2000 SESSION

00-2375

08/09

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 25

ANALYSIS

This house joint resolution urges the federal government to revise regulations to permit the controlled, experimental cultivation of industrial hemp in New Hampshire.

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00-2375

08/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand

Whereas, faltering state agricultural economies have created pressure to investigate alternative crops; and

Whereas, the Federal Agriculture Improvement Reform Act of 1996 reduced government subsidies over the following 7 years, pushing farmers to examine alternative cash crops; and

Whereas, increased foreign competition in established markets, such as tobacco, as well as innovative work with industrial hemp by Canada and the European community, has prompted increased interest in the economic viability of industrial hemp; and

Whereas, similar to jute and flax, industrial hemp's 3 principal raw materials, fiber, hurds, and seeds, are used to produce textiles, rope, cellulose plastics, resin, particle board, paper products, and oil; and

Whereas, the histories of the United States and New Hampshire are replete with examples of the utility of and dependence on industrial hemp, which was legally cultivated in New Hampshire and in many other states until the 1930's; and

Whereas, recently the industry has experienced a revitalization, with worldwide hemp sales of $5 million in 1993, $75 million in 1995, and increasing to approximately $200 million in 1997; and

Whereas, although industrial hemp is derived from the cannabis sativa plant, it is distinctive from its better known relative, in that it contains less than one percent of the chemical responsible for its psychoactive properties; and

Whereas, the growing of industrial hemp in the United States is allowed only by federal permit, and the conditions of such a permit are so restrictive as to make the experimental cultivation of hemp, even under the auspices of a state university with strict controls, essentially impossible; and

Whereas, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration correctly states that it has never turned down an application for the experimental cultivation of hemp, but it is equally true that no successful applicant has ever cultivated hemp, due to the excessive restrictions placed on the required permit; and

Whereas, determining the economic viability of the commercial cultivation and use of industrial hemp in New Hampshire clearly requires experimental cultivation of the crop, under carefully controlled conditions, by a university-affiliated agricultural research station; and

Whereas, a national organization has been formed to provide information on opportunities, benefits, and obstacles to the recommercialization of industrial hemp; broaden the base of support within the agricultural and manufacturing communities, academia, and among the public; and promote research and development of industrial hemp and the recommercialization of the crop in the United States; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

That the general court hereby urges the United States Secretary of Agriculture, the Director of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to revise the necessary regulations so as to permit the controlled, experimental cultivation of industrial hemp in New Hampshire; and

That New Hampshire may become a member of the North American Industrial Hemp Council, Inc. (NAIHC); and

That copies of this resolution be sent by the house clerk to the United States Secretary of Agriculture, the Director of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and each member of the New Hampshire congressional delegation.