HEMP MAY LOOM LARGE IN FARMING'S FUTURE

MINOT -- Industrial hemp could become as important as canola as a crop in
North Dakota, according to the director of agricultural research at North
Dakota State University.

Cole Gustafson summarized the work NDSU is trying do on industrial hemp at
a seminar Friday at the KMOT Ag Expo in Minot. He said there already is a
well developed niche market for hemp products that North Dakota producers
could fill. However, before that happens, federal anti-drug regulations
will have to be changed. Hemp is the same species as marijauna, but has
extremely low levels of the chemical that makes people high.

"Just to have a research plot, we have to get a permit from the Drug
Enforcement Agency," Gustafson said. "That means we have to put up a
chain-link fence topped with three strands of barbed wire."

He estimated that NDSU will have to spend about $14,000 to establish a
research plot, mostly for the required security measures.

The DEA has turned down two applications from NDSU to establish a hemp
research plot. Thanks to assistance from the state's congressional
delegation, Gustafson thinks a third application shold be approved this year.

The purpose of the plot will be to answer basic agronomic questions, such
as when to plant the crop, how much fertilizer it requires and what
varieties will grow the best in the state.

"We have almost no information on how to grow hemp in North Daktoa,"
Gustafson said. Researchers in Indiana and Hawaii as well as Canada are
working with hemp, he added, but even research done in Canada won't exactly
translate to North Dakota because of geographic differences, such as
climate and soils.

"We need answers to just about every basic question on how to grow hemp,"
he said.

Gustafson said NDSU also has state of the art equipment to do other kinds
of hemp research that is better tolerated by the DEA. These include
chemical analyses of the valuable oil extracted from hemp seed and
developing machines to harvest the tough, fibrous stems.

NDSU is neutral on the question of legalizing hemp, Gustafson said, but is
responding to increasing producer interest in the crop. He said his office
gets more questions on hemp production than any other potential crop.

Permission soon?

Robert Robinson, founder of Modern Hemp, a nonprofit group in Minot that is
pushing for the legalization of hemp, believes Congress could soon reverse
the federal government's stand on hemp. He thinks farmers could be growing
it as soon as 2003.

"I have talked to our governor and he said he will continue what Gov.
Schafer has done for hemp," Robinson said.

He pointed to 14 states that have deregulated or legalized hemp production,
as North Dakota did in 1999. A growing number of senators and
representatives are joining North Dakota's delegation in supporting the
deregulation of hemp.

"Nearly everybody I've spoken to at the Ag Expo has been in support of it,"
Robinson said. "People understand industrial hemp is a different product
than marijuana."

Robinson said that hemp is grown legally in many countries, including
Canada, and hasn't caused problems for law enforcement agents in those
countries. In the United States, however, the DEA is trying even harder to
crack down on hemp.

"The DEA is trying to adopt regulations that would effectively ban all hemp
oil products for human consumption," he said. "That would include banning
hemp shampoo, lotions and lip balms from the United States."

Robinson said the reasons the DEA opposes hemp production are nonsensical
and the public and lawmakers are starting to recognize that. He said fears
that children could associate products like hemp tennis shoes or hemp
clothing with marijuana are probably counterproductive.

"If the United States government continues to portray hemp as making
marijauna OK, they're wrong," Robinson said. Quoting a study on that
question he continued, "It is only the DEA's failure to distinguish between
an agricultural crop and a drug crop that is sending a wrong message to
children. Our information-enabled genaration is rapidly learning the truth
about industrial hemp and will become far more skeptical about government
pronouncements as time passes."

He added that this distrust of government information may make it harder to
convince children of the harm done by drugs such as ****** and *******.


Newshawk: http://www.cannabisnews.com/
Pubdate: Mon, 29 Jan 2001
Source: Bismarck Tribune (ND)
Copyright: 2001 The Bismarck Tribune
Contact: letters@ndonline.com
Address: Box 5516, Bismarck, ND 58506
Fax: (701) 223-2063
Feedback: http://www.ndonline.com/tribwebpage/service/lettertoeditor.html
Website: http://www.ndonline.com/
Author: Jerry W. Kram, Bismarck Tribune
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hemp.htm (Hemp)