CANADA AND THE U.S.: A WORLD APART ON HEMP

Changing the Rules

In May of this year, a few miles north of Buffalo, New York, 50 Canadian
farmers began planting 2,000 acres of industrial hemp, the first commercial
hemp crop in that country in 60 years. South of the border that same month,
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) held hearings on its proposal
to spray the countryside with lethal chemicals to eradicate any hemp plants
growing wild in this country.

Two countries, two radically different attitudes toward the world's most
interesting and controversial crop. Why such a difference? Maybe because
Canada's hemp policy is overseen by Health Canada, an agency with no vested
interest in keeping hemp illegal. In the U.S. hemp falls under the
jurisdiction of the DEA, which receives over $16 billion to fight drugs and
finds it in its self-interest to demonize hemp, a cousin of marijuana.
Indeed, the DEA receives a reported $500 million a year simply to wipe out
wild hemp plants. In the U.S. the policy toward cannabis is rigid and
absolute. In Canada the government's approach has been much more flexible
and sophisticated.

For decades both Health Canada and the DEA have had the authority to issue
permits for the growing of hemp for research purposes. But while the DEA has
made it impossible for farmers to receive such permits, in 1994 Health
Canada's Bureau of Dangerous Drugs granted to mechanical engineer Geof Kime
and his business partner, tobacco farmer and retired teacher Joe Strobel,
the first federal license to grow industrial hemp. Kime and Strobel raised
ten acres near Tillsonburg, Ontario.

The small plot immediately gained widespread public attention. To respond to
the sudden public interest, Canada's ministry of agriculture issued a
remarkable four-page bulletin on hemp, to this day perhaps the single most
concise agronomic overview of hemp. (Gordon Reichert, "Hemp (Cannabis
sativa)," Bi Weekly Bulletin, 7:23.)

In 1995 the Canadian government issued permits for more than l00 acres of
test plot in five provinces. These plots allowed local police authorities to
become comfortable with hemp and gave farmers the opportunity to test hemp
in different soils and climates zones. They also generated sufficient
material for industries to conduct substantial product testing.

In 1996, based on the information gathered, Canada's Parliament modified the
Controlled Substance and Abuse Act to allow for the commercial planting of
hemp. In 1997, when it appeared that Health Canada was not moving fast
enough to issue regulations for a 1998 planting, the parliament made clear
its disapproval.

To find out how to handle the crop, researchers visited some of the more
than two dozen countries that have gone through the hemp learning curve. In
early 1998, Health Canada called together representatives from effected
agencies and parties. These included the Ministry of Agriculture, the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Revenue Canada (Customs), Provincial and
federal police organizations, farmers, scientists and business persons.
After two and a half days the 70 participants had hammered out regulations
that allowed Canadian farmers and entrepreneurs to begin developing a
domestic hemp industry while taking into account law enforcement officials'
concerns about marijuana cultivation.

Health Canada's regulations are more onerous than the hemp industry would
like, and the permitting process this first year has been so slow that many
farmers were unable to plant any hemp at all. Nevertheless, all parties
expect the process to be streamlined in future years.

U.S. officials could learn from Canada's experience. Under the final
regulations, approved in late March, industrial hemp is defined as a
cannabis plant whose leaves and flowering heads don not contain more than
0.3 percent THC (the psychoactive component). To prevent higher levels of
THC, importers and exporters of hemp seed must be licensed. Shipments of
live seeds must be accompanied by foreign certification and from countries
that do not allow plants containing more than 0.3 percent THC. Health Canada
will publish a list of approved countries.

Only approved varieties of industrial hemp seeds (as specified in Health
Canada's List of Approved Cultivars) may be planted. However, Canada
officials understand that breeders need a wide selection of germ plasm to
develop breeds optimal for Canadian growing conditions. Thus plant breeders
will not be restricted to approved cultivars.

Products derived from seed, such as oil and seed cake, must contain no more
than 10 milligrams of THC per gram, a figure considerably below the 50 mg/g
level set by the Swiss Academy of Science.

To obtain a license of importing, production or sale of industrial hemp,
applicants must provide information from a Canadian police force listing any
arrests or convictions with respect to drugs over the previous ten years.

The Canadian process for legalizing industrial hemp has been cautious but
not paranoid, incremental but not glacial. It allowed time for farmers, law
enforcement officials, industry and government agencies to become familiar
with the plant and it properties without getting bogged down in red tape.
South of the border, the process is stalled - perhaps even stumbling
backwards - as long as the federal government lets drug agencies make
agricultural policy.

For more information contact Jean Peart, Manager, Hemp Project, Bureau of
Drug Surveillance, Therapeutic Products Directorate, Address Locator 4103A,
122 Bank Street, 3rd Floor, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 1B6 (613-654-6524)

NOTE: After a most intensive examination, Canada concluded that although
hemp and marijuana are both members of the cannabis family, they are
distinct types. One can get you high. One cannot. The agronomic and
biochemical differences are well-described by Dr. David West, who received
his doctorate in plant breeding from the University of Minnesota, in his
recent report, Hemp and Marijuana: Myths and Realities (available on the web
at www.naihc.org).

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett