INDUSTRIAL HEMP'S TIME HAS COME

The California Assembly is poised to do something sensible - removing
restrictions on an important activity, thereby opening opportunities,
rather than imposing new regulations or taxes - for once. It would do
well to get on with legalizing and regulating industrial hemp.

A fascinating alliance across party lines has emerged behind AB1147,
introduced by San Francisco Democrat Mark Leno. Irvine Republican
Chuck DeVore, a military veteran and solid conservative, has joined
as a principal co-author.

Hemp, of course, is the cannabis plant, also known as marijuana.
Although California voters authorized the medical use of marijuana,
recreational use - inhaling smoke or vapors from the buds and
flowers, which contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - is forbidden.
What has been lost by prohibiting recreational use is the fact that
other parts of the plant, which do not contain THC, have important uses.

The fiber from the plant's stalk is the strongest natural fiber known
and has been (and still is) used to make paper, fabric, rope and
other products. (The word "canvas" is derived from "cannabis," and
most sails during the era of the sailing ship were made from hempen
fabric.) The stalk also is heavy in cellulose, which can be used in
some plastics, building materials and other products. The seeds are
edible and have an excellent balance of essential fatty acids. The
oil is used in body-care products like lotions, soaps and shampoos.

All these products are legally produced in the United States,
constituting a $270 million market this year. While other states,
notably North Dakota, have legalized industrial hemp, most of the
hemp used in these products is imported, mostly from Canada. Why
should California's farmers not be able to benefit from that market?

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap in Escondido, the No. 1 producer of natural
soaps in the world, has spent $800,000 in the past five years
importing hemp oil from Canada, although Canadian supplies are
subject to interruptions due to weather. Nutiva, an organic food
company headquartered in Sebastopol, believes it could save $100,000
a year in transportation costs if it could buy hemp seeds from
California farmers, according to a paper prepared by Mr. Leno's staff
after interviews with the companies.

California's climate is better-suited than Canada's to agricultural
production of hemp, and it makes a good rotation crop with soybeans,
helping to replenish the soil.

Because some 30 countries grow hemp for industrial/commercial
purposes varieties of the plant that are extremely low in THC have
been developed. AB1147 allows planting only varieties with less than
three-tenths of 1 percent THC in the dried flowering tops. The
varieties used for smoking contain 5 percent to 15 percent THC.

Hemp was a commercial crop in California in the early 1900s, and
during World War II the government encouraged farmers to grow hemp
when supplies in the Philippines were cut off. Assemblyman Leno told
us he has talked to numerous small farmers in the Central Valley who
would like to grow hemp because their calculations show they could
make more per acre than with crops they are currently growing.

AB1147, which does not legalize recreational use and regulates
industrial production, has passed the Public Safety Committee and
will be considered in the Appropriations Committee this week. Passing
it would simply be common sense.