By 1998, Canadian farmers will be able to grow hemp as a legal cash crop, removing it from the shadow of illegality cast by its cousin, marijuana.
Thanks to the work of a 62-year-old Ontario Liberal senator, the government has promised to get onto the books by next winter the rules for growing hemp destined for industrial use.
“Health Canada is now committed to allowing Canadian farmers to grow hemp next year,” senator Lorna Milne, from Brampton, Ont., told the senate April 24.
For years, hemp production has been illegal because it is a version of the cannabis plant better known as the source of the marijuana drug. It was covered by the controlled drugs and substances act.
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Last year, Parliament approved legislation that would remove industrial hemp from the prohibition because it is low in THC, the narcotic in marijuana. Hemp fibres are used to produce paper and textiles.
However, bureaucrats have been slow to write the regulations which will put the law into force.
Milne said the process should be accelerated because it is a valuable cash crop which can be used as a substitute for Ontario farmers moving out of tobacco production. “Many farmers are anxious to take advantage of this lucrative new crop.”
She said it also holds promise for prairie production because it is frost resistant and can be cultivated as far north as Edmonton.
She said it is a crop that needs little pesticide, is good for the soil and is a money maker.
“Very few other crops enrich the soil as much as hemp,” she said. “This variety of hemp would be completely worthless in the market for narcotic substances.”
Within the Liberal party, there has been an active industrial hemp lobby for years.
During the last national Liberal party convention, delegates approved a resolution calling for the legalization of hemp as an alternative farm crop.
In fact, it was the the only agricultural resolution chosen as a priority to be approved by the full convention.
