USDA STUDY SEES LITTLE MARKET FOR HEMP

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Industrial hemp, the non-hallucinogenic 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 that the United States
currently imports could be grown on less than 2, 000 acres of land,
says 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 -- passed pro-hemp
bills last year that provide for research, study or potential
production of the crop, and the first U.S. test plots were planted in
Hawaii last month.

Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura has touted hemp as a potentially
lucrative alternative crop for some struggling farmers.

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

The USDA study, which was released Friday, 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 study said.

Hemp seeds and flour are being added to nutrition bars, tortilla chips
and other food items. USDA says that will probably 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 that 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.

Ventura was out of town on vacation and unavailable for comment, but a
spokesman said the study wouldn' t slow the governor' s push for
legalization.

" I don' t think Gov. Ventura ever thought that industrial hemp would
be a mainstream crop that would solve all the problems of family
farmers, " Ventura' s spokesman John Wodele said. " However, if the
growing of hemp can help just a small portion of farmers by developing
niche markets, what is wrong with letting them grow it?"

He added, " There a lot of products and raw materials that a lot of
people are making money on that others said wouldn' t work."

Wodele also said he was " suspect" about the government' s ability to
do an unbiased market study.