AUGUSTA – A bill to allow the Maine Agriculture Center at the University of Maine to study the feasibility of growing industrial hemp as a commercial product was enacted by the Legislature this week.

The approval surprised Stephen Reiling, director of the Maine Agriculture Center. Reiling said the bill “slipped right under my radar” and he confirmed he was not asked to testify before the Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture on the issue. Gov. John Baldacci intends to sign the bill.

The bill authorizes but does not require the center to obtain the necessary permits to study industrial hemp, touted by proponents as a lucrative cash crop.

“If the Legislature is serious, we will do the research,” said Reiling. “But if they have no intention of legalizing hemp, they will be wasting our time.” Reiling said that no one has approached his office wanting to coordinate a hemp study.

Reiling said the center will begin the process of researching the issue and will report its findings to the Legislature but believes it can be done easily without ever growing a single plant. “There are similar laws in some other states across the country,” said Reiling. “We’ll be able to use their data and statistics, and interpret them for Maine.”

Eric Pollitt of the North American Hemp Council Inc. said the federal government has issued four permits to grow hemp. They are to state universities at Mississippi, Hawaii, North Dakota and Indiana.

Pollitt said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency classifies all Cannabis sativa L. varieties as marijuana, and while it is theoretically possible to get permission from the government to grow hemp, DEA would require that the field be secured by fence, razor wire, dogs, guards and lights, making it cost-prohibitive.

Based on harvesting statistics from Maine’s law enforcement community for hemp’s cousin, marijuana, there is no doubt the crop can thrive in Maine.

“We have to obtain the permit from the federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms division of the FBI,” said Reiling. “I don’t know what kind of a hurdle that will be.”

Pollitt said he believes that Maine will not be able to obtain a permit, however, unless the state passes a companion law that legalizes the cultivation of hemp.

In presenting the bill to the Legislature’s Agriculture Committee, sponsor Rep. Thomas D. Bull, D-Freeport, said that even though hemp cultivation remains illegal on the federal level, his bill would allow experimentation of a crop that many supporters believe could be very lucrative for Maine farmers.

The bill was passed unanimously by the Agriculture Committee, and co-chairman Rep. Linda Rogers McKee, D-Wayne, said Tuesday, “It is time for the U.S. to rethink this entire issue.” Committee members gave weight to a letter from the Maine Department of Public Safety saying it had no enforcement or identification concerns.

Proponents say the potential for the crop is nearly unlimited and a wide range of hemp products already are being produced in Maine, including soap made in Kingfield and lip balm manufactured in Waterville.

Rope, clothing and cosmetic companies around the world use hemp for fiber and oil. Although industrial hemp and marijuana belong to the same family of plants, they have different characteristics, and industrial hemp is not a drug.

McKee said that growing hemp could be interpreted as part of the war on drugs since the THC component – delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana – actually is lowered if marijuana is planted near hemp.

Farmers in Canada are realizing $400 profit per acre on industrial hemp, 80 percent of which is imported by the United States.

One industry study estimates that the North American market for natural fiber biocomposites, for uses such as automotive and building products, will grow from $150 million in 2001 to $1.4 billion in 2005, but another study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture two years ago concluded the U.S. hemp market has a limited future.

Bills to legalize commercial production of hemp were defeated earlier this year in Iowa and Oregon. A bill was passed in California but vetoed by the governor.