The stories below reflect this slow awakening by the watchdogs of liberty.)

See
American Farm Bureau Drops Opposition To Hemp;
State Marijuana Eradication Program Poses Environmental, Human Hazards --  NORML PR
and
Wisconsin Legislator Wants To Legalize Hemp; Fears Support Of Marijuana Reform Advocates;
Attorney General Is Opposed; Narks Claim Local Weed Is 25% THC!
and links

AG OFFICIAL LOBBIES FOR HEMP AS CASH CROP OF THE FUTURE
January 25, 1999

From the Associated Press

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- Jeff Gain wants the government to consider a crop he says can be used in products from rope to car bodies and food to clothing, that could give tobacco farmers a healthful alternative and that grows just fine without pesticides.

"Industrial hemp and marijuana aren’t the same thing," he said at a recent specialty crops conference in Champaign. "The active ingredient, THC, was removed in the 1930s. ... It’s a non-issue."

He said hemp is grown legally in 30 countries, including Canada. It was even grown in the United States during World War II to provide raw material for rope and other products. But current U.S. law does not distinguish between industrial hemp and marijuana.

Gain, who formerly worked for the Illinois Farm Bureau and the National Corn Growers Association, has hit a roadblock trying to convince federal officials that hemp could fit well into farm rotations and could give tobacco farmers facing an uncertain future for their crop a new lease on life.

Gain, who is chairman of the board of directors of the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Corp., said agriculture is changing, and so are national priorities.

"There are concerns about the environment," he said. "We won’t be able to grow corn, soybeans and wheat like we have since the early 1950s. We must have diversity, crops like hemp that grow without pesticides."

Gain said establishing the infrastructure to process hemp would give economies in the Midwest a boost.

"You have to chop up the fiber close to where it grows. We’d need a new generation of cooperatives, joint ventures to share the risk," he said.

John Roulac, president and founder of Hemptech of Sebastopol, Calif., said hemp seed can be processed into hundreds of foods and body care products.

The dehulled seed, he said, tastes like sunflower seed, looks like sesame seed and is more nutritious than soybean seed.

Roulac said the seed is a little lower in protein than soybeans, but the protein is more available, and it’s high in essential fatty acids.

"We have an amazing resource here, but because of federal government obstacles, manufacturers are hesitant to advocate the legalization and growing of hemp," Roulac said.

He said hemp will grow anywhere that corn and soybeans will grow, and it requires about the same fertilization as corn but it doesn’t need pesticides because it outgrows even persistent weeds like Johnson grass.

Even the conservative Illinois Farm Bureau in 1997 got into the hemp issue, passing a resolution supporting research into the crop’s economic and production potential. Delegates reaffirmed that resolution last December.

Copyright: 1999 Associated Press

From The Grand Forks Herald
letters@gfherald.com
http://www.gfherald.com/
January 26, 1999
By Tom Dennis for the Herald

(Marijuananews note: This is very well written, and the author seems to be thumbing his nose at the DEA.)

EDITORIAL
See
North Dakota House Panel Backs Removing Industrial Hemp
From The State’s List Of "Noxious Weed Seeds." --
Bill Introduced By Republican; Narks Say Hemp Was Smoked Back In 1960s.

N.D. HEMP TIMES ARE A-CHANGING

OUR VIEW: The unlikely crop may earn a place as a prospective money-maker.

A flower child’s in the White House. A pro wrestler’s the governor of Minnesota.

What can North Dakota do to catch up?

File that under the heading, "Who woulda thunk it?" Then "thunk" about it long and hard. Because the fact is, the flower child’s been a reasonably good president—judging strictly by the economy, mind you. The new governor of Minnesota’s pumped terrific energy and excitement into St. Paul.

And the prospect of cross-country motorists in North Dakota, expecting amber waves of grain, seeing emerald waves of Cannabis sativa instead, isn’t as absurd as it sounds. Hemp has real potential on the prairie, and in entirely legitimate ways, lawmakers in Bismarck are arguing ("House panel backs bill for industrial hemp," Jan. 22, Page 1B).

