HIGH ON HEMP, WHOLESALER OPENS SHOP

Entrepreneur Touts Products' Environmental Advantages

Patricia O'Brien is combining social activism and capitalism in a
3-year-old venture to popularize an unlikely material: industrial hemp.

Ms. O'Brien, who launched Eco'Fields Inc. as a wholesaler of goods
made of industrial hemp, in April opened a store at 1708 N. Wells St.
that offers clothes, paper and bath products made what is touted as an
environmentally friendly raw material.

"I just had to do this," says the 45-year-old Ms. O'Brien. "People
need to touch (hemp), feel it. This is as much a public education on
my part; hopefully, I will make a living at it."

Hemp has gained favor with environmentalists and farmers because it
may be less labor-intensive and more environmentally friendly to grow
than some traditional crops.

For instance, cotton requires irrigation, along with large amounts of
chemical pesticides and herbicides, according to Stan Blade, a plant
breeder with the Alberta (Canada) Department of Agriculture, who has
researched hemp for four years.

Paper made from hemp also requires fewer chemicals than wood-based
paper, according to the Madison, Wis.-based North American Industrial
Hemp Council Inc. (NAIHC).

Erwin "Bud" Sholts, chairman of NAIHC and an official with the
Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, says hemp would be a boon for
struggling U.S. farmers. Markets for items such as carpeting are
developing in Europe and Canada, he says.

North Dakota and Hawaii recently passed measures to legalize hemp
farming, but the laws are only symbolic because the federal government
outlaws the practice, says Mr. Sholts. The hemp used in Eco'Fields'
products comes primarily from Europe and China.

Ms. O'Brien became a hemp booster about five years ago, after viewing
hundreds of acres of deforested land in Oregon.

"I couldn't stop thinking about making paper from an annual crop
rather than trees," says Ms. O'Brien. She spent the next year selling
hemp paper to Oregon businesses.

Of course, Eco'Fields faces daunting hurdles. It has virtually no
budget for advertising and is attempting to popularize a little-known
raw material that must be imported.

Yet Ms. O'Brien is encouraged by sales figures: In just over five
months, the store has brought in nearly $50,000.

Ms. O'Brien also recently inked her first big wholesale deal,
supplying House of Blues with its own brand of hemp lip balm. The
product is to be available at Chicago House of Blues by yearend.

Industrial hemp belongs to the same plant family as marijuana, but it
contains just a trace of THC, marijuana's psychoactive component, and
does not create a high when smoked.

Naturally, the idea of wearing clothing made from hemp elicits plenty
of marijuana jokes. Ms. O'Brien, who says she's heard them all, even
carries hats that read: "Warning, don't smoke this cap."

Ms. O'Brien is a member of a task force recently formed by the
Illinois General Assembly to advise lawmakers about industrial hemp.
"I want the fear out of the leaf," says Ms. O'Brien. "It's the most
efficient plant Mother Nature gave us."