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News Update Of The Global Coalition For Alternatives To The Drug War
(Details On Public Demonstrations Against The War On Some Drug UsersJune 5-10
In 33 Cities Around The Globe)
Date: Sun, 26 Apr 1998 00:30:36 +0200 (CEST)
To: hbego@knoware.nl
From: Harry Bego
Subject: UPDATE: Global Days against the Drug War, June 5-10, 33 cities!
News Update of the Global Coalition for Alternatives to the Drug War
April 24, 1998
Dear drug policy reformer,
This is the next in a series of updates to keep you informed
about the planning of the Global Days against the Drug War,
which will be held on Friday June 5th through Wednesday June
10th, at the occasion of the UN General Assembly Special
Session on Drugs (UNGASS).
On behalf of the Global Coalition for Alternatives to the Drug
War, best regards,
Olivier Dupuis, general secretary, Transnational Radical Party
Kevin Zeese, president, Common Sense for Drug Policy Foundation
Adam Smith, associate director, Drug Reform Coordination Network
Harry Bego, coordinator, Global Days against the Drug War
Comments about the contents of this newsletter can be sent to:
coalition@stopthedrugwar.org.
For more info visit http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/globalcoalition/
CONTENTS
1. EVENTS ARE BEING PLANNED IN 33 CITIES!
British and French coalitions are formed.
Activities in New York are taking shape.
2. THE GLOBAL COALITION: OVER 60 MEMBER ORGANISATIONS
We've applied for a panel inside the UN on June 9th.
Organisations can join by signing the declaration.
3. ENCOD: The European Council on Drugs and Development
We cooperate with the alliance established by ENCOD
3. AGAIN: THE CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Send out this updated version to promote the Global Days!
***
1. EVENTS ARE BEING PLANNED IN 33 CITIES!
At the moment of writing, events are being planned for the
Global Days against the Drug War in 33 cities all over the
world. In alphabetical order, events have been announced for
Alsfeld (Ger), Amsterdam, Auckland (NZ), Berlin, Bonn,
Brussels, Christchurch (NZ), Colville (WS), Dallas, Dunedin
(NZ), Eugene (OR), Houston, Ilmenau (Ger), Jena (Ger), London,
Los Angeles, Madrid, Munich, New Orleans, New York, Paris, Salt
Lake City, San Francisco, Schengen (Lux), Sidney, Stockholm,
Tallinn (Estonia), Tel Aviv, Texoma (Ok), Tucson, Washington,
Wellington and Winnipeg. Information about these events is
available at http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/globalcoalition/
Please note that the duration of the 'Global Days against the
Drug War' has been extended from three to six days, to last
from Friday 5th until Wednesday 10th. We encourage reformers to
consider organising events in yet other cities. Please contact
us at coalition@stopthedrugwar.org.
NATIONAL COALITIONS FORMED IN BRITAIN AND FRANCE
These weeks, organisational meetings are held in many places
to plan all this activity. To support organisation of events,
national coalitions of reform organisations have been formed
in Britain and France. A recent meeting of the new British
coalition was reported in the Independent (read at our web site).
Yves Tévessin, spokesperson for the new French alliance,
the "Collectif pour l'abrogation de la loi 70", writes:
"Yesterday we signed your declaration and we decided to
organize an evening with concerts and street theatre on the
6th of June, on 7th of June a big demonstration in the
afternoon, and surely many other surprises". Those of you
who have been following recent French reform activism, will
know that French surprises are always worth anticipating!
The "Collectif" consists of La Ligue des Droits de l'Homme,
le Syndicat de la Magistrature, Auto-Support d'Usagers de
Drogues (ASUD), Act Up-Paris, le Collectif d'Information et
de Recherche Canabiques (CIRC), les Verts, Chiche!, la CORA,
Tekno+, and Substitution Auto-Support (SAS).
Other recent good news from Paris concerns the confirma-
tion that CORA, the Coordinamento Radicale Antiproibizionista,
is organising the CORA congress in Paris on June 5, 6 and 7!
