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DEAR MEMBERSHIP

        Our announcements this issue are many and brief.  Much has happened since our last issue and this pace seems only to quicken.   The following are only brief mentions of noteworthy current events.
        The long-awaited Diversity article, featuring the VIR/IHA Cannabis Germplasm Preservation Project, is finally in print (see Vol. 13, No. 1, pps. 14-15).  We hope that the article will highlight, for a more general audience, the need for our planned 1998 project phase, consisting of comparative evaluation grow outs, at a projected cost of approximately US $50,000.   The VIR’s acceptance into the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), beginning January 1998, should help with co-ordination and funding of VIR projects.
        BIORESOURCE HEMP ‘97 was fantastic, even better than the first event in 1995.  The nova-Institut did an amazing job and not enough can be said in thanks for all their efforts (see review pps. 61-65).
        Vancouver’s Commerical and Industrial Hemp Symposium in February was a pivotal event in Canada’s new hemp movement, witnessing the hand-off from activist-hempsters to the industrial hemp researchers and farmers of the future (see pps. 65-66).
        Due to popular demand, the IHA Press will be re-publishing Hayo Van der Werf’s Crop Physiology of Hemp.  It will be available in August and both retail and wholesale inquiries are invited.
        Some members of the IHA are contributing chapters to Advances in Hemp Research, a new book to be edited by Dr. Paulo Ranalli.  This work should provide a definitive scientific update for a rapidly expanding agricultural, technical and economic movement.
        If you haven’t already heard, Canada and Australia are in the midst of changing their present regulations governing hemp cultivation.  Simpler licensing programs for commercial hemp crops are expected.   We shipped industrial hemp seed to IHA members in Australia and Canada, as well as China, Germany, Finland and Yugoslavia.
        The IHA is always looking for interesting contributions for our Cannabis Educational Pack.  We need a minimum of 25 duplicates of any contributed items (see the back cover of this issue).  Please contact Rob Clarke with the particulars of your offer.
        The IHA is trying to find additional agricultural universities and other institutional libraries that would like to provide our journal.  Please show our issues to your local librarians and if they seem interested, contact information should be provided to Irene Bijl at the IHA.
        If anyone has information on additional hemp museums or museum displays anywhere in the world, please notify us so that we can arrange an article.  Past work has revealed to our members, hemp museums previously unknown to the general public.
        Please remember to submit your manuscripts as early as possible before the April 15 and October 15 deadlines, so that we will have adequate time for peer review and any needed changes.  Our “Guide for Authors” is available upon request (or please refer to JIHA Vol 1, No. 1, p. 26).
        We are requesting our members to submit articles on Cannabis in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Manchuria, Turkey, Egypt, the Middle East and Africa, especially concerning its history and traditional use.  As always, we are happy to provide a one-year free IHA membership in exchange for accepted articles.
        Finally, we would like to thank the following people for their generous donations to the VIR/IHA Cannabis Germplasm Preservation Project: US $12,000 from an anonymous contributor, US $1,000 from Richard Rose of Rella Good Cheese Company, and US $50.00 from Bruce Meyer of the Agricultural Hemp Association.  Donations of time and money are what enable us to continue our work to protect this endangered germplasm.