IT'S ROPE, NOT DOPE, SAY HEMP FARMERS

Such conservative South African companies as Mercedes Benz and PG Bison are
funding research into using a form of "dagga" to produce timber substitutes
and natural fibres. But health officials remain hostile ...

AJOR South African companies, in conjunction with the government, are
funding research into hemp production at the country's first experimental
cannabis farms. Among them are Mercedes Benz South Africa, PG Bison and
Masonite Africa.

The farms, around the country, are controlled by the Agricultural Research
Council and supported by the Department of Trade and Industry, which
believe that hemp can become a major export product.

But red tape and groen gevaar [green danger] by old-style bureaucrats in
the Department of Health could frustrate the agricultural production of
hemp and cost the country the competitive advantage.

PG Bison and Masonite Africa have provided research funds to grow a crop of
local hemp that could be used as a timber substitute. European investors
are poised to fund research into a South African strain because they do not
have the land for large-scale production themselves, and Mercedes Benz has
earmarked R100-million for a natural-fibre project.

But these investors first need the government to follow international
practice and legalise hemp production by distinguishing between hemp and
dagga. The two are distant cousins, with cannabis as their common ancestor.

The health department must learn to tell the rope from the dope, says James
Wynn, the director of the Southern African Hemp Company and an
international expert on the crop.

Like most countries, South Africa outlawed the entire cannabis plant
because of its narcotic effects. But over the years scientists have learned
to calculate the drug levels in different cannabis plants and grow strains
that will not make you high even if you smoke a truck-load.

Those strains are used instead for their seed and their fibres, in
applications which range from oil, fuel and beauty products to clothing,
wood substitute in board and car components. Any request to grow and
process the low-drug strains of hemp must be granted by the Medicines
Control Council (MCC). This has mired production in red tape which means
researchers must be licensed by both the departments of both health and
agriculture.

Every researcher and each experimental farm involved must also apply for a
permit from the MCC. But the council meets only once every six weeks, and
often hemp-permit applications get pushed aside for issues high on the
agenda, like Virodene.

"You can miss a whole season because it can take months before a permit
clears," says Wynn. "At the moment it's like getting a hand-gun permit to
build a shovel."

To play catch-up, South Africa will need to legalise hemp. That will mean
changes to four pieces of legislation. It will also mean that the
regulatory authority should be transferred to the agriculture department,
which is better placed to exploit its economic potential.

"We're losing competitive advantage. There's a broad pattern of interest
and South Africa has a potentially fantastic gene bank," says David Cooper,
an adviser in the agricultural ministry.

Local scientists at the Agricultural Research Council are blending dagga
and hemp to find a strain that will yield more rope and less dope. A
successful local breed could see South Africa one day grow as much hemp as
it does mielies.

The Department of Trade and Industry's spatial development initiatives
along the Wild Coast and in the Eastern Cape and Phalaborwa have already
identified areas where hemp and other natural fibres can be grown for export.

The health department has started a task team to begin considering the
changes. But it must work fast: about 30 other countries are gearing up for
large-scale hemp production. Warns Wynn: "Once markets are flooded, the
price will come down."

Checked-by: Richard Lake