PREPARATIONS FOR THREE DAYS OF ACTION IN NEW YORK!
Meanwhile, the plans for events in New York are taking shape.
On Monday June 8th through Wednesday June 10th there will be an
ongoing flower laying ceremony and open drug war seminar, and
daily rallies near the UN. On June 9th, a panel discussion on
UN drug policy reform is planned inside the UN.
Starting on Monday 8th, the center of activity outside the UN
headquarters will be in the Ralph Bunche Park, the small park
across the street from the UN's main entrance. We will have a
protest focused around an ongoing flower laying ceremony along
with an ongoing drug policy seminar, with renowned speakers.
There will be visual displays in memory of drug war victims,
representing drug war issues, and in favor of more peaceful
approaches to drug policy. People will be able to get their
flowers and lay them near the displays. Of course before the
event we want to get people from around the world and the
US to let us know they want flowers in their name so right
from the start there will be a lot of flowers for good visuals.
In the larger park at the other end of the UN we will set
up tables on the various issues and people can pick up their
flowers and walk from the visitor center park to the main
entrance park (about three blocks) and lay their flowers.
In the larger park itself we will have issue-focused rallies
each day. These will be scheduled each day during the lunch
break of the UN meeting so media can attend and so it is easier
for people to attend who are concerned about the issue. Issues
we will cover over the three days include the spread of disease
(AIDS, Hepatitis), incarceration of non-violent offenders with
an emphasis on children without parents due to drug war
incarceration; and the impact of the drug war on developing
countries. Speakers will include not only US spokespersons but
those from around the world.
We also plan to have an open discussion wall where people
can write their thoughts or have a speakers corner where anyone
can speak for five minutes on the drug war. These latter two
ideas are to emphasize the closed nature of the UN discussion
and the openness of ours.
Next to all this activity outside the UN, a panel discussion on
UN drug policy reform is prepared, to be held inside the UN on
Tuesday June 9th. The Global Coalition for Alternatives to the
Drug War, together with several other parties, has submitted a
formal application for the panel with the UN NGO Committee. In
this we with work together with ENCOD (see section 3).
For more information about events in New York, contact Kevin
Zeese, kevzeese@laser.net, or Adam Smith, ajsmith@intr.net.
PLANS FOR A MARCH AT THE "SCHENGENER BRUECKE" ...
Meanwhile, recent information, received April 12th, concerns
plans for a manifestation at the "Schengener Bruecke", a bridge
over the Mosel river at the location where the borders between
Germany, France and Luxemburg meet, near the Luxemburg town of
Schengen. In Schengen, a treaty was signed twelve years ago
between several European countries, regulating the free ex-
change of personnel between member states. However, the French
President, Chirac, has in the past years frustrated the full
implementation of the treaty by putting patrols at the borders
between Belgium and France, accusing the Netherlands of causing
drug trafficking problems by its liberal drug laws. The event
at the Schengener Bruecke will probably involve a march across
the bridge and the handing over of some suitable symbolic
commodity from representatives of German drug policy reform
groups, to their French counterparts, and v.v.
... AND AROUND THE WORLD!
Plans are at an advanced stage at the other side of the globe
as well. Chris Fowlie, NORML New Zealand board member, writes:
"The National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
(NORML) has lobbied for marijuana law refom in New Zealand
since 1976. NORML NZ supports the establishment of a regulated
legal cannabis market. We'll be organising various activities
around NZ, including a big march up Queen St, Auckland,
Saturday June 6". Together with events announced earlier for
Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch, this makes for a total of
4 events in New Zealand so far!
For information about all the other great events being planned
in thirteen countries, see our web pages. Of course we
encourage you to consider planning similar events. Events do
not necessarly have to be big - a forum discussion, a rally,
an anti-prohibition party, a petition, a concert, a press
conference - it is up to you what form and size your
participation will take ... Contact fellow reformers, local
policy reform organisations, clubs, etc., get together and
see what you can do. And inform us, of course!
