HEMP Resources is suing the WA Government for $255 million in its latest stoush with the Department of Agriculture and Food. In 2004, shortly after lobbying the government to pass the Industrial Hemp Act, Hemp Resources applied for an industrial hemp licence from the registrar of hemp, Mark Holland. The licence was denied on grounds that two of the company's directors, Kim Hough and Luu Phoc Nguyen, had minor criminal convictions. But the convictions were more than 10 years old and quashed under the Spent Convictions Act. Hemp Resources received its licence in February 2006. [continues 539 words]
FOR eight years, businessman Kim Hough lobbied WA governments for approval of an estimated $1 billion-a-year industry that would boost local farming. The only problem was, it was illegal. Then, on May 19, the Industrial Hemp Act of WA came into effect. It allowed the cultivation and processing of industrial hemp with less than 0.35 per cent tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient of cannabis or marijuana. It should have been a sweet victory for Mr Hough, who has devoted much of his life to researching and promoting one of nature's most versatile if misunderstood plants. [continues 435 words]