All kidding aside, their thinking is persuasive and ought to be heeded by the state.

Hemp’s vaguely wicked air stems from its kinship with marijuana. But the two are not the same, advocates stress. Hemp has myriad uses, has been cultivated for millennia and holds so little hallucinogen that a smoker would merely cough, not fly.

The variety of cannabis that’s grown for marijuana, on the other hand, is ... well, grown for marijuana. The trick for law enforcement would be to tell the plants apart. Can that be done? Can hemp be grown and processed into practical paper and paint, without part of the fields being turned over to the plant’s prodigal cousin?

But those reasons aren’t enough to keep hemp banned entirely. Hemp never will replace wheat, sunflowers, sugar beets or other North Dakota mainstays. Instead, it would be an alternative, another blade for the farmer’s windrower. And such diversity is what the state’s ag economy needs.

The very shape of North Dakota defines the word, "square." (Well, almost.) The state’s famous for its lifestyle conservatism; wherever the practice of wearing nose-rings originated, you can bet it wasn’t in Bismarck.

So, what the heck, then. Let’s live a little. Minnesota got Jesse, North Dakota can grow hemp. Although the thrill might be fleeting, because it’ll be just like us to take what once might have been a rebellious act and make it into something useful, respected and true.

From MSNBC
Rochester, Minnesota
news@kttc.com
http://www.msnbc.com/local/KTTC/
January 21, 1999
STATE PROPOSAL FOR FARM AID

(Marijuananews note: This article sneaks hemp in almost as an after thought.)
ROCHESTER, MN- Senate republicans have released their plans to save Minnesota’s small to mid-sized farmers.  It’s price tag is over 100-million dollars. But GOP lawmakers say it’s the seed needed to revitalize a dying farm economy.

"It’s time for the state to get back to work, especially in regard to the farm economy," said Preston Senator Kenric Scheevel. Senator Kenric Scheevel’s proposal targets both short and long term problems on the farm.

"The proposal is roughly broke into four segments.  Risk management.  Tax relief.  Right to harvest, and feedlot management," explained Kenric. The largest chunk of the 100-million dollar proposal centers on property tax relief.

A one-time rebate would be offered to producers similar to last years income tax credits.  The permanent plan exempts farms from school levies and referendums.

If accepted, the state could also pay up 50 percent of crop insurance in any county struck by a natural disaster in the past two years.  It would also set aside 12 million dollars for feedlot technology and grants to help farmers meet new environmental standards.

House Republicans say there is common ground between the Senate’s new proposal and their 80 million dollar plan.

Hemp is currently illegal in Minnesota.  

From the NORML Weekly Press Release January 28, 1999

Minnesota Pins Agriculture Hopes On Hemp

January 28, 1999, St. Paul, MN: Legislation introduced by Sen. Roger Moe seeks to establish a regulated hemp industry in Minnesota. The bill would authorize licensed farmers to cultivate hemp for commercial purposes.

Senate File 122 finds that "The development and use of industrial hemp [is] in the best interests of the state economy and agriculture and that the production of industrial hemp can be regulated so as not to interfere with the strict control on controlled substances."

At least 29 nations, including Canada, France, England, Germany, Japan, and Australia allow farmers to grow non-psychoactive hemp for its fiber content. This fall, authors of a University of North Dakota study recommended allowing American farmers to grow test plots of hemp for experimental production, and estimated that the crop could yield profits as high as $141 per acre to farmers.

Moe spearheaded similar legislation last year that sought to allow farmers to grow limited quantities of hemp for research purposes. The Legislature approved the measure but then-Gov. Arne Carlson vetoed it. New Gov. Jesse Ventura says he supports the cultivation of hemp for industrial purposes.

This year’s bill now awaits action by Senate Agriculture and Rural Development Committee.

Legislators in Hawaii, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Virginia have also introduced hemp reform measures this year.