2. THE GLOBAL COALITION: OVER 60 MEMBER ORGANISATIONS
As you know, we have established the Global Coalition for
Alternatives to the Drug War, which will issue declarations,
and members of which will support the Global Days against the
Drug War.
The coalition is also involved in preparations of an NGO panel
on UN drug policy reform, which is planned to be held inside
the UN on Tuesday June 9th. Together with several other parties
(a.o. ENCOD, see section 3), we have submitted a formal appli-
cation for the panel to the UN NGO Committee. The application
is coordinated by the Transnational Radical Party. See
http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/globalcoalition/ for news about
the UN panel, and for an up-to-date list of over 60
organisations that have joined the coalition.
Organisations are invited to join the coalition by endorsing the
declaration below. Please write to: coalition@stopthedrugwar.org
***
Declaration
We, the undersigned, having recognized the extraordinary
damage being caused by the Drug War, join together
in a call for wide-ranging and honest international and
intranational discussion about the effectiveness and
consequences of current, force-based drug policies.
Furthermore, we call upon our governments and fellow
citizens to begin the process of the exploration of alternative
solutions to the issues that these policies are claimed
to address. This process should include, but not be
limited to, a revision of the United Nations conventions
and other international treaties which inhibit nations
from adopting such alternatives.
We believe that in an atmosphere of honest and rational
examination, effective policies can be found which are
based not upon force, repression, prohibition, coercive
government action and the use of violence, but upon the
universal principles of human rights, freedom, justice,
equality under the law, the dignity of the individual,
the health of people and communities, and the sovereignty
of nations.
It should be noted that this coalition represents a
very broad range of political and social viewpoints,
and a wide variety of issue-interests. The heterogeneity
of the signatories to this coalition is evidence of
both the intellectual strength of our position and
the breadth of the destruction being wrought by
current policies. For despite our differences, we stand
together in the knowledge that a policy which mandates
a continuous state of war, in the absence of a true
acknowledgement and assessment of the consequences
and excesses of that war, is objectively flawed. And
that such a policy is in direct contradiction to the
mission and the ideals of the United Nations, and of the
peoples of the earth.
No society, whether local or global, can long endure
under a perpetual state of war. Nor do we choose to
leave as a legacy to our children, and to future
generations, the disastrous results of such a policy.
It is time to find alternatives.
The Global Coalition for Alternatives to the Drug War.
***
3. ENCOD: The European Council on Drugs and Development
We work together with the European Council on Drugs and
Development (ENCOD), which took the initiative to build a broad
international alliance of organisations working in the field of
development, human rights, prevention and health care, drug
consumers and peasant drug crop producers to jointly challenge
UNGASS with a set of concrete recommendations for an
alternative drug policy. This alliance currently consist of
some 30 organisations, some of which are members of the 'Global
Coalition' as well. The manifesto "For a just and effective
policy on drugs" attempts to bridge the many different islands
dividing the broad drugs issue and to fully incorporate the
views and worries from the South, often marginalised in the
Northern dominated drugs policy debates. For more information
about ENCOD, extensive information on UNGASS, and the text of
the manifesto, see http://www.worldcom.nl/tni/drugs/
3. AGAIN: THE CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Send out this updated version to promote the Global Days!
***
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE BY EMAIL AND FAX
***
The Global Days against the Drug War!
June 5-10
Events in:
Alsfeld, Amsterdam, Auckland, Berlin, Bonn,
Brussels, Christchurch, Colville, Dallas, Dunedin,
Eugene, Houston, Ilmenau, Jena, London, Los Angeles, Madrid,
Munich, New Orleans, New York, Paris, Salt Lake City, San Francisco,
Schengen, Sidney, Stockholm, Tallinn, Tel Aviv, Texoma,
Tucson, Washington, Wellington, Winnipeg ...
Join the Coalition!
As you probably know, the United Nations will hold the
first-ever Special Session of the General Assembly on Drugs,
UNGASS, from June 8th to June 10th 1998 in New York.
