GET THE FACTS STRAIGHT ABOUT HEMP

As governor, I served the people of Kentucky from 1967 to 1971. In my
role as governor, I listened to all sides of the issues, carefully
considered all opinions before me and tried to be fair in my
responses. Being actively involved in civil public service, I am often
asked for my opinion on various matters affecting our state. One of
the most recent, the industrial hemp issue, also has proven to be one
of the most important.

Although Kentucky has long been known for its historical hemp
industry, it wasn't until about a year ago that I became educated
about industrial hemp. Frankly, I was opposed to to the legalization
of hemp for years because I had been of the opinion hemp was
marijuana. I was shortsighted in my thinking, and I was wrong.

Last year, as our farmers struggled with the loss of 65 percent of
their tobacco income, I was asked to examine information on hemp. What
I learned is that hemp is not a drug and never was. After studying the
facts, I believe hemp cultivation has the potential to make a positive
impact on our faltering agricultural economy and to create economic
opportunities for Kentucky farmers and other local industries.

I am concerned about all the misleading and intimidating rhetoric
offered to politicians as ''facts.'' We Kentuckians have been so mired
in misinformation about industrial hemp, it has become difficult to
distinguish reality from rhetoric.

They say politics makes strange bedfellows, but none are stranger than
marijuana growers and law enforcement. Like preachers and bootleggers,
they oppose legislation for different self-serving reasons.

Law enforcement opposes legalizing hemp production because they get
paid to destroy it, while marijuana growers oppose legalization
because hemp cross-pollinates and destroys marijuana's potency. And
neither side talks about Orincon, a company with technology to
differentiate marijuana and hemp from up to 5,000 feet in the air, and
other simple in-field tests, which accomplish the same results.

Despite these diametrically opposing sides, there is a middle ground
where common sense and rational people exist together.

For instance, the North American Industrial Hemp Council is so
adamantly opposed to ''mixing the message,'' it will not accept
pro-marijuana members. Its membership includes James Woolsey, former
head of the CIA; Jeff Gain, former director of the National Corn
Growers Association; Erwin Sholts, former head of the Wisconsin
Department of Agricultural Diversification; Raymond Berard, vice
president of Interface Carpets (a billion dollar industry); Curtis
Koster, formerly of International Paper; and Dr. Selby Thames, a
distinguished professor of polymer science at University of Southern
Mississippi. The list of supporters goes on to include farmers,
businessmen, legislators and 16 other states in the process of passing
legislation encouraging the growth of industrial hemp.

Is it rational to say all of these folks are involved with the effort
to legalize marijuana? Should we listen when Canada's Royal Mounted
Police report no problems with regulating hemp, or are they also
trying to legalize marijuana? I know our Kentucky State Police are as
well educated and could easily understand and incorporate industrial
hemp regulations as well as their Canadian counterparts.

As difficult issues are analyzed with just, unbiased and sensible
minds, solutions reached are usually fair and equally beneficial to
all. Why should the industrial hemp issue be treated any differently?
We should be looking forward to the time when intelligence and truth
overshadows lack of knowledge and rhetoric.

Remember, we can't distinguish between Kentucky white moonshine and
spring water by looking, but we haven't seen fit to outlaw spring
water . . . yet.

[SIDEBAR:]

Hemp as a crop:

Proponents say legalizing industrial hemp could help ease the
increasing loss of tobacco as a crop in Kentucky. Profits per acre
from hemp could range from $220 to $600, a 1998 report said.

That's far less than the $1,500-per-acre for burley tobacco or the
$1,000-per- acre for dark fire-cured tobacco, but more than profits on
soybeans, hay, corn, wheat and grain sorghum.