FUNDING DIFFICULTIES CLOSE TRIAL HEMP FARM

Investors Hesitated Because The DEA Would Only Issue The Project Interim
Permits

A 4-year-old experimental hemp farm on a quarter acre of land in Wahiawa has
been shut down because investors declined to continue funding the project.

State Rep. Cynthia Thielen (R, Kaneohe-Kailua), who has promoted hemp as an
industrial product, said the small farm was closed because the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration would only give the farm a temporary permit and
investors were not sure of the project's viability.

"The DEA's action on the temporary permits put the project into a nebulous
status and it raised questions," Thielen said.

The state Legislature in 1999 authorized the project to investigate the use of
hemp for industrial and commercial purposes. Former Gov. Ben Cayetano had
welcomed the proposal and even joined in planting the first hemp plants.

The farm started with a $200,000 grant from Alterna Professional Hair Care
Products, which markets a hemp-based shampoo, and then a series of smaller
private donations, Thielen said.

The DEA and the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy initially
opposed the research project, saying hemp farming would send the wrong signal
to young people and would allow marijuana farmers to hide their crops with
industrial hemp plants.

Because hemp is a relative of marijuana -- containing only traces of
tetrahydrocannabinol, the hallucinogenic found in marijuana -- it is illegal to
cultivate.

But Thielen said: "You could roll a joint as big as a telephone pole and you
wouldn't get high."

Her son, Peter, who manufactures hemp clothes on Kauai, had convinced Thielen
that it would be a good alternative crop for Hawaii, but Thielen says the
project has closed.

"We gave it a valiant try, but ultimately, because of inaction by the federal
government, we were unable to continue. Canada and France and other countries
will be making the money," Thielen said.

The decision to cancel the project was made by David West, the hemp project
director and principal investigator, who voluntarily surrendered his hemp
growing license.

Briane Grey, DEA assistant special agent in charge, said yesterday that the DEA
supervised the destruction of the remaining six pounds of hemp seeds and hemp
plants at the Wahiawa facility.