This session was originally conceived as a critical examination
of worldwide anti-drug policy. The focus of this session has
now been narrowed. According to the new guidelines, only the
expansion of existing policies will be open for discussion. The
United Nations aims to escalate current drug repression tactics
in a catastrophic quest towards a 'drug free' society. In terms
of crime, economic and financial damage, and social and
personal harm, this policy is turning into a worldwide crisis!
It is of great importance that alternative proposals are heard
at the onset of this UN session. A clear statement must be made
that what is needed is not escalated repression, but reform
policies aimed at reducing the damage currently done.
To this aim, a number of organisations have recently united to
form the "Global Coalition for Alternatives to the Drug War".
They have written a declaration that will be published widely.
You can join the coalition by co-signing the declaration; see
the contact info below.
Members of this coalition are also invited to participate in
the the "1998 Global Days against the Drug War", which are held
Friday June 5th through Wednesday June 10th in cities around
the world. This international event will feature discussion
forums, seminars, publications, press conferences,
demonstrations, street parties, concerts, a congress, and other
types of events. The CORA congress will be held in Paris,
Friday 5th through Sunday 7th, and a great three-day event is
planned to take place in New York from Monday 8th through
Wednesday 10th. We have applied for a forum inside the UN on
Tuesday June 9th. At this moment (April 25th), events are being
planned in 33 cities!
You can help make the 1998 Global Days against the Drug War a
success! Make sure your city is part of this event. If you are
a member of a group or organisation that can help, contact us.
Otherwise, you can join one or more of the participating groups
and organisations, or set up your own group. See the contact
info below.
In the weeks before UNGASS we will issue press releases with
the names of all the groups and organisations that have joined
the coalition. Groups and organisations are invited to plan
their own version of the 1998 Global Days against the Drug War,
under their own identity and name. Note however that
participation in the coalition does not itself imply
endorsement of the individual events taking place.
Organisations wishing to join the coalition can send mail to
coalition@stopthedrugwar.org. Individual activists please visit
the web site at http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/globalcoalition/
The Global Coalition for Alternatives to the Drug War currently
consists of these and more than 45 other organisations:
The Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet), the National
Organisation for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Coordina-
mento Radicale Antiprohibizionista (CORA), the November
Coalition, the Campaign for Equity-Restorative Justice (CERJ),
the Transnational Radical Party (TRP), Common Sense for Drug
Policy, the Legalize! Initiative, the Media Awareness Project
(MAP), American Society for Action on Pain (ASAP), Compassio-
nate Care Alliance, the Campaign for the Restoration and
Regulation of Hemp (CRRH), HANF! Magazine, National Alliance of
Methadone Advocates (NAMA), and other organisations.
Participate in the 1998 Global Days against the Drug War !
June 5-10
http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/globalcoalition/
e-mail: coalition@stopthedrugwar.org
***
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***
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DEA Invites Your Comments On Cannabis Eradication In The United States
(List Subscriber Posts Information From Drug Enforcement Administration
About Who To Call, Public Meetings To Attend Around The United States)
From: cwagoner@bendnet.com
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 18:51:43 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: HT: DEA invites your comments on Cannabis Eradication in the
To: hemp-talk@hemp.net
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net
Subject: DEA invites your comments on Cannabis Eradication in the
hempsters around the world, we must protest america's plan to spray
poison on cannabis. please read this and let your voice be heard!
bast regards.
i am,
john e. dvorak
***
DEA Requesting Comments on Spraying the Herbicide Triclopyr on
Industrial Hemp Across America
Posted by (Author Unknown) on April 24, 1998
The DEA has proposed a new program for industrial hemp eradication
titled "Cannabis Eradication In The Contiguous United States and
Hawaii," dated April 1998 and is available free at the DEA's Arlington
headquarters (301) 734-4839. [<-- CALL THIS NUMBER!]
