FUTURE OF HEMP IS DIM

WASHINGTON -- Industrial hemp, the nonhallucinogenic cousin of
marijuana that can be used in both clothing and food, will never have
anything but a "small, thin market" in the United States, a government
study says.

All of the hemp fiber, yarn and fabric the United States imports could
be grown on less than 2,000 acres, according to the study by the
Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service.

The study raises questions about efforts by farmers in a number of
states to get the federal government to legalize production of
industrial hemp.

Nine states -- Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota,
Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and Virginia -- last year passed
pro-hemp bills that provide for research, study or potential
production of the crop, and the first U.S. test plots were planted in
Hawaii last month.

Some 35,000 acres were grown last year in Canada, which legalized hemp
production in 1998.

The USDA study doesn't see much demand for any of hemp's
uses:

* As a fiber, its main competitor is linen, which is made from flax.
There is little textile flax production in the United States, despite
the lack of legal barriers, and that suggests there wouldn't be enough
demand for hemp fiber to make it profitable, the report says.

* Hemp seeds and flour are being added to nutrition bars, tortilla
chips and other food items. The USDA said that probably will remain a
small use, comparable to the market for sesame and poppy seeds.

* As for hemp oil, it can't be used for frying, it has a short shelf
life, and it hasn't been approved by the Food and Drug Administration
as a salad oil.

Hemp supporters say new uses and markets for the crop will develop
once it is clear to investors and companies that there will be a
supply available.

"It's like soybeans 30 years ago," said Gale Glenn, a retired tobacco
grower who is vice chairwoman of the North American Industrial Hemp
Council. "The markets will grow, but the markets aren't going to grow
until they have the raw material."

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the White House drug policy
office say legalizing hemp farming would make it more difficult to
control marijuana production.