New Laws Clear Way to WA Fields Of Hemp

[Guest niall]

Now that recreational use has been dealt with, the WA Government are finally addressing industrial hemp. Hopefully medical use won't be too far behind. If they did it backwards, there'd be too many questions about legitimising or tolerating recreational use - deal with recreational use first and the other topics can be discussed without ambiguity:

 

From: MAPNews <owner-mapnews@mapinc.org>

To: mapnews@mapinc.org

Subject: MN: Australia: New Laws Clear Way To WA Fields Of Hemp

 

Newshawk: Niall Young

Pubdate: Thu, 27 Nov 2003

Source: West Australian (Australia)

Copyright: 2003 West Australian Newspapers Limited

Contact: letters@wanews.com.au

Website: http://www.thewest.com.au

Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/495

Author: Cian Manton

 

NEW LAWS CLEAR WAY TO WA FIELDS OF HEMP

 

NEW laws introduced in the Legislative Assembly yesterday will clear the way for people in WA to grow and process industrial hemp.

 

But strict licensing and controls will prevent flourishing fields of hemp being used as a cover for illegal cannabis crops, according to Agriculture minister Kim Chance.

 

The long-awaited legislation allows for the development of a commercial hemp industry in WA. Hemp is now allowed to be grown only on trial plots under strict rules.

 

The legislation will let farmers cultivate commercial crops of industrial hemp, which contains less than 0.35 per cent of tetrahydrocannabinol and has no effect as a drug.

 

People will be able to grow hemp only when licensed, which will involve a series of tests and police checks.

 

Growing industrial hemp without a licence will carry a $10,000 penalty. Breaching licence conditions can attract a $5000 fine and the possible loss of licence. Penalties under the Misuse of Drugs Act could also apply.

 

Police and specially appointed inspectors will be able to enter and inspect properties, examine seed, plants or crops and remove them for testing.

 

Mr Chance said substantial market opportunities existed for industrial hemp and WA farmers wanted the chance to become involved.

 

It was estimated the United States market for natural, fibre and plastic composites would exceed $1.4 billion a year by 2005. Other uses included biodegradable plastics, fibreboards, non-woven geotextiles for use in soil stabilisation, reseeding and erosion control and woven textils which could be blended with other natural materials such as cotton and wool.

 

The chief executive of Malaga-based hemp importer Hemp Resources, Kim Hough, welcomed the legislation, which he has spent several years seeking

 

He said it would let his company get hemp seed oil and fabric from local producers.

 

Mr Hough's company produces hemp-based cosmetics and clothing.

 

"Then we will export the value-added products. It's something sensational for WA," he said.

 

The Liberal and National parties were supportive of the legislation. The hemp trials were started under the previous coalition government, which was drafting legislation for the industry when it lost power.

__________________________________________________________________________

Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in

receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

---

MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens

Edited November 28, 2003 by australian_activist

[Luke Skywalker]

WOOHOO! Now I can become a Hemp Farmer.

 

One thing tho, 0.35% thc? Are there enough suitable strains with such properties which could be grown here? And I noted seed oil production was brought up too... this could be very interesting...

 

Thanks aa.

[Guest niall]

WOOHOO!  Now I can become a Hemp Farmer.

Me too, we should save up and buy a property down in Margaret River Actually there are secret trials grows down there south of town, and it's sure to be a boon for The Margaret River Hemp Company. Great store, I get as many hemp clothes as I can when I'm down there.

 

One thing tho, 0.35% thc? Are there enough suitable strains with such properties which could be grown here? And I noted seed oil production was brought up too... this could be very interesting...

 

There are, but of course genetics for all the major industrial ones have all been patented. Things will get interesting with huge clouds of pollen... Can't wait for a decent oil supply, I've been wanting to get a supply and start using it daily but it's been so damn expensive and elusive.

[Luke Skywalker]

Yeah man right on, you buy the land and I'll grow ya all the hemp in the world. Those, "secret trials" were the worst kept secret in gov... they happened in the early to mid 90's didn't they? Or are they still continuing? I thought I'd read something about them being dismal failures....

