INDUSTRIAL HEMP ISN'T WORTH THE TROUBLE

In the past few months, there has been a lot of talk about the push for
legalization of industrial hemp. In my search for information, whether it
be through the Internet or other resources, I have found numerous arguments
for the legalization and very few against. I recently received a handout
that sums up the opposition to legalization of hemp very nicely and I would
like to pass that information along to you.

The following is an excerpt from "The Hemp Scam" that was written by Dr.
Janet D. Lapey from the Concerned Citizens for Drug Prevention Inc. The
hemp scam is one of the techniques that the marijuana lobby is using to
legalize drugs. They are spreading the myth that hemp is a profitable,
useful, environmentally safe crop with no potential for diversion.

Hemp products are being heavily advertised to children along with clothing
and jewelry featuring the marijuana leaf logo. The farmers have been
deceived into believing that it will be a profitable enterprise. Yet, in
actuality, the plant has no economic usefulness, as it cannot compete with
forests for paper, corn for ethanol fuel, cotton for textiles or synthetics
for rope. A Kentucky Governor's Task Force that concluded that it would not
be economically successful studied this issue.

Compounding this is the very expensive security and surveillance measures
which would be necessary. Furthermore, it is not safe for the environment.
Unlike modern well-managed forestry that replaces trees and preserves the
land, hemp is destructive to the soil because it is an annual crop. Also,
hemp farmers have been found using large amounts of rodenticides and
fertilizers.

Dr. Lapey also goes on to describe how industrialized hemp can be diverted
into illegal Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (the mind-altering substance in
marijuana).

1. Fiber hemp (Cannabis sativa) contains THC in amounts of 0.1 to 0.6
percent and even up to one percent. USA-grown marijuana smoked in the 1960s
was 0.5 percent THC and marijuana as low as 0.25 percent can have
psychoactive effects.

2. By selectively harvesting the buds and excluding the large leaf, a high
THC product is obtained from the fiber crop.

3. Through cross-pollination, higher THC plants may develop naturally.

4. It is very easy to extract THC from the plant with ethanol to obtain a
very potent high THC product.

5. It is impossible to differentiate low and high THC plants with the naked
eye. Therefore, it is easy to illegally blend high THC plants into a fiber
crop. This has been happening in Europe where recently a crop grown in
Switzerland supposedly for cushion fiber was found to have a THC
concentration of 5.5 percent rather than 0.5 percent. Dr. Lapey summarizes
the above information by stating that "legalization of Cannabis sativa as
'hemp' would result in a massive increase of psychoactive marijuana on the
street with concomitant increase in users, especially in youth."

For more information, please contact the NE Prevention Resource Center at
(605) 886-0123, or visit our web site at www.humanserviceagency.org.