Hemp rules under attack

By ROGER HANSON
Source: themercury.com.au


DOPEY LAWS: Harvesting a commercial hemp crop, grown for seed, in northern Tasmania.

THE State Government is contravening a UN Convention in its treatment of industrial hemp, it was stated under oath at a public hearing yesterday, with the findings to be reported to State Parliament.

The House of Assembly Standing Committee on Environment, Resources and Development heard the Government has appeared to blur the definitions of industrial hemp to that of the drug version.

In the committee's first public hearing, in Hobart, it was stated in submissions that industrial hemp (Cannabis Sativa) has no drug consequences and the Government was breaching the UN Convention by applying the State Poisons Act as the controlling legislation for industrial hemp, and that it hindered the industry's development.

The public hearing was told Article 28, Paragraph Two, of the UN Convention said: "This Convention shall not apply to the cultivation of the cannabis plant exclusively for industrial purposes, fibre and seed, or horticultural purposes."

Tasmania has set the maximum level of THC (the active drug chemical in cannabis) for industrial hemp at 0.35 per cent. Other cultivation states Queensland and NSW have set maximum THC levels at 1 per cent.

"Tasmania is missing the boat in realising the potential of the industrial hemp industry," said Lisa Teale, co-manager of Hemp Australia Pty Ltd.

She said Tasmanian company Envorinex, which has a military contract, wants to use locally-grown industrial hemp in plastic-form armour.

"Envorinex's clients want a plastic that gives protection from improvised explosive devices, better known as roadside bombs, and hemp polymers are a vital ingredient of that process.

"Presently, we export 25,000kg of industrial hemp seed, but this industry is not being allowed to develop."

She said China is planting thousands of hectares of industrial hemp.

The next public hearing is at Henty House in Launceston on July 24.

BULK EXPORT: Tasmanian company Hemp Australia Pty Ltd has 

exported more than 25,000kg of hemp seed that has been legally 

grown in the state.