Commercial cultivation of industrial hemp will be legal nationwide early next month, Federal Health Minister Allan Rock vowed at a recent meeting of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. Rock said that he is ready to formally approve regulations released in December by the Canadian Department of Health (Health Canada) to permit farmers to engage in wide-scale farming of the crop.
“I’m pleased to report that by the beginning of next month, the cultivation of industrial hemp will be legal in Canada,” he said.
Since 1995, Canada has licensed a limited number of farrners to cultivate small test plots of industrial hemp for research purposes. The forthcoming regulations will allow farmers to grow commercial plots of the crop for the first time in 50 years.
According to a preliminary draft of the regulations published on the Health Canada website, anyone growing, processing, or exporting hemp will have to possess a license from the agency. The regulations also mandate that farmers may not grow the crop within one kilometer of school grounds or any public place frequented by persons under eighteen years of age. Industrial hemp must be stored in a locked container or location, and samples of crop have to be tested at a laboratory to determine THC content. Health Canada defines industrial hemp as a variety of the cannabis plant with less than 0.3 percent THC.
Sally Rutherford, Executive Director of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, which represents 200,000 farm families nationwide, praised the upcoming change in federal law.
“[Hemp] provides another commodity that people can produce and there appears to be a growing market for it,” she said. “For people looking for diversified crops to grow, it is good news.”
Senator Lorna Milne — who has pushed for changing Canada’s hemp laws for several years — called hemp “an opportunity for Canadian farmers unmatched in this century.”
A spokesman for the health minister said that there will be “minor adjustments” to the proposed hemp regulations, but would not comment on what those changes may be.
Presently in the United States, farmers may not grow industrial hemp — even for research purposes — it is illegal under federal law. According to a 1995 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) “white paper,” the Drug Enforcement Administration remains “opposed to any consideration of hemp as a legitimate fiber or pulp product.” The report further added that “legal issues” preclude the USDA from growing test plots of the crop for scientific purposes.
For more information, please contact either Paul Arnentano or Allen St. Pierre of the NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.
