LAWMAKER WON'T FILE HEMP GROWING BILL

ORANGE, Massachusetts — It was a non-binding question. And state Represenative-elect Christopher Donelan says he won’t be bound by a vote by residents of his district directing him to fill a bill legalizing hemp cultivation.

The Democrat from Orange says he isn’t required to act on non-binding referenda. Besides, he says, the Franklin County district was closely split on the issue with 5,964 votes in favor and 5,510 votes opposed.

Jason Burke, an agriculture student at the University of Massachusetts, who got the question on the ballot, said he was disappointed.

Burke proposed that licensed growers be allowed to raise a strain of cannabis stripped of the chemical that makes marijuana a mind-altering drug. The stalks of the plant are used to make rope, fabric and paper. He says it could give the state’s farmers a new crop.


Thursday, November 7, 2002
Lawmaker won’t file hemp growing bill
Proposal seeks to let growers raise crop for rope, fabric.
WCVB-TV