There is a potentially serious environmental problem with far reaching
implications which need immediate action. The DEA has proposed a new
program for industrial hemp eradication titled "Cannabis Eradication In
The Contiguous United States and Hawaii," dated April 1998 and is
available free at the DEA's Arlington headquarters (301) 734-4839. It is
the DEA's Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) which seeks
clearance to spray "cannabis" with the industrial herbicide, TRICLOPYR.
The DEA considers spraying Triclopyr so benign to the environment, that
they are not even considered doing a basic Environmental Assessment
beforehand and will not be going through the Environmental Impact
Statement procedures. The DEA has set a deadline of June 01, 1998 to
send comments on their SEIS draft.
If implemented, this program will enable the DEA to harvest an economic
windfall through the wholesale eradication of hundreds of millions of
otherwise inaccessible wild industrial hemp plants. The program will
also give the DEA the ability to greatly increase the percentages of
total industrial hemp plants eradicated far above present levels. The
figures from a Vermont Legislative study reveal that of the $500 million
allocated by the federal government for DEA's Cannabis Eradication and
Suppression Program's budget, 98% was used to destroy industrial hemp
plants. This report is available by calling the Vermont State Auditor at
(808) 828-2281. [See April, 1998 issue of Hemp Magazine for a summary of
this report.] (Note: For environmental reasons, Vermont has halted the
spraying of triclopyr along its railroad system.)
The DEA tried spraying twice before in the early 1980s with paraquat,
but this time they want to substitute paraquat with triclopyr, which is
"supposedly" considered less toxic to humans than paraquat. The question
of whether triclopyr may possibly be a neurotoxic like paraquat has not
been addressed and the DEA has not considered the environmental effects
of triclopyr on migratory birds or their habitat.
***
[This was the cover letter that I received with the 200+ page report
regarding our government's attempt to make cannabis extinct in America.
Make it a point to comment against this! jd]
***
U.S. Department of Justice
Drug Enforcement Administration
700 Army Navy Drive
Arlington, VA 22202
April 3, 1998
Dear Reader,
The U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA),
invites your comments on the enclosed environmental document "Cannabis
Eradication in the Contiguous United States and Hawaii, Draft Supplement
to the Environmental Impact Statements, April 1998," (SEIS). This
document was prepared for DEA, with the assistance of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service (APHIS).
The SEIS was prepared to supplement the following environmental impact
statements previously prepared by the DEA: "Final Environmental Impact
Statement, Cannabis Eradication on Non-Federal and Indian Lands in the
Contiguous United States and Hawaii" (May 1986) and the "Final
Environmental Impact Statement on the Eradication of Cannabis on Federal
Lands in the Continental United States" (July 1985). The SEIS provides
analysis on the following factors affecting the DEA's Cannabis
eradication program: new scientific information regarding the herbicides
considered in the EIS's, changes and improvements in the herbicidal
program delivery, and the consideration of another herbicide for
potential use in the program.
If you wish to provide comments, an original and three copies of your
comments must be received by close of business on June 1, 1998, at the
following address:
Mr. Jack Edmundson
Project Leader
Environmental Analysis and Documentation
USDA, APHIS, PPD
4700 River Road, Unit 149
Riverdale, MD 20737-1238
In addition, five public meetings to hear oral public comments on the
draft SEIS are scheduled as follows:
Tuesday, May 12, 4-8 pm, Denver Colorado
Friday, May 15, 4-8 pm, Honolulu, Hawaii
Tuesday, May 19, Boise, Idaho
Thursday, May 21, Atlanta, Georgia
Wednesday, May 27, Washington, DC
If you plan to present oral comments at any of the scheduled meetings,
you may register at the meeting location between 3 and 4 pm on the
meeting date. You can pre-register for the meeting by facsimile at
301-734-3640 any time of day or by calling Ms. Vicki Wickheiser, USDA,
APHIS, at 301-734-4839 between 7:30 am and 3 pm EST. Pre-registrants
should provide their name, organization affiliation (if any), address,
telephone number (optional), and the meeting location that they will
attend. Pre-registration ends at 3 pm EST on May 7, 1998. Speakers are
requested to provide an original and three copies of the written text of
their comments during registration at the meeting.
