Pubdate: Thu, 17 Jul 2014
Source: Chico News & Review, The (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsreview.com/chico/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/559
Author: David Downs

HEMP IN OUR FUTURE

California and Federal Laws Pave the Way for Research Growing While
Advocates Push for Looser Restrictions

Green, 20-foot-tall fields of research hemp might be waving in the
Davis breeze by next year in a startling breakthrough for California
hemp advocates who have been working for decades to grow the plant.

The California Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2013, combined with the
2014 federal farm bill, has unlocked the possibility of legally
growing the ancient food, fuel and fiber crop. "It's remarkable. I'm
quite thrilled," said longtime San Francisco hemp lawyer Patrick
Goggin. "We had no idea it would come this fast, to be honest."

Championed by state Sen. Mark Leno of San Francisco, the California
Hemp Act of 2013 authorized hemp farming in California, but only if
the federal government allowed it. When the bill passed last year, it
seemed likely that hell would freeze over before the feds would ever
legalize hemp farming.

The federal government banned hemp along with its cousin marijuana in
the '30s, even though the plants differ in a number of key ways. Hemp,
for example, has less than 1 percent THC, the psychoactive molecule in
cannabis. Modern marijuana, by contrast, can contain 15 percent to 22
percent THC. But law enforcement officials have nonetheless fought to
keep hemp illegal, arguing that cops can't tell the difference between
hemp and pot.

But then on Feb. 7, hell froze over. A far-left-far-right contingent
in Congress added an amendment to the massive U.S. farm bill exempting
research hemp from the federal Drug War if states also allowed hemp.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a centrist and a longtime opponent
of marijuana, opposed the amendment. But "she lost big time," Goggin
noted.

Far-right Republican senators like Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul (both
from Kentucky) voted for the measure. "Hemp has strange bedfellows,"
Goggin said. "I call it a wraparound coalition-you have a far-left and
far-right and their interests do coincide on some issues and hemp is
one of them. It's very symbolic of these types of coalitions."

When President Obama signed the farm bill-known as the Agricultural
Act of 2014-on Feb. 7, it activated existing-but-dormant laws that
allowed for the growing of hemp in about a dozen states. (Washington
and Colorado straight-up legalized hemp in defiance of federal law
when they passed adult-use marijuana legalization in 2012.)

Then on June 6, California Attorney General Kamala Harris issued a
legal opinion on what the federal farm bill meant for Leno's
California Industrial Hemp Act. "[W]e conclude that federal law
authorizes, and the Hemp Act permits, institutions of higher education
and the CDFA [California Department of Food and Agriculture] to grow
and cultivate industrial hemp for purposes of agricultural or academic
research," the opinion stated.

Goggin said the law requires CDFA to draft rules for research hemp
pilot programs at colleges and universities. A hemp board is to be
impaneled. County agricultural commissioners also will have to agree
to participate. It could take "six months or 18 months" to get hemp
rules done at the CDFA, according to Goggin. "More than likely, 18
months."

"They are eager to move forward on this, but it is a matter of, 'OK,
where are we going to get the funding for it?'" Goggin continued.
"We're dealing with a state the size of a big country relative to the
rest of the world."

In an interview, Leno said California needs to snap out of it,
straight-up legalize commercial hemp, let farmers grow it, and create
jobs and revenue now. A CDFA research program could cost the state $20
million. The veteran legislator is irritated that legalizing hemp is
still an issue.

Thirty nations grow hemp and it's found in thousands of consumer
products-from Converse sneakers to BMW interior panels. "It's
apparently only illegal when it's growing in the ground," Leno said.
"Every one of our Western trading partners, plus China, grows it
today. What do we need to spend millions of research dollars to find
out?

"It still grows wild in California: It's known as 'ditch weed,'" he
continued. "This is irrational and that's been my point for 10 years."

Leno said the state should ask U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to
confirm that the Justice Department's hands-off approach to legal
marijuana also applies to nonpsychoactive hemp. But even if Holder did
so, California farmers wouldn't be able to get a hemp-growing permit.
The CDFA hasn't created one yet.

Leno said additional hemp legalization measures won't be passed this
year in the state Legislature. As a result, California voters are
going to have to step up and legalize hemp as a part of adult-use
marijuana legalization in the 2016 election.

As for Feinstein's claims that police can't distinguish between hemp
and a drug crop of marijuana, "I don't know that [Feinstein] has ever
seen a hemp field," Leno said. "Hemp grows to over 20 feet in height.
Marijuana doesn't grow much taller than 12 feet. Hemp is planted in
rows six inches apart like bamboo. They look like bamboo fields it's
grown so densely. Marijuana is grown in rows 4 feet apart. How could
they not tell the difference? It's a false argument, and it always
was.

"Hemp never was and never will be a drug, so it's unfortunate that in
the last 60 years it has been confused with one," he continued. "Why
can California farmers-especially in a time of drought, when they are
desperate for a good, safe, drought-resistant cash crop-be denied the
benefit of a national legal hemp trade? We should be growing it."
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MAP posted-by: Matt