AG HEMP MEASURE APPROVED BY SENATE

Late Tuesday night, the California Senate passed a bill that would
allow four counties, including Mendocino County, to participate in a
pilot program to test the viability of growing industrial hemp in California.

Assembly Bill 684, sponsored by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San
Francisco) and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine), would institute a
five-year program to test the viability of growing industrial hemp in
California with pilot programs in Mendocino, Imperial, Kings and Yolo counties.

The bill now goes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for approval or veto.

The bill is an amended version of one that passed both the Assembly
and Senate in 2006, but was vetoed by Schwarzenegger. It has been
amended to address his concerns.

"The bill is a response to the governor's detailed veto last year,"
said Patrick Goggin, legal counsel for Vote Hemp.

It defines industrial hemp as a hemp plant containing less than
three-tenths of 1 percent THC, the psychoactive chemical in
marijuana. Crops will be sampled, and if the amount of THC exceeds 1
percent the crop will be destroyed.

Mendocino County Agricultural Commissioner Dave Bengston said
Mendocino County was likely chosen as one of the pilot counties
because of its reputation for marijuana cultivation.

Some of the critics of legalized hemp have said growing the plant
would allow those growing marijuana to hide an illegal crop with a legal one.

Bengston said any attempt to do that would meet with failure because
the hemp would cross pollinate the marijuana and render it useless as a drug.

Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman has said he does not expect to
have a problem with the bill, should it be signed into law, because
of the provisions it contains on allowable THC.

More than 30 countries grow industrial hemp, some of which is
exported to the United States. Increased sales of hemp products have
increased hemp farming in Canada, where 48,000 acres of the plant
were farmed in 2006, according to Vote Hemp.

Industrial hemp can be made into numerous items, including food,
clothing, paper, body-care products, bio-fuels and auto parts.

According to Leno, passage of AB 684 would give California farmers
access to a $270 million industry that is growing at the rate of $26
million a year.