« City Council and LAPD at odds over medicinal marijuana | Main | Compassion club must first become wheelchair accesible »
Cultivation of industrial hemp is unambiguously illegal under federal law
By Hempology | August 22, 2007
San Francisco Chronicle, CA
20 Aug 2007
Haley Davies
LEGISLATORS TO CONSIDER LEGALIZING THE CULTIVATION OF HEMP
State legislators are expected to consider a measure this week that would allow hemp to be grown in California, rekindling the debate over whether such a move would increase cultivation of illegal marijuana and conflict with federal laws regulating the drug.
A committee of the state Senate is scheduled today to review legislation to permit California farmers to grow industrial hemp. The bill – AB684 – would establish a five-year pilot program in several California counties and define “industrial hemp” as separate from “marijuana” under the state’s Health and Safety Code.
Last year, a similar bill reached the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, but he vetoed it, saying he was “very concerned that this bill would give legitimate growers a false sense of security and a belief that production of ‘industrial hemp’ is somehow a legal activity under federal law.”
The new bill was co-authored by Assemblymen Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, and Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine ( Orange County ), the same lawmakers who pushed last year’s hemp legislation.
“It’s such an incredible crop,” said Leno, referring to the versatility of hemp.
Hemp seed oil is used in soaps, lotions, shampoos and deodorant, as well as in such foods as hemp milk, snack bars, shakes and candy. The oil also can be converted into fully biodegradable plastics. Hemp fibers are used to make clothing and paper.
Similar to the marijuana consumed for recreational or medicinal use, hemp is a form of the plant Cannabis sativa L. But unlike marijuana, hemp has less than 1 percent of tetrahydrocannabinol – or THC, the plant’s primary psychoactive ingredient – making it ineffective for use as a drug.
“You would die of smoke inhalation before you’re going to get high on this stuff,” said John LaBoyteaux, a certified organic farmer from Humboldt County who testified before the Legislature in support of an industrial hemp proposal last year.
The current bill would require that industrial hemp contain no more than three-tenths of 1 percent of THC. For the state, farmers would have to: attain a growers’ permit; report the progress of the crop’s growth; test and keep copies of the test report proving the crops’ THC content; and use a GPS tracking system to monitor their crop’s movement through the state.
Restrictions on growing hemp in the United States are partly a result of federal laws that classify all cannabis plants as illegal because of a “high potential for abuse.”
“Cultivation of industrial hemp is unambiguously illegal under federal law,” said John Lovell, a lobbyist for the California Narcotic Officers’ Association who has repeatedly testified against hemp bills.
Hemp farming is legal in more than 30 countries in Asia, Europe and North America. Great Britain lifted its ban in 1993, followed by Germany in 1996 and Canada in 1998. China is one of the largest exporters of hemp fiber, while Canada accounts for the majority of hemp seed and seed oil exports. According to a Congressional report, the United States is the only industrialized nation where hemp is not an established crop.
According to Vote Hemp, a hemp advocacy group, 28 U.S. states have introduced hemp research or farming legislation since 1995, and 15 have passed such measures. In addition to California, hemp bills are pending in Hawaii, Minnesota, Oregon, South Carolina and Wisconsin.
Charles Meyers, a third-generation farmer in Kings County near Bakersfield, said he has grown cotton on his family’s land for nearly 40 years but would like to grow hemp as he prepares to pass the business on to his two sons.
“I don’t know what the big deal is,” he said of opposition to the California legislation.
Schwarzenegger has not taken a position on the current version of the hemp law, which would limit cultivation to four of the state’s 58 counties – Kings, Imperial, Mendocino and Yolo.
Groups representing law enforcement officers oppose the measure, concerned that marijuana growers would be able to hide their illegal crop inside legal hemp fields. Lovell said law enforcement techniques such as aerial surveillance would be unable to distinguish the crops.
Jeff Jones, director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative and a hemp retailer, said, “None of these hemp farmers are going to risk their permits to do something that’s illegal.”
Topics: Articles | Comments Off
Comments are closed.