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DEA'S HANGUP OVER INDUSTRIAL HEMP ISN'T HEALTHY
The Miami Herald | Tue, Feb. 24, 2004

By Bert Caldwell, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Feb. 24- Here's some good news you don't have to inhale: The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals two weeks ago blocked a federal government effort to ban the sale of foods that contain hemp.

The ruling, if it stands, pries open just a little bit more the door to the growing and processing of industrial hemp, the non-hallucinogenic strain of the cannabis plant that has more uses than a Swiss knife. Palouse farmers could benefit mightily if they were again able to cultivate a crop not only good for their pocketbooks, but for their soil as well.

Hemp production has been banned in the United States since 1937, although farmers won a reprieve during World War II because hemp fiber was needed to make rope. The law permitted the use of hemp derivatives like seeds, oil and fabric, all of which have to be imported. But the Drug Enforcement Administration two years ago issued new rules that would block the sale of food containing either hemp seed or oil that contained even traces of tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical that gives cannabis its kick.

The Hemp Industry Association, representing 200 members, sued and won. The DEA has not yet decided whether to appeal the Feb. 6 Circuit Court ruling.

The association estimates the sales of products that include hemp at about $200 million annually. Some are made in Washington. Nature's Path, which has a manufacturing plant in Blaine, sells HempPlus granola and waffles in specialty stores like Huckleberry's and supermarkets like Fred Meyer. Other Washington companies make garments, even a hemp beer.

Association Executive Director Candi Penn says many companies that want to get into hemp goods have stayed on the sideline pending the outcome of the California case. She expects them to jump in if the ruling stands.

In Spokane, entrepreneur Jill Smith has been a hemp advocate since 1999, when EarthGoods LLC began importing hemp fabric for use by designers like Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. Now, as owner of Mother Nature's Yarns, she sells hemp and hemp/wool yarns.

Thirty other nations grow the stuff. Why don't we, she asks.

"Industrial hemp has a tremendous agricultural value," Smith says. "There are a lot of farmers around here that would like to grow it." Besides its cash value, she says, hemp improves soil by leaching out contaminants, and adding nitrogen. Its deep roots fight erosion. Spokane could benefit by becoming a processing center. The need for new farm implements to grow and harvest hemp would create new opportunities for manufacturers such as Cheney Weeder and RAHCO International.

But, Smith says, there will be little pressure from farmers to grow hemp until they see a market, and DEA's rules were just another way of discouraging demand.

Eric Steemstra, president of Virginia-based Vote Hemp, dismisses DEA concerns that growers of marijuana will use fields of industrial hemp to hide their plants. Other nations prevent such deception by licensing hemp growers, requiring the purchase of seed from a registered seller, and the designation of growing areas, sometimes with coordinates that can be checked with a global-positioning system.

Marijuana growers would be foolish to plant near industrial hemp, Steemstra adds. Cross-pollination would ruin the potency of the illicit crop.

Steemstra says agricultural interests are increasing the pressure on lawmakers to allow hemp cultivation. Some organizations representing state officials have called for an easing of restrictions on the growing of hemp, and several states have passed laws regulating the industry should it be allowed to get a foothold. Montana is one of them. No such bill has been introduced in Washington.

Still, the DEA is in the driver's seat, somewhat ironic given the fact there are two million cars on the road that incorporate hemp mats lighter and more environmentally friendly than Fiberglas. The agency effectively quashed an effort to test-grow hemp in Hawaii. Now, North Dakota is looking for an OK to do research.

Globally, industrial hemp is a nearly $1 billion crop. The value of crop grown in the United States? Zero. This for a nation with an ugly trade deficit, and one exporting jobs by the thousands. U.S. policy on hemp is so wrong, makes you wonder if someone's been smoking something.