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Hemp Fibre now Legal in Canada! 

London, Ontario, May 14, 1997 - Today Bill C-8: The Controlled Drugs and
Substances Act, was proclaimed into force, making the fibre and stalks
of the hemp plant legal.

An amendment to the definition of Cannabis in Bill C-8 excludes "mature
stalks that do not include leaves, flowers, seeds or branches; and fiber
derived from such stalks" from being defined as a controlled substance.

Hemp is a specific variety of the plant species Cannabis that produces
little or no THC and is grown for the  many commercial uses of the fibre
and seed.

During a presentation to the Senate committee reviewing Bill C-8 in
April of 1996, Geof Kime, President of Hempline Inc. requested that hemp
fibre not be classified as a drug. Liberal Senator Lorna Milne (Brampton,
Ontario) acted on this request and recommended the amendment to Bill C-8
to the full Senate. A little over one year later hemp fibre is legal in
Canada.

However the cultivation of hemp in Canada is still a regulated activity
that requires a research licence. Recently though, officials in Health
Canada announced that regulations permitting the commercial cultivation of
hemp would be in place by January of 1998; allowing Canadian farmers the
opportunity to plant a commercial crop of hemp in the spring of 1998.

On the new legal status of hemp fibre Geof Kime commented" Now that hemp
fibre can be distributed on an unregulated basis the hemp industry in
Canada will develop quickly. We will move forward with our plans to
establish a state of the art hemp fibre separation facility."

"By allowing companies such as ours to develop the potential of hemp the
Federal Government will certainly see many new jobs created."

In 1994 Hempline Inc. became the first company in modern times to
harvest a legal crop of hemp after cultivating  a 10 acre research plot
near Tillsonburg, Ontario.

For More Information Contact:

Geof Kime, President
Tel. (519) 434-3684
Fax (519) 434-6663
       ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
              Presented as a Public Service by the:
                Colorado Hemp Initiative Project
                          P.O. Box 729
                       Nederland, CO 80466
                      Vmail: (303) 784-5632
                  Email: cohip@welcomehome.org
          Web Page:  http://www.welcomehome.org/cohip.html
          "Fighting 60 years of lies and mis-information
             with 10,000 years of history and facts."
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