Pubdate: Tue, 11 Oct 2011
Source: Bakersfield Californian, The (CA)
Copyright: 2011 The Bakersfield Californian
Contact:  http://www.bakersfield.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/36
Author: Jill Cowan

GOVERNOR VETOES INDUSTRIAL HEMP BILL

Though Gov. Jerry Brown called federal regulation of industrial hemp 
plants "absurd," potential enforcement of those regulations 
ultimately led to his veto of state Senate Bill 676, which would have 
allowed hemp cultivation in four California counties, including Kern, 
as part of an eight-year pilot program.

Supporters of the bill said the federal categorization of industrial 
hemp plants as the same as marijuana plants is woefully outdated and 
the fact that industrial hemp is imported for legal products means 
Californians are missing out on a cash crop.

Opponents said the bill would make it more confusing for law 
enforcement to bust marijuana grows and -- law enforcement issues 
aside -- industrial hemp cultivation is still illegal under federal law.

In a Sunday veto message, the governor supported a "change in federal 
law," adding that "products made from hemp -- clothes, food and bath 
products -- are legally sold in California every day."

But until federal law changes, Brown said allowing the pilot program 
proposed in the bill to move forward would have subjected California 
farmers to federal prosecution.

State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who wrote the bill, said the 
program "was a real opportunity for the governor to create jobs and 
help California's farmers in a very desperate time."

Furthermore, Leno said the federal preemption argument is weak.

"The governor supports the production of medical marijuana -- that's 
no less illegal under federal law," he said. "Why wouldn't we want to 
pass another law to help California farms grow another cannabis 
sativa plant -- one that's not even a drug?"
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart