A CELEBRATION OF HEMP

Santa Cruz:Second Annual Expo To Showcase Plethora Of Items Made With
Cannabis Roots, Seeds.

From sandals and jeans to soap and pastries, products made from hemp -- the
marijuana plant -- will be on display this weekend at an exposition in Santa
Cruz.

Advocates say hemp, as Cannabis sativa was originally known, is a cheap and
environmentally friendly source of fiber, food and fuel that has been
unfairly tarred by the drug war.

"Hemp is a commodity that has been denied the right to compete on the open
market," said Bob Lamonica, producer of Santa Cruz's second annual
Industrial Hemp Expo.

This year's event from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Civic
Auditorium on Church Street will include nearly 60 vendors from the United
States, Canada and even Holland.

"We have hemp sandals, beautiful blue jeans, lipstick, bags, hats, a
hempseed treat that's really yummy," said Elaine Berke, co-owner of Eco
Goods in Santa Cruz, one of the vendors. "It's just so exciting how many
hemp products are available now."

There will be root beer, ginger, black cherry and orange pop from Willie's
Hemp Soda of San Rafael. And B. Henfling's of Ben Lomond will be selling
hemp ale from Humboldt Brewing Company and hemp wine from Nirvana Homebrew.

Hemp and marijuana come from the same plant, Cannabis sativa. Advocates,
however, distinguish hemp as the plant's roots, stalks and seeds, as opposed
to the leaves and flowering buds smoked as marijuana.

Hemp advocates note that the plant has been cultivated since ancient times,
primarily as a source of strong fiber. It was widely used in the shipping
industry to produce rope, twine and canvas sails that would not rot in the
sea spray. The nutty tasting seeds, they say, have been used for food and
are as nutritious as soy beans. The fiber and pulp can be turned into paper.

The advantage of hemp, advocates say, is it is cheap and easy to grow. A
marijuana crop can be cultivated in 100 days, as opposed to trees used for
paper pulp that take years to mature. And unlike cotton, which accounts for
half the pesticide use in the United States, the hardy hemp plant is
naturally pest-resistant.

Hemp advocates blame government anti-drug campaigns in the 1930s for the
plant's decline as an industrial material. The term "marijuana" -- Mexican
street slang for pot -- was part of a "reefer madness" campaign to undermine
hemp's legitimacy as a useful product, leading to a federal tax in 1937,
they say.

Though other countries, including Canada, allow industrial hemp production,
and American celebrities including Woody Harrelson support it, the U.S.
government remains opposed.

"Legalizing hemp production would send a confusing message to our youth
concerning marijuana," says a statement from the Office of National Drug
Control Policy. "Also, it may lead to the de facto legalization of marijuana
cultivation."

Hemp products are legal to possess, but the raw materials must be imported.
Still, the government prohibition on the marijuana plant has made many leery
of hemp products.

"When I first opened our store, I was a little scared," Berke said. "I
didn't want people to think this is a head shop. But I became a convert."

The federal government contends hemp is a labor-intensive product whose
industrial value in the United States waned in the mid-19th century, from
production of more than 12,000 tons in 1869 to only 600 tons in 1929. The
cheapest hemp linen costs $15 a square yard, compared with $7.50 for the
finest flax linen, according to the government.

Today, the government says, hemp is "a novelty product for a novelty market."

But recent studies disputing government claims that marijuana has no
medicinal value may prove a boost to the hemp movement.

"I think this adds to the momentum," Lamonica said.