- Source: The Daily Republic
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- Petition drive under way to put
hemp issue on 2002 ballot
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- By: Kelly Sprecher, The Daily
Republic
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- At first glance, chances are that
nobody would expect longtime Mitchell resident
Gladys Baldwin to be a hemp supporter.
- But Baldwin - a retired realtor,
the daughter of a farmer, an active community
member and a senior citizen - is among those who
say it may be a good idea to legalize the growth
and production of industrial hemp in South
Dakota.
- A petition, started by Hermosa
artist Bob Newland, is criss-crossing its way
through South Dakota, hoping to secure enough
signatures to land an initiated measure on the
2002 ballot that would ask voters to allow the
growth and production of hemp.
- Proponents call it smart. In a
state where value-added agriculture seems to be
the only way to combat dwindling crop prices,
they say hemp production makes sense. Foes, on
the other hand, say the problems that are
guaranteed to follow the legalization and
production of hemp would far outweigh its
benefits.
- It's a debate that Baldwin is
watching closely. "I'm for anything that
will help the farmer," she said.
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- Hemp facts
- The average Joe calls it
ditchweed. Close, but not quite, according to
Diane Sevening, assistant drug studies professor
at the University of South Dakota.
- Formerly known as Indian Hemp, the
plant belongs to the cannabis family and is a
cousin to sativa cannabis and cannabis indica,
or, more commonly, marijuana. What sets hemp
apart from its relatives, Sevening said, is its
potency. "Hemp actually has a very low
concentration of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) - the
active ingredient in cannabis.
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- Figures from the North American
Industrial Hemp Council, Inc., rate the THC
content of industrial hemp between 0.5 percent
and 1 percent. In comparison, marijuana has a THC
content between 3 percent and 20 percent. Put
into perspective, the Council says, a person
would have to smoke between 10 and 12 hemp-made
cigarettes in a short timeframe in order to reach
the same psychoactive effect of one low-potency
marijuana cigarette. And, because of hemp's
high-fiber content, 10-12 cigarettes would be the
equivalent of digesting three to four doses of a
high-fiber laxative.
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- But potency is not at the heart of
the issue, educators and law enforcement
officials say. The law is. Hemp and marijuana
both fall under the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Agency's definition of Cannabis sativa - a varied
species of plant which, in the U.S., is illegal
to possess, produce or distribute. Because hemp
and marijuana plants look similar and, according
to Sevening, rely on similar types of climates
and conditions to grow, law enforcement officials
say hemp producers would most certainly face
tight scrutiny. "We arrest based on probable
cause," said Lyndon Overweg, assistant
Mitchell police chief and coordinator of the
James Valley Drug Task Force. "If we think
it's probably marijuana, they're going to get
arrested."
- South Dakota Chief Deputy Attorney
General Larry Long agrees. "I don't know if
you could visually distinguish the hemp that
would be legal from the hemp that would be
illegal," he said. "In a field of corn,
several rows might be field corn and several rows
might be sweet corn, but I'm not bright enough to
tell the difference. I'm sure that's one of the
things law enforcement is concerned about - that
they won't be able to tell the difference."
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- The James Valley Drug Task Force
is staffed with one full-time agent and manned by
representatives from the Mitchell Police Division
and Hanson, Sanborn, Davison and Aurora County
sheriff's department officers. Task force members
communicate between each other in an effort to
control and eliminate illegal drug crimes by
being both proactive and reactive, Overweg said.
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- Proactive measures include the
surveillance of presumably cultivated marijuana
plants while reactive measures involve field
tests, which officers administer to the plant
itself to determine if the THC agent is present.
- And today, Overweg said, anyone
cultivating a cannabis plant, regardless of the
THC potency, faces legal penalties. "Take
cocaine," he said. "A small amount of
cocaine or a large amount of cocaine is still
cocaine. The penalty is the same regardless of
the potency." The bottom line, educators and
law enforcement officials say, is that people are
innovative.
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- Sevening said it would not be
difficult for industrial hemp growers to create,
grow and harvest plants higher in THC levels by
using fairly simple hybrid methods. "They
(growers) could include seeds from cannabis
(indica) into the hemp. Then it could have the
same psychoactive effects (as marijuana),"
she said.
