BILL FOR INDUSTRIAL HEMP STUDY SHELVED

Lawmakers Worry About Sending Wrong Message

A top supporter of a proposal to allow the University of Illinois to study
industrial hemp said Tuesday he probably won't call his controversial bill
for a vote during the fall veto session.

Rep. Ron Lawfer, R-Stockton, attempted Tuesday to persuade his colleagues
to override Gov. George Ryan's veto of House Bill 3377. But Lawfer withdrew
the bill from consideration after several minutes of debate. The debate
included a comment from Rep. Mary Lou Cowlishaw, R-Naperville, that
approving the bill would send the wrong message to young people about
illegal drugs.

He said later that "unless something changes," he will not seek a vote on
the bill during the veto session, which still has five more days to run.

Lawfer has championed the idea of a study on industrial hemp for a couple
of years. He believes the plant, a biological relative of marijuana, could
become a new cash crop for struggling farmers.

Industrial hemp was grown in Illinois during the early 20th century. Now,
it may not be grown anywhere in the United States without permission.

In other countries, hemp seeds and fibers are used in producing clothes,
paper and other items.

On two occasions, similar industrial hemp bills have won approval in the
Illinois House and Senate. Each time, however, Ryan vetoed them.

HB3377 was a revised version of an earlier industrial hemp bill. Ryan
vetoed it in August, saying that while the bill's supporters are
well-meaning, the measure "plays into the national strategy of groups
seeking to remove existing criminal penalties for cannabis/marijuana
possession and use."

Lawmakers could override the governor's veto with a three-fifths vote in
each chamber, meaning 71 "yes" votes in the House and 36 "yes" votes in the
Senate.

When Lawfer's bill passed last spring, it garnered 72 votes in the House
and 38 in the Senate.

"I wasn't sure that I had 71 votes," Lawfer said Tuesday.

With the upcoming 2002 elections, which will require lawmakers to run in
newly drawn legislative districts, some were reluctant to support the
industrial hemp bill, he said. He declined to name any of them.

One part of Lawfer's bill would require U of I researchers to try to
develop a hemp plant without the psychoactive ingredient THC
(tetrahydrocannabinol), which is also present in marijuana and causes a "high."

Also on Tuesday, the House voted 106-8 to accept Ryan's suggested changes
to House Bill 2412, which would allow beer sales at the University of
Illinois' Memorial Stadium. The bill passed last spring, when the Chicago
Bears were considering a
temporary move to Champaign during Soldier Field's $500 million renovation.
The Bears since have announced they will be playing at Memorial Stadium.

In an amendatory veto message last summer, Ryan said he would accept beer
sales at the stadium, as long as they didn't start until 90 minutes before
kickoff and ceased at the end of the third quarter. Such a change would be
in line with the standards at other professional football stadiums, Ryan said.

To become law, the governor's changes also must pass in the Senate.