GREEN MILES

Grayson Sigler crosses borders in a hemp-fuelled Mercedes Benz. There's
nothing illegal about his marijuana-mobile, not even its record-setting
pace. It's just that "Hempcar" is plastered with more cannabis propaganda
than your average Grateful Dead show, and customs agents tend to look out
for that sort of thing.

"Coming into Canada, there's been no problem," Sigler says while parked in
front of the Friendly Stranger, a cannabis culture shop on Queen Street.

"Going back might be a different story. We crossed back over in Vermont.
Customs gave us a bit of a hassle, but after about two hours they let us
through. A lot of bugs there, too, by the way. Crazy bugs."

Even crazier, at least to big oil, is his monument to energy efficiency.
Hempcar -- the brainchild of Grayson, his wife Kellie and friends Scott
Furr and Charles Ruchalski -- is a 1983 wagon with a turbo diesel engine
hooked on hemp.

Given that hemp biodiesel can double as solvent, rubber hoses inside the
wagon were replaced with a more durable synthetic to run it as fuel.
Otherwise, there have been no modifications.

"It's pretty simple," says Sigler, a farmer/pianist from Virginia. "Just
pour hemp oil in any diesel engine and you're on your way."

Hempcar will consume about 400 gallons of fuel during a 40-city tour that
has Sigler and his pals talking up hemp clothing, granola, ice cream,
cosmetics, rope, fibre and paper. The group, however, remains focused on
wooing industry with a cheap, biodegradable energy source, if only it
became legal to cultivate.

"As it stands, it's going to be about $4 a gallon," Sigler says. "If we
were growing it [institutionally], it would be about 30 cents a gallon.

"I'd like to see hemp growing in my country, and I'd like to see Canadians
better utilizing it, especially for energy. I noticed you guys had a
reactor here. It's terrible. There's no need for it. Grow your own fuel."

Hempcar can run up to 1,600 kilometres at a time. Since Sigler can't
exactly pull into Petro-Canada, arrangements have been made to refuel
various drop points.

Sigler, who started the trek in Washington on July 4, says Hempcar has
inspired at least two prototypes. Hoping to make more converts before
returning to D.C. on Oct. 3, the foursome plan to establish a world
distance record of 10,000 miles for a vehicle hopped up on hemp. They'd
better hurry, because the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is already busy
lobbying Congress to just say no.

"The DEA wants to ban any hemp products made for humans, which is one more
step before it's all banned," says Sigler. "We had to do this quickly,
because we might not be able to do it next year."