DEAR MEMBERSHIP

     First, we owe our readers and authors an apology for all of the typographic errors and other mistakes apparent in our last issue.  Because of editorial staff changes and scheduling pressures, proof-reading of that issue after its preliminary page set-up was sorely inadequate.  We hope you will agree that this issue has returned the JIHA to its previous editorial standards.
     The 1995 VIR/IHA Cannabis Germplasm Preservation Project was again successful and a preliminary report is presented in this issue.  The IHA still owes the Vavilov Research Institute (VIR) of Russia US$ 5,000 for its work with the 1995 Cannabis seed reproductions.  The 1996 project will require about US$ 20,000 and we must have funding organized by early Spring.  We are extremely concerned about our ability to finance the VIR project in its fourth and final year.  A grant support application for the VIR project has been made, but we are still interested to hear of any other such funding sources.  Several of our members have made substantial donations, including: Don Wirtschafter of Ohio Hempery (US$ 500), John Roulac of Hemptech (US$ 250), Dr. J. P. Mathieu of FNPC (US$ 100) and Matthijs T. Huijgen (US$ 100).  Generosity such as this, keeps the VIR project alive.  Help us by renewing your membership for 1996 now and encourage your colleagues and libraries to join.  We are planning to have our membership list ready in early 1996, so if you want to be included, please renew your membership soon.  Remember, you must join at the Sustaining/Business level of US$ 100 to be included in the directory under your business or organization name.
     We have continued our policy of active participation in both the hemp domain directly and at events that overlap these concerns.  Examples of these efforts include the following.
     ---Textile Forum magazine, published by the European Textiles Network, devoted most of their June issue to hemp and derived much of their information from the IHA.  If you haven't seen it, you can order a copy from the IHA bookstore.  It’s a beautifully done issue, with nice color plates.
     ---The IHA has been invited to join the FAO hemp/flax network and our journal received a favorable review in the June 1995 issue of its periodical, Euroflax Newsletter.
     ---The first two issues (1994) of the JIHA can now be found on the Internet at <www: http://www.calyx.com/~olsen/HEMP/IHA/iha.html>.  An IHA member was kind enough to set us up on his web site, free of charge.  We hope to establish our own site in 1996.
     ---We will soon be offering a Cannabis Information Kit for educators (see page 108).  This was put together by our Projects Manager, Rob Clarke, and is a mixed media resource, including slides and actual examples of hemp products.
     ---The IHA was also pleased to contribute technical advice to the Colorado Industrial Hemp Act strategists on their efforts for 1996.
     ---In 1995, we supplied six varieties of seed, in small amounts, to IHA members for pilot research projects in Australia, Finland, and South Africa.  We are expanding this archive for the 1996 season and hope to supply research quantities of seed for the majority of commercially available hemp varieties from France, Hungary, Poland and Romania.  The IHA now has access to a refrigerated room (+3 o C) for seed storage.
     ---The IHA appeared at a natural products exhibition held in September in Amsterdam and attracted significant interest, along with several new members.
     ---David Watson, Michael Rich, Xian Feng Jia and Rob Clarke gave a multifaceted presentation to the faculty of Detex Textile College in the Netherlands to help them incorporate hemp into their curriculum.
     ---Rob Clarke presented talks on two topics at the North American Industrial Hemp Forum, one a slide presentation about hemp cultivation strategies in Eastern Europe and China, and a second debate challenging the feasibility of genetically marking industrial hemp varieties (see page 104).
     The passage of the last four years, and particularly this year, has seen more solid progress in establishing Cannabis as a major crop than the previous forty years combined.  Let's keep up the good work!