Bill Would Allow Hemp Farming in California

By Steve Lawrence, Associated Press
Source: Associated Press

Sacramento, Calif. -- John Roulac wants to give California agriculture a boost and cut his transportation costs at the same time. Roulac is the founder and chief executive officer of Nutiva, an up-and-coming organic food company that is based in California but that processes and packages most of its products in Canada. The reason: Nutiva sells bars, protein powder, seeds and oil made with hemp, a cousin of marijuana.

Hemp has only a trace of tetrahydrocannabinols, or THC, the drug in marijuana, but hemp can't be legally grown in the United States without a permit from the Drug Enforcement Administration. And the DEA has only allowed an experimental plot in Hawaii, according to Adam Eidinger, a spokesman for Vote Hemp, the lobbying arm of the hemp industry.

So Nutiva contracts with Canadian farmers for its hemp, processes it in Canada and imports the finished products.

"We pay Exxon and Chevron a lot of money for gasoline for truckers," said Roulac. "We'd rather pay that money to California farmers to grow a sustainable crop."

Assemblyman Mark Leno has a bill that could make that happen. The San Francisco Democrat's measure would allow the state Department of Food and Agriculture to issue licenses to grow and process hemp.

Bills similar to Leno's have been introduced in New Hampshire and Oregon. The New Hampshire legislation has passed the House and is awaiting action by the state Senate. North Dakota approved hemp cultivation in 1999, and this year the governor signed a bill allowing the state university to try to develop improved hemp seeds in anticipation of the removal of the federal ban on hemp farming.

Leno's proposal has a "huge potential economic impact," said Johanna Schultz, a spokeswoman for the Hemp Industries Association, which has about 300 members, including nearly 50 in California.

"I foresee a whole bunch of new hemp businesses starting up just because of its availability."

Hemp can be used to make a myriad of products, including clothing, cosmetics, food, paper, rope, jewelry, luggage, sports equipment and toys. As food, hemp is high in essential fatty acids, protein, B vitamins and fiber, its supporters say.

American farmers, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, grew hemp for centuries, often under government mandates or with government subsidies. Copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper, Leno said.

"The strange irony is that we can presently import the entire hemp plant and manufacturers can produce thousands of different products (using hemp) and then sell them," he added. "The one component which is missing out on this is the farmer."

Roulac figures he would save more than $100,000 a year in transportation costs and could cut his prices if he could buy hemp seeds from California growers and process them into food products at a plant he wants to build in Bakersfield.

Michael Bronner said Leno's bill would eliminate the "massive lead times" he has to deal with in getting hemp oil from Canada and Europe for the soap produced by Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, an Escondido company started by his grandfather.

"It would be nice if we could get it right here in San Diego County," he said. "The price would probably be half of what we pay now."

Tom Riley, a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said hemp farming could be used to hide marijuana cultivation by mixing the two plants in the field.

"I hope that legislators would look very carefully at this effort and see what factors there are," he said.

But the bill's supporters say there is little likelihood that a grower would try to mix marijuana with hemp. The two plants grow differently and cross pollination could result in less-potent strains of marijuana, they say.

Marijuana growers, fearing wind-blown hemp pollen could weaken their crops, are among hemp's biggest opponents, along with the DEA, said Roulac. "It's strange bedfellows, isn't it?"

Also, the bill would require hemp to be tested in the fields to ensure that THC levels did not exceed prescribed limits. It also would bar anyone with a criminal conviction from getting a license to grow or process hemp.

"We're quite open to putting together regulatory schemes that meet law enforcement's legitimate concerns," said Alexis Baden-Mayer, director of governmental relations for Vote Hemp.

Leno's bill attempts to get around federal opposition by requiring farmers to sell hemp seeds, stalks and fibers only to California processors to avoid an interstate commerce grounds for federal intervention.

"With that distinction, there's no reason why the federal government should get involved," he said.

Leno said the Bush administration didn't appeal an appeals court decision last year barring the DEA from banning the sale of food products containing hemp. He interpreted the lack of an appeal as "tacit agreement" by the administration that Congress exempted hemp from the Controlled Substances Act.

A U.S. Justice Department spokesman, Charles Miller, wouldn't discuss why the administration decided not to appeal. "We don't make any remarks on why we decline to pursue a case beyond a certain point," he said.

Eidinger, the Vote Hemp spokesman, said the fight over hemp cultivation is likely to end up in the courts, if Congress doesn't pass legislation in the meantime allowing hemp farming.

