward, we need to keep sight of its real purpose,
not that which some may try to attach to it," she said in a statement
released after the Finance Committee vote. "Above all, this is an
effort to give New Hampshire farmers access to a niche market that
promises real economic benefits."

Canada started allowing hemp production in 1998. Farmers planted 6,000
acres, claiming profits of as much as $200 an acre at a time when
growers struggled just to break even on such traditional crops as wheat.

In the United States, hemp can be grown only with permission from the
federal Drug Enforcement Administration. But N.H. farmers can't get a
federal permit without state agreement.

The legal ruling out of Boston stemmed from a suit filed by Owen, a
farmer, and the hemp council to clear the way for hemp cultivation in
the state. Owen and the council argued that Congress, in defining
"marijuana," had not criminalized the growth of "non-psychoactive"
cannabis sativa, the plant from which industrial hemp is derived.

However, a U.S. District Court judge in Concord concluded in September
1998 that Congress' definition of marijuana includes all cannabis
sativa plants, even if they are grown solely for the production of
industrial products.

Owen and the hemp council then took their case to the federal appeals
court, which upheld the federal court ruling this week.

Lathrop said the hemp council might appeal to the U.S. Supreme
Court.