REEFER MADNESS IN SPRINGFIELD

Illinois Gov. George Ryan has a $1 million case of reefer madness now that
the Legislature has sent up a bill to study industrial hemp -- a kissing
cousin of marijuana -- as a cash crop. He's indicated he will just say no
with a veto.

Sen. Evelyn Bowles, D-Edwardsville, says hemp could be one solution to
downstate farmers' economic woes, where prices of traditional crops like
soybeans have plummeted precipitously. But opponents such as Rep. Patti
Bellock, R-Hinsdale, say the bill would desensitize Illinois children to
marijuana and send the wrong message.

Hemp can be used in the production of everything from Frisbees to food and
carpets, says the Hemp Industries Association of Occidental, Calif., a
trade organization with more than 400 members. The hemp plant looks like
marijuana and contains minuscule amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC,
the hallucinogen in pot. Scientists also hope to eliminate THC from the
plant so that it would no longer carry the stigma of its illegitimate cousin.

As he has done in every state that has debated legalizing hemp, outgoing
White House drug policy czar Barry McCaffrey stepped in to oppose it,
arguing that legal hemp production would hinder drug enforcement efforts
since illegal marijuana plants might be camouflaged in legalized crops.

Much of the money for the hemp research would not be used to study its
potential as a cash crop, but to install security cameras and barbed wire
around test plots. That's a lot of money for corralling something with
roots. The money, and the Legislature's time, could be better spent
investigating whether hemp is a bonafide alternative for Illinois farmers,
rather than blowing smoke about its trivial role in the drug war.