LAWMAKERS UNITE TO HELP LEGALIZE HEMP FARMING

SACRAMENTO - The most liberal Democratic lawmakers from the Bay Area
and the most conservative Republican legislators from Southern
California have jointly rolled together a bill allowing farmers to
grow cannabis -- the hemp variety, not pot.

U.S. congressmen from the Bay Area are among those who have
introduced a similar measure in Washington, redefining industrial
cannabis used in fine clothing and other goods as an agricultural
product and not a drug.

Farming of hemp, a variety of cannabis that would not get people high
even if they smoked piles of the weed, was banned amid the nation's
war on drugs.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in hemp fiber for clothing, seeds for
human consumption and oil for soap are imported annually, mostly from
Canada, according to bill supporters.

Even Giorgio Armani -- whose clothes are a special favorite of
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles -- uses hemp in his
products, according to USAgNet, an Internet-based agricultural
information service.

One of the authors of AB684, Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco,
said the hemp ban is out of date, comparing the "trace amounts of THC
(Tetrahydrocannabinols) in industrial hemp" to "trace amounts of
opium in poppy seeds on your bagel."

Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, says hemp is no more like pot
than poodles are like wolves.

Law enforcement agencies argue that marijuana plants could be hidden
amid hemp, since it has the same 11-point leaf.

Bill supporters, however, say growers of both would fear
cross-pollination -- a development that would ruin both crops.

Hemp has 0.3 percent of the psychoactive drug, compared to marijuana,
which contains up to 15 percent.

Vote Hemp, an advocacy group, said Wednesday that it thinks
hemp-farming backers are going to reach the end of their longtime
effort this year, citing a Zogby International poll they commissioned
last month that shows support from 71 percent of Californians.

Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, and all age
groups, liked the idea of legalizing hemp farming.

In the Central Valley, farmers are anxious to grow hemp, which is
more lucrative than many other crops, according to proponents.

Nutiva, an organic food company with headquarters in Sebastopol,
thinks it could save $100,000 a year in transportation costs if it
could buy hemp seeds in California, supporters said.

The Legislature passed a bill similar to AB684 last year but Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it, saying that "under current federal
statutes there is no definition of 'industrial hemp,' nor is there a
distinction between cannabis plants based on THC content.

"All cannabis plants, regardless of variety or THC content, are
simply considered to be 'marijuana', which is a federally regulated
'Schedule I' controlled substance."

But Democratic Reps. George Miller of Martinez, Pete Stark of Fremont
and Lynn Woolsey of Santa Rosa are among a group of bipartisan
congressional members who are trying to change that federal law,
under legislation they introduced last month.

Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger's office said the GOP governor has not
taken a position on AB684, co-authored by Assemblywoman Patty Berg,
D-Eureka, and two members of his own party -- Assemblymen Chuck
DeVore of Irvine and Anthony Adams of Claremont.

Hemp was a commercial crop in California in the early 1900s. During
World War II the government encouraged farmers to grow hemp for rope,
with a "Hemp for Victory" campaign, when supplies from the
Philippines were cut off.

The plant's stalk provides the strongest known natural fiber. It also
is heavy in cellulose, which can be used in some plastics, such as
shower curtains, building materials and auto products.

The seeds, which contain essential fatty acids, are used in
everything from health foods to fast-food snacks. The oil is used in
body-care products such as lotions, soaps and shampoos.