News (Media Awareness Project) - Canada: Hemp Industry Given New Life |
| Title: | Canada: Hemp Industry Given New Life |
| Published On: | 1998-03-19 |
| Source: | The London Free Press |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-07 13:43:06 |
HEMP INDUSTRY GIVEN NEW LIFE
TILLSONBURGThe Canadian hemp industry was reborn here Friday with more than
100 people cramming into an afternoon news conference to watch Federal
Health Minister Allan Rock act as midwife.
As of today, the cultivation and commercial use of hemp for the first time
in 60 years is now legal in this country, Rock told a vigorously applauding
audience, which included farmers, crop scientists, farm machinery companies
and business people already building hemp-processing plants.
Hemp was banned along with marijuana in 1938 because it contained a small
amount of the same psychoactive ingredient, THC.
The regulations released by Rock Friday to allow farmers to grow hemp put
tight controls on the varieties grown to ensure the hemp has no psychoactive
effect.
Rock, who credited the rural members of Parliament with making him aware of
the value of hemp, extolled the virtues of the crop.
Hemp can be used as a wood substitute, as a textile, in clothing, rope,
automotive parts and as a food source, Rock said.
Rock said hemp will not only be a new crop for farmers, but it will mean new
products and new jobs.
It is an absolutely remarkable product that, for 60 years, we have not been
able to use in this country because of an outdated philosophy. Thank
goodness those days are gone, Rock said.
Rock, who angered many in rural areas when he was justice minister for
stiffening Canadas gun control laws, emphasized the need to be sensitive to
the rural perspective in Canada.
Legalizing hemp production is tangible proof that the federal government
does look at issues through a rural lens, he said.
Rock was credited by John Finlay, Liberal MP for Oxford, with pushing senior
bureaucrats in his department to have the regulations in place to allow
commercial hemp production this year.
Estimates before Rock took over as health minister were that the regulations
would not be ready until 1999 or 2000.
We are here today because this minister made it his personal priority,
Finlay said.
For farmers to grow hemp and businesses to process the crop, they must be
licensed by Health Canada.
Rock said his department is aiming to process applications within 10 days.
The regulations also specify that farmers cannot grow less than four
hectares, that only approved seed can be grown and crop will be tested for
the THC levels.
TILLSONBURGThe Canadian hemp industry was reborn here Friday with more than
100 people cramming into an afternoon news conference to watch Federal
Health Minister Allan Rock act as midwife.
As of today, the cultivation and commercial use of hemp for the first time
in 60 years is now legal in this country, Rock told a vigorously applauding
audience, which included farmers, crop scientists, farm machinery companies
and business people already building hemp-processing plants.
Hemp was banned along with marijuana in 1938 because it contained a small
amount of the same psychoactive ingredient, THC.
The regulations released by Rock Friday to allow farmers to grow hemp put
tight controls on the varieties grown to ensure the hemp has no psychoactive
effect.
Rock, who credited the rural members of Parliament with making him aware of
the value of hemp, extolled the virtues of the crop.
Hemp can be used as a wood substitute, as a textile, in clothing, rope,
automotive parts and as a food source, Rock said.
Rock said hemp will not only be a new crop for farmers, but it will mean new
products and new jobs.
It is an absolutely remarkable product that, for 60 years, we have not been
able to use in this country because of an outdated philosophy. Thank
goodness those days are gone, Rock said.
Rock, who angered many in rural areas when he was justice minister for
stiffening Canadas gun control laws, emphasized the need to be sensitive to
the rural perspective in Canada.
Legalizing hemp production is tangible proof that the federal government
does look at issues through a rural lens, he said.
Rock was credited by John Finlay, Liberal MP for Oxford, with pushing senior
bureaucrats in his department to have the regulations in place to allow
commercial hemp production this year.
Estimates before Rock took over as health minister were that the regulations
would not be ready until 1999 or 2000.
We are here today because this minister made it his personal priority,
Finlay said.
For farmers to grow hemp and businesses to process the crop, they must be
licensed by Health Canada.
Rock said his department is aiming to process applications within 10 days.
The regulations also specify that farmers cannot grow less than four
hectares, that only approved seed can be grown and crop will be tested for
the THC levels.
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