VA LEGISLATORS PASS RESOLUTION TO GROW HEMP

Richmond, Va, - The resolution approved Monday, sponsored by Del. Mitchell
Van Yahres, D-Albemarle, asks federal officials to let the state's
universities experiment with cultivation of industrial hemp for commercial
use. Hemp was outlawed in the United States in 1937 because of its
association with marijuana.

A House of Delegates committee has endorsed a measure calling for the study
of industrial hemp, a relative of marijuana that lacks the kick of the
street drug.

But it has a very low content of THC, the chemical that makes marijuana an
intoxicant, and it was grown legally in the United States during World War
II when the government used it to make rope. Some agriculture officials say
hemp should be legalized again because it is a strong fiber useful in
clothes, plastics and other commercial products. Van Yahres suggested
Monday that hemp could come in handy for struggling tobacco farmers in need
of a new cash crop.

"The farmer, I think, is going to be the low man on the totem pole'' in the
wake of the national tobacco settlement, Van Yahres told the House Rules
Committee. "I think we need to talk about ways to help the farmer.''
Several other delegates questioned Van Yahres about hemp's commercial
usefulness and whether the plant can be smoked. After a brief debate, the
committee voted 9-2 to endorse the resolution.

The General Assembly will consider the measure during the session that
begins Jan. 13.

Checked-by: Richard Lake