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, is planning to introduce a bill that would remove any federal roadblocks and allow states to decide if they want their farmers growing hemp.

"I think the courts are leaning our way," Eidinger said. "If you're going this direction on hemp food you might as well go one step further and grow the crop."

California's two major farm organizations, the Western Growers Association and the California Farm Bureau Federation, haven't taken a position on the bill, although spokeswoman Ann Schmidt said the Farm Bureau's directors had a "lively discussion" about it.

The Schwarzenegger administration also hasn't taken a stand, said Jay Van Rein, a spokesman for the Department of Food and Agriculture.

On the Net: http://www.assembly.ca.gov/ -- http://www.thehia.org/ and http://www.votehemp.com/

Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Author: Steve Lawrence, Associated Press
Published: April 5, 2005
Copyright: 2005 The Associated Press
Link to article: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20461.shtml

 

Editorial
Source: Press-Telegram

California businesses can import raw industrial hemp, a type of cannabis plant that has no drug-like properties, and they can manufacture, sell and distribute products made from it. Yet in one of the most absurd, anti-free market ironies of America's misguided war on drugs, California's farmers by law cannot grow it. Again, industrial hemp is not a drug. But because of drug-war hysteria, industrial hemp has become politically linked erroneously to the marijuana plant. Instead of paying California farmers to grow a renewable, environmentally friendly crop that is no more harmful than carrots, hemp- product manufacturers must give their business to overseas farmers, while paying pointless import and transportation fees.

It's time for California to change that.

Since the early 1970s federal law has prohibited industrial hemp cultivation in the U.S. without a special permit from the Drug Enforcement Administration, but the DEA has only granted one such permit, ever, to a small experimental crop in Hawaii.

But a bill recently introduced in the state Legislature, from Bay-area Assemblyman Mark Leno, would allow California to circumvent the federal law. AB 1147 would allow the state Department of Food and Agriculture to issue licenses for farmers to grow and sell industrial hemp within the state. North Dakota approved a similar measure in 1999, and several other states, including Texas and Oregon, are considering allowing industrial hemp farming.

The federal ban on industrial hemp is arguably the most foolish of all drug-war prohibitions. Although hemp is a variety of the cannabis plant, it contains only trace amounts of the intoxicating ingredient of marijuana, known as THC. Experts say it is impossible for anyone to get high from smoking or ingesting industrial hemp.

Furthermore, legalized industrial hemp cultivation could have a tremendous positive economic impact for California. It can be used in hundreds of products including clothing and paper, cosmetics, food, paints and high-strength particle board. It is also highly renewable because a hemp crop can grow to 10 feet and higher in a matter of months, it can supply in a season the paper pulp equivalent to several decades worth of tree growth. It also requires less pesticide and water than cotton crops, so it holds promise as a supplement to cotton in clothing.

The DEA's primary argument against industrial hemp is that it could serve as a camouflage for illicit marijuana growers, but the argument appears flawed. According to horticulturists, marijuana growers would never mix their crops with industrial hemp because it would cross-pollinate and dramatically weaken the potency of marijuana. Some supporters of industrial hemp have suggested that the DEA and illegal marijuana growers are hemp's two strongest opponents, and they're probably right.

Even so, the Leno bill does contain safeguards against marijuana cultivation. It would require testing to ensure THC levels in the crop did not exceed trace amounts, and would prohibit anyone with a criminal conviction from growing hemp.

California ought to allow farmers to grow industrial hemp. The Legislature and Gov. Schwarzenegger, whose pro-business, pro-environmental platform would mesh perfectly with the promotion of industrial hemp, need to give Leno's bill speedy passage into law.

Note: Fear of its drug content is unfounded.

Newshawk: Mayan
Source: Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA)
Published: Thursday, April 07, 2005
Copyright: 2005 Los Angeles Newspaper Group
Contact: speakout@presstelegram.com
Website: http://www.presstelegram.com/
Link to article: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20479.shtml

 

By The Associated Press
Source: Associated Press

Sacramento, CA -- Legislation that would allow California farmers to grow industrial hemp, a distant cousin of marijuana that can be used in making myriad products, has been approved by a state Assembly committee.
The measure by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, cleared the Public Safety Committee on Tuesday night, 4-2, and was sent to the Appropriations Committee, the last stop before the full Assembly.

Hemp is imported to the United States from Canada and other countries and can be used to make clothing, cosmetics, food, paper, rope, jewelry, luggage, sports equipment, toys and a variety of other products.

