Monday, October 14, 2002 -- Voters in the 2nd Franklin state representative district will consider a non-binding ballot question on Nov. 5 asking whether they would support the farming of industrial hemp, which advocates say would benefit both the economy and the environment.

The effort to get the question on the ballot was led by Jason Burk, a University of Massachusetts plant and soil sciences major and a resident of Orange.

Burk, 26, says the growing of industrial hemp is a separate issue from the decriminalization of marijuana because the industrial form of cannabis contains 1 percent or less THC, the chemical that makes marijuana a mind-altering drug.

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