US WI: State Lawmaker Attempting To Legalize Industrial Hemp



Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) 



Author: Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel staff 



Pubdate: January 12, 1999 	



ubject: STATE LAWMAKER ATTEMPTING TO LEGALIZE INDUSTRIAL HEMP 	



Hahn says non-potent form of marijuana would give farmers cash crop 	



A Wisconsin legislator wants to legalize industrial hemp -- a virtually non-potent form of 

marijuana -- to provide another cash crop for beleaguered farmers.	



Potheads might rejoice at the thought of a thriving hemp industry in the state, but law enforcement 

officials think the idea is a bummer. 	



State Rep. Eugene Hahn (R-Cambria) said Monday that he's drafting a bill to legalize industrial 

hemp to help Wisconsin farmers facing bankruptcy from plummeting pork prices.	



Industrial hemp was grown in Wisconsin and other states during World War II after southeast 

Asian countries that manufactured rope were taken over by the Japanese.	



It's still used for thousands of products ranging from clothing, carpeting and paper to cooking oil, 

animal feed and bedding for horses. 	



"If you watch what's happening with the No. 1 industry in Wisconsin, I think it's on the verge of 

collapse. We have to do something," Hahn, whose uncle was a hemp farmer during World War II, 

said Monday. 	



"We need a spurt in the agriculture industry, and I think this is one that could help a great deal. But 

we have to get the feds to change the rules since they think it's a drug."	



That won't be easy. It is illegal to grow industrial hemp in the United States. Much of the problem 

lies in the fact that it's difficult to tell the difference between industrial hemp and cultivated 

marijuana plants. 	



Industrial hemp has 1% to 2% of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chemical that gives pot smokers 

a buzz, while cultivated marijuana has 4% to 6%. Narcotics agents are now seeing higher potency 

marijuana with 11% THC and even 25% to 30%, said Dane County Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Twomby. 

	



If farmers are allowed to grow industrial hemp, it would make the already difficult jobs of law 

enforcement agents even tougher, said Twomby. 	



"People grow their plants wherever they think they won't be discovered. That would make it even 

more difficult if you had an industrial hemp field," said Twomby.	



Hahn said he hopes to meet with Attorney General James Doyle to discuss his idea. Jim Haney, 

Doyle's spokesman, said Monday that the attorney general is opposed to legalizing hemp.	



"No state in the country has taken this kind of step, and there's no reason to make Wisconsin the 

laboratory experiment," Haney said. 	



"This is one of those issues that pops up and someone believes, eureka, they found a way to make 

money. There's a reason states have not embraced this concept."	



Haney added that the only areas that could hope to see much growth from hemp-related industries 

are countries with very cheap labor markets. 	



"It's not a savior for framing but it provides another alternative," said Tom Thieding, spokesman 

for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. However, he added, "we've got some of the wrong 

people promoting this because they've also been using the wrong product in their daily lives so it's 

been hard to get a credible alliance with the farmers." 	



Russ Weisensel, who is coordinating the Wisconsin Industrial Hemp Initiative, acknowledged 

there are virtually no markets in the United States for hemp. But he said markets could develop for 

an industry that during the 1940s accounted for 30,000 acres and 10 processing plants in 

Wisconsin.	



Among Weisensel's key obstacles, he concedes, are activists with a, er, joint interest in the issue.	



"To our detriment, we do have pot smokers who say this is great," said Weisensel, senior vice 

president-government relations for the Wisconsin Agribusiness Council.	



But there's virtually no way to get a buzz from smoking hemp, Weisensel said, and controls can be 

placed on farmers to calm the fears of law enforcement.	



Weisensel pointed out the benefits of the hearty, environmentally friendly crop. It doesn't require 

herbicides; its fiber is stronger and more absorbent than cotton; it produces more pulp per acre 

than timber; and hemp-based paper can be recycled more often than conventional paper. 	



Hemp is a good rotation crop and can net farmers a profit of $200 to $400 an acre -- much higher 

than corn and soybeans -- if markets are created.