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Dear Reader,
Welcome to the seventh issue of The Vote
Hemp
Weekly News Update! The Vote Hemp Media
Team has
been quite busy with AB 1147, "The California
Industrial Hemp Farming Act." All of our hard
work Ñ and that of our supporters Ñ has paid off!
AB 1147 has passed both the state Senate and
Assembly and is now headed to Gov.
Schwarzenegger for his signature.
Except for one story out of Ontario, Canada, all
of our stories this week are about the California
bill. The New York Times story "California
Seeks to Clear Hemp of a Bad Name" is very good and
is on the Times' Most
E-Mailed List. Please log in to their Web site and
email this story to everyone you can and
ask the recipients to do the same. As of this mailing,
the story is
already in the Top 10!
Please also use our Send a Letter tool to write
to Governor Schwarzenegger today and ask him
to sign AB 1147, The California Industrial
Hemp Farming Act.
After you have sent your letter, please make a contribution
to Vote Hemp to help us continue our work.
We need and truly appreciate your support!
Best Regards,
Tom Murphy
Weekly News Update Editor
PS Ñ If you want to read more of the coverage of AB
1147, and other hemp news, visit the Vote Hemp News Coverage section.
| Hopes Still High for Hemp |
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By Hank Daniszewski
The London Free Press
August 26, 2006
Eight years after it was legalized, industrial
hemp growers are still waiting for that big break
that will make it a mainstream crop in Ontario.
Dan Scheele is one of the folks keeping the
faith. He's holding a hemp field day on his farm
south of Ingersoll today.
Scheele, vice-president of the Ontario
Hemp Alliance, estimates there are about 20
hemp growers
in the province working about 500 to 1,000
acres.
Scheele grows 23 acres of hemp, in addition to
175 acres of corn, soybean and wheat.
"The hemp is a main crop. It looks like that 23
acres will be the most profitable this year," said
Scheele.
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| Hemp Bill Heads for Schwarzenegger's Desk |
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By Tom Ragan
Santa Cruz Sentinel
August 25, 2006
Watsonville, CA Ñ Wine grapes move over.
Strawberries watch it.
Salinas lettuce, you may be a top moneymaker
now
in the Salad Bowl of the World, but don't let that
turn your head.
California-grown hemp could crop up as a
contender.
Farmers aren't sowing their fields with hemp
seeds just yet, but a few Pajaro Valley growers,
along with the county Farm Bureau, are hoping Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger signs a bill that would permit
farmers to grow hemp legally.
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| Assembly Sends Hemp Bill to Governor |
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By Kimberly Geiger
San Francisco Chronicle
August 22, 2006
Sacramento, CA Ñ California lawmakers narrowly
passed a bill Monday that would allow California's
farmers to tap into the $270 million hemp industry
by providing the raw materials used to create hemp
products.
The bill, AB 1147, is a bipartisan effort by
Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, and
Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine (Orange
County),
that would allow California's farmers to produce
hemp oil, seed and fiber Ñ the raw materials that
are used in hemp products.
Industrial hemp, marijuana's non-hallucinogenic
cousin, is used to produce personal care products,
food, paper, clothing, car parts and building
materials.
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| Logic Prevails in Hemp Legislation |
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Editorial
Chico Enterprise-Record
August 22, 2006
Sometimes the state Legislature does the
intelligent, logical thing Ñ and it shocks us. Such
was the case last week, when the state Senate
overwhelming passed a bill that will allow hemp
farming in California.
The Assembly followed suit Monday and sent the
bill to the governor's desk.
The legislation seemed destined to become
entangled in knee-jerk partisan opposition because
of the word "hemp," which sounds an awful lot to
some conservatives like the word "marijuana."
The proposal struggled a bit in the Assembly in
January when Republicans, including Chico's Rick
Keene and Richvale's Doug LaMalfa, voiced their
objection to allowing farmers to grow something that
looks similar to its distant cousin, marijuana.
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California Seeks to Clear Hemp of a Bad Name |
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By Patricia Leigh Brown
The New York Times
August 28, 2006
Stratford, CA Ñ Charles Meyer's politics are
as steady and unswerving as the rows of pima cotton
on his Central Valley farm. With his work-shirt blue
eyes and flinty Clint Eastwood demeanor, he is
staunchly in favor of the war in Iraq, against gun
control and believes people unwilling to recite the
Pledge of Allegiance should be kicked out of
America, and fast.
But what gets him excited is the crop he sees as
a potential windfall for California farmers:
industrial hemp, or Cannabis sativa. The rapidly
growing plant with a seemingly infinite variety of
uses is against federal law to grow because of its
association with its evil twin, marijuana.
"Industrial hemp is a wholesome product," said
Mr. Meyer, 65, who says he has never worn tie-dye
and professes a deep disdain for "dope."
"The fact we're not growing it is asinine," Mr.
Meyer said.
[More...]
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