Pubdate: Sun, 31 Jan 2016
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2016 Star Advertiser
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154
Author: Vicki Viotti

INDUSTRIAL HEMP CAN REPLACE SUGAR, LAWMAKER SAYS

State Rep. Cynthia Thielen has been a champion for cannabis, though 
not the kind that gets you high.

Industrial hemp, Thielen said, yields thousands of uses and products, 
so it frustrates her to see them laughed off by those who confuse 
this varietal of the cannabis plant with what's known as marijuana.

"Its uses range from termite proof and fire retardant hempcrete for 
building, nutritional hempseed products, animal feed, rope, paper, 
cloth," she said in an email response to a Star-Advertiser inquiry.

"It is a crop that can clothe, feed and shelter you, and you can 
power your automobile on it as did Henry Ford about a century ago."

Even though it contains a far lower concentration of 
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient that produces the 
high, industrial hemp remains on the controlled substances list, 
along with its marijuana cousin.

As a result, the University of Hawaii needed an exemption to grow 
hemp on a Waimanalo site - with the provision that it be grown for 
research purposes only. Thielen is one of the lawmakers trying to end 
the general prohibition on growing hemp.

"With the demise of sugar, HC&S (on Maui) is seriously looking at 
planting hemp as a replacement crop," she added. "Eventually the 
jokes will stop as industrial hemp moves into people's mainstream lives.

"But right now, state law allows eight high-THC medical cannabis 
growing sites, but only one industrial hemp growing site," Thielen 
said. "Blows my mind."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom