UNIVERSITIES HESITANT TO STUDY HEMP

Controversy, Security Requirements Make Schools Leery

Universities in the state are reluctant to grow and study industrial hemp,
despite a new law meant to encourage them.

Without academic interest, the effort to return hemp to Kentucky's farms
possibly as a lucrative replacement for tobacco could end in failure.

None of the college agriculture programs have applied to the Council on
Postsecondary Education to plant hemp as allowed under House Bill 100,
which Gov. Paul Patton signed into law March 20. Hemp is an otherwise
illegal crop because of its similarity to marijuana.

The council set a July 1 deadline for applications. But school officials
said they have many concerns, including the controversy surrounding hemp
and the cost of security measures, such as fences and infrared cameras,
required by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

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

``It's just not a major priority to us at this point. We haven't heard of
any school pursuing it so far,'' said James Rudolph, director of the Murray
State University School of Agriculture.

The law's sponsors said they're confident a university will agree to study
hemp eventually, but probably not this year.

``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.

Added state Rep. Joe Barrows, D-Versailles: ``Everyone wants this thing to
happen overnight, but this is a complicated process. I'm neither shocked
nor dismayed that nobody has applied yet.''

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 half a century ago, when the
federal government outlawed its production as part of the crackdown on
marijuana. The hemp found in products sold in the United States is grown in
Canada and other countries.

Industrial hemp and marijuana are separate subspecies of cannabis sativa L.
Marijuana has from five to 20 times the level of tetrahydrocannabinol, or
THC, a mind-altering substance that can relax users when ingested.

Getting high from hemp is impossible because of its low THC level,
supporters of the plant say. But hemp critics argue that the two plants
appear similar enough that hemp fields could camouflage marijuana. And even
a trace of THC from hemp food products shows up as marijuana in urine,
rendering some drug tests useless, the critics said.

Despite intensive lobbying by hemp advocates, the Kentucky legislature has
refused to advocate a return to hemp farming. House Bill 100 offered a
compromise, based on a Hawaii law. Universities can grow and study hemp
under police supervision and DEA security requirements.

In a few years, if research shows that hemp grows well in Kentucky and can
earn a profit for farmers, legislators said they will revisit the subject.

This assumes universities want to plant hemp. It's not clear they do.

The study could be expensive, particularly the security measures required,
and there's no money available to help schools cover the costs. At the
University of Hawaii, which planted hemp in 1999 with a permit from the
DEA, a private company that uses hemp seeds in its hair-care products
donated $200,000 for the study.

Thomas, the state lawmaker, said he hopes Kentucky will arrange for public
or private financial assistance so universities won't need to tap into
their own research funds.

There's also the controversy. Farmers know marijuana and hemp aren't the
same plant, but the public still connects the two, said Britt of WKU.

``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.''

At the University of Kentucky, five agriculture professors said they are
interested in hemp, and they're working on a project proposal, said Scott
Smith, dean of the College of Agriculture.

UK might submit an application to grow hemp by the July 1 deadline, but
first it needs more details, such as the space allowed for research plots
and DEA security requirements, Smith said.

``Will we need to keep the hemp locked up behind barbed wire and guard
dogs?'' he asked.

House Bill 100 created a 17-member Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission to
help universities with research, explain the rules and report to the
governor and legislature on progress. But the commission, which must meet
by July 1 under the law, still hasn't been appointed.

Barrows, the law's co-sponsor, said the deadlines were included ``so we
don't wait around forever before we at least hold a meeting.'' But even if
schools don't apply by July and the commission doesn't meet, the law
remains on the books, he said.

``There's nothing mystical or magical about (the deadlines),'' Barrows said.

``This was an instance in which the legislature was ahead of the curve,''
he said, ``and now everyone else has to catch up.''