HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.R. NO.25            
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE  RESOLUTION

  REQUESTING THE UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE TO ADOPT
    UNIFORM REGULATORY STANDARDS FOR THE IMPORTATION,
    EXPORTATION, POSSESSION, PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION, AND
    TESTING/ASSAYING OF INDUSTRIAL HEMP.



 1        WHEREAS, industrial hemp is an environmentally friendly,
 2   renewable natural resource for the manufacture of fiber,
 3   building materials (such as roofing, flooring, and wallboard),
 4   pulp, paper, oil, paints, sealants, fuel, and food; and
 5   
 6        WHEREAS, industrial hemp, properly referred to as Cannabis
 7   sativa L., is being used throughout the industrialized world to
 8   manufacture such building materials as caulking, cement,
 9   fiberboard, flooring, insulation, paint, paneling, particle
10   board, plaster, plywood, reinforced concrete, and roofing; and
11   
12        WHEREAS, not only does hemp replace the need for wood,
13   bricks, and fiberglass insulation, but the hardened material is
14   moisture-, rot-, rodent-, insect-, and fire-resistant.  It is
15   also many times lighter than cement, sets in a couple of hours
16   and provides both thermal and sound insulation; and
17   
18        WHEREAS, because of its superior strength and flexibility,
19   which gives it the ability to resist stress-induced cracking
20   and breaking, hemp-reinforced building materials are useful in
21   areas that are susceptible to earthquakes, tornadoes, and
22   hurricanes, such as the Hawaiian islands; and
23   
24        WHEREAS, fiberboard made from hemp is twice as strong and
25   three times more elastic than fiberboard made from wood.
26   Although it is used presently as a supplement to wood-based
27   fiberboard because of its superior strength, hemp composites
28   may eventually replace their wooden counterparts; and
29   
30        WHEREAS, hemp seed oil is being used to manufacture a very
31   durable, long-lasting house paint that renders wood highly
32   resistant to water, and is non-toxic to human beings unlike the
33   volatile petroleum products and synthetic chemicals used
34   presently to manufacture other paints; and
35   

 
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 1        WHEREAS, when treated with more traditional building
 2   materials such as bitumen (a substance similar to tar or
 3   asphalt), industrial hemp can be manufactured into a pourable
 4   type of floor insulation that hardens into a solid mass that
 5   will not shift under pressure; and
 6   
 7        WHEREAS, hemp fiber concrete pipes cost less than one-
 8   third the price of conventional polypropylene (a material
 9   similar to plastic) reinforced concrete pipes, and have greater
10   flexibility, elasticity, and resistance to cracking than
11   conventional petrochemical reinforced concrete pipes; and
12   
13        WHEREAS, the processing of industrial hemp into building
14   materials that are suited to environmental conditions found
15   along the Pacific Rim would provide a great boost to Hawaii's
16   construction and manufacturing industries since insects,
17   hurricanes, and earthquakes are responsible for millions of
18   dollars in property damage each year; and
19   
20        WHEREAS, industrial hemp fiber can be manufactured to
21   produce fine linen and durable work cloth, as well as heavy
22   canvas, twine, cordage, and rope.  In addition, industrial hemp
23   can be grown for its seeds, which can be sold to other
24   industrial hemp growers or made into healthy and nutritious
25   food products for human beings and farm animals; and
26   
27        WHEREAS, industrial hemp can be grown also as a rotation
28   crop to control weeds and plant pests (such as the soybean cyst
29   nematode) and to loosen the earth for subsequent crops.
30   Because it helps to control weeds and plant pests, industrial
31   hemp requires little or no herbicides and pesticides; and
32   
33        WHEREAS, in 1942, the United States Department of
34   Agriculture carried out a nationwide effort to encourage
35   farmers to grow industrial hemp for the war effort, which
36   resulted in 36,000 acres being planted in seed hemp that year.
37   The U.S. Department of Agriculture also promoted industrial
38   hemp as producing four times more pulp than trees for paper
39   production.  In 1994, President Clinton designated industrial
40   hemp as a strategic food source; and
41   
42        WHEREAS, Governor Benjamin Cayetano announced his support
43   of industrial hemp last fall and stated that the legalization
44   of industrial hemp would help Hawaii's agricultural industry;
45   and
46   

 
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                                  H.R. NO.25            
                                                        
                                                        


 1        WHEREAS, there are more than two-dozen strains of
 2   industrial hemp that can be used for fiber and fuel production
 3   and that contain low percentages of tetrahydrocannabinols
 4   (THC), the mind-altering compound found in marijuana.  Several
 5   foreign countries, including Australia, Canada, England,
 6   France, and Germany, currently allow agricultural production of
 7   industrial hemp in all or part of their countries; and
 8   
 9        WHEREAS, in the United States, a pilot project for
10   agricultural research on industrial hemp has been carried out
11   with official government permission in Imperial Valley,
12   California.  The growing of industrial hemp in the United
13   States is allowed only by federal permit, and currently three
14   states have permits pending to grow industrial hemp in their
15   jurisdictions; and
16   
17        WHEREAS, although marijuana is the most, or one of the
18   most, widely misused drugs in Germany and England (excluding
19   alcohol), the illegal diversion or theft of industrial hemp has
20   not resulted in serious law enforcement problems in either of
21   these countries.  Germany does not require a license or
22   security measures while England simply requires farmers to be
23   licensed and to plant industrial hemp fields where there is
24   poor public access and visibility; and
25   
26        WHEREAS, based on seven years of combined experience in
27   Germany and England with the growing and selling of industrial
28   hemp under widely differing regulatory conditions, the
29   Legislature believes that the illegal diversion or theft of
30   industrial hemp will not be a serious law enforcement problem
31   in either Hawaii or the United States; and
32   
33        WHEREAS, Canada, which is a signatory of the United
34   Nation's Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, recently adopted
35   regulations controlling the activities relating to the
36   importation, exportation, possession, production (including
37   cultivation, breeding, and processing), distribution (including
38   sale, offering for sale, provision, transport, sending, and
39   delivering), and testing/assaying of industrial hemp; and
40   
41        WHEREAS, as of June 30, 1998, two hundred fifty-one
42   commercial cultivation licenses (accounting for 5,930 acres of
43   land), five importation licenses, five exportation licenses,
44   fourteen processing licenses, fourteen distribution licenses,
45   six breeding licenses, one seed testing license, and three THC
46   testing licenses have been granted by the Canadian government
47   since the adoption of the foregoing regulations; and
48   

 
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                                  H.R. NO.25            
                                                        
                                                        


 1        WHEREAS, uniform regulatory standards for the importation,
 2   exportation, possession, production, distribution, and
 3   testing/assaying of industrial hemp should be adopted by the
 4   United States Department of Agriculture in anticipation of the
 5   day when the agricultural production of industrial hemp will be
 6   deemed legal in all or parts of the United States; now,
 7   therefore,
 8   
 9        BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
10   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
11   of 1999, that the United States Secretary of Agriculture is
12   requested to adopt uniform regulatory standards for the
13   importation, exportation, possession, production, distribution,
14   and testing/assaying of industrial hemp; and
15   
16        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
17   Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United
18   States, the United States Secretary of Agriculture, the
19   Governor of Hawaii, the Chairperson of the State Board of
20   Agriculture, and the members of Hawaii's congressional
21   delegation.
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25                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________