GOVERNOR AGAIN TURNS DOWN LIMITED HEMP FARMING BILL

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a hemp farming
bill for the second time.

The Republican governor announced Thursday that he had turned down a
measure by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, that would have
authorized a five-year program under which farmers in four counties
- -- Imperial, Kings, Mendocino and Yolo -- could grow hemp in plots of
up to five acres.

Hemp is a distant cousin of marijuana but contains only traces of
THC, the drug that gives marijuana its intoxicating effect.

It's legal to grow hemp in more than 30 countries, and the plant can
be imported into the United States and used in a wide variety of
products, including food and clothing.

But it can't be grown legally in the U.S. without a nearly
impossible-to-obtain permit from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Leno attempted to avoid federal restrictions by requiring farmers to
sell the hemp only to California processors. That way, they could
avoid interstate commerce that could bring federal intervention.

Leno came back with a narrower measure after Schwarzenegger vetoed a
bill last year that would have allowed any California farmer to grow
hemp. But the governor still cited the federal restrictions in his
veto message.

"Under federal law, all cannabis plants, regardless of variety or THC
content, are simply considered to be 'marijuana,' which is a
federally regulated controlled substance," he said, adding that
failure to get a permit to grow it could lead to criminal charges.