HEMP CAMPAIGN GAINS MOMENTUM

Slowly, the campaign to allow U.S. farmers to grow industrial hemp
again is making progress. North Dakota became the first state to pass
and enact such authorization. Gov. Ed Schafer signed the measure April
19. Virginia and Hawaii also have passed similar legislation and bills
are pending in Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico and
Vermont.

In Wisconsin, the state Assembly's Agriculture Committee has held its
first meeting on the proposal. That hearing was held primarily to let
legislators hear the arguments on the issue. Law enforcement agencies
in the state are opposing the idea because of hemp's identification
with marijuana.

Geof Kime, president of Hempline Inc., of Ontario, Canada, testified
in the Wisconsin hearing by telephone. Canada has approved the
production of hemp under government controls, and Kime said his
organization is Canada's main producer of hemp fibers for textiles and
paper. He said Hempline exports the majority of its fiber to the
United States.

Kemp said drug use has not been an issue in Canada because industrial
hemp cannot be converted readily to the drug trade. (Thanks to E.W.
Kieckhefer in Milwaukee)