LETTERS

Finland

I would like to thank the IHA for the 800 grams of mixed early-blooming VIR313 and

VIR315 hemp seed sent to J.C. Callaway (JCC) and IT. Laakkonen (TTL) of Finland in April 1995. The idea is to multiply the seed in the first

year (1995) and to grow hemp for the purpose of pressing food oils from it in forthcoming years. A portion of the first year's seed harvest will be returned to the IHA. (JCC is also the recipient of 20 kg. each of 2 French varieties, Futura 77 and Fedora 19, which will be grown for fiber, in a separate project.)
        JCC is located at approximately latitude 62 and TTL is at latitude 61. Our Russian strains are adapted to latitude 59 and need about 90 days to produce mature seed (as deduced from Appendix 2 in E. de Meijer's "Diversity in Hemp"). Reported yields are about 1,200 kg seed per hectare, but this is yet to be confirmed. These varieties apparently produce a rather short stem (ca.1m) but we expect it to be a bit taller at our latitudes, maybe 1.50m.
        We feel confident about the project because hemp seed oil is said to be so clearly superior, in terms of essential fatty acid content, to many other oils. We believe there is a real need for the oil, although this is just one of the aspects of the plant and one day, it's going to be a major contender as a crop plant.
        A fuller description of our activities and results will be forthcoming after harvest.

T.T. Laakkonen
Finnish farmer

April 15,1995

To whom it may concern,

My name is Kirstin Wood, and I am a grade 13 student in Ontario who is doing an independent study on why Hemp should be used throughout the world (in other words open my school's eyes !!). I would appreciate any information which you could provide on this subject. I am attempting to show that Hemp has a variety of uses in all areas of life.
My teacher however, is rather conservative and will not allow (or mark) anything which discusses 'Marijuana'. Any information which you send would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a million!

Yours Truly,
Kirstin Wood

"One cultivates marijuana and by marijuana, one is cultivated."

P.S. My paper is due May 19th. Thanks!

Ukraine

Our research group, working on the problem of hemp processing in the pulp and paper industry, is very interested in the first two issues of the Journal of the International Hemp Association.
In our opinion, you are very successful in proving that such a journal is quite necessary and topical. The publications demonstrate the many-sided problems associated with studies on hemp as an agricultural crop and industrial raw material meeting the very different requirements of people.

Dr. Vladimir Krotov
Ukrainian Pulp and Paper
Research Institute

Some interesting information regarding the publications you sent me. The first parcel which you sent some four months back, and which I believed to have been lost in the mail system, has finally turned up. Apparently, customs in Melbourne intercepted the package and held it for two months deciding whether it was 'acceptable' literature. They did this without informing either local customs or me. Eventually the government's chief censor decided that your thesis should be restricted while the IHA Journal is acceptable. Of greater concern is any precedent regarding the publication of my, or any other researchers, results on hemp.

Excerpts from a letter to Shaun Lisson from Chief Censor of the Office of Film and Literature Classification that was enclosed in his letter to the IHA:

"We examined Crop Physiology of Fibre Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.). In our view the publication 'instructs in a matter of crime' (the growing of Hemp). While I accept that your work and Dr. van der Werf's thesis are aimed at the commercial opportunities offered by 'Hemp' as distinct from 'Marijuana', I understand that these distinctions are not recognized under Australian law and feel compelled to the view that, for the purposes of censorship legislation, they compromise a 'crime'."

After review by the Chief Censor, Shaun Lisson was allowed to import two copies of Dr. van der Werf's dissertation with the following restrictions: