HEMP BILL IS WRONG

In an April 16 story ("Bill Puts Nebraska on Hemp's Side"), State Sen. Ed
Schrock stated that Legislative Bill 273 "is mainly sending a message to the
DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration)." Actually, this bill to legalize the
growing of marijuana hemp in Nebraska is sending an even louder message to
our children. LB 273 is telling Nebraska's young people that marijuana is
OK.

The marijuana that is smoked to get high and the marijuana hemp that
would be legalized are the same plant, Cannabis sativa. There is no
way the human eye can tell the THC content of any Cannabis sativa plant.

I talk to many young people about the dangers of drugs. Even teens who
do not use marijuana tell me they think marijuana is now an acceptable
drug. They use two main arguments to explain why all marijuana ought
to be legal. One is that marijuana is "medicine," and the second is
that "marijuana hemp" is going to save our farmers. Our kids are
bombarded by the drug culture with many of the same arguments listed
in the World-Herald story. All this for a crop that has no market.

Is it any wonder that adolescent marijuana use is increasing at an
alarming rate in Nebraska? Nebraska can either follow the agenda of
the drug culture or we can fight for drug-free children. We cannot
have it both ways.