LEGAL HEMP EXPECTED TO CREATE AREA JOBS

A fledgling London company jumping into the new commercial hemp market expects to have at least six full-time workers this year, its president says.

Kime said Hempline will also have contracts with about 25 farmers to grow hemp on as much as 405 hectares of land "within a 40-mile radius of London."

Kime, an advocate who helped push to end the 60-year ban on commercial hemp by the federal government, said "we’re pretty excited."

Hemp was banned along with marijuana in 1938 because it contained a small amount of the same psychoactive ingredient, THC.

Regulations released by federal Health Minister Allan Rock last week allow farmers to grow hemp, but put tight controls on the varieties grown to ensure it has no psychoactive effect.

EXPERIMENTS

Hempline has been experimenting with growing hemp on small sites in the London and Tillsonburg areas since it was established and licensed in 1994. "We’ve been testing a range of soil conditions and customized harvesting and processing equipment," Kime said.

Kime said he expects about 80 per cent of the company’s first commercial crop will be exported to the United States.

He said officials are also trying to develop the Canadian market for hemp, which can be used in everything from shirts to paper, rope and carpet.

Kime said there’s "lots of potential" for the hemp industry to grow but it likely will "take years to expand and get the infrastructure in place."

For farmers to grow hemp and businesses to process the crop, they must be licensed by Health Canada.

The regulations also specify farmers cannot grow less than four hectares and crops will be tested for THC levels.

Hemp will not be allowed to be cultivated within one kilometre of any schoolyard or any other public place frequented by persons under 18.

Copyright © 1998 The London Free Press a division of Sun Media Corporation.