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Letter
to Industrial Hemp Advocates
Inviting
supporters to attend the NAIHC Annual Meeting, Erwin
A. "Bud" Sholts,
Chairman, writes: "New
faces in higher places
in Washington are open to considering the commercialization of
industrial hemp."
Global
Hemp News Updates On-Line
The Global Hemp site's news updates include links to the latest
articles on legislative efforts to legalize industrial hemp growing in
the U.S.
Reports 'Hemp a Hit on the Hill'
Congress got a taste of
gourmet hemp foods when Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced federal
legislation, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act, to make it legal once
again to grow industrial hemp in the U.S.A. As part of the festivities,
Ralph Nader, the former presidential candidate and veteran consumer
advocate, was on hand to support the legislation. Under the headline “Hemp a Hit on the
Hill,” Capitol
Hill’s Roll Call
newspaper reported that Nader “pointed out that George Washington
and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp.” Roll Call
quoted Congressman Ron Paul as telling the crowd gathered for the bill
launching that “the Industrial Hemp Farming Act would be a step
toward freedom.”
Canadian '05 Industrial Hemp Conference Sept. 29-30
The
Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance/ Alliance Commerciale Canadienne du Chanvre
(CHTA/ACCC) holds its 2005 Industrial Hemp conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba
Sept. 29th-30th. “2005
has been a striking year for industrial Hemp in Canada,” says Arthur Hanks,
Executive Director, CHTA. “In response to strong prices and robust demand we
have seen licensed hemp acreage jump almost to 20,000 acres, both conventional
and certified organic. Opportunities are being seized with hemp and this year’s
conference will have information about all the borders we are crossing: in
trade, in food nutrition, fiber development, and the regulatory environment.”
Full Details.
Raleigh Newspaper Reports on Industrial Hemp
“In June, a Texas
congressman introduced legislation to legalize the growing of hemp in the
United States for the first time since 1937. Hemp products are legal in the
United States, but growing hemp is not. . . To hear advocates tell it, hemp is
a gold mine. It grows almost anywhere without fertilizers or pesticides. Its
fibers can be used to make a variety of products, such as auto parts,
bleach-free paper and high-quality fabric. Its seeds are a nutritious snack or
a source of luxurious oil.” Click Here to read the full article in The News
& Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina.
California Industrial Hemp Farming Act
Testimony
California is one of
26 states which have introduced hemp
legislation. After committee hearings held April 27, 2005, it could
become the fifteenth state to pass such
legislation. This includes five states which
have legalized industrial hemp. Click
here for testimony before the California
Assembly Agriculture Committee on AB
1147 which would
authorize
hemp farming under state license.
Former
Kentucky Governor on Hemp
In 2001, former Kentucky Governor Louie B. Nunn explained why after
learning the facts, he decided to support reintroducing industrial hemp
as a legal crop in the United States. In his commentary published
by The Lexington Herald-Leader,
Gov. Nunn wrote that "I was opposed to the
legalization of hemp for years because I had been of the opinion that
hemp was marijuana. I was shortsighted in my thinking, and I was
wrong." He explained that it is important to replace "misleading and
intimidating rhetoric" with the facts, pointing out that industrial
hemp "is not a drug, and never was."
"Hemp as a
Potentially Important Crop and Area of Research"
Analysis of the uses and value of industrial hemp, a research paper
presented by NAIHC founding member Dr. Shelby F. Thames of The
Univesity of Southern Mississippi, Thames-Rawlins Research Group.
NAIHC Honorary Members
Individuals
Awarded Honorary Lifetime
NAIHC
Membership to Recognize their Achievements and Contributions toward the
Re-introduction of Industrial Hemp as a Major Crop in North America.
"From
Petro to Agro: Seeds of a New Economy" by Robert E. Armstrong.
In Defense
Horizons, published by the
Center
for Technology
and National Security Policy at the National Defense
University,
Dr. Armstrong writes that: "Today, the hydrocarbon molecule is the
basic unit of commerce. In a biobased economy, genes will replace
petroleum. So, just as we currently demand assured access to sources of
hydrocarbon molecules (oil), in the near future we will demand assured
access to a broad-based, diverse supply of genes (plants and animals).
This shift has security implications."
NAIHC Annual
Membership Meeting
NAIHC 9th Annual Membership Meeting
October 27th, 2004.
First U.S. Industrial Hemp Harvest Since 1958
On the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation in South Dakota, farmer Alex White Plume has
harvested industrial hemp for shipment to the Madison
Hemp & Flax Co. of Lexington KY. The Global Hemp News web site features this and other industrial hemp news
stories for August.
Global Hemp News - June Updates
On-Line
The latest updates
include data on the hemp industry in Europe, showing 20
to 30 companies processing hemp, and a report on the
BioComposites Centre at the University of Wales.
San Francisco Chronicle: End
Hemp Ban
Following a federal appeals
court ruling which postponed a U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration ban on food products containing hemp seed
or hemp oil, a March 12 Chronicle editorial called for
"lifting the U.S. ban on hemp cultivation." The
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will hear
arguments for and against the proposed ban on Monday,
April 8 in San Francisco.