 

I've heard of that shop, great to see a small business in West Oz getting behind an industry which is currently, (but not for looooong... ) illegal to produce locally.

 

The pollen question is interesting, as these crops would likely be kept in remote areas, most arable land in this country is out woop woop anyway, so I doubt there would be much likelihood of contamination of Perth indoor crops. (At least I hope so... ) and even if there was a potential outdoor contamination issue, I'm sure we'll all work ways around it one way or another.... the industy could be worth literally billions to us... fuel food and fibre.

 

Wonder what little Johnny thinks of all this, I know he's taken a somewhat less than stern attitude about medicinal use, but the hemp industry could be a serious competitor to many of the donors of the fed party, not to mention the legal constraints implicit in the federal scheduling system... I mean, I know that states are responsible for drug laws, but don't they take scheduling advice from the federal gov? To the effect that whatevers scheduled at fed level is automatically taken as such by the relevant state authorities? And as far as I know, the schedule prohibits Cannabis sativa (L.) specifically, regardless of thc level..... They must have a way around it, otherwise they wouldn't put up the legistlation in the first place, but could this possibly be challenged by the fed gov in the courts?

 

Just wondering....

 

Keep us updated on this man, I, and I'm sure many others here too, will be very interested to see how this pans out.

[Guest niall]

Yeah man right on, you buy the land and I'll grow ya all the hemp in the world.

Deal

 

Those, "secret trials" were the worst kept secret in gov... they happened in the early to mid 90's didn't they? Or are they still continuing? I thought I'd read something about them being dismal failures....

 

These secret trials aren't official, in fact they're illegal - the farmers just went ahead and did it anyway as they were sick of waiting for the Government. The previous trials were all carefully monitored and some results weren't great but I remember reading good reasons why they weren't considered a success - I think it was a combination of planting time and a lack of processing machinery, bad choice of land etc.

[Spurious]

I've had secret trials continuing in that area for the last 10 years. They all went really well. Little worried now about pollen infiltrating my somewhat specific hemps in the future.

[Luke Skywalker]

spurious... you're a funny bastard. Yeah, it could be a prob for outdoor growers, depending on where and when you're growing tho... not too sure about this, but I'd imagine that any outdoor females within at least 5kms, (probably a fair bit more) of a field of flowering males would likely become pollinated, or at least there'd be a few seeds in the plants. Isn't there something out there which can kill pollen on contact? before it can fertilise the flowers? Perhaps this could help outdoor growers, although once again, I could be talking out my arse here, as I'm not sure at all about this. I do know that without some kinda protection, any nearby drug type plants will be cross contaminated with hemp genes. Still, that's why we buy seeds and clone, isn't it. I still think the industry would be worth it tho.

 

@aa ohhh, so your referring to the hemp farmers who went it alone... right, yeah I think the other trials are the ones I'm thinking of, and yeah, they did screw it up from the beginning... typical. But now that these are likely to be licenced, do you know if the secret hemp farmers are for or against this legistlation?

 

Deal 

 

, better ask the missus first... she may have different ideas... .

[dexo]

from what i understand. WA agriculture department has been growing gundjas as "hemp" tryals in Kunnunarra[spelling???] for years now. and althou the dope is officaly "hemp" quality, there are some good smokable buds comming from that region...

 

it wouldent supprise me[since WA police run organized crime/drugs in WA] that the AgDept is groing for there buddies the WA police union...

[gman]

As far as I understand it the hemp trials were run several years back by Dr Peter Keating, PHD. He found that hemp was not a viable crop in WA's arid climate due to water use and price per hectare of product.

 

Naturally the other type of hemp is worth a hell of a lot more than THC free hemp. I think the bike gangs ran their own trials which concluded price per hectare was fantastic. Hopefully they'll publish their research.

 

PS. Corrupt cops in WA?? Can it be true?

 

Make rope - not dope!!