But hemp can't be legally grown in the United States without a federal Drug Enforcement Administration permit that often is difficult to obtain. Hemp contains a trace of tetrahydrocannabinols, or THC, the drug in marijuana.

Leno's bill would allow California farmers to grow hemp to sell to California manufacturers of hemp products, a limit the bill's supporters hope will avoid legal challenges to the legislation under the U.S. Constitution's interstate commerce clause.

Leno said the bill provides a "great opportunity to assist family farmers."

"California can import the entire plant to manufacture thousands of products, so manufacturers are benefiting from current law, the environment benefits, retailers benefit, consumers benefit," he said. "The only one losing out is the California farmer."

Complete Title: Assembly Committee OKs Bill Letting Farmers Grow Hemp

Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Published: January 11, 2006
Copyright: 2006 The Associated Press
Link to article: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21474.shtml

 

Editorial
Source: Appeal-Democrat

California -- The California Assembly is poised to do something sensible - removing restrictions on an important activity, thereby opening opportunities rather than imposing new regulations or taxes - for once. It would do well to get on with legalizing and regulating industrial hemp.
A fascinating alliance across party lines has emerged behind AB1147, introduced by San Francisco Democrat Mark Leno. Irvine Republican Chuck DeVore, a military veteran and solid conservative, has joined as a principal co-author.

Hemp, of course, is the cannabis plant, also known as marijuana. Although California voters authorized the medical use of marijuana, recreational use - inhaling smoke or vapors from the buds and flowers, which contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - is forbidden. What has been lost by prohibiting recreational use is the fact that other parts of the plant, which do not contain THC, have important uses.

The fiber from the plant's stalk is the strongest natural fiber known and has been (and still is) used to make paper, fabric, rope and other products. (The word “canvas” is derived from “cannabis,” and most sails during the era of the sailing ship were made from hempen fabric.) The stalk also is heavy in cellulose, which can be used in some plastics, building materials and other products. The seeds are edible and have an excellent balance of essential fatty acids. The oil is used in body-care products like lotions, soaps and shampoos.

All these products are legally produced in the United States, constituting a $270 million market this year. While other states, notably North Dakota, have legalized industrial hemp, most of the hemp used in these products is imported, mostly from Canada. Why should California's farmers not be able to benefit from that market?

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap in Escondido, the No. 1 producer of natural soaps in the world, has spent $800,000 in the past five years importing hemp oil from Canada, although Canadian supplies are subject to interruptions due to weather. Nutiva, an organic food company headquartered in Sebastopol, believes it could save $100,000 a year in transportation costs if it could buy hemp seeds from California farmers, according to a paper prepared by Leno's staff after interviews with the companies.

California's climate is better-suited than Canada's to agricultural production of hemp, and it makes a good rotation crop with soybeans, helping to replenish the soil.

Because some 30 countries grow hemp for industrial/commercial purposes, varieties of the plant that are extremely low in THC have been developed. AB1147 allows planting only varieties with less than three-tenths of 1 percent THC in the dried flowering tops. The varieties used for smoking contain 5 percent to 15 percent THC.

Hemp was a commercial crop in California in the early 1900s, and during World War II, the government encouraged farmers to grow hemp when supplies in the Philippines were cut off. Assemblyman Leno told us he has talked to numerous small farmers in the Central Valley who would like to grow hemp because their calculations show they could make more per acre than with crops they are currently growing.

AB1147, which does not legalize recreational use and regulates industrial production, has passed the Public Safety Committee and will be considered in the Appropriations


Committee this week. Passing it would simply be common sense.

Complete Title: Bipartisan Effort Arises To Legalize Industrial Hemp
Source: Appeal-Democrat (CA)
Published: January 18, 2006
Copyright: 2006 Appeal-Democrat
Contact: jcalderon@appealdemocrat.com
Website: http://www.appeal-democrat.com/
Link to article: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21490.shtml

 

By Tom Chorneau, The Associated Press
Source: Associated Press

Sacramento, CA -- A bill approved by the state Assembly Thursday would add California to the growing number of states seeking to legalize the cultivation of industrial hemp - a biological relative of marijuana.
Supporters claim that despite its family links, hemp is a completely safe product that could become a cash crop for California farmers because of its use in a long list of products from soap and cosmetics to rope, jewelry and even luggage.

But even if the measure eventually becomes law, farmers would still face hurdles to actually cultivate the plant because hemp contains trace amounts of a banned substance and may still fall under federal anti-drug rules.

The bill's author, Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, said the Assembly's passage of the measure marks an important milestone.

"This makes sense," said Leno. "It could provide an opportunity of great value to family farmers. This could be a bonanza of job growth."

