California governor approves hemp bill

(Editor's note: the article is mistaken about nine states cultivating and processing this plant. That number or more are considering such action, and Colorado farmers did plant hemp this spring.)

San Francisco Bay Guardian Online
28 September 2013

After being stuck in legislative limbo for 14 years, industrial hemp is now a sanctioned agricultural crop in the state of California.
The California Industrial Hemp Farming Act (SB 566) was signed into law on Wednesday by Gov. Jerry Brown, after years of deliberation dating back to 1999, a process that included multiple gubernatorial vetoes. The freshly signed law will allow approved California residents to grow hemp for industrial purposes by reclassifying the once-felonious plant as a "fiber or oilseed crop."
SB 566, a bill championed since 2005 by Sen. Mark Leno (D), defines industrial hemp as the "nonpsychoactive types of the plant Cannabis saliva L. and the seed produced therefrom, having no more than 3/10 of 1 percent of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) contained in the dried flowering tops."
In simpler terms: It doesn't protect marijuana, but rather marijuana's less mind-bending cousin, which is far more useful as a raw industrial material.
"We are very pleased to have the signature," Sen. Leno told the Guardian. "It's been a 10-year effort to get here. It's a job still, but [the passing of SB 566] will help sustain family farms in California for the future and likely create more job opportunities. Hemp is a $500 million a year industry in California, and it's growing at 10 percent annually."
California now follows in the footsteps of nine other states and 30 other countries that have reclassified the innocuous plant as a crop with agricultural and commercial value. And it is quite valuable.
"This is a miracle plant that has served the planet earth well for, literally, millennia, and that we currently legally manufacture and sell thousands of hemp products including food, clothing, shelter, paper, fuel, all biodegradable products," said Leno. "It's renewable every 90 days, grows without herbicides, pesticides and fungicides, and needs less water than corn. It is the definition of sustainability."
But the reputation of hemp hasn't always had champions like Sen. Leno. Since the initial proposal of HR 32 back in 1999, the bill has been vetoed four times by three different governors. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cited a "false sense of security" he feared would be cultivated amongst the growers of the crop, due to its illegality at a federal level.
Gov. Brown had previously shot down the proposed legislation in 2011, citing a gap in state and federal law as the reason. However, he did remark in his veto message at the time that "it is absurd that hemp is being imported into the state, but our farmers cannot grow it."
And it would seem that Brown's recognition of hemp’s merits finally outweighed his concern over the potential for California growers to face federal prosecution, which is a major relief for the architects of SB 566. Now Californians can stop relying on imported hemp from Mexico and Canada (among other places) and start legally manufacturing their own.
"We currently manufacture literally thousands of [hemp] products — legally — and sell them," said Leno. "This is why this issue has been so nonsensical."
The "nonsensical" issue has had deep roots, given hemp's historically ambiguous federal standing. As Brown’s 2011 veto message noted, "federal law clearly establishes that all cannabis plants, including industrial hemp, are marijuana, which is a federally regulated controlled substance."
But that isn't a universally held assertion. Back in 1970, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970 "explicitly excludes nonpsychoactive hemp from the definition of marijuana," a decision that the federal government never appealed. It's a decision that Sen. Leno agrees with.
"We've always believed that there is no federal preemption, because we believe that that court case ruled that Congress had knowingly exempted industrial hemp from the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 –because it's not a drug," said Leno.
Now the state of California can do what more than 30 countries (including Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany and China) and nine states are already doing: Cultivating and processing a plant that many have touted as the "miracle plant."
Now that SB 566 has passed, however, the looming question still remains as to how the federal government will respond. But Leno is confident that it will respect the will of California lawmakers.
"I have great confidence in a recent statement by Attorney General Eric Holder," said Leno. "He's said that if a state puts into place a legal allowance and regulatory scheme, that the federal government would not interfere with marijuana. Now, we need clarification between hemp and marijuana, but there's no sensical way that that could be interpreted that hemp is excluded, given that hemp's not a drug."
Either way, hemp is on the horizon here in California.

