Pubdate: Mon, 27 Mar 2000
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright: 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Section: Illinois, Madison County
Author: Lisa Snedeker, Post-Dispatch Springfield Bureau

INDUSTRIAL HEMP PRODUCTION MEASURE IS MOVED TO 
HOUSE FOR CONSIDERATION

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - An Illinois House committee has approved a measure
that would allow Southern Illinois University to study the feasibility
of industrial hemp production, despite opposition from law
enforcement.

The House Agriculture Committee voted 11-4 Thursday to send the bill
to the full House for consideration. The Illinois Senate last month
approved the study 49-9.

Law enforcement representatives from Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin
told the committee that if industrial hemp is eventually legalized, it
would be virtually impossible for law enforcement officers to
distinguish the plant from its illegal cousin - marijuana - without
chemical testing.

"I don't think any state should conduct a study regarding the
desirability and feasibility of the production of hemp, particularly
Illinois, without reviewing the potential impact on law enforcement
and the crime lab system," said James Finley, chief of government
affairs for the Illinois State Police.

Sen. Evelyn Bowles, D-Edwardsville, the bill's original sponsor,
emphasized that the measure is not an attempt to increase drug
availability, but to provide the state's ailing farm economy with an
alternative agricultural crop.

"We're not intending to go out and plant 250 acres of industrial hemp
day after tomorrow," she said. "We're asking for a two-year study. If
we put a cork in every bottle that comes along with some new idea or
some new proposal, we'd still be back in the Dark Ages."

Instead, the legislation would allow the study of the crop's potential
viability at SIU Carbondale and the University of Illinois. Part of
the study, Bowles said, would explore the removal of all THC, or the
chemical that gives the plant its pyschoactive substance, from
industrial hemp.

The fibers from industrial hemp can be used to produce clothing, car
parts and carpet, while oil from the seeds is used in shampoo and lip
balm.

The difference between industrial hemp and marijuana is very apparent,
said Bowles, who has studied the issue extensively.

"Industrial hemp is planted like wheat, very, very close together
because what we want from that plant is the stalk," she said.
"Marijuana is planted like corn - far apart, so they can get an ample,
ample leaf spread. Because that's what they want."

The bill is SB 1397. 
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