The bill passed on a vote of 41-30. If senators approve it, it would need the governor's signature. A spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he has not taken a position on the proposal.

Some critics complained that allowing hemp to be grown puts the state on a slippery slope.

"You pass industrial hemp today and then something else and then something else," said Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia. "And then at some point you will get legalized marijuana."

The Drug Enforcement Administration had classified hemp as a controlled substance because an average plant contains small amounts of tetrahydrocannabinols, or THC, the same drug that gives marijuana its intoxicating effect.

Analysts from the Office of National Drug Control Policy said there are also concerns that hemp farms could be used to hide marijuana plants.
But the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2004 that the DEA did not have authority to regulate hemp. Still, Leno said it remains unclear if states have the authority to let farmers cultivate the plants.

Processed hemp imported from other countries is sold throughout the U.S. for manufacturing products. A hemp trade group estimated the annual retail market in the U.S. at $270 million.

A number of states have already passed laws aimed at allowing hemp farming, including Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia.

Although the vote Thursday in the Assembly was largely along party lines, Republican Chuck DeVore of Irvine joined Leno as a co-author.

"This measure does not allow the cultivation of marijuana," DeVore said. "All we are doing is legalizing in the United States what is already being done in 30 different nations."
On the Net: Read the bill, AB 1147, at: http://www.assembly.ca.gov

Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Author: Tom Chorneau, The Associated Press
Published: Thursday, January 26, 2006
Copyright: 2006 The Associated Press
Link to article; http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21525.shtml

 

By Larry Mitchell, Staff Writer
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record

Calif. -- A local Farm Bureau leader sees potential benefits for farmers in a bill that would legalize growing "industrial hemp," a plant related to marijuana.
"If it's something farmers in the area can grow and make money, and it's legal, I don't see any problem with it," said Tod Kimmelshue, a member of the boards of directors of both the state and Butte County Farm Bureau organizations.

Assemblyman Rick Keene, R-Chico, doesn't share Kimmelshue's enthusiasm for Assembly Bill 1147, which passed the Assembly Thursday.

Keene said he and most other Republican Assembly members fear that making it legal to grow industrial hemp would create problems for law enforcement and perhaps encourage drug use.

The bill, authored by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, passed the Assembly by a vote of 44-32. Only one Republican supported the bill, Assemblyman Chuck Devore of Irvine, who co-authored the measure.

According to Leno, in 1937 the federal government mistakenly put hemp in the same category as marijuana because the plants look similar and both contain THC, the intoxicating chemical in marijuana. The difference is that hemp contains only a tiny amount of THC, not enough to have mind-altering effects on people.

Keene said he didn't see any need to legalize growing hemp. He said he was told that if there was cross-pollination between marijuana and hemp, the hemp's THC content could increase.

Keene said the legalization of growing hemp is advocated as "a first step" by those who
wish to legalize growing marijuana.

Leno's bill now moves to the state Senate.

According to a legislative analysis of AB1147, industrial hemp can be used to make paper, clothing, rope, food products, biocomposite products that can replace fiberglass and plastics, biofuel to produce ethanol, and body-care products.

Statistics on hemp grown in Canada show the acreage has risen from 3,200 in 2001 to an estimated 10,000-15,000 in 2005. It is grown through dry-land farming and in irrigated environments. It has little need for pesticide as it shades out competing weeds.

Six states - Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Dakota and Virginia - have made it legal to grow hemp, but so far they only allow limited cultivation for research purposes, the analysis stated.

Kimmelshue said its conceivable hemp could become a viable crop in California.

"Farmers are always looking for new crops to grow," he said. "It all depends on the economics."

As long as hemp was grown for its value as a food, fiber or other products and it couldn't be used as a drug, Kimmelshue said he saw no reason to oppose legalizing its cultivation.

It "could be good for the local economy," he said.

BACKGROUND: Hemp, a relative of marijuana, is illegal to grow in California and most other states.

WHAT'S NEW: The state Assembly, on a party line vote, passed a bill that would allow farmers to raise "industrial hemp," which contains just tiny amounts of the intoxicating chemical in marijuana.

WHAT'S NEXT: The bill, co-authored by a Northern California Democrat and a Southern California Republican, now moves to the Senate.

Newshawk: Mayan
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Author: Larry Mitchell, Staff Writer
Published: January 28, 2006
Copyright: 2006 The Media News Group
Contact: letters@chicoer.com
Website: http://www.chicoer.com/
Link to article: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21530.shtml