SACRAMENTO — The state Assembly on Thursday approved legislation that would allow farmers to grow hemp, narrowly overcoming objections that it violates federal drug laws and could put growers behind bars.

The bill by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would legalize the cultivation of industrial hemp, a biological relative of marijuana used to make clothing, paper, soap, cosmetics and food.

“This is an agricultural product that will provide jobs to our communities,” said Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, who voted to support the bill, against the majority of his party. “This is an agricultural product we currently use.”

U.S. manufacturers currently import processed hemp to use in their products because it is illegal to grow in the United States.

Lawmakers voted 41-29 to pass the legislation. If senators approve it, the bill would need Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature. Bill Maile, a spokesman for the governor, said he had not yet taken a position on the measure, although Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill last year.

In his 2006 veto message, Schwarzenegger said legalizing hemp farming in California would give farmers a “false sense of security” because the practice is against federal law.

Under current national drug control policy, industrial hemp can be imported, but it can’t be grown in the United States except with permits from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which are difficult to get.

Some object to growing hemp because the plant contains tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the same drug that gives marijuana its intoxicating effect. The California bill would require that hemp crops contain less than three-tenths of 1 percent of THC, significantly lower than the amount commonly found in marijuana.

Critics said legalizing hemp farming would send the wrong message to anti-drug efforts and complicate law enforcement efforts because marijuana plants could be hidden in hemp fields.

“At the end of the day, the cultivation of this crop in California will still be a federal crime,” said Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian, R-Stockton. “I don’t want to put a farmer in my district, or your district, in jeopardy.”

Supporters said the state has legal standing to enact its own law after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2004 ruled that the DEA did not have authority to regulate hemp.

The bill positions California among at least 10 other states seeking to legalize hemp farming in what supporters say has become a $300 million-a-year import business, mostly from Canada and Europe.

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On the Net:

Read AB 684 at www.assembly.ca.gov