By Peter Hirschfeld
Vermont Press Bureau
The Barre Montpelier Times Argus
June 4, 2008

Montpelier, VT — A bill that was poised to legalize the cultivation of industrial hemp in Vermont is now the subject of a constitutional dispute over whether the legislation can become law without the Governor's signature.

Gov. James Douglas, a critic of the hemp bill, has said the measure flies in the face of federal statute and could ultimately complicate marijuana eradication efforts in the state.

Despite his opposition, a Douglas spokesman said that the bill doesn't rise to the level of a gubernatorial veto. And though he wasn't willing to sign the bill himself, Douglas forwarded the legislation last week to the Secretary of State for her to enact the bill into law without his signature.

But Secretary of State Deb Markowitz said Tuesday that it's unclear whether the Vermont Constitution requires a gubernatorial signature or not. When the bill officially arrives at her office, Markowitz said, she'll seek legal advice from the Office of the Attorney General to make a ruling.

Bob Kinzel
Vermont Public Radio
June 3, 2008

Montpelier, VT — Did Governor Jim Douglas inadvertently veto the hemp bill last week when he thought he was allowing the legislation to become law?

Secretary of State Deb Markowitz thinks the answer may be yes, and she wants the Attorney General's office to make a ruling.

VPR's Bob Kinzel reports.

This is a story about how several people can read the same twenty words of the Vermont Constitution and come away with vastly different opinions about the meaning of those words.

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps makes bar and liquid soaps and other personal care products, certified under the USDA National Organic Program with all major ingredients sourced from certified Fair Trade suppliers.

Dr. Bronner's pioneered 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) bottles for our liquid soaps, and we successfully helped coordinate the hemp industry's defense against the DEA's attempts to ban hemp foods and body care products. We are an activist company that donates a significant portion of our profits to various worthwhile causes and charities. We are fighting for meaningful organic standards in personal care. Our employees receive generous compensation and benefits, including no-deductible PPO health care and fully-funded profit-sharing. All executive compensation is capped at five times the lowest warehouse position.

We can trace Dr. Bronner's history back through our family's German-Jewish soapmaking tradition to Emanuel Bronner who was born in 1908 to a family that had been making soap since 1858. He was a third generation artisan, certified as a master-soapmaker under the guild system of the time, and in 1929 he brought his recipes for high-quality liquid and bar soaps to America, starting Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps in its current form in 1948.

The company enjoyed a small but loyal following in the early years, and then in the late 1960s, sales of the soap started to explode. Word-of-mouth soon made Dr. Bronner's the iconic soap of that era, and in the decades that followed, the soaps spread into every health food store in the U.S. and then into mainstream retailers as well, on its way to becoming the number-one-selling brand of natural soap in North America.

The fourth and fifth generations of the Bronner family that run the company today continue to make our unsurpassed soaps with care and integrity. 2008 marks both the 60th anniversary of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps in America and the 150th going back to our family's first soap manufacture in southern Germany. We strive to honor our heritage with progressive business practices, while devoting profits to worthwhile causes and charities worldwide.

[If you are a member of the HIA and would like to have your company featured here, please submit a small selection of graphics and a profile of no more than a few paragraphs to tom@thehia.org, or call 207-542-4998 for more information. Space is limited and is first-come, first-serve. Your member profile will be seen in The HIA Member Newsletter, as well as in The Hemp News Update, which is read by thousands of subscribers.]

Let There Be Hemp! (LTBH) was the seed of an idea that manifested into a graphic design printed on a hemp blend tee, now available for sale via its namesake Web site. 40% of net profits will be donated to Vote Hemp to help fund our educational outreach programs.

LTBH founder and Vermont resident Dawna Foreman, who runs a Web design and marketing company with her husband, James, sees the tee sales as a way to raise significant funds for Vote Hemp: "We're a family of hemp enthusiasts who created a cool, marketable product at a critical time to challenge and shift the public's perceptions and help make change happen."

The LTBH Web site is a cut-to-the-chase learning center that offers visitors a good array of video clips, a PBS radio interview and links to Vote Hemp and other resources. The idea is to draw people into discovery of the facts surrounding industrial hemp production and dispel the myths and misinformation that are keeping it from being farmed again on U.S. soil.

LTBH has a simple and aggressive goal: to get a million people to buy and wear Let There Be Hemp! tees and share the profits with Vote Hemp to get industrial hemp legalized and growing again in the U.S., creating abundance for many Americans, in all ways. "Let's imagine that one day in the near future, the LTBH tee will become a relic, reminding us of the time before renewed widespread hemp farming in the U.S."

Now, more about the tees:

The tees sell for $39 including shipping. You can order them through the Let There Be Hemp! Web site or by calling 802-496-7017. VISA and MasterCard accepted. Discount available on orders of twenty shirts or more. Remember, 40% of net profits will be donated to Vote Hemp to help fund our educational outreach programs.