U.S. DEA Site out of Date on
Hemp
Despite the
federal appeals court ruling in San Francisco postponing
the DEA ban, U.S. DEA's Web site still lists March 18th
as the deadline for removing hemp foods from store
shelves.
DEA Ruling Challenges Hemp
Imports
Los Angeles Times
article on Kenex response: "Canadian supplier,
claiming the ban violates NAFTA provision, threatens to
sue the U.S. Government."
Hemp
Yields for Fiber and Energy?
"How much fiber
does hemp produce per acre, compared to trees?"
"Is hemp a viable energy source?" If you've got
answers to these questions from readers, please visit our
Q&A page.
Global Hemp News - March Updates
On-Line
The latest updates
include articles on the growing commercial importance of
industrial hemp -- not only in the U.S but in Ireland and
elsewhere around the world.
Global Hemp News - Battling DEA
Ban
The latest updates
include several articles on the battle over the proposed
DEA ban on hemp products: "Canadian supplier,
claiming the ban violates NAFTA provision, threatens to
sue the U.S. government" from the Los Angeles
Times, "Canadian Company Will Sue To Prove Hemp
is Not Pot," from Environment News Service, and
others.
Global Hemp News - January Issue
On-Line
Latest articles include
one on HempDove Racing: "The beauty of hemp; if you
were growing it for fiber, and there was a market shift,
you still have a paper crop, oil crop, seed crop, or
cellulose crop as well as a crop that can be stored till
the market shifts again. Its diversity in the market is
matched only by petroleum .. . "
HempWood Finishing Oil for Paint
Industry
Hempola Valley Farms
officially has launched its first hempseed oil based
industrial product: HempWood. It's a pure, natural and
safe finishing oil, primarily used for different wood
applications.
"Industrial Hemp Viable
Crop"
From Global Hemp
News, Aberdeen American News editorial by Adrian
Pratt, Publisher of the American News: "As
the absurdity of the current laws banning hemp become
more and more apparent, this debate will arise more
frequently until logic - and new laws - prevail. .
."
Latest from Global Hemp News
Among the GHN site's new
stories, this from Arizona's Tucson Weekly:
"With an American flag made of hemp in the
background, two conservative Republican lawmakers said on
Halloween they would push to allow the state's
universities to research industrial hemp as a cash crop
in Arizona."
Kentucky Industrial Hemp
Commission Report
Kentucky
Post article: The Commission is focused on
developing industrial hemp as a cash crop, but finds an
array of state and federal laws standing in the way.
Global Hemp News Coverage
Among the GHN site's new
stories, this: "Although organic cotton remains the
most popular option, hemp is being widely hailed as the
future organic fabric. Believed to have been around for
more than 10,000 years, it is not only the world’s
strongest natural fiber, it is pesticide free, needs less
water to grow than cotton and is ideal for use in organic
crop rotation."
DEA Hemp Rules - Another
Perspective
Summary Provided by the Colorado Hemp Initiative
Project, with a variety of useful links to the DEA
documents, with information on submitting comments.
New DEA Proposed Hemp Rules
60-Day Deadline for DEA Hemp
Rule Comments
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has announced
new Rules and Proposed Rules for "hemp" in the
Oct. 9 Federal Register. These interpretive and interim
rules, effective immediately, ban hemp food products that
use ingredients (hemp seed/oil) with any THC and require
hemp body care companies to file for exemptions with DEA
to secure hemp oil imports.
Hemp food companies
are given a 120-day grace period to dispose of
inventories, and all consumption is immediately banned. Interested
parties including the general public along with
hemp-product companies are given 60 days to comment on
the new rules. As well as filing formal comments with
DEA, interested parties can contact their senators and
members of Congress to present their views on the new
rules.
The DEA states in 01-25024: "DATES: This interim
rule is effective October 9, 2001. Comments must be
received by DEA on or before December 10, 2001. If DEA
determines based on any comments received that a
modification of this interim rule is warranted, such
modification will be specified in the final rule. As set
forth in this document, a grace period is being provided
for persons to dispose of existing inventories of
"hemp'' products that are not exempted from control
under this interim rule. Any person who, as of October 9,
2001, possesses a THC-containing hemp product not
exempted from control under this interim rule has until
February 6, 2002 to dispose of such product in the manner
described in this document."
New DEA Proposed Hemp Rules
From The Hemp
Report: The Drug Enforcement Administration has
published the Rules and Proposed Rules for
"hemp" in the Oct. 9 Federal Register - with
links to the Federal Register documents and to other
industrial hemp stories.
Hemp Yields for Fiber
and Energy?
"How much fiber does
hemp produce per acre, compared to trees?" "Is
hemp a viable energy source?" If you've got answers
to these questions from readers, please visit our
Q&A page.
MSNBC Tells Industrial Hemp
Story
In a feature story
on the DEA destruction of an Ogala Sioux hemp field,
MSNBC explains: "So-called industrial hemp, which
lacks pot’s chemical potency, has been used for
centuries in everything from clothing to lip balm.
Marijuana usually has at least 5 percent or more of the
hallucinogen tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), but industrial
hemp contains less than 1 percent — far from enough
to give even a mild high. And while marijuana remains
illegal in most countries, the industrial hemp movement
has gained momentum in recent years. . ."
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