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- The push to legalize
- Hemp is already growing, in
abundance, across South Dakota's prairie.
- Newland estimates that roughly
half a million acres of the plant exist in the
state today because of, ironically enough, past
government efforts.
- The U.S. government guaranteed
Midwest farmers a market if they could grow and
produce hemp during WWII. Government officials
provided seed to farmers as part of a war effort
designed to produce hemp-made rope, parachute and
web belts, and lubricating oils for branches of
the military.
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- And today, Newland said, the U.S.
imports nearly $300 million a year of hemp and
hemp-made products, something he finds grossly
unfair. "Canadian hemp is trucked past
barely surviving South Dakota farms," he
said. "I'm interested in good government and
I think that the governmental stand on industrial
hemp illustrates graphically the absurdity of
federal policy on many things."
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- Newland, who is also president of
the South Dakota chapter of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws,
said he has collected more than 5,000 of the
13,010 signatures necessary to land the measure
on next year's ballot. He has until May 7 to
collect the rest. The petition, he says, asks for
hemp to be separated from marijuana by the THC
content. Passage of the measure, he said, would
remove South Dakota's barriers on industrial hemp
production.
- But that doesn't mean a victory.
Cannabis sativa would still be considered a
controlled substance by the federal government,
even if South Dakota voters were to pass
Newland's proposed measure. The vote would merely
send a message to Congress. A message, Newland
said, that would speak measures. "During
prohibition, 10 states removed their barriers
from producing (and distributing) alcohol,"
Newland said. "That sent a message to
Congress to change its policies."
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- Newland's aim is to convince the
federal government to change the controlled
substances act and separate hemp from marijuana,
something he says only makes sense. "Hemp
seed oil is the direct replacement for diesel
fuel," he said. "South Dakota could
produce enough hemp seed oil to meet the nation's
need for diesel fuel. Everyone's talking about
renewable fuels, but they refuse to talk about
the best source for renewable fuel."
"As long as I'm a single voice, they can
dismiss me as a wacko," Newland said.
"But now that we have 5,000 more voices,
we'll be much harder to dismiss."
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- The North American Hemp Council
currently lists more than 25,000 uses for
industrial hemp ranging from rope to paper to
carpet and even soap.
- Those numbers, Baldwin says, are
hard to ignore. "If we're going to keep
importing it, why not just grow it right here in
America," she said. In a report issued by
North Dakota State University's Department of
Agricultural Economics in 1997, researchers
recorded 22 countries, including Canada, which
successfully produce industrial hemp.
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- But numbers aren't everything,
according to Michael Held, administrative
director for the South Dakota Farm Bureau.
"I've heard the argument, but I'm sure it
wouldn't take very many acres to saturate the
market," he said. "I visited with some
Canadian farmers and hemp is a very, very minor
crop in Canada. Plus, they (Canadian farmers) had
a surplus of hemp, so farmers were trying to
figure out how to get rid of their product."
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- The Farm Bureau, Held said, is
designed to increase net farm income and improve
rural living. Its membership, recorded at more
than 10,000 families, pays a $45 annual fee for
its advocacy. Held said hemp growth and
production in South Dakota is neither supported
nor rejected by the Farm Bureau. "We had our
annual meeting last week and while we've looked
at the hemp question over the last couple of
years, we have not adopted a position either
way."
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- The South Dakota Farmers Union, on
the other hand, passed a resolution to support
Newland's petition at its state convention last
week in Sioux Falls. "There is a possibility
for some ag producers to make some money
here," said Chuck Groth, communications
director for the South Dakota Farmers Union, a
farm-advocacy organization with more than 12,000
farm families. "I don't personally believe
that industrial hemp is going to solve the
problems of agriculture in South Dakota or in the
country," he said. "It's no more the
answer than raising emus, ostriches or bison -
these are niche markets, and in that light, we
view it as something that
should be legalized."
- Groth calls it a peripheral issue.
"We've got other irons in the fire that we
feel are more important to agriculture. We'll
(continue) to look at our commodities, such as
wheat, corn and cattle, and we're working on a
farm bill in Washington that will have a much
greater impact on how farm families do in South
Dakota over the next few years," he said.
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