INDUSTRIAL HEMP CONCERNS LINGERING

Lizards and snakes belong to the same family, but they are not the same.
The same can be said of the differences between industrial hemp and
marijuana, said Sen. Karen Facemyer, R-Jackson, when she introduced Senate
Bill 447.

Her approach worked. West Virginia soon will be ready to begin production
of industrial hemp for commercial use, despite hesitant law enforcement
officials.

The bill, recently signed by Gov. Bob Wise, states farmers can sell
industrial hemp after obtaining a license from the state agricultural
commissioner. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the West
Virginia State Police have not made their stances clear on the use of
industrial hemp.

According to the bill, the Legislature determined the development and use
of industrial hemp is in the best interest of the economy.

The bill does not legalize marijuana, Facemyer said.

Delegate J.D. Beane, D-Wood, who voted in favor of the bill, said Facemyer
was instrumental in clarifying the difference between industrial hemp and
marijuana.

"There's been a lot of misunderstanding about it, and I think she was able
to gather information about it from national publications," Beane said.

Facemyer said the idea came from an agriculture conference she attended six
years ago in Hawaii. State officials were searching for a replacement for
their waning pineapple industry. They chose industrial hemp, she said.

According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
(NORML), hemp is a distinct variety of Cannabis Sativa L. Studies show it
contains less than 1 percent of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary
psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

According to NORML's Web site, hemp produces a much higher yield per acre
than common substitutes, such as cotton, and requires fewer pesticides.

Hemp has an average growing cycle of 100 days, and leaves the soil
virtually weed-free for the next planting.

Hemp is harvested for commercial use in more than 30 nations, including
Canada, Japan and the European Union. It grows wild across much of America,
NORML officials said. It is used in products ranging from rope to men and
women's lingerie.

National retailers and manufacturers import roughly 1.9 million pounds of
hemp fiber, 450,000 pounds of hemp seeds and 331 pounds of hemp seed oil
from Canada and other nations each year, statistics show. Facemyer said the
U.S. imports more than $300,000 worth of hemp for industrial use annually.

"It's not only been used in rope and paper," she said. "Toyota and Mercury
have been using it for dashboards instead of Fiberglass and in the seat
belts because it's stronger."

Delegate John Ellem, R-Wood, said Facemyer's bill was a "sad waste of time."

"First of all, no matter how much they want to say it's related, but not
marijuana, the underlying ingredient is THC," he said. "We didn't need to
waste time on this. My whole bottom line is we have better things to do
than regulating and allowing industrial hemp to be grown."

Ellem was one of the few lawmakers who voted against the bill. He called
the bill "unworkable," citing the "loops" a grower would have to go through
to get a license.

"I'm offended something like this could get through to Legislature, but my
efforts in fighting meth died in the committee," Ellem said. "I think it
shows our priorities are off. They're calling it a economic bill, but I
think it's a poor excuse for economic development. I guess you can say I'm
blasting the bill, but I don't care."

Facemyer said she considers the bill one of the biggest economic
development projects during the 2002 session. She said arguing over bills
that eventually died was a waste of time.

Ellem said industrial hemp is too close to marijuana for comfort.
Parkersburg police Chief Bob Newell said the legalization of industrial
hemp shouldn't increase marijuana abuse, especially since a license must be
obtained to grow it.

Facemyer said industrial hemp grown in the vicinity of marijuana causes
cross-pollination, which significantly reduces the amount of THC in the
nearby pot patches.

Randy Coleman, communications director for the state Department of Military
Affairs and Public Safety in Charleston, said the state police is
researching the situation.

"We're trying as quickly as we can to get educated on the matter," he said.
"All I can tell you is we are going to enforce the law. The state police is
not going to make a value judgment on the quality of the law." Coleman said
there was concern when the bill was passed regarding marijuana searches in
the state.

"The concern law enforcement has is they do fly overs. They pinpoint crops
and things, and they're just wondering how you're going to know who's got a
permit," he said.

Equipment used to search for marijuana, which was tested in West Virginia,
can tell the difference between industrial hemp and pot, Facemyer said.

"If it's marijuana, it has all its leaves," she said. "Industrial hemp is
stripped of its leaves to a certain point."

Facemyer said she hoped ambiguities in federal laws would be resolved by
the time the state is ready to begin commercial production. "I think
there's still resistance there, but my understanding is it's coming closer
all the time," she said. "We need to look at it. I want to make sure
everything is done legally. DEA, please come in here and tell us what we
can do to follow your regulations so we can make this a crop the farmers
can live on."

Environmentalists support the use of hemp over clear-cutting trees for
paper products. Staples office supply stores, in an effort to find
environmental alternatives for wasteful paper production, recently
announced they will begin carrying hemp/flax paper in more than 1,000
stores by Earth Day this year.