SENATE PANEL APPROVES INDUSTRIAL HEMP BILL

DES MOINES -- Swayed by arguments that it would fire up Iowa's farm economy
but not its drug trade, a Senate panel has approved a bill that could make
it legal to grow hemp for industrial purposes.

"We talk about value-added agriculture a lot, and I think hemp fits into
that very well," said Sen. Mark Zieman, R-Postville. Zieman's father,
former Sen. Lyle Zieman, championed industrial hemp and his son has picked
up the cause. Passage makes the bill available for Senate debate.

The bill's biggest obstacle is obvious: many equate industrial hemp, a
benign ingredient in products ranging from car seats to rope, with illegal
marijuana, the botanical brother of hemp. Anti-drug forces have long
opposed industrial hemp, arguing that it is a gateway to marijuana
legalization.

That is why much of the bill approved Tuesday is devoted to safeguards. The
state would issue annual permits to hemp growers. And anyone ever convicted
of a felony, aggravated misdemeanor, any drug charge or of any crime
involving "moral turpitude" would be ineligible for a permit.

Also, growers who got a permit would be required to keep careful records
and hemp plots could be inspected at any time by agriculture and law
enforcement officials at the owners' expense. Violations of the law could
lead to civil penalties up to $50,000 and criminal sanctions.

Industrial hemp, Sen. Zieman said, contains less than 1 percent
tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the chemical that causes the "high"
experienced by marijuana users. Marijuana contains 7-12 percent THC, he
said, and smoking industrial hemp would simply make a person sick.

Beyond the safeguards is a sales pitch. Zieman said hemp can be used to
make more than 25,000 products. One acre of hemp, he added, can produce as
much paper as two to four acres of trees. It can make plastic stronger,
fabrics sturdier, can be used as a biomass fuel and requires fewer
chemicals to grow and process, he said.

But a few senators expressed strong concerns. They argued, for instance,
that while police can spot an illegal marijuana patch in a cornfield, it
would be tougher to find potent marijuana in a field of otherwise harmless,
but virtually identical, hemp.

"I'd rather be safe than sorry," said Sen. Sandy Greiner, R-Keota.

Senate Majority Leader Stewart Iverson, R-Dows, said he is uncertain
whether the measure will be debated by the full Senate.


Newshawk: Beth
Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jan 2001
Source: Des Moines Register (IA)
Copyright: 2001 The Des Moines Register.
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Author: Todd Dorman