LINE BETWEEN HEMP AND MARIJUANA STILL BLURRY TO U.S.

Weed, pot, hash, grass, hemp - all have been used as nicknames for
marijuana. As studies increase, however, it turns out hemp and
marijuana might not have as much in common as people think.

While technically a single species, Cannabis sativa - better known as
marijuana - has evolved over the years to present two very different
plants: industrial hemp used for its fiber and typical marijuana
harvested for its hallucinogenic properties.

The question being debated is whether or not the agricultural
benefits of hemp are enough to tip the scale in favor of legalizing
production of the specific form of Cannabis sativa.

"The seeds and stalks of hemp can be used for a million different
things - from making clothing to carpets, foods, lotions, medicines,
paper and even fuel," said Patrick Greeson, greenhouse manager at the
William A. Natorp Co.

A chemical analysis of marijuana shows the plant contains between
three and 15 percent THC - the component that causes the
mind-altering effects associated with the drug. Hemp, on the other
hand, only has a .3 THC level, which makes obtaining a high from
smoking hemp extremely difficult.

"If you tried hard enough you could probably get a bit of a buzz from
smoking (hemp)," Greeson said, laughing. "You're probably more
likely to get emphysema first, though."

Plants harvested as marijuana typically consist of big, bushy leaves
and an abundance of buds - the parts of the plant anatomy typically
smoked, said Margaret McMahon, associate professor of horticulture
and crop science at Ohio State. Hemp plants, however, are
distinguished by their long stalks used for their fibers.

"It's a good crop," McMahon said. "It has a deep root system and is
good for the soil structure. It doesn't suck the soil dry like cotton."

Adam Eidinger, a spokesman for the group Vote Hemp in Bedford, Mass.,
said he estimated the current market for hemp products at more than
$275 million annually and increasing.

According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report, however, the
market for hemp in the U.S. will remain small because of hemp's
competition with other more-established raw materials and
manufacturing practices.

Today much of the hemp sold in the U.S. is imported from Canada,
which in 1998 legalized the cultivation of Cannabis sativa with less
than one percent THC.

According to the Hemp Industries Association, the U.S. is the only
industrialized nation not to permit the production of hemp.

Many fear legalization of industrial hemp will provide cover for
marijuana fields because of the similar plant structures. Eidinger,
however, said cross-pollination between the two specimens would have
detrimental effects on the marijuana plants and therefore would deter
marijuana growers from mixing crops.

"If the economy was right, it could be a wonderful crop. (It) could
help solve some problems," Greeson said.

"Politicians don't want to grow it because they have a fear they'd be
growing the THC type instead of the fiber type," McMahon said. "We
just have to get off our ignorant horse here, throw blind passion out
of it and just look at the facts concerning hemp."