Sincerely,
James A. Woolley
Chief, State and Local
Programs Section
***
Hemp Magazine
Advertising & subscription info:
Richard Tomcala, Publisher
hempmag@lconn.com
713-523-3199
***
Hemp news & writers wanted!
Contact John E. Dvorak, Managing Editor
boston.hemp@pobox.com
***
http://www.marijuananews.com/hemp.htm
617-254-HEMP
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Hemp Cultivation Sows High Hopes In Canada ('Wall Street Journal'
Notes Canada's Industrial Hemp Industry Is Legal Now And Poised To Dominate
The US Market, While The Main US Lobby Group For Industrial Hemp,
The North American Industrial Hemp Council, Refuses Membership To Anyone
Who 'In Any Way, Form Or Fashion Openly Advocates The Legalization
Of Marijuana Or Any Other Drug')
Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 12:21:39 -0300 (ADT)
Sender: Chris Donald
From: Chris Donald
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: Can: Wall Street Journal on Canadian Hemp Crop
from: http://www.marijuananews.com/
The Wall Street Journal Reports:
"Hemp Cultivation Sows High Hopes in Canada"
In their Commodities Section!
Wall Street Journal
April 24, 1998
By John Urquhart
Hemp is back. Ever since the "Reefer Madness" scare of the 1930s,
both the U.S. and Canada have strictly forbidden farmers to grow the
plant, a relative of marijuana. But now, Canada has broken the taboo.
In the next few weeks, its farmers will seed their first legal hemp
crops in 60 years.
Facts About Hemp:
*Strong fiber used for textiles, building materials, pulp and paper;
its seed produces oil for food, medicine and cosmetics.
*Hemp cultivation requires no pesticides or herbicides.
*Hemp growing countries include China, Romania, France, Germany,
Netherlands, England and Hungary.
*World-wide industrial hemp sales (excluding China) were $75 million
in 1997 and are projected to be $250 million in 1999, according to
HEMPTECH, a California consulting company.
Hemp is back. Ever since the "Reefer Madness" scare of the 1930s, both
the U.S. and Canada have strictly forbidden farmers to grow the plant,
a relative of marijuana. But now, Canada has broken the taboo. In the
next few weeks, its farmers will seed their first legal hemp crops in
60 years.
The Canadians figure this will give them a big jump on American
farmers who are lobbying Washington for permission to cultivate the
crop, too. Hemp farmers see growing markets for the versatile fiber,
used in everything from paper to auto parts. For instance, the
German-made 5 Series BMW care has 44 pounds of natural fibers
including hemp in its roof, door, trunk and other areas.
U.S. Drug law enforcers are watching the Canadian initiative warily.
But Canada insists it will make sure its farmers see only an
"industrial" variety of hemp. This type produces lots of oil and
fiber, but only insignificant amounts of the psychoactive chemical
that put hemp in the doghouse six decades ago.
Hemp was a mainstay crop of early North American settlers. It gave its
name to towns and villages in more than a dozen U.S. States, where it
was cultivated to make rope, paper, cloth and other staples. According
to hemp historians, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were hemp
growers and hemp paper was used for initial drafts of the Declaration
of Independence.
But hemp fell out of favor in the 1930s, partly because of competition
from cotton, but mainly because of fears stirred by such movies as
"Reefer Madness." Originally titled "The Burning Question," the 1936
"warning" film attempted to show how one puff of pot could lead
clean-cut teenagers down the road to insanity and death. Following the
scare, only World War II supply emergencies could move U.S. To make
brief exceptions to its ban on raising hemp.
Despite the ban, hemp has retained a dedicated following among
"hempsters," who extol the nutritious oils of hemp's grain and
the strong fibers of its sturdy stalk.
Modest amounts of hemp fiber, fabric and seed have continued to
trickle into North America from Europe and China to be made into
paper, jeans, socks, cosmetics and edible oils for salad dressing and
the like. California alone has more than a dozen hemp product stores.
