State Rep. Cynthia Thielen has been a champion for cannabis, though not the kind that gets you high.

Industrial hemp, Thielen said, yields thousands of uses and products, so it frustrates her to see them laughed off by those who confuse this varietal of the cannabis plant with what’s known as marijuana.

“Its uses range from termite proof and fire retardant hempcrete for building, nutritional hempseed products, animal feed, rope, paper, cloth,” she said in an email response to a Star-Advertiser inquiry.

“It is a crop that can clothe, feed and shelter you, and you can power your automobile on it as did Henry Ford about a century ago.”

Even though it contains a far lower concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient that produces the high, industrial hemp remains on the controlled substances list, along with its marijuana cousin.

As a result, the University of Hawaii needed an exemption to grow hemp on a Waimanalo site — with the provision that it be grown for research purposes only. Thielen is one of the lawmakers trying to end the general prohibition on growing hemp.

”With the demise of sugar, HC&S (on Maui) is seriously looking at planting hemp as a replacement crop,” she added. “Eventually the jokes will stop as industrial hemp moves into people’s mainstream lives.

“But right now, state law allows eight high-THC medical cannabis growing sites, but only one industrial hemp growing site,” Thielen said. “Blows my mind.”