California hemp bill

A hemp bill has been introduced again in California, David Downs in the East Bay Express gives us the facts:

The legal production of industrial hemp in California made progress in the form of two bills recently introduced in our state legislature.
Sen. Mark Leno drafted SB 566, a revision of a hemp bill that was introduced last year but shot down by Governor Brown. Leno's latest bill does not set up a pilot program, but authorizes general cultivation of industrial hemp.

AB 1137, introduced by Orange County Assemblyman Allan Mansoor, also authorizes industrial hemp cultivation under the state Deptartment of Agriculture, and is based on the 2006 bill AB 1147, which was passed by legislature but vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger.
Both bills would revise the definition of marijuana to exclude industrial hemp and authorize its production with the provision that its potency not exceed 0.3 percent THC.

PROPOSITION 19

A story in the Sacramento Bee caught my attention this week. Hopefully, this bill will pass. California has a history of hemp bills being vetoed by the Governator, Schwarzenegger.


"Hemp may piggyback to legality on Prop. 19"

By Peter Hecht mailto:Hechtphecht@sacbee.com

Published: Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010 - 12:00 am Page 1A

David Bronner's third-generation family business – Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps – imports 20 tons of hemp oil a year from Canada to make soaps, shampoos and skin lotions near San Diego.
Now Bronner hopes California's Proposition 19 to legalize marijuana for recreational use can give impetus to legalizing cultivation of hemp – pot's cannabis cousin.
Proposition 19 proponents say the initiative's language allowing local governments to permit cannabis cultivation – by definition – includes both marijuana and hemp.
But the measure variously inspires or infuriates hemp advocates, who are waging arguments over whether it will help or hinder efforts to lift a U.S. ban on hemp cultivation.
Some say Proposition 19 could invigorate a national hemp industry that already produces more than $350 million in annual sales of clothing, food, paper, carpet and other items – all from hemp grown in other countries.
Others contend the measure will further link hemp – a cannabis plant that can't get you high – with marijuana and deal a public relations setback to the hemp movement. While it looks like marijuana, hemp contains only minute traces of pot's psychoactive elements.
Hemp fibers, foods and oils are imported from more than 30 other countries, but the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration treats hemp cultivation as an illegal activity akin to narcotics production.
Erwin A. "Bud" Sholts, chairman of the North American Industrial Hemp Council, a Wisconsin group hoping to open up American farmland to hemp cultivation, wants nothing to do with California's pot initiative.
"I don't think we're interested in legalizing the drug at all," he said.
Sholts, a former economist for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, said his hemp trade organization is working with major U.S. companies he won't name to "develop a strategy" for legalizing U.S. production.
The last thing his partners need, Sholts said, is California's Proposition 19. "They don't want to appear to be pro-marijuana," he said.
In its only direct reference to hemp, Proposition 19 says the Legislature may "authorize the production of hemp or non-active cannabis."
That is pure political melody to Bronner, president of another pro-hemp group, the Hemp Industries Association.
"I think the initiative would be very helpful," said Bronner, who said his business costs would drop by 25 percent if he could cultivate hemp in California.
Several states have passed legislation urging the federal government to legalize hemp and setting guidelines for a potential resurgence of cultivation.
In 2006, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 1147 by San Francisco Democrat Mark Leno and Irvine Republican Chuck DeVore to endorse hemp cultivation in California. The bill was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Leno, now a state senator, said he will introduce new hemp legislation if Proposition 19 passes.
His earlier bill argued that hemp should be defined differently than marijuana because it is a not a mind-altering substance. While marijuana may contain 5 percent to 20 percent of psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), hemp has 0.3 percent or less.
"They are distant biological cousins," Leno said. "The analogy is that hemp has as much THC as the poppy seeds on your bagel have opium."
Nationally, growing hemp has essentially been illegal since marijuana was outlawed in 1937 – except for one notable period. In World War II, the U.S. Department of Agriculture produced a film – "Hemp for Victory" – that called on "patriotic farmers" to produce hemp for rope, fabrics and other "needs of our Army and Navy."
U.S. drug agents have since regarded the plant as an unwanted relative of pot. Authorities contend its similar appearance can shield illegal marijuana cultivation – though pot growers say hemp can cross-pollinate marijuana, killing its potency.
Last year, Republican Rep. Ron Paul and Democratic Rep. Barney Frank introduced the Industrial Hemp Farming Act in Congress, seeking to give states the right to permit hemp growing.
In a joint letter, Paul and Frank argued that hemp's inclusion with marijuana in the Federal Controlled Substances Act has prohibited American farmers from "competing in the booming industrial hemp market."
That market is already booming for John Roulak. His Oxnard-based Nutiva food company – listed in Inc. magazine as one of America's 5,000 fastest growing businesses – expects to earn $12 million this year on imports of hemp foods from "Hemp Ginger Salad Dressing" to hemp protein shakes and munchable hemp seeds.
Sales of hemp foods – said to be high in fiber, protein and Omega-3 and Omega-6 – took off after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2004 that the Drug Enforcement Administration couldn't ban foods containing the plant products.
Roulak is torn over whether Proposition 19 and greater marijuana legalization will help with hemp.
"I've been in the middle of that debate for too long," he said. "I'm a voice of stay away from the dope (pot), stay focused on the rope (hemp)."
Roulak said few people in California are willing to invest in growing acres of hemp – whose market value is far closer to corn than marijuana – for fear authorities will "have their fields cut down."
But he said passage of Proposition 19 would give political cover for the next governor to sign a bill legalizing cultivation.
"We feel optimistic," he said, "that a bill signed by the governor of California will give us more options legally than we have now."
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved. Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/30/3144637/hemp-may-piggyback-to-legality.html#ixzz142b2XRM5

