Pubdate: Sun, 18 Feb 2001
Source: State Journal-Register (IL)
Copyright: 2001 The State Journal-Register
Contact:  P.O. Box 219, Springfield, IL 62705-0219
Fax: (217) 788-1551
Website: http://www.sj-r.com/
Author: Bryan Bickner
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n066/a05.html 
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n215/a01.html

SUPPORTS OK OF TEST PLOTS FOR INDUSTRIAL HEMP

Dear Editor,

I am writing to support Senate Bill 1397 concerning test plots for 
industrial hemp.  As noted in your Jan. 12 editorial, industrial hemp will 
not be the salvation of the Illinois agricultural economy, but salvation is 
best kept as a personal enterprise.  In reality, industrial hemp is good 
for the environment by replenishing nutrients drained from the soil by corn 
and soybeans, grows without the use of pesticides, and positions Illinois 
as a leader in this potentially profitable market.

This market, as Priss Parmenter noted in a recent letter to the editor, has 
had its difficulties.  But this market has only been cultivated twice 
before: once in colonial times when the likes of George Washington and 
Thomas Jefferson were hemp farmers; the other during WW II when the 
cultivation of industrial hemp was promoted by our own federal government.

The two proposed test plots will provide the research necessary for the 
General Assembly to make an informed decision on this issue at a future 
date.  To not fund the test plots is to ignore an opportunity for Illinois 
to move to the forefront of this new market, a market that cannot be 
adequately evaluated until its viability is ascertained.

Bryan Bickner, Chicago
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens