HEMP TO TURN KING COTTON?

A new bill to legalize industrial hemp passed the state
Assembly last week, and some believe it could provide the North Coast
with significant economic benefit.

Assembly Bill 1147 would make legal the growing of hemp, a material
that can be used to make everything from fabric and rope to soap and
jewelry. It still has to get by the state Senate and gain the
signature of the governor, but even then farmers can't just start
growing the marijuana cousin.

Because it contains trace amounts of THC -- the psychoactive chemical
in marijuana -- it still falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Agency.

But some people here -- conservatives and liberals alike -- think the
legalization of the plant could help the region"s economy.

North Coast Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka, co-athored the
bill.

"People should be able to farm it," she said. "It's useful for so many
products. It's not a marijuana issue, it's a manufacturing issue."

"It's definitely a good thing," said Arcata Councilman Dave Meserve.
"Hemp has so many different uses industrially and to me it's a totally
separate issue from marijuana."

Meserve said hemp has almost no psychoactive properties.

"I think this provides a new opportunity for farmers to grow an
industrial crop here, since we do know that the related species grows
very well in this climate," Meserve said.

He refers to the region's reputation for producing high-quality
marijuana.

Republican stalwart Mike Harvey said he too believes that the
potential legalization of hemp could be a good thing for Humboldt County.

"I personally don't have a problem with industrial hemp as a commodity
on the market," he said. "It's a viable economic option, as long as it
doesn't go down that slippery slope to the legalization of marijuana."

In a press release issued this week, the bill's author, Assemblyman
Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, said it would be an economic positive for
the state's farmers.

"California farmers are missing out on a multimillion-dollar market
that already exists in California," he said. "Hundreds of hemp
products are made right here in California, but manufacturers are
forced to import hemp seed, oil and fiber from other countries. This
measure will put California at the top of a $270 million industry
that's growing by $26 million each year."

But some critics complained that allowing hemp to be grown puts the
state on a slippery slope.

"You pass industrial hemp today and then something else and then
something else," said Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia. "And
then at some point you will get legalized marijuana."