HEMP RUSH IN CALIFORNIA

Settlers going to the Golden State used to sing "California here we come". When they got there, they grew hemp. That is until the powers-that-be made it illegal. Recently a sensible bill to legalise hemp in that state was shut down by millionaire actor Arnold Schwarzennegger, the son of an Austrian Nazi who joined the Republican party in the US and became governor of the most prosperous state.

One of the desecendants of those whistling on the way to a new life in Queen Caliph's land is Charles Meyer, a third generation California farmer; he desires to grow what the early settlers grew, but how ironic that a carpetbagger from the old world is there to tell him nein. The battle for the rights of the Californians has been waged for years now by Assemblyman Mark Leno, a Liberal Democrat. However, hemp has broad support these days, so no surprise that Orange County Repulican Chuck Devore is also fighting for the right of the people. Devore, incidentally, was once the youngest appointee in the Reagan White House. He is knowledgeable on the subject, and has stated: "It is absolutely criminal that American farmers, the most productive and efficient farmers on the planet, cannot be allowed to grow a naturally occuring plant, that grows wild in America."

Besides farmers and politicians, there is support from the business community, with many hemp shops and manufacturers working in the state, although they must buy their raw material from China or Canada. Minawear and GeoMio are two companies that produce clothing, and hemp foods (including a hemp protein powder) can be purchased at Nutiva.

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CALIFORNIA HEMP BILL AB 1147

Assembleyman Mark Leno in California has managed to get a hemp bill put forward to allow farmers to grow hemp, as the US government encouraged them to do in WWII and previously. On 20 June, it passed overwhelmingly in the Senate Public Safety Committee by a 4-2 vote. Leno stated that "California farmers are missing out on a multimillion dollar market that already exists in California. Hundreds of hemp products are made right here in California, but manufacturers are forced to import...This measure will allow California to lead the way in tapping into a $270 million industry..."

If passed at a final stage, it would specify that hemp seeds contain 0.3% or less of THC. Currently there are many varieties that meet this criteria.

California hemp businesses, such as Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps of Escondido and Minawear of Santa Monica, support this bill. At present hemp is sourced from Canada and China, but the US hemp industry would love to use home-grown hemp. Minawear is one of the few US hemp clothing manufacturers that makes their garments in the good 'ol USA. If possible, they would use American hemp as well.

The move to cultivate hemp in America also has the support of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams and Abraham Lincoln. Those voting for it are in good company...you are either with us or you are against us.