Assembly Mulls Hemp Bill

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/March/07/local/stories/01local.htm
Santa Cruz Sentinel
March 7, 2005

Assembly mulls industrial hemp bill
By BRIAN SEALS
SENTINEL STAFF WRITER

SANTA CRUZ - Move over, strawberries?

Step aside, lettuce?

OK, that's probably an exaggeration. The top cash crops of the
Central Coast likely won't be supplanted in economic importance, but
the distant cousin of one of the area's more illicit crops could hold
promise for the state's farmers: hemp.

Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, is pushing a bill that would
allow California farmers to grow industrial hemp. That comes about a
year after the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the federal
government did not have the authority to regulate hemp under the 1970
Controlled Substance Act.

Organic farmers are seeing green. Money, that is.

Supporters of AB 1147 say hemp could put more cash in farmer's
pockets and help replenish the soil for nutrient-thirsty crops like
berries.

"It would be great for organic farmers as a rotation crop," said
Vanessa Bogenholm, who grows organic strawberries, raspberries and
vegetables in the Pajaro Valley.

The plant fares better in more dry climates, but Bogenholm said it
would be a good candidate in this area for growing in the summer
months in between harvests of more traditional crops.

Bogenholm estimated hemp could produce about $1,600 per acre for
growers, growing to about 6 feet tall in 48 days.

Leno's measure has the support of the Santa Cruz-based California
Certified Organic Farmers, a state trade association.

State Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, said he hadn't yet taken
a position, but was studying the measure in light of its support from
the organic farmers group. He said the bill's chances of success may
lie with the position traditional farming organizations take.

"If the state Farm Bureau throws its weight behind it, it has a
shot," Laird said.

John Eiskamp, a Pajaro Valley berry grower and board member with the
county Farm Bureau, said he had no opinion about the bill, but didn't
oppose it.

"If it's something that agriculture can benefit from, that's fine,"
Eiskamp said.

The California Farm Bureau has not taken a position on the bill,
said spokesman Dave Kranz.

Backers extol the virtues of industrial hemp that is used for paper,
clothing, rope and food products. It is hailed for nutritional
benefits because it contains amino acids and omega-6 oils.

Companies that make hemp-related products now have to get it from
overseas farms.

John Roulac, founder of Sebastopol-based food company Nutiva, said
the company will use about 3,500 acres of hemp this year and
estimates it will need about 10,000 acres by 2008. The company now
gets its hemp from farms in Western Canada for products like its
energy bars, protein powder and hemp oil.

"All that money we're sending to Canadian farms could go to
California farmers," Roulac said.

Sales of food products made with hemp have found a niche in recent
years, said Scott Mason, grocers manager at Staff of Life.

"They haven't really grown, but they haven't fallen off," Mason
said. "They've sustained their popularity."

Of course, the big obstacle for a bill getting passed is hemp's
relationship to marijuana. While they come from the same family, the
level of psychoactive chemical in hemp, delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol,
is less than 1 percent compared with 3 to 15 percent in marijuana.

Bogenholm jokes a joint the size of a telephone pole wouldn't even
give someone a headache.

The Drug Enforcement Administration sought to ban foods containing
hemp in 2002, but backed off last year after the 9th Circuit U.S.
Court of Appeals ruling.

A spokesman for the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy
said he was not familiar with the bill, but that the federal
government's policy on hemp was based on skepticism about its
backers' intent.

"The federal government's hemp policies proceed from the
understanding that hemp has been used as a Trojan horse of marijuana
legalization," said Office of National Drug Control Policy spokesman
Tom Riley.

Hemp production would be tightly controlled under Leno's bill.

Farmers wanting to grow hemp would be required to obtain a license
from the state Department of Food and Agriculture and would not be
authorized to sell or trade hemp seed outside California. They also
would report on what companies buy their hemp.

A person with a criminal conviction would be ineligible for a
license, according to the bill.

Contact Brian Seals at bseals [at] santacruzsentinel.com.