STATE LAWMAKER ATTEMPTING TO LEGALIZE INDUSTRIAL HEMP

Hahn says non-potent form of marijuana would give farmers cash crop

A Wisconsin legislator wants to legalize industrial hemp -- a virtually
non-potent form of marijuana -- to provide another cash crop for
beleaguered farmers.

Potheads might rejoice at the thought of a thriving hemp industry in the
state, but law enforcement officials think the idea is a bummer.

State Rep. Eugene Hahn (R-Cambria) said Monday that he's drafting a bill to
legalize industrial hemp to help Wisconsin farmers facing bankruptcy from
plummeting pork prices.

Industrial hemp was grown in Wisconsin and other states during World War II
after southeast Asian countries that manufactured rope were taken over by
the Japanese.

It's still used for thousands of products ranging from clothing, carpeting
and paper to cooking oil, animal feed and bedding for horses.

"If you watch what's happening with the No. 1 industry in Wisconsin, I
think it's on the verge of collapse. We have to do something," Hahn, whose
uncle was a hemp farmer during World War II, said Monday.

"We need a spurt in the agriculture industry, and I think this is one that
could help a great deal. But we have to get the feds to change the rules
since they think it's a drug."

That won't be easy. It is illegal to grow industrial hemp in the United
States. Much of the problem lies in the fact that it's difficult to tell
the difference between industrial hemp and cultivated marijuana plants.

Industrial hemp has 1% to 2% of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chemical
that gives pot smokers a buzz, while cultivated marijuana has 4% to 6%.
Narcotics agents are now seeing higher potency marijuana with 11% THC and
even 25% to 30%, said Dane County Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Twomby.

If farmers are allowed to grow industrial hemp, it would make the already
difficult jobs of law enforcement agents even tougher, said Twomby.

"People grow their plants wherever they think they won't be discovered.
That would make it even more difficult if you had an industrial hemp
field," said Twomby.

Hahn said he hopes to meet with Attorney General James Doyle to discuss his
idea. Jim Haney, Doyle's spokesman, said Monday that the attorney general
is opposed to legalizing hemp.

"No state in the country has taken this kind of step, and there's no reason
to make Wisconsin the laboratory experiment," Haney said.

"This is one of those issues that pops up and someone believes, eureka,
they found a way to make money. There's a reason states have not embraced
this concept."

Haney added that the only areas that could hope to see much growth from
hemp-related industries are countries with very cheap labor markets.

"It's not a savior for framing but it provides another alternative," said
Tom Thieding, spokesman for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. However,
he added, "we've got some of the wrong people promoting this because
they've also been using the wrong product in their daily lives so it's been
hard to get a credible alliance with the farmers."

Russ Weisensel, who is coordinating the Wisconsin Industrial Hemp
Initiative, acknowledged there are virtually no markets in the United
States for hemp. But he said markets could develop for an industry that
during the 1940s accounted for 30,000 acres and 10 processing plants in
Wisconsin.

Among Weisensel's key obstacles, he concedes, are activists with a, er,
joint interest in the issue.

"To our detriment, we do have pot smokers who say this is great," said
Weisensel, senior vice president-government relations for the Wisconsin
Agribusiness Council.

But there's virtually no way to get a buzz from smoking hemp, Weisensel
said, and controls can be placed on farmers to calm the fears of law
enforcement.

Weisensel pointed out the benefits of the hearty, environmentally friendly
crop. It doesn't require herbicides; its fiber is stronger and more
absorbent than cotton; it produces more pulp per acre than timber; and
hemp-based paper can be recycled more often than conventional paper.

Hemp is a good rotation crop and can net farmers a profit of $200 to $400
an acre -- much higher than corn and soybeans -- if markets are created.