Actor Woody Harrelson has invested two years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in a non-wood pulp mill proposed for Manitoba. If the project proceeds, it would be the first of its kind in North America.

The contradictory nature of the drug war came home to Pine Ridge August 24 as federal agents cut down and seized the one-acre field of hemp plants growing at Alex White Plume’s home near Manderson, South Dakota.

National Guardsmen were pretty high on themselves last week when they burned 35,000 stalks of marijuana growing wild on a private pasture south of Hastings as part of “Operation Emerald Harvest.” As one staff sergeant joked to Pioneer Press reporter Hannah Allam, “We’re breaking some hearts today.”

My company, The Body Shop, has been an international pioneer in the renaissance of industrial hemp. We campaign so passionately on its behalf not only because hempseed oil has proved so successful for us — our hemp range of skin care products will account for almost 4 per cent of total sales in 2000 (our annual sales in 1999 were $996 million) — but also because we believe its countless applications make industrial hemp equally promising for other businesses.

Roger, however, explains that despite its reputation, hemp offers farmers like me numerous benefits as an industrial crop. There is a growing demand for the stuff (this I think I already knew) and not only for attitude adjustment but for use in animal bedding, paper manufacture and rope making. Furthermore, it can be grown satisfactorily even on the sort of poor quality soil that I have in abundance.