The seed sold in such stores must be heat-treated before it is
imported so that it can't be cultivated.
Pro-hemp farmers are quick to distance themselves from marijuana
advocates, who see the legalization of hemp as a step toward the
legalization of marijuana. "We're ropers, and they're
dopers," says Fraser Smith, who is helping to fund an industrial hemp
venture in Ontario province.
The main U.S. Lobby group for industrial hemp, the North American
Industrial Hemp Council, refuses membership to anyone who "in any way,
form or fashion openly advocates the legalization of marijuana or any
other drug," says the council's chairman, Erwin Sholts.
Warnings of a possible wood-fiber shortage and the prospect of tighter
environmental rules favoring natural fibers over synthetic ones have
heightened farmers' interest in hemp. Hemp fiber is strong and
resists mildew. Farmers see big potential demand for it in such
markets as household furnishings and building materials. Cultivation
of this North American native plant requires very little if any
herbicide, pesticide and fertilizer application, and because the plant
actually improves the soil, it is considered an excellent rotational
crop.
Farmers expect to seed several thousand acres of hemp in southwestern
Ontario this year. They especially plan to supply non-woven hemp mats
and fiber to the auto and carpet industries. For instance, the German
auto maker Bayerische Motorenwerke AG has pioneered the use of hemp
and other natural fibers in its cars to make them lighter and more
biodegradable.
Lack of U.S. competition is giving some Canadian farmers an edge.
Interface Inc., a major Atlanta carpet manufacturer, says it hopes to
have on the market later this year a hemp carpet that could be
composted when the time came to replace it. Interface has contracted
for Canadian hemp supplies, but the company believes the U.S. should
be cultivating the crop, says Ray Berard, senior vice president for
technology.
The Canadian government is tightly regulating hemp cultivation to
prevent abuses. Hemp plants must have no more than 0.3% of THC, the
psychoactive element that gives cannabis smokers their high. THC
stands for delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol. The THC level in marijuana
currently runs as high as 16% to 20%, police say.
Canadian hemp growers must be licensed by the federal government and
will be monitored by the police. Officials say they are worried they
won't be able to distinguish legal from illegal hemp acreage,
unless special arrangements are made to map legal crops precisely.
In Washington, the Office of National Drug Control Policy warns that
American marijuana laws could be undermined if industrial hemp were
approved for cultivation in the U.S. The agency notes that industrial
hemp and marijuana come from different varieties of the same plant,
Cannabis Sativa. "The seedlings are the same and in many instances the
mature plants look the same," the agency says.
Government officials also warn that hemp may be risky economically,
especially since some hemp products are costlier than alternatives.
But farmers can't wait to raise the crop. Canada's federal
health department, which is handling the licensing of industrial hemp
growers here, has had trouble fielding all the calls from would-be
growers.
Predictions of a growing market influence these farmers. Sally
Rutherford, executive director of the Canadian Federation of
Agriculture, says hemp isn't a bountiful "Cinderella crop." But
she predicts that the hemp market will gradually increase as new
productive seed varieties are introduced and new technologies are
developed for processing hemp fibers.
Big fiber consumers, such as the paper industry, are assessing hemp as
a raw material to supplement wood.
Living Tree Paper Co., based in Eugene, Ore., markets a hemp paper,
milled in Canada, for the fine printing and writing-paper market.
Sotos Petrides, publisher of Commercial Hemp, a Canadian trade
publication, says hemp produces "a high-end paper, no pun intended."
HempWorld, a California publication, figures the rising interest in
the fiber may turn at least one Ontario grower, Jean Laprise, into a
"hemp mogul." Mr. Laprise heads Kenex Corp., which is contracting with
dozens of southwestern Ontario farmers to produce hemp. If all goes as
Mr. Laprise plans, they will have 2,000 acres of hemp growing within
weeks.
to 1998 Daily News index for April 23-29