THE DOPE ON HEMP

Hailed as a `wonder plant,' marijuana's straight kin is headed for the
mainstream

Hemp, the darling of the eco-friendly consumer, is going mainstream.

Signs the consumer pendulum is swinging and that there are heady, profitable
years to come for marijuana's straight kin are everywhere.

* Cooking oil and flour, produced from hemp by a Mississauga-based company,
will hit the shelves of major supermarket chains in Ontario this spring.

* A Canadian company processing hemp into a textile fibre has a deal afoot
to supply several large U.S. manufacturers. They, in turn, will spin the
fibre into a new line of carpets.

* Environmental stores selling hemp housewares and clothing can be found
throughout trendy shopping districts in southern Ontario.

* Last fall, The Body Shop launched a line of hemp toiletries.

``This kind of diversity is virtually unprecedented in a plant. It (hemp)
will revolutionize what we buy and it is probable we could convert our
society to a carbohydrate economy from our fuel-based one today,'' boasts
Greg Harriott, president of Hempola, a Brampton company in business since
1993.

The excitement surrounding this wonder plant is so widespread that even
Disney is planning a new exhibit on the bio-based economy at Disney World in
Florida. Cadillac has announced plans to build a car using hemp, in which
everything but the engine and drive train are biodegradable.

Kenex, another Canadian hemp-processing company, has developed prototype car
side panels and dashboards made from hemp fibre. It is also producing a
world-class seed bank, readying for the day when widespread hemp farming
rivals cotton cultivation.

Hemp is poised to become big business in Canada, largely because it is still
illegal to grow in the United States, the world's biggest importer of hemp
fibre and textiles.

It is possible, say those involved in the burgeoning Canadian industry, that
many of the everyday products we have in our homes will some day be made
from processed hemp.

Industry insiders are quick, too, to point out industrial hemp is one of
nature's finest renewable fibre sources, is virtually pest-resistant and,
unlike cotton, not fertilizer-or chemical-dependent. It has the strength and
versatility to be turned into many of the things we consume.

There are 25,000 potential known uses for hemp - from textiles, cellophane
and dynamite to low-fat cheese and cooking oil, hemp marketers say.

But perhaps the largest potential market will be in fibreboard and panelling
used by the building industry.

``There will be a time in the near future when it will be possible to build
an entire house from hemp fibre. The furniture in that house will not only
be covered with hemp fabric, but the frame will be made from it, as well.
And the food we have in that house will also include many forms of edible
hemp,'' says Geof Kime, president of Hempline Inc., and guru of the
fledgling industry in Canada.

``There are opportunities here for Canada to be at the forefront of a
growing global shift toward sustainable development and a bio-based economy.
In Canada, we didn't grow a textile fibre crop until last summer. Hemp gives
us a chance to grow textile fibre for export.

``The possibilities are immense when you consider that 5 billion pounds of
cotton are produced in the U.S. each year,'' Kime adds.

Invariably, whenever there is talk about hemp production here, all
conversations lead to Kime, who in 1994, along with tobacco farmer Joe
Stroebel, became the first government licensed hemp growers in Canada since
farming the plant was banned in 1938.

Hempline sold its 1998 crop to U.S. carpet manufacturers and ``there will be
a significant product launch, probably by mid-1999,'' says Kime, who won't
divulge which companies will be marketing the carpet.

He will say that hemp carpets are mildew-resistant and more durable than
existing carpet materials, and that it will resemble a soft Berber texture.

Perhaps the biggest indicator that the ``hemp home revolution'' is already
underway, is the growing number of retail stores selling everything from
table linens to clothing, paper and furniture made from hemp.

Brampton's Hempola has developed a line of salad dressings, flour, pre-mixed
muffin mixes and butter that it says will be sold in large supermarket
chains.

Hempola uses the seeds of plants grown in Manitoba to make its products,
Harriott says.

The seeds are cold-pressed to extract the oil, which has a nutty flavour, is
emerald green in colour and is high in the good kind of essential fatty oils
known as omega-3. That oil will be blended with sunflower oil to produce
three types of dressings that will be ``premium priced at around $5 a
bottle, but they're the first really nutritious salad dressings on the
market,'' says Harriott.

Hemp flour products, milled from hulled seeds, have a 45 per cent protein
content and are gluten-free.

As well as its edible properties, there are many industrial uses for hemp
oil. Harriott points to research being conducted on the lubricant qualities
of hemp oil.

While Hempola's hemp is Canadian grown and the products made from it are
manufactured locally, many of the hemp goods sold in Toronto-area stores are
imports from Eastern Europe and Asia.

Kathy Fairfield, owner of Terraware, two eco-friendly retail stores, one in
Oakville the other in Dundas, says most of the housewares and clothing she
stocks are imports.

``While there are some local companies beginning to make goods from hemp,
mostly textile and fabrics, the fibres are grown and processed elsewhere and
then shipped here. I can see that changing as we develop our domestic hemp
farming as well as the businesses to process the raw fibre into textiles,''
she says.

Fairfield says she plans to open a new store in downtown Toronto by next
summer.

She is also expanding her Dundas store to include a by-the-metre hemp fabric
section and hopes to source out more hemp furniture such as futons and
director's chairs. A line of table linens, cloths, napkins and place mats
are already custom-made for her stores by a local company and Fairfield has
plans to include custom-ordered bedspreads and curtains as part of the
expanded linen section.

``We are a very mainstream housewares store. There is nothing fringe about
us. We do choose products for the stores based on environmental principles,
but I think more consumers are beginning to see the benefits of buying with
a social conscience,'' Fairfield says.

That awareness has been, until recently, a tough sell with consumers,
retailers say, largely due to a lack of awareness about the benefits of
industrial hemp and the perceptions about it's kinship with marijuana.

According to Kime, hemp has been getting a bum rap because ``of a lack of
correct information out there. Our federal government thoroughly
investigated hemp's potential before passing legislation to allow for
licensed farming of the plant.''

Although both are part of the same species of plant, cannabis sativa, hemp
and marijuana are not the same plant. The difference is in the cultivation.
Hemp is densely planted to produce a short, stalky plant and allowed to
pollinate and grow seeds. Marijuana plants require more sun and light, need
more space to grow and must be cultivated before pollination and seed
production.

As a result, hemp has a very low THC (the psychoactive substance in
marijuana) content, about 0.3 per cent, compared to 2 per cent in most
marijuana plants. In short, you can't get high from smoking hemp.

But opponents to widespread growing of industrial hemp in Canada argue
legalized hemp farming is just one step closer to the decriminalization of
marijuana.

To combat that view, proponents of hemp farming have distanced themselves
from groups lobbying for the legalization of marijuana. They've concentrated
on educating consumers about the environmental positives associated with
hemp cultivation, such as its pest resistant qualities.

Rod Grand of Earthly Goods, a clothing, food and housewares emporium on
Toronto's Danforth Ave., says educating the consumer about the benefits of
hemp farming and products has been a focus at his store for a number of
years.

Last year, Earthly Goods featured a month-long education campaign, including
information seminars with none other than Kime.

``Our focus, not just on the hemp issue, is on education. We believe a green
consumer is an educated consumer. And while a lot of younger people are
starting to find out about the positives of farming hemp, they have never
seen it in its raw form.

``Older Canadians remember using products made with hemp, like rope and
canvas, before farming the plant was made illegal,'' Kime adds.

Some estimates put worldwide trade in hemp products at more than $100
million last year. That dollar figure could double in the next few years as
new hemp-based businesses spring up globally.