Pubdate: Wed, 03 May 2006
Source: Portage Daily Register (WI)
Copyright: 2006 Portage Daily Register
Contact: http://portage.scwn.com/forms/letter.html
Website: http://www.wiscnews.com/pdr/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3779
Author: Paul Ferguson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hemp.htm (Hemp)

HAHN PITCHES INDUSTRIAL HEMP

Who would imagine that Rep. Gene Hahn, the conservative state 
representative from rural Cambria, is perhaps the biggest supporter 
in the Assembly of legalizing marijuana?

Well, it's quite a stretch to say Hahn is a supporter of legalizing 
perhaps the biggest drug dogging police agencies in the United 
States. What he is in favor of, however, is industrial hemp, a 
potentially fruitful product also grown from the cannabis sativa 
plant. Despite hemp's potential uses, supporters say the material 
gets a bad reputation because of the close association the plant has 
with marijuana, the most notable symbol of the nation's drug culture.

The two substances, while seemingly very different, are from the same 
plant. The chemical nature of any one plant, however, is determined 
by the genes of that plant and the breeding processes that created 
it. Some plants get engineered for drug use, others for industrial hemp.

Those in the latter category have a world full of uses, according to 
supporters. Hahn introduced proposals in 1999 and 2001 aimed at 
changing the nationwide ban on hemp production. Neither has made the 
Assembly floor for a vote.

But the 1999 resolution might interest motorists during this 
$3-per-gallon era of gasoline; it mentions that hemp can be used for 
automobile fuel, among a host of the more commonly considered uses 
such as textiles and paper.

Although automobile fuel isn't a primary reason Hahn is pushing 
industrial hemp, it's one among many, including building materials. 
In his Madison office, Hahn has a piece of particle board made from 
hemp fiber, stocked with other grains such as wheat straw and 
cornstalks and held together with glue made from soybeans. Knock on 
it, and "you'd swear you're wrapping on a piece of wood," Hahn said.

Who knows? As building prices go up, "I think people will start 
getting receptive about looking for something else to use," he said.

But why now with a hemp push in Wisconsin? Any measure Hahn 
introduces would almost certainly die when the state Legislature's 
session largely wraps up this month. The federal Controlled 
Substances Act also restricts states from fully legalizing the crop, 
and it only permits growing industrial hemp under the strictest of 
rules and with a permit issued by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Virtually all hemp sold in the United States - which is legal - is 
imported. Hahn said the National Conference of State Legislatures 
estimates importing hemp costs industries $120 million annually.

So growing domestic hemp is gaining support nationwide, Hahn 
believes. Since 1995, lawmakers in 26 states have introduced 
legislation to legalize industrial hemp to varying degrees, according 
to his office and Vote Hemp, an organization dedicated to opening 
markets for industrial hemp. Measures have passed in 14 states.

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, introduced a bill in the U.S. House of 
Representatives in June 2005 that would have decriminalized the 
production of industrial hemp. It defined industrial hemp as the 
breed of cannabis sativa and any part of such a plant that contains 
less than 0.3 percent delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical in 
marijuana that gives users a "high." Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., of 
Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District, is one of 11 co-sponsors of 
the bill, which remains buried in House committees.

Hahn has supportive causes in Wisconsin as well. Organizations 
including the National Farmers Organization of Wisconsin and the 
Wisconsin Agribusiness Council supported industrial hemp in recent years.

Sides Trade Salvos

Some farmers like the idea of growing hemp for several reasons, 
according to Don Hamm, president of the National Farmers Organization 
of Wisconsin. Hemp could be an alternative crop and a new market 
possibility, and it can grow on marginal land and serve as a good 
rotational crop, Hamm said.

Organic farmers in particular support hemp as a rotational crop, 
because hemp can clean out alfalfa fields for corn planting the 
following year without using synthetic herbicides. Hahn also said 
Wisconsin agriculture could support more than one hemp harvest every year.

But while hemp has quite recently been an issue in some states, 
Wisconsin isn't among them, Hamm admitted. "I haven't really heard 
much lately because it's been so far on the back burner that it's 
tough to think that there would be something coming down the line 
anytime soon," he said.

That's just fine with law enforcement agencies at all levels. Alison 
Kogut, deputy press secretary for the U.S. Office of National Drug 
Control Policy, said, "Hemp, kind of like medical marijuana, is often 
used as a wedge issue to advance the cause of marijuana legalization."

Columbia County Sheriff Steven Rowe said marijuana sellers currently 
"cut" or dilute purer marijuana with so-called "ditchweed," which has 
a negligible amount of tetrahydrocannabinols or THC, the psychoactive 
chemical in marijuana. The cannabis plants used for industrial hemp, 
even if containing lower levels of THC than standard marijuana, would 
serve the same effect, Rowe said.

"At this point, unless somebody can really convince me, I think it 
would be an enforcement nightmare," he said of legalizing hemp 
production. Rowe also expressed concern about hiding drug-grade 
marijuana inside hemp fields.

The North American Industrial Hemp Council, a group supporting the 
use of industrial hemp, has issued a number of reports refuting some 
of the law enforcement concerns. In one report from 1998, David West, 
who has a doctorate in plant breeding, wrote that growing marijuana 
and hemp in close proximity would allow cross-pollination and seeds 
that would be good for neither use in the future, defeating either 
objective of a grower.

What's more, getting a high from the limited amounts of THC in 
industrial hemp would require eating an extraordinary amount of hemp 
fiber, essentially a high-fiber laxative, or quickly smoking about a 
dozen cigarettes of low-THC industrial hemp. The side effects of 
either would deter that behavior, West concluded.

Not everyone buys that argument. Detective Lt. Wayne Smith of the 
Columbia County Sheriff's Department noted that a 1968 study 
published in the journal Science showed highs were possible off 
marijuana that had THC concentrations as little as 0.3 percent, the 
same grade introduced in the U.S. House bill last summer as the THC 
limit for industrial hemp.

"The marijuana that people sort of romanticized or think of as 
harmless .. is the stuff they're talking about growing now for hemp," 
Smith said.

Legalizing industrial hemp could also require government regulation 
of the crop, Kogut said. Legalizing possession of some kinds of 
cannabis but not others would also add substantial cost and time to 
court systems as crime labs tested all suspected marijuana for the 
level of THC present in a sample, according to a 1999 memorandum from 
the Department of Justice to the Assembly Committee on Agriculture 
that heard Hahn's resolution.

"That'd be a logistical nightmare to try and enforce," Smith said.

Despite the raging debate, Hahn said he's optimistic, expressing hope 
in a news release that action in other states will encourage action 
on industrial hemp in Wisconsin. Still, he recognizes the controversy 
of the issue. "It's an uphill battle," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman