HOUSE PANEL BACKS BILL FOR INDUSTRIAL HEMP

BISMARCK -- Noxious weed, illicit drug or viable crop?

The great hemp debate began again Thursday at the North Dakota
Legislature when the House Agriculture Committee unanimously
recommended that a bill removing industrial hemp from the state's list
of noxious weed seeds be passed.

House Bill 1265 would eliminate hemp from the list of "prohibited
noxious weed seeds" in the North Dakota Century Code.

The elimination could be a step toward the legalization of hemp crops
in North Dakota, something some legislators would like to see.

Rep. Dave Monson, R-Osnabrock, introduced the bill. He will also
introduce legislation that would classify hemp as a crop.

But even with a new state designation, Federal Drug Enforcement Agency
rules still make growing hemp illegal.

THC content

Monson, the House assistant majority leader, told the committee that
industrial hemp has less than three-tenths of 1 percent of THC, the
chemical that gives marijuana its kick.

House Bill 1256 would add a section to the Century Code keeping hemp
with more than .3 percent THC designated as a noxious weed.

Monson told the committee that it's time for a change.

He said Canadian farmers, including a friend of his who owns a hemp
seed farm just 10 miles north of the North Dakota border, are
profiting from their production of hemp, which can be used for making
rope, paper and oils, among other products.

If hemp were made legal, Monson said, hemp plants could be tested to
prove that they have less than 0.3 percent THC content. He also said
it was possible to see the difference between industrial hemp and
cannabis sativa plants, which have much more than 0.3 percent THC content.

"For these reasons, it's time to remove the industrial hemp from the
list of noxious weeds," Monson said.

BCI is cautious

Bureau of Criminal Investigation officials said they have doubts about
redesignating hemp seeds.

"I don't know if I'm actually here in opposition to the bill, but not
everything in Canada has been a panacea," said Jerry Kemmet, the BCI's
acting director. "They have had some problems."

Kemmet said the plants are virtually impossible to tell apart with the
unaided eye. He also said farmers could get in trouble if people
trespassed on their land to plant marijuana plants.

If that happened and investigators found plants with a higher THC
count than .3 percent, even among a crop of plants at 0.3 percent or
lower, law enforcement officers would have no choice but to arrest the
farmer who owned the land.

BCI officials also said marijuana with 0.2 or 0.3 percent THC was
commonly smoked in the 1960s and 1970s.

Rep. Ronald Nichols, D-Palermo, also testified in favor of the
bill.

"Sometimes we get behind the 8-ball on some of these things," Nichols
said. "Canada is getting pretty far into research on industrial hemp.
I hope we don't get too far behind."