NO TAKERS FOR HEMP PROJECTS

LEXINGTON, Ky. - No college agriculture program has applied to the Council
on Postsecondary Education to grow industrial hemp despite a new law meant
to encourage them.

As a July 1 application deadline looms, school officials say they have many
concerns about the crop which is otherwise illegal to grow because of its
similarity to marijuana.

Aside from the controversy that surrounds the crop, the cost of security
measures such as fences and infrared cameras required by the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration is expensive.

"We probably won't be applying this time," said Jenks Britt, head of the
agriculture department at Western Kentucky University.

"It would be a big problem for us, starting with the board of regents and
going into the community and alumni," he said. "We already get strong
letters of concern because we receive tobacco company money for scholarships."

Without academic interest, the effort to return hemp to Kentucky's farms
could end in failure.

The sponsor of the bill that allowed universities to study industrial hemp
said he is confident it will catch on.

"The most optimistic among us figured it probably would be next year, at
the earliest, before we saw any research plots," said state Rep. Roger
Thomas, D-Smiths Grove.

Hemp supporters say the plant, which is used to produce food, clothing and
a variety of other products, would be a good replacement for tobacco on
Kentucky farms.

Hemp was a common crop in Kentucky until 50 years ago when the federal
government outlawed its production as part of the crackdown on marijuana.

Industrial hemp and marijuana are separate subspecies of cannabis sativa L
and people cannot become intoxicated by hemp.

But hemp critics argue that the two plants appear similar enough that hemp
fields could camouflage marijuana.