HIGH ON HEMP

We are high on hemp. No, not that way.

We agree with former Gov. Louie Nunn and plenty of other Kentuckians who
believe Kentucky ought to go through whatever bureaucratic gymnastics it
must in order to start growing the plant.

Hemp has many benefits, and, contrary to its opponents' suggestions, none
of them are related to getting high.

After all, hemp has very low THC-the chemical that gives its sister plant,
marijuana, its value.

Hemp's value is much more mundane: It's ideal for making rope and objects
out of fabric. An array of hemp products was displayed at a fair in Midway
last week. Fair-goers saw that hemp is useful for making everything from
snack foods to a plastic-like paneling for cars.

The willing bureaucrats in Frankfort-that is, the ones who are cautiously
willing to give hemp a chance-are discovering how tough bureaucracies are
to penetrate.

The federal Drug Enforcement Agency is leading the fight against making the
cultivation of hemp legal, even though there are ways to quickly spot the
difference between hemp and marijuana.

Despite its versatility, hemp probably wouldn't turn out to be a miracle
crop that alone could Kentucky's agricultural economy around.

But it might be part of the formula to save farmers and rural areas.

The drive by Kentucky farmers to grow hemp, and the diverse alliance of
leaders who support them, should continue. As growers in Canada have found,
this plant is nothing to fear.