HEMP TRIALS 'HAVE WIDER AGENDA', SAYS HEATLEY

Phil Heatley has attacked proposed legislation allowing industrial hemp
crops as a "stalking horse" for legalising cannabis.

Green MP Nandor Tanczos has proposed a law change removing hemp from the
Misuse of Drugs Act, making it legal to grow it in New Zealand. But his
bill has been put on hold until the results of hemp trials are known.

A report on the first year of trials was presented to a select committee
yesterday.

It found there had been good liaison between police and growers and that
there were no security breaches.

The report identified some problems, including the lack of horticultural
expertise among some growers, which resulted in an inappropriate
application of fertiliser and inadequate pest control.

Birds seriously depleted the hemp seed harvest. One trialist lost 99 per
cent of his seed to birds and in another case quails ate seedlings.

The select committee discussed whether the birds could spread the seed and
cause cross-pollination of illicit cannabis.

Hemp is a variety of cannabis but has low levels (0.3 per cent) of THC, the
psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.

It can be used to make paper, cloth and boards and its seeds can be made
into oil or flour.

Mr Heatley said easily spread hemp seeds would undermine the ability of
police to control illicit drugs.

"The slap-happy approach to the trial indicates it is simply a stalking
horse to a wider agenda." He said it allowed Mr Tanczos to chip away at
legislation outlawing cannabis.

Mr Heatley was also concerned that there had been no Environmental Risk
Management Authority study to ensure the trials were safe and to check the
imported seed used.

But Mr Tanczos said Mr Heatley was being dishonest and misrepresenting
evidence to the select committee.

Mr Tanczos said if hemp pollinated illegal cannabis crops it would reduce
the potency of the drug.

Also, marijuana growers grew only female plants so there was no risk of
their crops pollinating hemp.

"If Phil Heatley can't tell the difference between jeans and a joint then
he shouldn't be in Parliament," said Mr Tanczos.

He said the select committee would hear other evidence and submissions once
the trials had been completed.

It was likely a report on the environmental impact of hemp growing would be
prepared.

In last year's trials, crops were grown by licensed growers in Geraldine,
Bulls, Waverley, Takapau, Methven, Pelorus Sound, Matamata, Motueka,
Pohangina Valley, Himatangi, Ashburton, Leeston, Rakaia and Greytown.

The Ministry of Health report found South Island crops had grown better
than those in the north. It also identified three crops containing THC
levels over the allowable maximum of 0.35 per cent. These were destroyed
under police supervision and the seed would not be used in further trials.

The report said any legislation to remove hemp from the Misuse of Drugs Act
would need to include provision for a regulatory regime similar to that of
the trials.