LAWMAKER PROPOSES LEGALIZING POT FOR MEDICAL USE, GROWING HEMP FOR CASH

Associated Press, 12/01/97 07:48

KEENE, N.H. (AP) New Hampshire farmers who want to grow hemp as a cash
crop have little more than fields of dreams, but a Keene lawmaker wants
to change those dreams into a reality.

State Rep. Timothy Robertson is sponsoring one bill to allow residents
to grow and sell hemp as a cash crop, and another legalizing marijuana
use for medicinal purposes.

This is the first time the legalization of either hemp or medicinal
marijuana has been proposed in New Hampshire. A more controversial bill
Robertson sponsored last year that would have made marijuana possession
a misdemeanor failed.

``It's a subject we ought to be discussing in this country,'' Robertson
said.

Mark Lathrop of Chesterfield said growing hemp would bring him as much
as $1,500 an acre per year. Lathrop grew 10 acres of hay this year that
he didn't even bother to cut because it wasn't good enough for horses to
eat.

``If I was allowed to grow hemp, I could pay my mortgage,'' he said.

Robertson, a 65yearold Democrat, said he is old enough to have seen
the effects of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana use. He said marijuana
``didn't seem to have the destructive force that the other two drugs
had.''

But Robertson said he is not an advocate of recreational use of any
drug. ``I just think prohibition doesn't work,'' he said.

At least 36 states have laws allowing medicinal use of the drug, but
federal law prohibits it. When state and federal laws conflict, the more
stringent law applies.

New Hampshire already allows medicinal use of marijuana under strict
conditions. It is given only to patients receiving radiation or
chemotherapy.

While patients can get a prescription for medical marijuana, the federal
government won't allow pharmacies to issue the drug. The prescription
would be for ``cannabistype drugs.'' That means Marinol, a pill
containing the active ingredient in marijuana.

Those who want to grow hemp say the crop has been unfairly painted with
the same brush used to disparage marijuana legalization efforts.

Marijuana and hemp can come from the same plant, cannabis sativa, which
can either be cultivated to produce marijuana or made into fiber for
commercial products, such as clothes, rope or other items.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency vehemently opposes letting people grow
hemp. Officials say legalizing hemp would create cover for those wishing
to grow marijuana.

``The cultivation of the marijuana plant exclusively for commercial,
industrial purposes has many associated risks relating to diversion into
the illicit drug traffic,'' said Gwen Phillips, a spokeswoman for DEA.

Robertson said his bill has enough safeguards to prevent abuse. It only
allows for plants with 1 percent or less of marijuana's active
ingredient. Seeds would have to be obtained through the state Department
of Agriculture and hemp growers would have to be licensed.

The hemp bill is in the House's Environment and Agriculture Committee
and has received a favorable response, according to Robertson.

``It should come out of that committee with a recommendation to pass,''
he said.

His bill on medical marijuana soon will be heading to either the Health,
Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee or the Criminal Justice and
Public Safety Committee.

He hopes that even if the bills fail, his fellow representatives will at
least think about it. As long as he is in office, he plans to push the
issue.

``When they hear testimony, some of it will stick in their head and what
they think one year will change the next year,'' Robertson said.