Re: CAW makes High Times Mag.

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: : Canada Unleashes Hemp! : : OTTAWA, ONTARIO--Starting next spring, : : cannabis ought to become a common sight on : : Canadian farm fields, as the ruling Liberal Party : : has rescinded a six-decade-old ban on cultivating : : commercial hemp. : : Health Canada, the Canadian equivalent of the US : : Social Security Administration, is now responsible : : (instead of a police agency) for overseeing hemp : : production here. "We're projecting that regulations : : will be in place for the growing season of 1998," : : predicts Health Canada official Jean Peart. : : A Health Canada "hemp team" consisting of Peart : : and officials from the ministries of Agriculture, : : Industry and the Environment, as well as the : : Justice Department's Royal Canadian Mounted : : Police, are currently putting together the : : regulations under which farmers will grow hemp : : for the first time since 1938. : : Peart says the Liberals haven't decided if hemp : : farmers will be allowed to sell on an open market : : or whether their produce will be sold through a : : state-run industrial cannabis board similar to the : : Canadian Wheat Board, which dictates market : : terms for grain farmers. She states that the : : government has set 0.3% THC ("the European : : standard," as she calls it) as the demarcation : : between legal hemp and illegal pot. : : The biggest stumbling block to relegalization was : : the Narcotic Control Act, which had prohibited the : : cultivation of any kind of commercial cannabis. : : Last May 17 the NCA was replaced by the : : Controlled Drugs and Substances Act ("C-8"), : : which contained clauses that allowed the Liberals : : to relegalize commercial hemp. : : Prior to C-8, Canadian farmers could only grow : : hemp for research purposes. In 1996, Health : : Canada issued eight grow permits and a total of 35 : : acres of hemp was raised--none of which went : : toward commercial use. : : Businessman Geof Kime of London, ON, and his : : semi-retired business partner, Joe Strobel, received : : a grow permit in 1994, and have been cultivating : : about 10 acres of research hemp ever since. : : "We're looking at growing 1,000 acres next year," : : says Kime, who runs the Hempline company. : : Peart won't comment, but Kime believes the : : Liberals decided to relegalize hemp because of : : intensive lobbying from farm groups, : : environmentalists, business organizations such as : : the Bank of Montreal, and trade unions such as the : : Canadian Auto Workers on behalf of the crop. : : Considering that it's still illegal to grow hemp in the : : United States, but legal to import hemp products : : there, Kime points out that Canadian farmers stand : : to benefit enormously. "Canada," he smiles, : : "already has a big leg up on the Americans : : regarding hemp." : : So a brand-new kind of free trade might open : : across the border next fall, as Canadian farmers : : start shipping hemp harvests down from the Great : : White North. : : - Nate Hendley, HT Web News Crew, 9/8/97

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