HEALTHY HEMP

A visiting hemp specialist from Finland says New Zealand should re-visit
its decision to make hemp-growing and marujiana illegal and should not
"declare war" on any plant.

Jace Callaway says he is passionate about hemp and its health-giving
properties as well as its uses as a fibre plant.

He is in New Zealand to look at hemp crops throughout the country,
including the trial at Feilding which is testing the effluent absorbion
rate of the crop.

Dr Callaway, an associate professor at Kuopio University in Finland, says
clinical studies on hemp oil show it clears ezcema and is good for other
skin complaints as well as making hair thicker and fingernails harder.

He says studies suggest people taking one or two tablespoons of the oil on
a regular basis do not succumb to flu as the oil seems to build up their
immune systems.

"It is a green oil which is nutty and tastes quite nice. It's not like flax
oil, which tastes like dirt to me, and it's not really oily like olive oil.
I don't think any oil is really nice, but it's palatable," Dr Callaway says.

He has been trialling a new variety, "finola", which is a short hemp plant
which produces a lot of seed very early. The seeds produce hemp oil when
they are pressed.

It is illegal to grow hemp in New Zealand unless it is licenced.

Hemp is the low THC variety of Cannabis sativa, which means it has no
mind-altering capabilities.

"It is illegal here because of 75 years of propaganda from North America,
where hemp is defined as just another part of the marujiana plant," Dr
Callaway says. It is time New Zealand made the plant legal and he expects
that to happen in the next five years.

"There is no other plant that can give so many raw materials - it gives
food for stock, fibre and gives a healthy oil."

Ministers in Australia and New Zealand voted unanimously to uphold the
current situation which bans the use of hemp for human consumption.

Hemp products can be imported and the industry is estimated to be worth $1
million a year.

Dr Callaway believes marujiana should also be made legal but people should
not drive under its influence, nor should children be able to use it.

"It could be regulated, just like any other drug such as tobacco or alcohol."